Required ship's tours in future?

[ORV]

58 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

Our next cruise is in November. TA confirmed with Oceania only ship tours will be allowed.

 

As I posted above, the website is , or was haven’t checked today, is not allowing one to book shore tours online. I gave the list of shore tours we wanted to our TA and she booked all of them for us with her O rep.

Good luck, but you do know you're not going? Right? 

[clo]

10 hours ago, Smiley27 said:

As of now, this is also a concern for me. I have no idea how things work after final payment.

we have never cancelled a cruise before. We have 3 cruises booked,  2 in 2021 and one in 2022. First cruise is May1 and final payment is Dec 30th. It is a lot of money, so.?...
If the cruise line cancel, I know I will probably get a future cruise credit instead....BUT what if I want to cancel??

 

Well, first of all if THEY cancel you can get a refund. But if you want to cancel because there are features that have gone away or been added, it seems like you should be able to get a refund. Trying to think of an example. ..... Let's say you've paid for a new sofa, full size in navy blue. But when it's delivered it a love seat and it's red.

[Paulchili]

2 hours ago, clo said:

Well, first of all if THEY cancel you can get a refund. But if you want to cancel because there are features that have gone away or been added, it seems like you should be able to get a refund. Trying to think of an example. ..... Let's say you've paid for a new sofa, full size in navy blue. But when it's delivered it a love seat and it's red.

With many lines if they cancel, you can get your money back.

Id you cancel they give you FCC.

Not sure about O.

[clo]

15 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

With many lines if they cancel, you can get your money back.

Id you cancel they give you FCC.

Not sure about O.

BUT if the cruise has changed from what you booked, i.e., masks, no independent shore excursions, pool/spa closed it seems like they SHOULD give a refund. And *I* know that if they didn't for us there would be holy-hell to pay. I'd cause the biggest fuss. "I didn't want a red love seat; I wanted the blue full size." This has brought me to a decision that if that were the case we'd never book another cruise.

[susiesan]

You should see what Ponant, owner of the Paul Gaugin has done to their customers. They cancelled their Oct. and Nov. Tahiti cruises with a 2 week notice and will not give refunds, only FCC's. They chartered the ship for 2 months to get more money than if they honored the savings that they took money for. because Ponant is a French company, American and Canadian customers have no consumer rights. People who got cancelled are furious with them but they have no legal recourse.

[dj_crusin]

21 hours ago, Paulchili said:

With many lines if they cancel, you can get your money back.

Id you cancel they give you FCC.

Not sure about O.

From the current Oceania web site:

NO-PENALTY CANCELLATIONS

• Once paid in full, cancel for any reason up to 15 days prior to departure and receive a Future Cruise Credit equal to 100% of the cruise fare paid.
• Valid for all reservations made between August 26 and September 30, 2020, for scheduled voyages departing on or before October 31, 2021.
• Future Cruise Credit is valid for redemption for one year from date of issue for travel departing no later than December 31, 2022.

When our April 2020 cruise was cancelled by Oceania we were given a choice of 125% future cruise credit or 100% cash refund of amount paid.  We also received refunds of air, insurance, taxes, etc.

 

We are currently booked on a Dec 2020 South American cruise using our FCC and Oceania air.  We are wondering if the cruise sails (since there are no US ports) will we be able to get there?  If not will that be considered a cancelled cruise?  All kinds of sceneros!

 

Dan

Edited September 26, 2020 by dj_crusin

[LHT28]

3 minutes ago, dj_crusin said:

We are currently booked on a Dec 2020 South American cruise using Oceania air.  We are wondering if the cruise sails (since there are no US ports) will we be able to get there?  If not will that be considered a cancelled cruise?  All kinds of sceneros!

 

Dan

If the ship actually sails  it is not cancelled by the cruise line

It is up to you to get to the ship or forfeit your $$$

 

[pinotlover]

American Airlines is still flying its South America routes from Miami and DFW. If you’re flying them, you’ll get there! 
 

I’ve corresponded , in the past week, with the private tour companies I had hoped to use on our cruise. All said their countries were opening back up the 1st of December for tourists and cruises. Haven’t told them yet that we maybe stuck paying triple their pricing for ship tours only! 🥵

[ABoatNerd]

4 hours ago, susiesan said:

You should see what Ponant, owner of the Paul Gaugin has done to their customers. They cancelled their Oct. and Nov. Tahiti cruises with a 2 week notice and will not give refunds, only FCC's. They chartered the ship for 2 months to get more money than if they honored the savings that they took money for. because Ponant is a French company, American and Canadian customers have no consumer rights. People who got cancelled are furious with them but they have no legal recourse.

susiesan, thanks for posting this.

 

You are quite correct Ponant wins the crown for the most despicable cruise line these days.  I fortunately cancelled my PG cruise for Aug 2021 in January this year when I heard about the virus happenings from friends in Hong Kong.  Based on my timing, I was entitled to a full cash refund.

 

Being on the PG board really helped, I launched into action and papered PG to make sure they had no wiggle room - particularly because of the Ponant situation.  Then went the credit card dispute route and was promptly provided my cash refund.

 

Ponant is one company I will never patronize. 

[clo]

7 hours ago, susiesan said:

You should see what Ponant, owner of the Paul Gaugin has done to their customers. They cancelled their Oct. and Nov. Tahiti cruises with a 2 week notice and will not give refunds, only FCC's. They chartered the ship for 2 months to get more money than if they honored the savings that they took money for. because Ponant is a French company, American and Canadian customers have no consumer rights. People who got cancelled are furious with them but they have no legal recourse.

We were booked on a Norwegian airline and a Norwegian cruise line and, from what I was told here, they are subject to US Dept. of Transportation rules. We got full refunds.

 

https://www.transportation.gov/mission/safety/passenger-cruise-ship-information

[the more ports the better]

The shore excursions restrictions hopefully will be short term at best.

 

CNN is reporting that another vaccine ( J&J) data is showing 99% effectiveness after phase 1 and 2.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/09/25/us/johnson-and-johnson-vaccine-strong-immune-response/index.html  

 

Also for Orv, we were told at the Pfizer trial that the study will be unblinded ASAP and the participants that had the placebo will be vaccinated immediately upon approval.  The reasoning is that they do not want anyone in the study to go get the vaccine somewhere else as that defeats the two year follow up participation in the trial.  This was reiterated numerous times.

 

We were a 50/50 vaccine to placebo.  It didn’t take rocket science for us to figure out who had the vaccine.  If you had an aching arm for two or three days, you had the vaccine.  We asked if they could put something in the placebo to mimic the vaccine sore arm response and the Dr said no, absolutely not, the release we agreed to was for simple saline solution or the vaccine.  We polled each other at each visit and exactly 50% of us had sore arms.
 

Looks like J&J is only a month or two behind Pfizer and Moderna. Hopefully, normalcy is on the horizon!

[StanandJim]

32 minutes ago, the more ports the better said:

Looks like J&J is only a month or two behind Pfizer and Moderna. Hopefully, normalcy is on the horizon!

Dare we trust anything that J&J comes up with after their baby powder debacle?

 

 

[RJB]

17 hours ago, ABoatNerd said:

susiesan, thanks for posting this.

 

You are quite correct Ponant wins the crown for the most despicable cruise line these days.  I fortunately cancelled my PG cruise for Aug 2021 in January this year when I heard about the virus happenings from friends in Hong Kong.  Based on my timing, I was entitled to a full cash refund.

 

Being on the PG board really helped, I launched into action and papered PG to make sure they had no wiggle room - particularly because of the Ponant situation.  Then went the credit card dispute route and was promptly provided my cash refund.

 

Ponant is one company I will never patronize. 

+ 1   and I will tell all my friends and T/A if they do not know this already.   Not the way to make friends.

[ABoatNerd]

RJB, please do get the word out.

 

PG was a good cruise line before Ponant. Ponant has ruined it. 

 

But what it says to me is the level of arrogance displayed by Ponant is based on their assumption that consumers are idiots and will continue to book....which has been the case for the last 5 years.

 

This attitude has been shared to varying degrees by all the cruise lines, based on their observations of the "obedient consumer". Higher prices, downgrading product was the result.

 

Even now this behavior remains - as they are selling cruises that have no chance of happening, hoping the FCC beguiles the "obedient consumer", and it has.

 

 

[susiesan]

2 hours ago, ABoatNerd said:

 

PG was a good cruise line before Ponant. Ponant has ruined it. 

But what it says to me is the level of arrogance displayed by Ponant is based on their assumption that consumers are idiots and will continue to book....which has been the case for the last 5 years.

This attitude has been shared to varying degrees by all the cruise lines, based on their observations of the "obedient consumer". Higher prices, downgrading product was the result.

Even now this behavior remains - as they are selling cruises that have no chance of happening, hoping the FCC beguiles the "obedient consumer", and it has.

 

 

If anyone wants to take a Tahiti cruise, I would point you to Windstar. My cruise is scheduled for Jan. 14, 2021. I asked Windstar to let me make final payment 30 days before the cruise and they agreed. All I have in this cruise now is $100 pp deposits if it is cancelled either by them or me that is all I would lose. At this point, my belief is 50/50 that this cruise will be a go, I have until Dec. 15 to see if it will happen or not. Windstsar's policies are much more consumer friendly than Ponant. And Windstar is more than half the price in the Tahiti market.

[Ltctina]

On 9/1/2020 at 8:01 AM, KirkNC said:

Us as well, I am very concerned about what the cruise experience will be like when it does restart.

Yep---we've never taken Oceania shore excurisions, only private independent ones or on our own.  I will not cruise if I have to take an excursion with more than 8 people.  Currently scheduled for  june 21 Oslo-London---without a vaccine we will prob postpone or cancel.

[comcox]

Our TA got the following response from Oceania yesterday:

Until the CDC reviews the operational plans our cruise partners are not releasing much information.  I can say that many have said they may operate bubble excursions (where you have to be on a cruise line’s shore ex only) and we do know that the ports and their local guidelines will play a big role.  Unfortunately, at this time details are just not available.

 

[KirkNC]

3 hours ago, comcox said:

Our TA got the following response from Oceania yesterday:

Until the CDC reviews the operational plans our cruise partners are not releasing much information.  I can say that many have said they may operate bubble excursions (where you have to be on a cruise line’s shore ex only) and we do know that the ports and their local guidelines will play a big role.  Unfortunately, at this time details are just not available.

 

And we will be doing land trips as long as that policy is in place.  Initially I thought some sense of normalcy may return in mid 2021 but now I doubt it.  My current thinking is mid 2022.  Certainly cruises will take place before then but they will be so regimented with rules that the experience will not be something we will pay for.  I think even the most avid cruisers will take pause once they experience the new sailing environment.

[LHT28]

56 minutes ago, KirkNC said:

And we will be doing land trips as long as that policy is in place. 

 

lots of places to see in the USA

[KirkNC]

22 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

 

lots of places to see in the USA

But they require hotel and restaurant interaction which I am not real keen on either.  So far we have been renting cottage like accommodations and cook most meals in the home with some take out.  We continue to avoid sit down meals in restaurants.  This fall we have spent two months on the North Carolina outer banks on Ocracoke and Hatteras Islands.

[Hawaiidan]

2 hours ago, LHT28 said:

 

lots of places to see in the USA

You bet......Is Canada open yet ?     Heck drive the Alaska Hiway to Denali....    Visit canyon lands and grand canyon,   Drive route 66..  Gettysburg... Carlsbad Caverns....  Mt Rainier,  Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Teton... Black Hills,  Mesa Verde....... If you havent been..... now is the tims    

[LHT28]

7 hours ago, KirkNC said:

But they require hotel and restaurant interaction which I am not real keen on either.  So far we have been renting cottage like accommodations and cook most meals in the home with some take out.

So just rent places where you travel  in the USA  🙄

 Some hotels/motels have kitchens  but  maybe do not come pre stocked with  food to cook

 Just pack food from home in coolers  off you go 😉

 

[susiesan]

I just returned from a 9 day driving around Arizona road trip. That state is definitely open for business. It was hopping. The planes flying out and back were 100% full. The hotels we stayed at were fully occupied. We had to wait over an hour to get into most restaurants at dinner. The Grand Canyon was packed. Lots and lots of people hiking in the Sedona area. None of it bothered me in the least. We had a great time.

[Hawaiidan]

14 minutes ago, susiesan said:

I just returned from a 9 day driving around Arizona road trip. That state is definitely open for business. It was hopping. The planes flying out and back were 100% full. The hotels we stayed at were fully occupied. We had to wait over an hour to get into most restaurants at dinner. The Grand Canyon was packed. Lots and lots of people hiking in the Sedona area. None of it bothered me in the least. We had a great time.

Good for you..... what you found is reality devoid of  fear mongers and politicians selling  agendas that promote themselves.    There is a big world out there just waiting to be seen......  The sky is blue and  not falling.. Time is wasting.. and so is your life if you let it....   Good for you Susan

[KirkNC]

4 hours ago, LHT28 said:

So just rent places where you travel  in the USA  🙄

 Some hotels/motels have kitchens  but  maybe do not come pre stocked with  food to cook

 Just pack food from home in coolers  off you go 😉

 

That’s what I said I am doing 🙄🙄