What Does HAL know that we Aussies don't

[GOTTODOIT]

Just received email from HAL promoting Australia NZ cruises December, Jan, Feb,  

What do they know that We aussies don't know?

 

[possum52]

1 hour ago, GOTTODOIT said:

Just received email from HAL promoting Australia NZ cruises December, Jan, Feb,  

What do they know that We aussies don't know?

 

Wishful thinking? 

[By The Bay]

1 hour ago, GOTTODOIT said:

Just received email from HAL promoting Australia NZ cruises December, Jan, Feb,  

What do they know that We aussies don't know?

 

December 2021? They're dreaming.🤣

[GOTTODOIT]

HAL are not the only cruise company sending out emails for upcoming cruises that are not going to happen. 

Unconscionable sales practice, giving false, misleading info.  Cruisers get their hopes up, only to be dashed down.

[lyndarra]

They all need cash flow = deposits.

[GUT2407]

They know how to try and get $$$ to keep afloat.

[GOTTODOIT]

Taking deposits for something that is not going to happen. That is unscrupulous when they know that Australian and NZ borders are closed to cruise ships.  Do they refund or give just future cruise credit. Locking in future customers,  

 

[lyndarra]

It will happen. The question is when.

[lissie]

Same as Princess and Cunard - they need the deposits 

[gogo65]

Maybe they do know something?

Aimed purely at the Australian/NZ market?

Reduced capacity cruises?

Im sure there are many behind the scenes discussions around resumption of cruising, and with an imminent announcement around the cruise ban, maybe they are positioning themselves to get a share of the pie?

Im sure anyone that books a cruise at the moment would know there is no guarantee and one would hope would look at the cancellation policies prior to dropping some money.

[OzKiwiJJ]

We've a had a few Princess cruises cancelled. They offered a full refund, or FCCs with a bit extra. Since those bookings were made with FCDs we took the FCC options. We also had a Cunard cruise cancelled with a similar offer and, again, we took the FCC option as the deposit was small. For both cruise lines it took a couple of months for the FCCs to show on our account.

 

We also had a Crystal cruise cancelled at the beginning of the pandemic. We requested a refund as a substantial amount of money was involved. After five months we raised a credit card chargeback and recovered 75% of the money. We got the remainder back just under a year after the cruise was cancelled.

 

In my opinion most of the cruise lines are doing the best they can. Like us they are hoping that cruising will restart soon. I sure they don't really like having to go through all the hoops to refund deposits. 

 

[MMDown Under]

3 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

We've a had a few Princess cruises cancelled. They offered a full refund, or FCCs with a bit extra. Since those bookings were made with FCDs we took the FCC options. We also had a Cunard cruise cancelled with a similar offer and, again, we took the FCC option as the deposit was small. For both cruise lines it took a couple of months for the FCCs to show on our account.

 

We also had a Crystal cruise cancelled at the beginning of the pandemic. We requested a refund as a substantial amount of money was involved. After five months we raised a credit card chargeback and recovered 75% of the money. We got the remainder back just under a year after the cruise was cancelled.

 

In my opinion most of the cruise lines are doing the best they can. Like us they are hoping that cruising will restart soon. I sure they don't really like having to go through all the hoops to refund deposits. 

 

Maybe it is time cruise lines request small deposits, so it is not such a big loss when cruises don't sail.  If passengers don't get cash refunds, they are locked in to that cruise line, as they may not have sufficient money to make a deposit with another cruise line.  The substantial amount of money you mentioned for Crystal cruises is a good example.   

[gogo65]

I had a Galapagos cruise with celebrity booked for this year, I booked on board while on a previous cruise so the deposit was only $100pp, it was an easy decision to ‘lift and shift’, I dont mind that they have $200 of my money for a few years, but their normal deposit is $800pp, I’m not sure I would have left that money there indefinitely.

 

[travelwell]

We are on the 2021 WC with Regent. Their are 30 something days in Australia and New Zealand in Feb/March 22. This cruise has been booked ( and waitlisted)for years and final payment due in July.  This is a small cruise ship with 100% vaccinated passengers and crew. I am hearing rumors, including on the Australia/New Zealand thread on cruise critic, that decisions might be made the next two weeks to allow small cruise ships into Australia and New Zealand. We shall see.

[Chiliburn]

5 hours ago, GOTTODOIT said:

Just received email from HAL promoting Australia NZ cruises December, Jan, Feb,  

What do they know that We aussies don't know?

 

Are they selling the cruises at full capacity?

In my opinion we will have some cruises this season at 25% to 50% capacity.
Our federal government will be embarrassed into allowing some ships because the rest of the world are starting.

 

The cruises that the lines have been selling over the last year have been sold at 100% capacity and a lot are heavily booked .
But there’s no way our government will let that happen.

Just imagine the uproar if half the people that are booked are told they have been bumped.

So my prediction is the current cruises will be canceled and we will get a 125% credit. New sailings will be offered at a caped capacity.

And guess what at a much higher price.

 

One more thing is get your vaccines.

[Chiliburn]

40 minutes ago, travelwell said:

We are on the 2021 WC with Regent. Their are 30 something days in Australia and New Zealand in Feb/March 22. This cruise has been booked ( and waitlisted)for years and final payment due in July.  This is a small cruise ship with 100% vaccinated passengers and crew. I am hearing rumors, including on the Australia/New Zealand thread on cruise critic, that decisions might be made the next two weeks to allow small cruise ships into Australia and New Zealand. We shall see.

I think we will get a announcement of some kind.

[onlyslightlymad]

39 minutes ago, travelwell said:

We are on the 2021 WC with Regent. Their are 30 something days in Australia and New Zealand in Feb/March 22. This cruise has been booked ( and waitlisted)for years and final payment due in July.  This is a small cruise ship with 100% vaccinated passengers and crew. I am hearing rumors, including on the Australia/New Zealand thread on cruise critic, that decisions might be made the next two weeks to allow small cruise ships into Australia and New Zealand. We shall see.

 

1 minute ago, Chiliburn said:

Are they selling the cruises at full capacity?

In my opinion we will have some cruises this season at 25% to 50% capacity.
Our federal government will be embarrassed into allowing some ships because the rest of the world are starting.

 

The cruises that the lines have been selling over the last year have been sold at 100% capacity and a lot are heavily booked .
But there’s no way our government will let that happen.

Just imagine the uproar if half the people that are booked are told they have been bumped.

So my prediction is the current cruises will be canceled and we will get a 125% credit. New sailings will be offered at a caped capacity.

And guess what at a much higher price.

 

One more thing is get your vaccines.

The only thing that is piquing my interest is that the Aus govt have yet to extend their cruising ban.  That surprises me and makes me wonder if there is some fierce negotiating going on.

[Chiliburn]

3 minutes ago, onlyslightlymad said:

 

The only thing that is piquing my interest is that the Aus govt have yet to extend their cruising ban.  That surprises me and makes me wonder if there is some fierce negotiating going on.

A announcement is overdue so something is going on.

 

Royal Caribbean Group said they expect to have all ships operating by December.

[OzKiwiJJ]

13 minutes ago, onlyslightlymad said:

 

The only thing that is piquing my interest is that the Aus govt have yet to extend their cruising ban.  That surprises me and makes me wonder if there is some fierce negotiating going on.

I'm wondering that too. Past announcements were made a couple of weeks before the previous ban ended. I'm really hoping that "no news is good news".

[onlyslightlymad]

19 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I'm wondering that too. Past announcements were made a couple of weeks before the previous ban ended. I'm really hoping that "no news is good news".

I just realised that you have three upcoming cruises booked.  You must be watching closely.

Edited June 8, 2021 by onlyslightlymad

[finchy1950]

We have a Celebrity cruise ex Sydney to NZ and return booked for departure 9/12/21.

Celebrity are still promoting this cruise (at about 40% more than we paid at time of booking)

have got our fingers crossed that this is going ahead - but I wouldn't bet on it!!

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, onlyslightlymad said:

I just realised that you have three upcoming cruises booked.  You must be watching closely.

Not really, if they get cancelled I'll just book more for the next season. I had a Murray River cruise fix earlier this year so that helped the addiction.🤣🤣🤣

[OzKiwiJJ]

24 minutes ago, finchy1950 said:

We have a Celebrity cruise ex Sydney to NZ and return booked for departure 9/12/21.

Celebrity are still promoting this cruise (at about 40% more than we paid at time of booking)

have got our fingers crossed that this is going ahead - but I wouldn't bet on it!!

We have a Cunard cruise booked for Xmas/NY. I looked at the same cruise for the following year just in case. It's one day shorter and around $3,000pp dearer. I don't think I'll be booking that one.

[GOTTODOIT]

I don't think that there will any announcement until Scott Morrison returns from the G8 conference which starts on 11trh June. I wonder where he will quarantine?

 

[MMDown Under]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

We have a Cunard cruise booked for Xmas/NY. I looked at the same cruise for the following year just in case. It's one day shorter and around $3,000pp dearer. I don't think I'll be booking that one.

Hard to believe, but Christmas/New Year was always popular.  You are better booking those cruises at last minute prices.  We got a great last minute deal on a Celebrity cruise from Auckland to Sydney one Dec.