Anyone thinking of cancelling their Aug. or Sept. cruise?

[mlbcruiser]

🤣🤣🤣

[lindalouT]

52 minutes ago, F19810 said:

6:30 is sleeping in to me!!!!  My problem may be that I don't have enough spit at that time!

Hah! now i think about it ...I'll have to forgo my daily allegra...gives horrible cotton mouth...Benadryl is better anyway cause it might help me sleep and is shorter acting (so i'll be more alert when i hit ed in the head and say "WAKE UPPPPPPP... WAKE UPPPPPPPPP....you gotta take my spit tube down the hall i'ts 6:45 already!!!!!! BE quiet when you come back in! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ"

😵

 

[Wings55]

On tonight's evening news it was difficult to watch the rioting in Paris over the passe sanitaire regulations. It's hard to get excited about spending three days there prior to boarding the AmaLyra for the first leg of our vacation. I hope Ama will have worked out the situation so we can get the required paperwork to enjoy the restaurants and museums.

[mlbcruiser]

Great idea, lindalouT! Think I’ll  assign that job to my husband! 
 

Wings55, I have a couple of friends in Florida that keep warning me about the public unrest in France, and how I should stay home because the virus is spreading so much there. Interestingly, FL now has 1/5 of all the new covid cases in the U.S.! A one day total of over 21,600 cases! (The govenor announced last week his state had about reached herd immunity! 😳) 

I do agree with you that it doesn’t seem like the best of all times to pick for a visit, unfortunately. The desire is there, but the anxiety on a few different fronts is almost negating the anticipation. 

[steamboats]

9 hours ago, lindalouT said:

what do americans in france do for restuarants n such? I can do without the museums, seen em...but we were planning 4 days in paris pre-cruise, and i cant seem to get a straight answer online about international tourists in france being able to sit down in a restaurant for a meal without the "passe sanitaire" or whatever that's required.

 

Your vaccine card is enough to prove your vaccination status. They do accept all EU apps and also all paper documents.

 

steamboats

[steamboats]

BTW, here´s a nice report about the precautions made by Viking from someone who has been onbord the cruise around Iceland where they had a positive case.

 

steamboats

[mlbcruiser]

I think I saw that on one of these threads somewhere. However that was Iceland. Particularly interested in France. I would think rules are fleet wide, however I think there are variations between places. Even towns  perhaps. Thanks for sharing that. I should find it again when I can get a chance. I have out of town company so it’s hard to get a second to really focus!

[bayareagirl]

On 7/31/2021 at 11:28 AM, Roz said:

My experience has been you get a better deal if you wait and let they cruise line cancel rather cancel on your own.  A 7 am saliva test, although not desirable, wouldn't be a deal breaker for me if I really wanted to do the cruise.

Yes, absolutely right about the better deal if the cruise line cancels.  Viking gave 125% when they cancelled on us.  Of course, that may no longer be the case...

Edited August 3, 2021 by bayareagirl
add sentence

[lindalouT]

Bunch of folks on various viking sailings have reported being "cancelled" by Viking in the last few days. But Viking, as a loophole doesnt call it "cancelling" anymore....they are "adjusting" the reservations. In some folks' cases by one day, some by two weeks, some by five months. Because theyre no longer "cancelling" trips...no one who booked after march 2020, when :"risk free guarantee" was in place, gets cash back, just cruise credit (no 125% , just face value) . I find this infuriating...Because all the reservation cancellations, Viking is "merging" various sailings, messing with people's dates, flights, self-booked pre-cruise and room choices...again sometimes moving the reservation to an entirely different season...because Viking sailing half full isnt as profitable for them, and since they arent issuing refunds, they arent losing money. Imagine ordering a special limited edition Barbie for your granddaughter for Christmas, and Amazon telling you "great news! you can get a doll SIMILAR to the one you ordered BUT in May!" and you say "i want my money back" and they say "we didnt CANCEL your order, we are sending you a different doll than you want...6 months after YOU wanted it...we "adjusted" your order, so take the other doll or find something else to buy" ....that's what's happening here

[mlbcruiser]

LindaLouT, one  or two of the other lines started doing that as well. Maybe more. I don’t k ow when Viking joined in with the idea, but I saw posts about the others last week. The people posting were concerned it could happen to them. However I don’t know what those lines did with regard to satisfy the customers it has happened to. Probably not much!

Someone mentioned that there were only something like 47 passengers on their ship but that at least it meant they had very good service as the staff was not overwhelmed.

 

Surely these cruise lines realize they have just caused complete chaos and in some cases losses for airline tickets and so many other things that might not be able to be recovered. It definitely won’t help gain customers, that’s for sure! I imagine either they will make some type of adjustments if enough people get in on the outcry or else go with the reply that the people should have gotten “cancel for any reason” insurance, which is quite pricey!  

 

We have a cruise from Australia booked with a popular ocean cruise line early next year. All we had to pay ahead of time was the deposit,  but all along we’ve seen Australians posting that Australia would never open up to non residents that quickly. I haven’t received notice yet like my some others but know eventually  I know lots of people are affected. 🙁
 

Thanks for posting that development. Sort of makes me afraid to book anything ahead of time for even next year!

[Canal archive]

I would have thought that adjusting your cruise would not be covered by a ‘cancel for any reason’ policy so your still stuffed if you do or stuffed if you don’t.

[Daisi]

@Canal archive, that is what the "cancel for any reason" is.  If the new dates aren't convenient for you, you can cancel and get your monies paid back.  At least, that's how ours works. We purchased it for our 2020 cruise, and have been flipping it around with new bookings for a while, trying to find one that will sail, and be one we are comfortable sailing on.  Avalon has also been great with this, letting us do so with no penalties.

 

[lindalouT]

if a person who booked after March 2020 on viking "cancels" under the "cancel for any reason" they get a credit. Sounds like you Daisi got a credit you're trying to use? Or you must have booked pre-covid? the policy sounds simliar to Viking, but viking is  no longer offering any cash refunds for cruises made after that time. My issue (and many folks already affected) is with the COMPANY de facto cancelling the trip. If VIKING changes a Novemeber reservation to march ,because they cancelled the voyage someone initially booked ... in my mind THEY cancelled and not the client, and if the new date doesnt work, a cash refund should be offered. It's a contract with a specific date and time for a specific cruise. In one case three couples were traveling together and two were placed on one replacement cruise they didnt want and a remaining  couple  on another. I think since viking cancelled , if they dont want to reschedule, they should get a refund. "cancel for any reason" is meant, in my mind, for the clients...not the viking home office to maximize profits while keeping tens of thousands in customers' cash (in a super bull market) for three years . Just an opinion and not relevant to anyone canceling or changing their own reservation

 

 

Edited August 4, 2021 by lindalouT

[Daisi]

Our insurance is through our TA, not with Avalon.  Avalon has a policy that (as long as your Govt. says it's not "safe" to travel), you can move your cruise from 2020 to 2021 to even 2023.  They cancelled our first cruise in 2020 (but we re-booked it prior to cancelling as we wanted a certain cabin and they were running out on the cruise we wanted), so we moved it to 2022.  I am now waiting for the 2023 cruises to be posted so that we can move to then.  From what I hear, Avalon has just been cancelling cruises altogether, not just moving them, but that could be because they don't have enough ships to do that. Because we never claimed anything through the insurance, we just keep moving it around.

 

To add to Avalon's credit, when we originally booked our 2022 cruise last March, in the summer they had free air, and they were more than happy to change us over to the new booking with free air.  My TA had been laid off due to Covid, but she worked her but off looking after her clients, I hope the agency acknowledged that, and I'm sure the other ones who work with her.  Maybe one of the benefits of dealing with a smaller agency...

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, lindalouT said:

if a person who booked after March 2020 on viking "cancels" under the "cancel for any reason" they get a credit. Sounds like you Daisi got a credit you're trying to use? Or you must have booked pre-covid? the policy sounds simliar to Viking, but viking is  no longer offering any cash refunds for cruises made after that time. My issue (and many folks already affected) is with the COMPANY de facto cancelling the trip. If VIKING changes a Novemeber reservation to march ,because they cancelled the voyage someone initially booked ... in my mind THEY cancelled and not the client, and if the new date doesnt work, a cash refund should be offered. It's a contract with a specific date and time for a specific cruise. In one case three couples were traveling together and two were placed on one replacement cruise they didnt want and a remaining  couple  on another. I think since viking cancelled , if they dont want to reschedule, they should get a refund. "cancel for any reason" is meant, in my mind, for the clients...not the viking home office to maximize profits while keeping tens of thousands in customers' cash (in a super bull market) for three years . Just an opinion and not relevant to anyone canceling or changing their own reservation

 

 

Moving a cruise a couple of days to consolidate passengers on fewer sailings I can understand at this stage of the pandemic, even though it inconveniences passengers. However, moving a cruise by months is NOT the same thing. This is definitely a cancellation. (However, other companies are doing the same thing; I had a land safari booked with Vantage for Feb 2021; it was moved to July 2021 and then to July 2022. I had only paid the deposit, so I'm not out that much money, but they do still hold my deposit.)

[notamermaid]

@gnome12 I hope everything is going okay with your bike and barge cruise?

 

notamermaid

 

[gnome12]

3 hours ago, notamermaid said:

@gnome12 I hope everything is going okay with your bike and barge cruise?

 

notamermaid

 

We haven’t heard anything to the contrary. The concern is that the first sailing of the barge is just before ours, from Amsterdam to Cochem, which is worrisome because the Netherlands aren’t doing well. 
 

We are both fully vaccinated and so can fly into Frankfurt (and my covishield shot is accepted in both Germany and France) but still not sure about requirements to show proof of vaccination for other things. We still haven’t booked train tickets. 

[DrD]

On 7/30/2021 at 11:58 AM, steamboats said:

 

I´ve never heard that Viking river is doing a daily test. This is done by Viking ocean cruises where they do have PCR machines onboard for daily tests. A river cruise ship usually does not even have a doctor or nurse onboard.

 

steamboats

True but they are never far from a land-based lab.  

[hihandycap]

On 7/31/2021 at 8:57 PM, Wings55 said:

On tonight's evening news it was difficult to watch the rioting in Paris over the passe sanitaire regulations.

Having worked in France (La Ciotat), rest assured that strikes and burning tires in the street are national pastimes.

[sharkster77]

8 hours ago, DrD said:

True but they are never far from a land-based lab.  

Our family member on the Viking cruise made it a point to joke about the "daily spit test", in her words.

[mlbcruiser]

Sharkster, I’m so curious to know if, like someone posted two weeks or so ago, they had to turn in their spit test by 7 AM each morning?  Please post if you ever find out. Even after they return.

[Wings55]

10 hours ago, hihandycap said:

Having worked in France (La Ciotat), rest assured that strikes and burning tires in the street are national pastimes.

Thankfully we have seen absolutely no violence during our stay other than our taxi driver who gave us quite a lecture on the oppressive government mandates. We just nodded and agreed. 😉

[sharkster77]

10 hours ago, mlbcruiser said:

Sharkster, I’m so curious to know if, like someone posted two weeks or so ago, they had to turn in their spit test by 7 AM each morning?  Please post if you ever find out. Even after they return.

They just got home from France yesterday, so as of last week they were spitting every morning by 7AM.

[mlbcruiser]

I would be happier to drop mine off even earlier each morning -  BEFORE I go to sleep, often around 1 or 2 a.m.!  
That way I wouldn’t be so likely to lose sleep worrying about how I was going to have to get up early to turn my sample in! 
😉

[mlbcruiser]

By the way, Sharkster, I presume you verified their drop off deadline time? 
Inquring minds want to know. 😊