Final Payment----Making A Decision

[Lou33]

So we had a final payment due today and we were torn about how to make a decision.  But this is our reasoning:  We approached this as if we had nothing booked and we wanted to plan some kind of vacation next year.  If we were starting fresh, knowing what we know today, would we choose to book an NCL cruise in February?  For us, the answer is no.  We were looking forward to our cruise for a long time, but we decided to not let any emotional attachment influence our decision.

 

If we were booked on a different cruise line, maybe Royal Caribbean, our decision would be different.  With NCL, your money is locked 60 days out, but RCI doesn't require final payment until 30 days out.  Maybe some COVID uncertainty will go away by then?  With NCL, you do not have any option to cancel if you are not comfortable later.  With RCI, they have a Cruise with Confidence policy where you can cancel and get FCC as close as 48 hours prior to your cruise.  With NCL you cannot get a refund, only FCC, if you test positive within 14 days of your cruise.  And with Omicron, that is a real possibility.  But RCI will give you a cash refund if you test positive.   Then there is always the possibility of quarantine, which can happen with any cruise line.  NCL changed their policy to offer support if you test positive while on the ship only a few weeks ago.  

 

NCL, we know that you read this forum.  You may be getting a lot of cancellations in the next few weeks, and will you wonder why?  I think NCL does many things very well, but could you consider policy changes to make customers feel more comfortable?  These are extraordinary times, and it takes extraordinary support to get through this.  We are sad that we had to cancel.  I think you will come around and provide a more supportive cancellation policy, but it will be too late for our cruise.

[TNcruising02]

I think you have good reasons to cancel.  If I could cancel and get my money back, I would do it in a heartbeat.  We cruise in mid January.  We had very good experiences with Carnival when the pandemic started and also when they updated their requirements.  We were given the choice of a refund, a full FCC,  or to move our money to a later cruise.  They had no penalties.

I would even be happy if NCL let us move our cruise to a later date without penalty.  Norwegian seems to have the worst plan for the cruisers to deal with the ever changing virus challenges.  This will be our last Norwegian cruise.

If I cancel, I will lose 25% and will only get a FCC.  No chance of getting any of my money back.  I envy the people who are able to cancel without losing money.

[craig01020]

I'm fully paid for my Jan. 9 cruise and I may cancel anyway. The hassles are sucking all the fun out of the trip.

[craig01020]

10 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

I envy the people who are able to cancel without losing money.

Me too!

[BirdTravels]

We have done 3 cruises since the restart of cruising. We loved each one. And would not hesitate to be on another right now. We have 4 cruises booked next year, so far and would happily make final payment today. 
 

Remember,,,, 10’s and 10’s of thousands of people cruise each week. And a very very very very small number are impacted by COVID. If you believe those who have never cruised who post here on Cruise Critic,,,, 90% of passengers are denied boarding and locked in a quarantine facility. Make your final payment and enjoy your cruise. I would not switch to RCL who allow unvaxxed passengers on their ships. 

[craig01020]

16 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

We have done 3 cruises since the restart of cruising.

I did one in October, on NCL with no masks!  Those days are over...for now.

[Lou33]

15 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

a very very very very small number are impacted by COVID.

I disagree.  At first there were maybe a few on each cruise.  Now there are scores testing positive at check-in, and/or on the ship.  And there is no way of knowing how many are testing positive before they even leave home.  Omicron is just starting to take off.  Where we live, 90%+ are vaccinated, and we had been the exception to the problems that the rest of the country has.  But now our case numbers are up 10X , just in the last few days.  

 

I just don't feel that this is the best time to take a cruise.  Especially with a company that has a very restrictive cancellation policy.  We enjoyed our cruise last month and we hope that you enjoy your next one.  But I don't think you will be able to talk about very very very very small numbers in the next few weeks.   

[ChiefMateJRK]

29 minutes ago, craig01020 said:

I did one in October, on NCL with no masks!  Those days are over...for now.

Yeah.  Me too!  Fortunately we just said d$mn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!

[swmichigan cruiser]

 We will probably make a decision soon about canceling our 21 night Panama Canal cruise on the Encore in April.. I figure we will cancel it and replace it with two 7 night Alaskan cruises in May 2023. What will help on the decision is we will keep the 21 night Panama Canal cruise in October 2022 and we have already done the Panama Canal twice before. 

[bigrednole]

Our final payment is on January 30th. I am concerned about that for our April 10 cruise. Omicron appears to be much more infectious than the previous versions. When there were small cases of 4-5 people and their traveling parties impacted, that is one thing. The issue now is it is 50+ infected, their parties, and the people they had close contact with. You are now looking at potentially 500-1000 people impacted. Not a good sign. I have to see what provisions we have for our cruise. With a little over 3.5 months, we have some thinking to do.

 

[CanadianKLM]

Our final is due January 12 and I think we’ll cancel, and if things improve by mid-March we can likely rebook the same cruise. I just don’t want to be locked in for 60 days without any sense of what Covid and NCL will be doing then. 
 

We have to fly internationally to get to the port, and I think we’d have to take at least 4 Covid tests for our trip, and with four family members, that could add up. Coupled with the fear of testing positive and having to quarantine 1000 miles from home - the risks are too great. 
 

We aren’t cancelling our flights or hotels pre and post cruise yet, as they have much more lenient cancellation policies. 

[craig01020]

3 minutes ago, CanadianKLM said:

Our final is due January 12 and I think we’ll cancel,

That sounds smart. I wish I could. My cruise is Jan.9.

 

I expected a New Year's surge, but Omicron is a whole other problem.

[Diane67B]

I had to cancel my cruise. I was devastated to do it but I already have to quarantine for work and if I got covid, I would not be able to afford that much time off work. I lost pretty much everything. As a Canadian, our government is telling us not to travel. It really sucks, but I didn't feel that I had a choice. 

[craig01020]

Just now, Diane67B said:

I lost pretty much everything.

😪 Sorry to hear that.

[Samstress]

Sadly I am going to cancel our upcoming cruise.  Goodbye bucket list trip (for now!).  Final payment is January 8th.  It was back to back Northern Europe & the Baltics (21 days) and since a lot of those countries are changing their rules daily it doesn't make any sense to tie up a large amount of money when the future is so uncertain.  

I wish good luck and happy cruising to all who are brave enough to go ahead!  

Stay safe everyone...

[Samstress]

58 minutes ago, Diane67B said:

I had to cancel my cruise. I was devastated to do it but I already have to quarantine for work and if I got covid, I would not be able to afford that much time off work. I lost pretty much everything. As a Canadian, our government is telling us not to travel. It really sucks, but I didn't feel that I had a choice. 

Did you have insurance?  Since our government has issued a level 3 travel advisory you might be able to claim.  There was also a thread on here where a Canadian had cancelled after final payment & filed a claim with NCL and got FCC's.  It would be worth a try.

[njkate]

NCL needs to adjust their final payment window or I think there will be many cancellations. No one wants to tie up a chunk of money in a situation where things change daily. My final for my May Hawaii/Tahiti is Jan 19th, if they don't move the final to 60 days out I'll be cancelling

Edited December 28, 2021 by njkate

[Steve_MI]

We are cancelling our Alaska trip in May on the Sun due to the mask policy. If they drop it, we’ll rebook. When speaking to NCL on the phone two weeks ago the agent said she was pretty sure masks were here to stay for quite a long time. 

[njkate]

2 minutes ago, Steve_MI said:

We are cancelling our Alaska trip in May on the Sun due to the mask policy. If they drop it, we’ll rebook. When speaking to NCL on the phone two weeks ago the agent said she was pretty sure masks were here to stay for quite a long time. 

Only problem I'd have with that is cost. I looked if I moved my Hawaii/Tahiti from May to October and cost has more then doubled. I'm not paying over 13K for an Oceanview room when I only paid 6200K when I booked for May. Alaska you may luck out on pricing

[Steve_MI]

3 minutes ago, njkate said:

Only problem I'd have with that is cost. I looked if I moved my Hawaii/Tahiti from May to October and cost has more then doubled. I'm not paying over 13K for an Oceanview room when I only paid 6200K when I booked for May. Alaska you may luck out on pricing

Very good point. I think Alaska will be very similar cost and availability, especially for mid-May. Hawaii is a a whole different story. 

[bigrednole]

15 minutes ago, njkate said:

Only problem I'd have with that is cost. I looked if I moved my Hawaii/Tahiti from May to October and cost has more then doubled. I'm not paying over 13K for an Oceanview room when I only paid 6200K when I booked for May. Alaska you may luck out on pricing

I have looked at all options as well. If we move our April cruise, there is nothing else I can afford to pay when we would be able to cruise again. I'm $3200 all in for my cruise (cruise, flights, gratuities, insurance, etc). No matter what, all cruises we could take are going to be $2000 more no matter what cruise line. 

Edited December 28, 2021 by bigrednole

[Diane67B]

1 hour ago, Samstress said:

Did you have insurance?  Since our government has issued a level 3 travel advisory you might be able to claim.  There was also a thread on here where a Canadian had cancelled after final payment & filed a claim with NCL and got FCC's.  It would be worth a try.

I had CAA, which didn't cover cancellation because of the pandemic and Manulife that covered quarantine expenses if I got covid. Thanks for trying though. I am going to try and move some FCCs I still had to 2023 though. My sister and I would definitely go next year, especially if we had fcc. 

Edited December 28, 2021 by Diane67B
Added

[MichiganBound]

I did no cruising in 2021 at all.  I took the decision early in the year that I would not cruise in 2021 given all the challenges that COVID brings.  I'm confident I made the right decision...for me.

 

As 2021 comes to a close and we look out at 2022, I have no current cruise plans and I won't make any until the USA is past the Omicron outbreak and things settle down a bit...it they do settle down.  If I did have any cruise booked for January-March 2022, I would be doing everything I could to cancel them.  No way would I cruise in the current Omicron environment.  I'm fully vaxxed and boosted so I'm not scared of getting a serious case of COVID.  Nor does wearing a mask on-board the ship bother me one bit.   Frankly I prefer a masking policy on-board.  My main concern is testing positive somewhere along the way and having to quarantine.  To me, that is the big problem.  Whether the positive test occurs pre-boarding at the port or once on-board whilst underway, it really messes things up.  You end up either not being able to get on the ship at all or you have to quarantine whilst on-board.  I'm not willing to deal with that uncertainty.

 

I don't blame NCL or any of the cruise lines for any of their policies.  They are doing the best they can under very difficult circumstances.

 

With the speed that Omicron is spreading, things may look much more positive by the end of January and I may feel differently.  But for right now?  No cruising for me.  I fully understand people's desire to cancel any short-term cruise plans.  I would be doing the same.

[wampuscat7]

Prior to Omicron, I felt comfortable with the 60-day window for final payment as a vaccinated and boosted adult with a vaccinated spouse and child. Now, the percent of positives on ships is still small, but I suspect it will grow in the coming months. Again, logically, I know that if I get Omicron, I would probably be just fine, and frankly, sending my kid to school or going to the office where I live is probably more risky than being on a ship. 

 

However, emotionally, the risk of losing another vacation, losing the money, being quarantined, etc. has turned some of the vacation anticipation into anxiousness. I wish I had just taken the refund for our canceled cruise instead of the FCC plus bonus. If I could choose Royal or an alternative land-based domestic vacation right now, it would not be less risky, but I would feel a greater sense of control over the outcome. 

 

I'm really glad that others have been able to cruise safely and felt comfortable. I'm just bummed because every time we even look at a vacation, another variant spikes covid cases. 

Edited December 28, 2021 by wampuscat7

[Adian80]

I'm considering canceling our March cruise. Final payment is on January 7, so I have 10ish days to decide. Not afraid of getting sick, but don't want such a huge chuck of my vacation dollars tied up. With ships being denied docking in many countries, entertainment being canceled on-board I just don't think cruising will be back to the new normal by March. We did a Royal cruise in November and were very happy with how it went,  but things have changed again.