Well we cancelled our cruise!

[fudge]

We finally bit the bullet today and cancelled our forthcoming cruise out of Barbados on the 19th February. It was a really difficult decision, lots of ifs and buts however, looking at cruising at present it looks like most cruise lines now have Covid some worse than others.

 

For us we couldn't afford the risk of catching it and going into quarantine or being asked to leave the ship at a port. The idea of all that testing and bobbing around in the sea for days on end just didnt appeal to us, a real shame but hey ho. Thankfully Seabourn offered us a 50/50 split, 50 percent cash return, 50 percent on a future cruise which must be taken before December this year. 

Good luck to those who have chosen to sail. 

[cruiseej]

We're booked on the cruise the following week. We're going to wait another two weeks before making our decision whether to go or cancel.

 

So under Seabourn's Book With Confidence policy, we can cancel prior to 30 days before sailing and receive our full payment in the form of a FCC, correct? But because of the current Covid craziness, they're offering (some or all) people 50% back as a cash refund and 50% back as a FCC, instead of 100% FCC?

 

Our problem, if we were to cancel, is that we have a land trip in Italy booked for October, and a December Antarctica cruise which has been delayed and rebooked from 2020 and 2021; it would be hard to wait a few months and then fit in another cruise to use up the FCC if it has to be used in 2022.

 

[fudge]

We were going to wait however, we only had until this coming Saturday to take the 50/50 offer, after that it was take the cruise, or yes 100 percent FCC, or cancel loosing a great deal of cash. 

We are the same, its real pain now trying to squeeze another cruise in this year, we have one booked in June with SS and one in October with Regent.

I am looking for a 1 week cruise, that would suffice.

Unfortunately the more I read on this board and especially on the SS board, matters appear to be getting worse!

At the end of the day, its personal choice, the risk was just too much, I cant imagine being in quarantine or bobbing around on the sea not getting into ports.

[highplanesdrifters]

I love Seabourn.  But, I have been very disappointed  in Seabourns inflexibility.  Many of us have had so many cruises canceled over the last few years and have more FCCs than we can use in a years time. My TA has gotten one concession,  but not without a battle.  Her time is better spent.   I'm not booking with Seabourn until we have a clearer picture of where Covid is going or they change their unwillingness to work with clients who have supported them. 

[fudge]

I couldn't agree more, I chose a lovely Seabourn cruise in March 2023 but Seabourn wont have it, really tight squeeze for us to cram another one in Before December, as much as we like cruising.

[ExF-J]

I feel your pain. We long to be back on board and have been within a hair's breadth of booking two or three times, but the covid waves keep on coming and disrupting our plans. The 50/50 split you were offered seems quite reasonable under the circumstances. Unfortunately the cruise we would dearly love to do is a WC segment, and Seabourn don't offer any Book With Confidence support on WC segments. It seems a huge gamble to make a booking.

[Mauzac]

We've booked the Grand Pacific Voyage for this year because we just think we could be holding back for years (and we aren't getting any younger!)

 

Foolhardy maybe.  A gamble maybe.  But how much longer can it go on like this.  We will be examining our options more closely in a few months and will keep everything x'd meanwhile!

 

I totally understand your decision Fudge, it's all so difficult.  

[2SailingNomads]

5 hours ago, fudge said:

We were going to wait however, we only had until this coming Saturday to take the 50/50 offer, after that it was take the cruise, or yes 100 percent FCC, or cancel loosing a great deal of cash. 

[...]

At the end of the day, its personal choice, the risk was just too much, I cant imagine being in quarantine or bobbing around on the sea not getting into ports.

I was not aware of the 50/50 offer.  Is that something recent?  We are close to the 30 day window and are 98% sure we too are going to cancel given the current state.  Good friends are on right now, and while they have stayed safe, lots of cancelled ports, restricted to ship tours, etc. so not the usual Seabourn experience even if you manage to not get infected.  

 

[FlyingScotSailors]

The 50/50 offer seems consistent with Seabourn's cancellation policy, with the "book with confidence" offer of FCC for the otherwise lost money, since it would appear that Fudge was over 45 days out, at least at the start of the process.

 

Cruises 25 Days Or Less:
Days Prior to Departure    Cancellation Fee     
120-91 days    15% of full fare     
90-46 days    50% of full fare     
45-31 days    75% of full fare     
30 days or less, or non-appearance    100% of full fare    

 

 

[2SailingNomads]

Thanks FlyingScotSailors.  I thought Fudge left on the 19th which is under 45 days - especially since they wrote: " only had until this coming Saturday to take the 50/50, offer, after that it was take the cruise, or yes 100 percent FCC". 

 

45 days would have been Jan 5th to qualify for the 50/50 option not Jan 8th, plus why then either 50/50 or 100 FCC with one day difference hence my question.  

 

[FlyingScotSailors]

Good questions Ed.

 

Our refund was approximately but not exactly 25%, so perhaps Seabourn is "fudging" dates and amounts. 🤔🙄

[2SailingNomads]

Which one were you on Peter?  We are on the Ovation Feb 13th sailing.  Given some other cruise lines are pausing - and do the cruise lines really want to have to handle 100 or more people in quarantine??? - I wonder if Seabourn and others might consider cancelling the next 4-6 weeks of cruises.  I know it is a financial issue to stop but if stories coming out about Ovation are true that they don't have enough healthy crew to even open the Sky Bar it has to at some point, at least I would l think, make more sense to pause until - hopefully - this wave passes.  

[FlyingScotSailors]

We were booked on the Ovation January 30, 2022.  We cancelled on December 28.  A closed Sky Bar would be a disaster! 😂

 

It would now seem likely that other cruise lines besides Norwegian might cancel cruises.  Our personal experience does not necessarily predict the future but, in March 2020 we cancelled our Seabourn April 2020 TA cruise (that Mauzac was also on) right before the then 30 day cancel for FCC limit expired.  A few days later, Seabourn cancelled the cruise and offered full refund or increased (by some percentage that we don't recall) FCC.

[fudge]

Just to clarify our position. 

I only found out about the 50/50 option from a poster on here. I contacted my TA on a whim to see if they could get the 50/50, thankfully they did even though it was outside the date. 

[robertmartha]

RC just announced they are cancelling sailings on 4  ships for this month sailing out of FL

Not that anyone wants to see another shut-down (even for a few weeks) - but I don't think the industry could withstand another wave of bad press like it had with the initial on-set of the virus and I think most customers would appreciate the advanced notice.

 

Just my opinion.....

Bob

[Dunnedg]

Its a gamble. We were booked on the 5 March cruise on Odyssey from Barbados.

We cancelled today with our deposit being converted to a FCC. Not a massive amount but likely to be lost. Like many, we have a busy holiday year ahead trying to catch up with the past couple of years. We will struggle to find time to fit another cruise in and am not interested in spending additional thousands going to places I am not interested in, simply to protect hundreds. 
Of course its a personal decision but for us it was now or never. Odyssey dropped destinations we wanted to visit already and over the past 10 days they have already been turned away from at least 4 ports.

We really love Seabourn cruising but destinations are more important than sailing and the prospect of bobbing about in the Caribbean for 7 nights without visiting a port was not for us. Being quarantined because of a Covid also came into our thoughts.

Of course there is always the chance that Seabourn may pause their cruises and we lose out in a full refund. Things may improve and we might be wrong and miss out in a great cruise.

Seabourn have actually been quite generous with their cancelation terms but the expiry date could be a lot better. I hope it doesn’t come back to haunt them. 
Good wishes to everyone and hope whatever decision you make is the right one for your own situation.

[cruiseej]

7 hours ago, Mauzac said:

But how much longer can it go on like this.

 

Weren't we saying this last year at this time? Covid cases had surged and reached an all-time high, but vaccines were ramping up, and we all thought a return to some degree of normalcy was on the way. And by this summer/fall, it seemed like it was. Until it wasn't. 

 

Sigh.

[Mauzac]

5 hours ago, LouChamp said:

You did the right thing.  Now is not the time to sail

 

Oh heck!  Says me due to embark 3 weeks today!

[SLSD]

2 hours ago, cruiseej said:

 

Weren't we saying this last year at this time? Covid cases had surged and reached an all-time high, but vaccines were ramping up, and we all thought a return to some degree of normalcy was on the way. And by this summer/fall, it seemed like it was. Until it wasn't. 

 

Sigh.

It is beyond frustrating that we will soon be entering a third year of the virus.  I've been reading here and on FB about both Seabourn and Silversea cruises  and things are not looking good.  I think everyone on board ships is trying to make the best of things.  We are going to stand by until things are better---and I hope they get better.  Surely they will. When they do get better, we will be ready to sail.  All best wishes to everyone on a Seabourn ship right now.   

 

 

[Navis]

So we’re in the same boat (apologies for the pun) as many others. Our biggest issue is that we are still using our March 2020 credits for our March 12th Odyssey cruise. I called earlier today to ask about cancelling (for the 4th time) and whether our original credit from 2020 would be extended (as it is set to expire 3/13/22). I was told they would not extend the 2020 credit, but we could get a credit for the “upgraded” fare we paid last summer to bump up from our existing suite to the Signature Suite we currently have.

 

The expiring cruise credits are very significant and I just can’t swallow walking away from so much money, but I have all the same concerns that have been stated above. This is to be our first Seabourn cruise and I’m worried that it is going to be hard to enjoy it even if we go because who knows what the next day will bring. In most ways, I can just roll with the punches, but sadly traveling for me is difficult (even in my mid 40s) due to a terrible lower back and multiple back surgeries. I can’t simply be dropped off in any port and left to get my own way home … I need to plan travel with lie flat seating as my ability to sit longer than about 30mins is very limited .. . Anyway, I know that is just a me issue but it does give me great pause and just adds stress to what should be a time of great anticipation.

 

FWIW, I did get a survey from Seabourn tonight … from the few questions they asked I would guess they are thinking about changing the vax requirements to include boosters … not that that matters for us as we’ve both already fully vaxxed and boosted already. Not sure if they sent the survey to just a random sample or folks who have up upcoming cruises.

[ExF-J]

21 hours ago, cruiseej said:

 

Weren't we saying this last year at this time? Covid cases had surged and reached an all-time high, but vaccines were ramping up, and we all thought a return to some degree of normalcy was on the way. And by this summer/fall, it seemed like it was. Until it wasn't. 

 

Sigh.

Wishfull thinking perhaps.... I was reading something the other day which, coincidently, was talking about the 1918 influenza pandemic - lockdowns, facemasks,  millions dead - you know the score.

" By November all the cabarets and taverns had been closed. But then, by the end of the month, strangely, the influenza epidemic began to lift! Just as everyone began to think it would never end, it began to disapear as mysteriously as it came! it seemed to have run its course...."

One can only hope

[rkacruiser]

1 hour ago, ExF-J said:

Wishfull thinking perhaps.... I was reading something the other day which, coincidently, was talking about the 1918 influenza pandemic - lockdowns, facemasks,  millions dead - you know the score.

" By November all the cabarets and taverns had been closed. But then, by the end of the month, strangely, the influenza epidemic began to lift! Just as everyone began to think it would never end, it began to disapear as mysteriously as it came! it seemed to have run its course...."

One can only hope

 

Consider the societal and political differences of 2022 and 1918.  1918, WW I was ending.  The country had been united against a common foe that we helped to defeat.  2022?  There is a common foe.  Too many among us don't recognize that defeating that common foe means putting your neighbor's interest before your own personal preferences. 

 

Why do we Americans--as well as other nationalities--keep failing to learn from history?   

[Hlitner]

This thread is somewhat depressing :(.  So I am posting positive thoughts :).   While there are certainly some excellent reasons to cancel cruises and trips some of us continue to live our traveling/cruising lifestyle and look to the future with optimism.  We cruised in July/August on the Ovation (Greece) and had a fabulous time with a terrific group of fellow passengers and amazing crew.  In October we spent 2 weeks cruising on the Odyssey and again had a fantastic Seabourn time.  Our next SB cruise is in late March on the Ovation  (Florida to Monte Carlo) and there is no way we would consider canceling that cruise!  If SB operates the voyage we intend to be aboard enjoying every moment.  And as long as Europe allows us to enjoy some of that continent we plan on spending several post cruise weeks working our way to Prague.  

 

I post this so that folks can understand that some of us have adjusted (and continue to adjust) to living with COVID.  This darn virus is not going away and we will continue to find ways to travel/cruise knowing that COVID presents one more risk (out of many) and involves some challenges.

 

Hank

[Dunnedg]

Hlitner

Each to there own. As it happens I tried to cruise in July and August last year but both cruises were cancelled, not by me but by the cruise companies. We are coming to Barbados as planned late Feb but instead of having 10 days in Barbados and 7 cruising we will have 17 days in Barbados. I know the population of BRbados will benefit from my extra spending.

You can cruise as you wish and I hope you have a successful and enjoyable cruise at the end of March. For us we have no wish to spend £6k + bobbing about in the Caribbean not knowing if we will be allowed to dock in any of the scheduled  ports. 2 years ago we boarded a cruise ship in Barbados for a 7 night cruise. The next morning we arrived back in Bridgetown because the cruise had been cancelled overnight.  The reason was that none of the scheduled ports would allow the ship to visit. Given the Odyssey  has missed 4 ports in the past 10 days it is a good guess that issues will continue and we have no wish to repeat our experience of 2 years ago.

You can 'adjust' as you like but it doesn't mean that the decisions that many on this thread have made are wrong.

[ernieb]

20 hours ago, Navis said:

FWIW, I did get a survey from Seabourn tonight … from the few questions they asked I would guess they are thinking about changing the vax requirements to include boosters … not that that matters for us as we’ve both already fully vaxxed and boosted already. Not sure if they sent the survey to just a random sample or folks who have up upcoming cruises.

We just received this survey as well. We are also fully vaxed and boosted. I did indicate I would be more comfortable if the boosters were required. We are new to Seabourn so I suspect it was to a random sample.

 

Hank, I appreciate your more optimistic outlook. We will be on our first Seabourn cruise in late April and May through the Panama Canal on the Odyssey.