NavyCruiser

Being from Houston, an hour away from Galveston port, so no flights no hotels to deal with pre-cruise. Getting on the Dream Aug 22, when it's 100 degrees & 1000% humidity, heading to even a hotter Cozumel should be fun. So after 3 weeks of operations, hopefully Carnival will have the kinks worked out by then... ;) Now you go back to the 29.5 minutes of doom & gloom 30 minute News Channel....

2 months to go.... Weather in Galveston & Miami close to 90 degrees & getting hotter. We're on the downward side of the curve & States starting to re-open. Retail stores & Restaurants reopens to 50% capacities. Things getting better week by week.... so hopefully in 8 weeks, we'll be sailing again...

Yep. Just got the cancellation email. I've copied a portion: Further suspension through August 31 We were the first cruise line to announce a temporary suspension of operations. We have continued to evaluate the situation, responding accordingly. While restrictions related to COVID-19 are beginning to ease in some countries, travel remains complicated. Therefore, we have made the decision to extend our temporary suspension of operations through August 31, 2020. A Future Cruise Voucher for 125% As a guest whose cruise falls within the extended window of suspended operations, we want to support you and protect your travel investment. Therefore, we are offering a 125% Future Cruise Voucher, found at the bottom of this message. This voucher includes 100% of the monies paid to Viking, plus an additional 25% value. The added value provides an opportunity to enhance your trip – by choosing a longer itinerary; adding a Pre/Post cruise extension; upgrading your stateroom category; or even upgrading to business class air. Additionally, any vouchers you may have applied to this booking have automatically been reinstated, are valid for 24 months and are available for your immediate use. To ensure you have the time and flexibility to plan for your next trip, the 125% Future Cruise Voucher has exclusive and enhanced terms. It is fully transferable, allowing you to gift it to someone with whom you would like to share the joys of travel. It can be applied within the next 24 months to any river, ocean or expedition cruise. If you are unable to use your voucher by the expiration date, simply return your expired voucher to Viking, and we will send you a refund equal to the original amount paid to Viking. As a reminder, if you use your voucher and rebook your cruise – with Viking or your Travel Advisor – by June 30, our Risk Free Guarantee is applicable to your booking. This means you can change your plans up to 24 hours prior to departure, giving you the peace of mind and the flexibility you need to make the best decision for you. Alternatively, if you prefer a refund over the added-value voucher, please request one before June 12, 2020. Details can be found here.

Oatmeal cookies....

Agree that Viking maybe wanted to freeze anymore new bookings for social distancing purposes with having much fewer than max 190 passengers. However, they could just have their sites to stop allowing new bookings for those months & not showing that our Nov 2021 sailing fully functional on the site, & our July 2020 showing: "Your booking is currently locked for updates. Please try again later." That just freaks us out...

Wished Viking would send us regular updates on whether our late July river will still go, or at least the latest news, instead of worthless VikingTV every other day...

Sorry, been confused with using OBC on Royal Carrib to pre-book excursions & activities, since they always have fake sales prices 15 - 40% off, depends on demand, compared to onboard prices. So we always pre-book & reserved with OBC for 2 main reasons: 1. lower prices now, compared to once OnBoard & 2. Make sure our limited space activities, like scuba diving excursions, aren't filled up.

People were afraid Carnival would cancel them if booked for treatment...

So OBC can pay for Gratuities once on onboard. But can't pay for Pre-Paid Gratuities with OBC now... lol

We have generous OBC from previous cancelled cruises. Trying to pre-book excursions for our upcoming cruise, but Carnival asked for credit card payment. So OBC can't be used to pre-book excursions online now? How about once onboard, charge excursion to cabin, then OBC can be used then...?

Thanks, I look at this 2 ways: 1. Carnival generating cash flow now, as they may have to cancel it later in Aug 2. Like the airlines blocking out middle seats for social distancing purposes , Carnival trying to empty out all the interior cabins & moving passengers to ocean views & balcony cabins We like #2 better...

Quick update from my post over a week ago: "Just went to Carnival & other booking sites to see availability of balcony cabins & price difference if we want to upgrade from our current interior cabin for our upcoming late Aug cruise. It shows the difference of only $115 pp between interior & balcony. Great price, so I called Carnival. They said the price difference to upgrade is $350 pp ($700 for us 2 in 1 cabin). Since we booked using VIFP Past Passenger discount, they said that's the price difference. Even asked if other discounts (Military, Senior, AAA, AARP, etc...) were any better, they said VIFP was the lowest. That eats up more than twice the $300 OBC for our 5 day cruise, so didn't make sense for us. Prices are much higher than when we booked back in March, when we were notified that our May booking was cancelled, otherwise we would cancel & rebook if pricing was the same, to get the less upgrade pricing for balcony..." Today, I received an email from Carnival, Subject: You qualify for a stateroom upgrade. Great News, You qualify for an exclusive upgrade offer! This offer is only available on a limited number of staterooms. Starting at $100 Savings of 74% I figured, Great, $100 per person, much better than $350 pp last week, So I clicked on the "Upgrade Now" Icon, Went & picked out new mid-ship Balcony cabin on the 8th Deck. There were about a half to a dozen avail cabins on each deck. Paid $100 TOTAL (for both of us, meaning only $50 EACH). Received confirmation email a few minutes later, stating same reservation #, now with new balcony cabin #, and it shows it as an 8D Balcony. Itemized charges now shows reservation cost are $100 more than previous. Fine print on bottom of email said: Offer is valid for guests with a qualifying VIFP Club Member number Awesome! Now hope this late Aug sailing won't be cancelled... Grea

We did: "Just booked a cruise on Carnival at fantastic price..." But just wanted to cruise RCL as we just made Diamond. Just not at a 33% higher price during hurricane season...

The reason inside rooms are so cheap is that they can't provide you with free electricity, thus no outlets. You must bring an extra long extension cord to connect to the rich people's balcony cabin's outlets... 😎

Lots of issues with Ocean cruise lines. We were very lucky when Gate1Travel's March European river cruise was canceled. Upon our requests for a full refund, they refunded 100% of the cruise price as well as KLM's flights. 4 other family members from Hawaii also got 100% refund, including Delta's flight costs. We were very surprised when we told them we want full refund, instead of FCC, they fully refunded back to our credit cards within a week. Extremely pleased with Gate1Travel. Now hope our Viking river cruise in France is still a go in late July....