TomCruise48

24 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

This was posted on another forum, which ships are green to turn in papers I guess for provisional sailing.

 

No carnival ships listed, 0, none.. my april rcl liberty OTS is listed, so it looks like  go. Carnival needs to get on the ball.

 

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/crew-disembarkations-commercial-travel.html

Looks like RCL's and NCL's Healthy Sail Panel approach gave them a head start. 

20 minutes ago, Earthworm Jim said:

 

My guess is they keep the shareholder benefit but increase the number of shares needed to get it. 

This has been my thought for several months.  I didn't want to put it out there for fear of putting the idea in their heads!

This perk is subject to renewal annually by the board of directors.  It has a long history of being renewed, but with the current situation, there is no guarantee that it will be renewed in the future.

8 minutes ago, phoneman69 said:

Has anyone had a ship change done and were you happy with your room assignment or is this something i have to keep an eye on.

Keep an eye on this.  Many others, including us, were unhappy with cabin assignments when Breeze replaced the Radiance.

Interesting that I received an email from Carnival a few hours ago advertising European sailings.  Of course it will not let me book.

After 3 phone calls from our TA to Carnival, we finally received our first gift card refund (one of many still due) today.  It took 136 days from the day Carnival cancelled the cruise until receiving the first refund gift card.

Not happy with our reassignment.  We were in a balcony in a quiet area on Lido forward on Radiance.  They put us one deck below Lido on Breeze below buffet area where we will get noise from above.  There are currently no balcony cabins available on Lido forward on Breeze similar to what we had originally booked on Radiance, so we will probably cancel.

Legend was scheduled to move to NYC, do a TA to England starting 6/2, and sail Europe in the summer.

1 hour ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

That's a shame. Carnival has this system in place, but doesn't seem to be using it.

We booked both our CCL and RCCL cruises through the same TA.  RCCL seems to send out information to the guest and TA simultaneously.  CCL seems to send information to the TA and relies on the TA to pass it on to the guest.  I hope CCL reconsiders this policy.  With things changing so rapidly, the situation could have changed again before the TA is able to contact the guest. 

The only e-mail that we received directly from CCL was on 3/14 at 12:38 am alerting us that our 3/22 cruise was cancelled.  We received both a text and e-mail from RCCL on 3/13 at 8:32 pm telling us that our 3/28 cruise was cancelled.  (Trump had already tweeted a few hours earlier that cruises would be canceled for a month, so we were expecting to hear from the cruise lines.)  I had assumed that those who booked directly with CCL were being notified directly by them.  

Had a CCL cruise booked for 3/22 and a S2S RCCL cruise booked for 3/28 from same port.  Received multiple texts and e-mails from RCCL regarding their cancellation, but just one e-mail from CCL.  RCCL has done a much better job of keeping us informed.

7 minutes ago, lasekeye said:

Oh, this is all so confusing.  Our PVP told us from our original Mardi Gras B2B August 31 sailing from Copenhagen to NY, we would each have 2 FCC’s to use.....total of 4 FCC’s. Each FCC had to be used toward a new sailing.  It couldn’t be split into multiple cruises, it couldn’t be doubled and used on only 1 sailing, “each FCC had to be applied separately to a new cruise”.

Thinking more about this, the FCC for the Mardi Gras was 25% of the base fare.  In our case, the FCC was likely applied to just one of the three sailings.  We were paid in full, so the remainder of the payments were applied to the the other cruises.  So what your PVP told you was probably correct.

In the case of our 3/22 cancelled cruise, we were past final payment date, also paid in full, and the FCC was 100% of the base fare.

The terms and conditions for the FCC offered for the cancelled cruises from 3/14-4/9/2020 are different from those for the FCC offered for the cancelled Mardi Gras sailings.  We had the 15 day 9/30/2020 Mardi Gras Journeys cruise sailing cancelled and were able to apply the FCC to 3 different shorter sailings.

The terms and conditions for the FCC offered for the cancelled cruises from 3/14-4/9/2020 state: "The FCC/OBC may only be used toward the cruise fare of one (1) booking...."  We had our 3/22/2020 Magic cruise cancelled used the FCC for a 2021 sailing costing less.  The excess FCC will be applied as an OBC on the same booking.

This said, I think the Carnival reps have some latitude about applying the terms and conditions.

Maybe they did not want to be inundated with telephone calls over the weekend with fewer staff available.

4 hours ago, AmberTeka said:

I can go to the Post office and see if they got hung up there.  

In the past, Carnival has sent out refund gift cards via FEDEX. 

I’ve been reading posts for days about the current situation.  I can’t help but thinking that now is a good time to take a deep breath, relax, and be thankful for what we have.  My way of looking at this is that I’m not losing money that has already been spent, but rather am losing the experience that I would have had cruising with family, friends, and wonderful crew members.  There will be more opportunities for these experiences in the future.

I’m much more concerned about crew and staff whose livelihood is now affected.  Over our many years of cruising we have met and become friends with several crew and staff members and I’m worried about them now.

17 minutes ago, wannagonow123 said:

None of the other cruise lines implemented the stupid guidelines. 

Posted on another thread about Type 2.  Am quite aware of this since we have  upcoming cruises on both CCL and RCCL and received the 70+ fit to sail requirement from both CCL and RCCL.

 The 70+ health requirement came out of the meeting between VP Pence and cruise line executives 7 days ago.  CLIA, the Cruise Lines International Association, was challenged by Pence to submit a proposal within 48 hours for allowing cruises to continue, while limiting risk to passengers.  The 70+ requirement came from CLIA, not Carnival, although Carnival and other major lines such as RCCL, and NCL are members of CLIA.  These CLIA requirements were rolled out simultaneously by CLIA members including RCCL and NCL just two days ago. 

Under the pressure of the deadline, and trying to respond to ongoing situations, this was not well thought out.  It should have been obvious that few, if any, medical professionals would assume the liability to sign such a letter.  Carnival cannot unilaterally change this CLIA requirement, but as the largest CLIA member should take the leadership role in getting this straightened out.  I expect we will hear something about this soon.

3 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

I would imagine that the 70+ age group wasn't just picked at random. I would think that a little research went into it.

Totally agree.  The main purpose of my post, and similar ones on a couple of other threads, is to point out that this requirement was not unilaterally concocted by Carnival, but rather by CLIA, the industry trade organization.  RCCL, NCL, ... are being bashed as well.  The cruise lines need to work through CLIA to address the issues that have been raised.

20 minutes ago, bury me at sea said:

 

This is a huge issue for me.  Under that policy I will never again be able to sail.  An FCC would be worthless.

Even a full refund would be worthless to you if you paid with Carnival gift cards and could never sail again.  Refund goes to your original form of payment and would be returned as another gift card.  Only option then is to give or sell gift card to someone who could use it.

DW and I have several future cruises all paid in full with discounted gift cards obtained from AARP and Allstate.  We would not be allowed to sail under this policy.  Looks like our children could be getting a lot of free cruises!  Not really too worried at this point.  I think it will all sort out soon.

 The 70+ health requirement came out of the meeting between VP Pence and cruise line executives 7 days ago.  CLIA, the Cruise Lines International Association, was challenged by Pence to submit a proposal within 48 hours for allowing cruises to continue, while limiting risk to passengers.  The 70+ requirement came from CLIA, not Carnival, although Carnival and other major lines such as RCCL, and NCL are members of CLIA.  These CLIA requirements were rolled out simultaneously by CLIA members including RCCL and NCL just two days ago. 

Under the pressure of the deadline, and trying to respond to ongoing situations, this was not well thought out.  It should have been obvious that few, if any, medical professionals would assume the liability to sign such a letter.  Carnival cannot unilaterally change this CLIA requirement, but as the largest CLIA member should take the leadership role in getting this straightened out.  I expect we will hear something about this soon.

38 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

This is what I referring to earlier.  They were in a react world when they made these and that world kept changing.  I canno conceive that they would make them all into one.  If you meant just clarify the wording, then I agree.  

What I suggest is that Carnival clarify what parts of their policies are in effect for cruises starting 4/10 and after.  It is fairly obvious what applies from now until 4/9 – all cruises are cancelled – only decision guests need to make is to get full refund or FCC+ OBC, and they have time to make this decision. 

I think that the most confusing and controversial policy is the 70+ fit to sail.  The individual cruise lines are each being bashed for this, when it actually came from the industry trade group CLIA – Cruise Lines International Association.  After the meeting between cruise line execs and VP Pence one week ago, Pence requested a proposal in 48 hours from the cruise industry.  The industry responded through CLIA with the 70+ fit to sail proposal.  Sounds reasonable based on data showing most COVID-19 deaths were coming from elderly with underlying medical problems.  Under the pressure of the deadline, and trying to respond to ongoing situations, this was not well thought out.  It should have been obvious that few, if any, medical professionals would assume the liability to sign such a letter.

Now that all cruises have been canceled until 4/10, Carnival has a little breathing room and should use this time to clarify their policies.  Three major cancellation policies were issued in a two week period – 1) Ability to cancel through 5/31 and receive FCC or get OBC if you elect to sail; 2) Requirement (from CLIA) for those over age 70 to obtain a release from their doctor and if they could not sail receive a full refund or FCC + OBC; and 3) Cancellation of all cruises through 4/10 and receive full refund or FCC + OBC.  For some guests, more than one of these policies apply and it becomes difficult to sort things out.  I hope that in the next week Carnival reviews these policies to eliminate inconsistencies and extend the date for voluntary cancellation to be more in line with other cruise lines.  Of course, the 70+ policy came from CLIA, and Carnival as the largest CLIA member should take the lead on getting this policy clarified.

Once Carnival straightens out their policies, they should post them along with a FAQ section on their website with the disclaimer that the situation is dynamic, and these policies are subject to change in the future.  If people could get their questions answered on the Carnival website, that would cut down on the volume of phone calls that is overloading their system and those of their travel advisers.  In the best of times, many Carnival customer service reps are not familiar with all the policies, and with this rapidly changing situation, it must be difficult for them to keep up.

11 hours ago, DryCreek said:

Hopefully the crew will be allowed to spread out and make use of those guest staterooms while they're not being used by paying passengers.  That would be something a compassionate employer would consider doing.

That would be a smart thing to do.  Spread out and lower chances of spreading infection.  Out of their 26 ships, it is likely that at least one crew member has contracted COVID-19.

21 minutes ago, DryCreek said:

That is an interesting question I posted on Disqus (Galveston Cruise Cam board).  Someone there seems to think that they are keeping the ships fully staffed during the hiatus.  Would they really do that?

 

I am not familiar with cruise line contracts, but I am sure that they have a Force Majeure clause to protect them.  But, I also have heard that their contracts include transportation to and from the "home" port of the contracted worker.

 

It may just be impossible to actually fly many of the crew to their "home" port, as airlines are likely not going to resume flights to many Asian destinations any time soon.

 

It's going to be insane keeping the ships fueled while at anchor, or pierside if they are lucky enough to get a berth somewhere (like the Vista, in Galveston right now).  What about replenishing water and other foodstuffs?  Don't they have to be in deeper water than anchorage depth to run the distillation plants?

You express many of the things that I have been thinking about.

As you aptly pointed out, there are more ships than there are berths.  Take Long Beach for example, one berth for 3 ships.  I expect that the ships will rotate in and out to re-provision. 

I would expect that all crew and staff would be held on the ship for at least 14 days to make certain that they are not COVID-19 positive before they disembark.  At that point all crew and staff whose contract has ended or will end by 4/10 will probably be released to go home, if they can even get flights home.  They may even release other crew whose contracts will expire shortly after 4/10 since when things start to ramp back up the ships will probably not be sailing near capacity and fewer service workers will be needed.  Some crew and staff may want to extend their contracts (e.g.officers from Italy) since they are probably safer on the ship than at home.

Getting the word out is a huge undertaking.  There is IT work associated with determining which individuals need to be contacted.  Decisions need to be made on what compensation will be offered.  I have two cruises that were supposed to sail in the next 30 days, one on CCL and one on RCCL.  I received an e-mail from RCCL 3 hours after Trump's tweet and the one from CCL 4 hours later.

Both of my cruises were booked through a TA.  RCCL has been sending me all of the pertinent change information simultaneous to sending it to my TA.  Except for the e-mail about yesterday's cancellations, Carnival has relied on sending the information only to my TA and relying on my TA to pass it along.  This adds additional time delay to the notification.  I hope that Carnival will now start doing what RCCL does and send this important information directly to the guest, especially now when the situation is changing daily, if not hourly.

1 hour ago, Cairns Cruisers said:

We are sailing to Alaska soon and haven’t seen any emails or correspondence from Carnival yet. Hardly doing their best.

Carnival has to be overwhelmed with handling a rapidly changing situation and is likely concentrating its efforts on the cruises that were cancelled just yesterday through April 10.  Alaska season begins April 20, and I'm sure that they will be addressing this soon.  Canada has closed its ports to large cruise ships at least through July 1.  This means Carnival cannot call on Victoria or Vancouver, which they use on their Alaskan cruises to satisfy the requirements of the US Passenger Vessel Services Act (PSVA) that requires a foreign port.  Unless the US government gives them an exemption to the PVSA, they will need to cancel Alaskan cruises through July 1.  I would expect that all cruise lines sailing to Alaska are waiting to see if the US government will grant such an exemption before making the cancellation decision.

Should your cruise be cancelled, I would expect that you would receive the same offer of those who had their cruises cancelled yesterday - 100% refund or 100% future cruise credit plus $600 onboard credit if you rebook.