Bostonjetset

It really sucks. I'm in the same situation as we canceled our 03/29 NS cruise on Monday and then HAL cancelled it along with all others on Friday. I'm hoping there will be a look-back period of at least a couple weeks as Princess is doing. We will certainly cruise with HAL again but I'd rather have cash-in-hand to use for something else in the meantime.

This is a perfect point. I would also like to add that, with the possible exception of some QM2 crossings, travel by ship is almost 100% for pleasure rather than transportation. If every mode of travel was shut down and the populace essentially became prisoners in their homes I can’t imagine how people would react.

Good to know. Thanks. I will likely book with them again either way but we tried to salvage our vacation time and will go to Mexico instead (unless that gets cancelled too) so would love to have the full refund if possible.

I cancelled our 03/29 Nieuw Statendam cruise on Monday and had the 25% cash refund back on my credit card Wednesday; the FCC will take up to 6 weeks my PCC said and I still haven't received the pre-booked excursions/dinners back yet. I was going to wait closer to the sail date but my PCC said since I was in the 75% cancellation period until today I should just do it then because she would be on vacation next week and I may lapse into the full 100% period resulting in all FCC. Now they go and cancel the cruise anyway so I likely could have gotten a full refund. I hope they retro it for at least a week or two and refund all my money with the exception of the original $100 FCD I used which I'm happy to leave as an FCD. Princess stated they would extend their"offer to "those guests who had made final payment and cancelled their booking on or after February 4, 2020." As a sister line I'd hope HAL does the same. Not a deal breaker but it's unlikely I'll be able to get the same cruise next year for a similar price so it would be nice to have the cash in hand.

This is the same thought we had. I am 37 and DH is 52 and we are in decent health so not at high risk of virus complications even if we did end up with it. However, missed ports, possible quarantine, and a week on the ship wondering "what if 1 person gets a bad cough, etc. etc" does not make for a relaxing holiday. We reluctantly cancelled our March 29th cruise this morning. I really felt bad about it as we'd planned for a year but it is what it is and at least we got 25% back in cash and 75% as an FCC so not all is lost. We will spend the week in Playa Del Carmen instead where at least we won't be stuck in a stateroom or in the middle of the ocean in case of the, however unlikely, event something goes awry.

This whole situation is so unfortunate but I do think HAL is reasonable in their handling of it. We were supposed to leave on the Nieuw Statendam on March 29th and have been waiting for a year for this trip. We decided today that we will cancel and take the FCC [though I was told be HAL that my FlightEase flights will be refunded in cash. She actually broke down what I would get back to my credit card vs what would be in an FCC]. We are in decent health and not elderly so are not too worried about getting sick but the risk of being quarantined or missing ports is too much for DH to stomach. He said he will not enjoy himself if the whole trip he's thinking any minute the captain could come on the PA and announce we cannot dock, either in a port or at the end of our trip. The Princess situations have changed our feelings on the matter; it would suck to miss a flight home because of a delay or be forced into the even worse situation of a quarantine. We've decided to just go to Mexico for the week instead where the risks are less.

No quite an apples to apples comparison. Jamaica is a third world country that relies much more heavily on tourism from cruise ships than Italy. Also, from my admittedly limited knowledge about Italian politics, I was under the impression that much of the complaints with cruise ship over-tourism there has to do with environmental damage to cities that are many hundreds if not thousands of years old and were not built for such large numbers of visitors [i.e. Venice].

Correct but that doesn’t apply to everyone as not everyone has the SDP for one reason or another. I still maintain that the fixed cover charge was more beneficial to passengers, especially when one takes into account one had already paid for meals as part of their fare. A small cover over and above the base fare presumably provides for better ingredients, better atmosphere, and enhanced service from what one would find in the included venues. The current prices in many of NCL’s specialty restaurants are akin to eating out on land when starting from a base of $0. One is not starting from zero on a cruise when it comes to food.

I never understood this either. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to paying a fair cover charge for a speciality restaurant and usually do at least once per cruise on any line. But this a la carte business that NCL “pioneered” is ridiculous to me. The prices are close to what you would pay on land in many cases but you’ve already paid for meals as part of your fare. I live in the Boston area which is one of the most expensive regions of the US and even here you can find lunch specials where a good burger is $12 or less.

Technically true but as she is before final payment she could just cancel her current cruise and book again as a new booking. HAL, and other lines, will usually just adjust the price [at least in my experience] as a courtesy to save everyone involved a lot of hassle.

I've never gotten money back but have been upgraded both times the price has dropped. Once from inside to oceanview and once from inside to oceanview to balcony [this one dropped twice]. I've only asked when the price for the next category drops to less than or equal to what I paid for the original category though. It's always worth asking!

This happened to us on our Nieuw Statendam cruise also. The balconies went down to what we paid for an inside so we got a nice upgrade. I, too, wonder if the coronavirus has impacted reservations even outside of Asia. Enjoy the Panama Canal! That is one I've been longing to do for a while.

I agree with you but this trip was originally planned with 2 other couples who are somewhat more nervous travelers so we agreed to postpone; we will get there eventually.

Our trip on Nieuw Statendam for next month is still going forward and we can’t wait. No worries at all. We had planned to go to Egypt later this year until the bombing of the Iranian general got us a bit worried about the Middle East. We had then thought about going back to China as a replacement but coronavirus put an end to that idea as well. As such we will be spending our anniversary in Barcelona this October with a short MSC cruise in the middle of the trip.

IHG Platinum Select matched to MSC Silver [02/2020]