Cunard's Coronavirus Cancellations/Refunds (Merged threads)

[alc13]

6 minutes ago, SilverHengroen said:

Even that seems optimistic. At best, sailings may resume in the final quarter of the year, at worst well into next year.

Exactly. 

 

May 15, sheesh.

[oskidunker]

What he means you have to wait for cash refund if your cruise is after May 15. :.(

[jimdee3636]

My wife and I are booked on the QE Vancouver-to-Yokohama sailing, 19 nights beginning September 8, 2020. I just checked the Cunard website to see if it's still being listed (it is), but was surprised to see that the nine-night Japan cruise immediately following it could be combined with it for only $200 pp extra for an interior ($2799 for a 19 night cruise, $2999 for the "full" 28 nights). There's a $950 pp difference if you book a balcony, but that's still barely $100 pp, per day additional. (Of course, there would be higher port charges for the longer version of the cruise).

 

For someone who has the extra nine days (we don't) and who's willing to roll the dice in this crazy environment, the longer version of the cruise might be a great deal.

[Lakesregion]

4 hours ago, SilverHengroen said:

Even that seems optimistic. At best, sailings may resume in the final quarter of the year, at worst well into next year. It depends on how long it takes for it to be deemed safe to start shipping people internationally - particularly when that travel is non essential. Getting insurance is going to be quite difficult before antiviral drugs at the bare minimum are available in quantity. Then, of course, there's the simple logistics of getting ships back fully crewed, stocked, and in position to pick up what's left of their schedules for this year. 

Were I in the port scheduling department, I would have a hard look at those ports that refused my ships entry to accommodate stranded passengers etc. 

[oskidunker]

That would be about every port they tried. 

[Trevor33]

We all understand the Booking Conditions/the pages of small almost ineligible small print in the back of the brochures. The World is in the midst of a Pandemic which no one saw coming. We all are mindful at this time for all that are suffering the virus and those many lives across the World that have been lost. The World will be a different place after and will take time for the cruise industry and travel to recover to whatever degree it will. Whilst the cruise industry is not responsible  for the Pandemic it has operated in an expanding market place for many years, vast profits, regular new ships, large profits in return for mostly happy vacations. When Cruising ceased many people had their holidays cancelled  or altered. Understandably ports were closed and itinerary changes changed some cruises completely. Having a future cruise booking with Cunard at the time cruises were cancelled I am in a position(as many will be) where Cunard have £11,000 plus of our money as a deposit for a future cruise. Whilst we understand Cunard is a business should they be allowing booked passengers to take back the deposits they hold "Without Strings Attached" in light of peoples fears regarding cruising in light of the Carnival/Princes cruises/Holland America problems of recent weeks? Whilst this is not just affecting Carnival should they be taking a "Fair Stand" as it has the monopoly  all the cruise lines. People are worried about cruising now and post Pandemic(see Cruise Critic Survey) so should the cruise lines be more understanding and responsible at a time when many thousands have died and currently over a million people have contracted Coronavirus? 

[majortom10]

The biggest problem is I think Carnival as a company are very close to the edge of folding completely so therefore many people would lose a lot of money and if they refunded everybody their monies paid even for cruises not yet cancelled it would seriously harm their cashflow and current costs they are incurring and push them over that edge.

[MandH]

2 hours ago, Trevor33 said:

 People are worried about cruising now and post Pandemic(see Cruise Critic Survey) so should the cruise lines be more understanding and responsible at a time when many thousands have died and currently over a million people have contracted Coronavirus? 

Hi Trevor33, where is the Cruise critic survey?

[Trevor33]

It was on the main page

[exlondoner]

1 hour ago, majortom10 said:

The biggest problem is I think Carnival as a company are very close to the edge of folding completely so therefore many people would lose a lot of money and if they refunded everybody their monies paid even for cruises not yet cancelled it would seriously harm their cashflow and current costs they are incurring and push them over that edge.

 

Are they closer than their rivals, or is it universal among passenger shipping companies?

[majortom10]

4 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

 

Are they closer than their rivals, or is it universal among passenger shipping companies?

I am not sure about RCCL and other cruise companies and what conditions their accounts are in but obviously Carnival are struggling if they have to get a cash injection at such a high interest rate of 11.5% and have to put ships up as collateral so obviously those that have lent the money are not confident of getting their money back. That is why there is currently no confidence in Carnival shares and this morning were as low as £5.84.

[Ray66]

Carnival raised a $6bn fund-raising package on Tuesday.

https://www.ft.com/content/c3890c4e-d8a7-41ae-abea-b8bb714d803b

 

Carnival Corporation, in a recent SEC filing, has detailed the costs associated with a hot lay up - referred to as a warm lay up in Carnival's filing - at $2 to $3 million per month per vessel.

Carnival said the cost per prolonged ship lay up is appropriately $1 million per month, which it said it anticipates doing for the majority of its fleet.

A prolonged lay up will generally see reduced crewing and limited technical operations, also meaning the ship could take weeks to be ready to return to service.

"During the pause in our global fleet cruise operations, certain of our ships will be in warm ship lay up where the ship will be manned by a full crew and certain of our ships will be in a prolonged ship lay up where the ship will be manned by a limited crew," Carnival said.

"We will decide whether each vessel in our global fleet will be in a warm ship lay up or a prolonged ship lay up depending on the circumstances, including the length of pause, which we expect to be extended and may be prolonged," the company said.

"We currently estimate the substantial majority of our fleet will be in prolonged ship layup," Carnival said, in the filing. 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/22713-hot-lay-up-to-cost-millions-per-month-per-cruise-ship.html

[hypercafe]

If this goes on for a long time I believe Carnival will file for bankruptcy, coming out with only the brands that can sail in the new world. I see the short trips that go RT to Bermuda, Canada and the Caribbean from the east coast as an example however I don't believe these world cruise or Asian or remote places to be popular. There we be way too many ships in total so many will go.

[IB2]

5 minutes ago, hypercafe said:

If this goes on for a long time I believe Carnival will file for bankruptcy, coming out with only the brands that can sail in the new world. I see the short trips that go RT to Bermuda, Canada and the Caribbean from the east coast as an example however I don't believe these world cruise or Asian or remote places to be popular. There we be way too many ships in total so many will go.

The other issue is that as well as beefing up medical resilience on board, I believe that cruise companies will need to do more passenger screening as part of the drive to rebuild credibility, particularly with accepting ports, that will be necessary once this crisis is over.  The habit - which particularly affects world cruises - of taking passengers regardless of their serious medical conditions will have to stop.  Cunard might be better turning the QM2 into an exclusively transatlantic ferry, and drop its spring world cruise, which is already notorious for deaths on board.

[Guest SilverHengroen]

13 hours ago, Lakesregion said:

Were I in the port scheduling department, I would have a hard look at those ports that refused my ships entry to accommodate stranded passengers etc. 

On the whole, it sounds like South American/ Caribbean ports have been the most difficult (Rotterdam/ Zaandam) but equally I think given their healthcare infrastructure that's not completely unreasonable. I'm glad they ended up finding safe harbour in Florida. I could see those cruise brands that operate world cruises calling them off anyway, certainly for 2021, maybe even 2022. 

 

4 hours ago, majortom10 said:

The biggest problem is I think Carnival as a company are very close to the edge of folding completely so therefore many people would lose a lot of money and if they refunded everybody their monies paid even for cruises not yet cancelled it would seriously harm their cashflow and current costs they are incurring and push them over that edge.

At the moment, I don't think I'd agree they are 'close to folding' - they have a lot of equity to liquidate before they get to that stage. I definitely wouldn't say they're in the clear, I probably wouldn't be investing any serious capital in them at this stage no matter how appealing the stock price looks, but there's still a good chance they will pull through this, maybe having to sell (or more likely scrap considering the state the cruise market will be in for a good while yet) any older tonnage lingering in its fleets. 

 

If there's a big, ongoing slump in passenger numbers after the vaccine arrives and things go relatively back to normal, that's when I'd start considering this to be a potentially unrecoverable situation for them. 

[bunkrest]

Received first email from Cunard today the day before the cruise was supposed to depart tomorrow.
Basically email telling me to either opt for a cash refund for excursions or the money converted to on board credit at 110%.



Sent from my iPad using Forums

[devonport]

Hi All

Just had a email from Cunard offering me 125% future OBC or a full 100% refund

(60 day wait) on my two trips that I had booked for my cruise from Cape Town to Southampton 1st April, I have just filled the online form in for a complete 100% refund.

 

This is where Cunard let themselves down - I spoke two weeks ago to a lady at Cunard for a refund for my trips booked, she took all my details and said it will be sent to accounts to be processed.  Last week I noticed on Cunard site a request to fill in online form if you wanted a complete refund on trips already booked, so I applied.

So with today's form sent that's THREE times Cunard have been informed of what I requested.  

Is this just a stalling tool?

I appreciate they are busy and mistakes can be made, this is my money can I please have it back even with a two month wait.

Carnival share price is dropping like a stone how long before they are suspended, and potentially cease to trade?

[Mabbiesmum]

Having completed the online form for a cash refund it would be helpful to receive some sort of email confirmation. The lack of response gives rise to concern that it has just dropped into a black hole somewhere and when, in 60 days, no refund arrives must start the whole battle again

[oskidunker]

Stock stable today at 8.18. Bought some yesterday at 8, bought some at 8.9 and some at 9.5. 
 

my plan is to keep 100 shares for onboard credit. The rest I will sell once I make 30%. Then if they declare bankruptcy I will only lose  $4-500.00. The stock likelt to be volatile for a while but you can make some money in the short term.  

[Trevor33]

It would appear that the carnival Group borrowed an enormous sum of money a few weeks ago. If all the information is correct this is at a said interest rate of 11.5%. I wrote to Cunard myself on February 24th but have not received a reply to my email at this time. Whilst I understand that they are busy the company currently have in excess of £11,000 so I would have hoped that as no ships are at sea then Carnival Headquarters in Southampton would have allocated more of its staff to answering what would obviously be additional correspondence from their paying customers. It is extremely worrying that people with bookings/cancelled cruises are being left in the dark. I would be pretty certain that Carnival would realise that their paying customers will give much thought to future bookings. With all the talk online about Carnival not being able to survive this is VERY worrying indeed. There must be someone from carnival/Cunard reading these posts but there doesnt seem to be a response here either. Why?

[oskidunker]

Here is an interesting article on why they will not declare bankruptcy https://seekingalpha.com/article/4335789-carnival-corp-wont-go-bankrupt-dive-debt

[jland]

3 hours ago, oskidunker said:

Here is an interesting article on why they will not declare bankruptcy https://seekingalpha.com/article/4335789-carnival-corp-wont-go-bankrupt-dive-debt

That article assumes cruise passenger numbers will return to normal after this crisis. How many are like us who will only consider cruising again if the cruise companies lift their game when it comes to screening passengers before boarding. We would also worry about giving more money, i.e deposit to a cruise company now we realise how difficult it is to get a refund when they cancel the cruise. Very quick to take money, very slow to return.

[Edithclara]

31 Mar:email from Cunard re 12 April QE cruise: complete online form for refund which will take up to 60 days or take 125% FCC

 

2 April:email from TA. 

.....Recently we have had to make some changes to our refund policy, which affects all cancellations. We have been informed by many of our suppliers that refund processing times have increased substantially, this has had an impact on our ability to process refunds within the next 3-6 months Regarding your voyage cancellation we are offering you a choice of future cruise credit as outlined below.

Option A- If you would prefer to receive the future cruise credit offered by Cunard. No further action is required as Cunard will default to this option.

Option B – For passengers not opting for a future cruise credit with Cunard. We will be offering a credit for 100% of your cruise including port fees and taxes, this will be available for you for up to 24 months from your original cruise date. We wish to reassure you that if your credit cannot be used within this period it will be refunded in full however may take 6 months onwards after request.....

 

 

[seacruise9]

8 hours ago, Mabbiesmum said:

Having completed the online form for a cash refund it would be helpful to receive some sort of email confirmation. The lack of response gives rise to concern that it has just dropped into a black hole somewhere and when, in 60 days, no refund arrives must start the whole battle again

 

Hi,

 

I thought the same thing. I submitted my online cash refund forms (one form for the cruise fare and another form for the pre-paid shore excursions) on Monday. There was no email confirmation of my claim. I am not very optimistic about receiving the refund in 60 days.

 

Chuck

[lissie]

23 hours ago, jimdee3636 said:

My wife and I are booked on the QE Vancouver-to-Yokohama sailing, 19 nights beginning September 8, 2020. I just checked the Cunard website to see if it's still being listed (it is), but was surprised to see that the nine-night Japan cruise immediately following it could be combined with it for only $200 pp extra for an interior ($2799 for a 19 night cruise, $2999 for the "full" 28 nights). There's a $950 pp difference if you book a balcony, but that's still barely $100 pp, per day additional. (Of course, there would be higher port charges for the longer version of the cruise).

 

For someone who has the extra nine days (we don't) and who's willing to roll the dice in this crazy environment, the longer version of the cruise might be a great deal.

 

Interesting - all prices in NZ$  from the Au site: 

Alaska-Japan 19 days 8 - 28 Sept  $2588  $136 / day US$79

Alaska - Japan 28 day 8 Sept - 7 Oct  $4824 $172/day US$100

Japan 9 days 28 Sept -  7 Oct $2162  $240/day US$140 

 

Those ae all inclusive prices inc tax, port charges so  at least we're not being asked to pay more (which is normally the case). But I  can't why you can get the extra Japan extension so much for so little more - did you pay more for the initial cruise

 

These all cheapest grade cabins