Cunard's Coronavirus Cancellations/Refunds (Merged threads)

[david,Mississauga]

The early season Alaska cruises are back on the booking site - even for the month of June. This is absurd. Cunard knows full well that Canadian ports are closed to cruise ships until the 1st of July - and that is subject to extension. Is this another glitch, one might ask.

[larrythelabrador]

47 minutes ago, david,Mississauga said:

The early season Alaska cruises are back on the booking site - even for the month of June. This is absurd. Cunard knows full well that Canadian ports are closed to cruise ships until the 1st of July - and that is subject to extension. Is this another glitch, one might ask.

Pretty poor I think!  They are still telling me Alaska in June is going ahead 😞 

[Trevor33]

Now is our chance! Let's ALL book the June Alaska cruise ....We all know Canada ports will be closed but perhaps it would wake Cunard up and we could all have 125%FCC ......It is time to book that Q1 Duplex suite....

[jimdee3636]

41 minutes ago, Trevor33 said:

Now is our chance! Let's ALL book the June Alaska cruise ....We all know Canada ports will be closed but perhaps it would wake Cunard up and we could all have 125%FCC ......It is time to book that Q1 Duplex suite....

Brilliant!

[exlondoner]

1 hour ago, Trevor33 said:

Now is our chance! Let's ALL book the June Alaska cruise ....We all know Canada ports will be closed but perhaps it would wake Cunard up and we could all have 125%FCC ......It is time to book that Q1 Duplex suite....

 

At a time when so many businesses are in a state of chaos though no fault of their own, why do you want to increase the chaos at Cunard? Why not try and make things more straightforward?

[Bigmike911]

1 hour ago, Trevor33 said:

Now is our chance! Let's ALL book the June Alaska cruise ....We all know Canada ports will be closed but perhaps it would wake Cunard up and we could all have 125%FCC ......It is time to book that Q1 Duplex suite....

Sorry Trevor, the Duplexes are on QM2 and the Alaska cruises "will be" operated with QE. But it is an interesting thought. 

[sailingskyward]

Interesting to read through this thread. My first ever booking with Cunard, for late May, and I've not heard anything regarding cancellation etc. I recognize they are going through tremendous challenges at the moment, but how hard would it be to simply send an email saying, "We will not be sailing as planned, but refunds could take a while. Sit tight and we'll email you with specific options for your booking."

 

Instead.... nothing. And I booked directly with Cunard, not via travel agent. 

[kentchris]

The word from a reliable TA source posting on social media this morning is that Cunard and P&O will announce their cancellations 'shortly'. 

[Trevor33]

3 hours ago, exlondoner said:

 

At a time when so many businesses are in a state of chaos though no fault of their own, why do you want to increase the chaos at Cunard? Why not try and make things more straightforward?

"Increase the chaos at Cunard" Really??? I call them on February 24th(51 days ago) they promise a prompt reply.It is straightforward - I have a £65,000 cruise booked, they have £11,300 of our money..... Tomorrow day 52 and no contact, 3 emails since..... It clearly is not their fault....... No doubt they will be hoping for another high value booking - its is not their fault as you rightly say......

[beaveh]

2 hours ago, sailingskyward said:

Interesting to read through this thread. My first ever booking with Cunard, for late May, and I've not heard anything regarding cancellation etc. I recognize they are going through tremendous challenges at the moment, but how hard would it be to simply send an email saying, "We will not be sailing as planned, but refunds could take a while. Sit tight and we'll email you with specific options for your booking."

 

Instead.... nothing. And I booked directly with Cunard, not via travel agent. 

 

Same for me. First ever Cunard booking on the  QV out of Southampton on the 31st May.

 

Just waiting to see what happens 😞

 

I’m day dreaming about spending my extra 300 USD OBC.  🙂

[watsonbeau]

Out of interest does anyone know if Cunard is extending the one year time limit for using FCD purchased on board to book a cruise ?

 

i was hoping to book for summer or late 2022 but have no idea when those cruises will come out now. 

[jer_l]

We’re booked on QE to Alaska in June. Knowing it will not sail, I booked an August cruise on HAL to Alaska which was cancelled yesterday. (125% of my deposit—all I had paid so far as FCC, plus $500 OBC for our next cruise. With only three ships, I cannot understand Cunard’s lack of communication. IMO it does not bode well for their future, as they are certainly not going to build trust in this manner. 

[oskidunker]

i was thinking the same thing. Feel sorry for the people not getting refunds.  Have a cruise booked for next fall.. hope my deposit would be transferred to another Carnival line if Cunard doesn't make it. May cancel if I continue to see no one getting refunded after another month. 

[tv24]

I posted this earlier today and am not sure what happened to it.  Seabourn announced today that it's cruises through June 30, 2020 have been cancelled and booked passengers have the standard FCC versus refund options available.  Relevant since Seabourn is part of Carnival Corp.  Maybe Cunard's announcement is soon?

[Host Hattie]

18 minutes ago, tv24 said:

I posted this earlier today and am not sure what happened to it.  Seabourn announced today that it's cruises through June 30, 2020 have been cancelled and booked passengers have the standard FCC versus refund options available.  Relevant since Seabourn is part of Carnival Corp.  Maybe Cunard's announcement is soon?

As I explained earlier on this thread, please keep discussions to Cunard only.

Thanks for your assistance.

[exlondoner]

14 hours ago, Trevor33 said:

"Increase the chaos at Cunard" Really??? I call them on February 24th(51 days ago) they promise a prompt reply.It is straightforward - I have a £65,000 cruise booked, they have £11,300 of our money..... Tomorrow day 52 and no contact, 3 emails since..... It clearly is not their fault....... No doubt they will be hoping for another high value booking - its is not their fault as you rightly say......

 

Well, the coronavirus pandemic really is not their fault. Of course it is straightforward, if you are the only passenger, less so if they have thousands of others, many perhaps sailing before you. Aggravating for you, clearly, but I still don't see why attempting to make extra bookings for sailings you don't want helps the situation.

[ExArkie]

I read through this thread (briefly, may have missed something - so I apologize if everyone knows this already) and didn't see this point stated explicitly. We are in the US and have a booking for a Baltic cruise on Queen Victoria in August of this year, with the reservation having been made through a travel agent about 13 months in advance of the sailing - great price (PG), with the drinks and gratuities included, and more OBC than we probably could use. Under the original booking, the final payment date would be next week, on April 25, which is 120 days from departure.

 

I talked to the TA yesterday to verify that there is no issue with the delay of final payment to 60 days prior to departure (in the words of Pres. Reagan, "trust, but verify"). She checked the details with Cunard before giving an answer, but apparently even though final payment is now June 26, 2020, and the Cunard Web site specifically mentions cancellation penalties starting at 59 days prior to departure, if we were to cancel our booking between April 26 and June 26, we would forfeit our deposit.

 

For US bookings, the deposit has always been refundable up to final payment date, but in this instance that appears to only hold for the original final payment date. I had intended to wait and see about the cruise, probably ending up cancelling it in June because I do not expect the world to be approaching normality by August. Now, it looks like I need to cancel within the next week.

 

Information from Cunard (I scoured the Web site and what I could find of contractual commitments) does not state that the US deposit is nonrefundable past the original final payment date (120 days out). Did I miss something somewhere that would have told me to expect this response?

 

 

[bluemarble]

ExArkie,

 

That doesn't sound right to me that you would lose your deposit by deferring final payment beyond 120 days and then canceling before it's due at 60 days. There is nothing on the US "Book with confidence" page I can find that says that either.

 

Can you confirm for us that the terms of your original booking did indeed include a refundable deposit? I'm only asking because there are quite a few promotions in the US now that include non-refundable deposits. Do you remember the name of the original US promotion you booked under?

[Roger Ackroyd]

Advice please:

Our April 16th (today) cruise ex Southampton on QV was cancelled some time ago. Fine.

However we had booked two excursions before the cancellation so naturally assumed (!!) that we would get an automatic refund of the cost of the excursions on a cruise that Cunard had cancelled themselves. Seeing no monies back in the account I checked with Cunard via email and got this reply:

 

"Thank you for your email. Please accept our sincere apologies for the delay in our reply. 

We are currently experiencing a technical error whereby guests are unable to cancel pre-paid items purchased on My Cunard. Due to the nature of the error we are unable to action cancellations on your behalf. 

We would advise checking My Cunard weekly. Please be advised once your pre-paid item has been cancelled it may take up to 60 days for the refund to be processed due to our current workload. Please be assured that we are working to resolve this technical error as soon as possible."

 

So, trying to enter My Cunard with the booking number and usual name and date of birth what do I get? "Not recognised"

 

Sigh.

 

Any suggestions. Anyone? Thanks in advance.

[bluemarble]

Roger Ackroyd,

 

Sorry for the run-around you are getting. My understanding of Cunard's new policy regarding pre-purchased items in the voyage personaliser is that they will now issue you OBC for a future cruise totaling 110% of what you pre-paid for those items. They will not automatically refund the cost of those items any more.

 

If you want a refund for what you pre-purchased in the voyage personaliser, there is a form to submit to request that. The link to that form can be found on the "Refunds for pre-cruise purchases" page of the Cunard website which in turn can be found on the "COVID-19 – Keeping you updated" page. And yes, it will take up to 60 days for that refund request to be processed.

 

That's how I understand the process anyway. Hope this helps.

Edited April 16, 2020 by bluemarble

[Roger Ackroyd]

Thanks bluemarble. Most helpful. I'll give that a go.

Edited:

Found it!

 

Now, why couldn't Cunard have given me the same details as your good self?

Edited April 16, 2020 by Roger Ackroyd

[ExArkie]

2 hours ago, bluemarble said:

ExArkie,

 

That doesn't sound right to me that you would lose your deposit by deferring final payment beyond 120 days and then canceling before it's due at 60 days. There is nothing on the US "Book with confidence" page I can find that says that either.

 

Can you confirm for us that the terms of your original booking did indeed include a refundable deposit? I'm only asking because there are quite a few promotions in the US now that include non-refundable deposits. Do you remember the name of the original US promotion you booked under?

First, thank you for verifying that I do not appear to be missing an obvious statement that I should have seen. I wondered about that part.

 

As far as I have been able to determine, the original booking was with a refundable deposit, based on the information I received at the time from the TA. However, there is nothing that I have that specifically states that it is a refundable deposit, but my understanding through discussions with the TA at the time of booking was that it is refundable. Supporting evidence: If I cancel before April 26, I get the full deposit returned. 

 

The promotion, booked in July last year, was the Big Balcony Event. I retained a copy of the terms and conditions (yes, slight paranoia is a family characteristic) and it makes no mention of deposit, refundable or not, which implies (absent any other wording to the contrary) that it follows the usual practice at the time for US bookings, which was a refundable deposit.

 

I also called Cunard, after the TA and I spoke on the deposit. I was told the same thing as she was, that I have until June 26 to make final payment, but cancellation penalties - i.e., loss of deposit - start on April 26. 

 

[oskidunker]

Cunard should have made this clear. Ridiculous. Since I transferred deposit to 2021 does not effect me but I was  concerned that this might be the case. 

[bluemarble]

Thanks, ExArkie. Yes, my understanding is that the deposit on the "Big Balcony Event" promotion would have been a standard refundable deposit. And I suspect you paid the standard 25% deposit for US bookings. So, apparently what Cunard is saying for a US booking is that the cancellation penalty is actually as follows for those who defer final payment until 60 days before sailing (my addition in red). That's a pretty important detail to have omitted! Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

 

Cancellation Fee schedule will be as follows

• 119 to 60 Days to Sail: Deposit amount (typically 25% of net fare)
• 31 to 59 Days to Sail: 50% of net fare
• 15 to 30 Days to Sail: 75% of net fare
• 0 to 14 Days to Sail: 100% of net fare

[Trevor33]

Does anyone know why Cunard need to have 60 days to refund peoples money? Why are Cunard insisting on paying anything booked on "My Cunard" as future on board credit ? We pay cash, cruise is cancelled then they want to repay as OBC? I know there are a few that say it is not Cunard's fault they are so busy BUT WHY do they need at least 60 days, they are not slow in wanting a deposit are they? This has NOTHING to do with how busy Cunard are but the way they choose to treat their regular customers. Why  havent Cunard updated it's website regarding when they expect to cruise by ?........ A number of other Carnival Corporation cruise lines have done this days ago. Time for Cunard to get its finger out?