June Cruise to Europe

[mr. godfredo]

I am currently booked on the Zuiderdam for the June 20th sailing from Rome to Copenhagen. I know that all of Italy is currently on "lockdown" so I am getting a bit nervous. This sailing leaves from Rome, but doesn't hit any other Italian ports. My wondering is if HAL might simply change the initial sailing port. I need to make my final payment on March 22nd, so it is coming down to the wire. We reserved our flights through HAL (they would need to be paid for with the final payment) so hopefully if they change from Rome to another port, they would be able to get us to the ship. This is certainly a crazy time for cruisers! My wife and I are in our late 40's and have no real health concerns, so we wnat to make this trip, but I also want to be smart about things and not lose a ton of money. 

[newtocruiseinblue]

If things are still bad, they will change your embarkation port. I’m not familiar with your cruise but Barcelona would be a possible alternative. You still have a little time to let this play out.

[croozen]

We are in the same boat. Pardon the pun. Embark on June 27 in Rome, and set to disembark July 9 in Venice. We are to fly home to Canada from Milan! Our final payment date is March 29th. I thought I had read on here that Hal, in light of Corona, was extending final payment dates for 60 days but not sure if that was effective for June sailing dates. Does anyone know?

More pressing for us is Panama Cruise leaving next Wednesday. Will the cruise even still sail? How can they even have a capacity to make money with Canadians being told to stay home? 

Edited March 10, 2020 by croozen

[mrmoviezombie]

1 hour ago, mr. godfredo said:

I need to make my final payment on March 22nd, so it is coming down to the wire.

According to the updated cancel policy, for June cruises, they have moved final payment date to 60 days before.

I haven't gotten thru to confirm the details on that yet. But that is today's project.

 

Also need to confirm if that changes when we have to buy the platinum protection.

[danah33]

36 minutes ago, croozen said:

Embark on June 27 in Rome, and set to disembark July 9 in Venice. We are to fly home to Canada from Milan! Our final payment date is March 29th. I thought I had read on here that Hal, in light of Corona, was extending final payment dates for 60 days but not sure if that was effective for June sailing dates. Does anyone know?

 

We're on the same cruise. The message from HAL on the extension of the deadline (specifically for June cruises) was sent to travel agents, but we booked directly through HAL. As of a couple of days ago, when I look up our booking on the HAL site, I still see March 29 as the final payment date.

 

I *assume* we will get the same extension as people who booked through TAs, but since we still have 19 days to go for the original deadline, I'm going to wait at least a few days before trying to contact HAL and request the extension to April 28. I did notice that if you go through the steps of doing a fresh booking on the HAL site, the deadline comes up as April 28.

[croozen]

2 minutes ago, danah33 said:

 

We're on the same cruise. The message from HAL on the extension of the deadline (specifically for June cruises) was sent to travel agents, but we booked directly through HAL. As of a couple of days ago, when I look up our booking on the HAL site, I still see March 29 as the final payment date.

 

I *assume* we will get the same extension as people who booked through TAs, but since we still have 19 days to go for the original deadline, I'm going to wait at least a few days before trying to contact HAL and request the extension to April 28. I did notice that if you go through the steps of doing a fresh booking on the HAL site, the deadline comes up as April 28.

Also booked directly with HAL. and likewise our final payment still shows March 29th. I am wary to try to get through to HAL at present. Please do post here again with any information you get on this, and I will do the same.

[Hlitner]

These are tough questions with even more difficult answers.  There is no way to predict what the situation will be in late June.  It is possible that things will be better, but its also possible that more ports and countries will close ports.   If the OP is able to cancel without losing any money, one possible strategy could be to cancel the cruise and air and continue to monitor the situation.  If all looks well in June, they could consider doing a last minute booking on the same cruise.

 

We have two cruises, in Aug and Oct,  that involve European ports.  They are both with Princess and we are considering using this same strategy.  We will make that decision as we get close to the final payment due dates on those cruises.

 

Hank

[danah33]

4 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

These are tough questions with even more difficult answers.  There is no way to predict what the situation will be in late June.  It is possible that things will be better, but its also possible that more ports and countries will close ports.

 

Yes. If I had to decide now, I would cancel. But a deferral of final payment to mid or late April means more time to see how the situation evolves before making a Go/No-go decision. A lot can happen in a month, both good and bad. If things still look questionable at the end of April, then your suggestion of canceling followed by a possible last minute booking in June is a good one.

 

With the new HAL policy, I would think the OP could defer final payment to April 21.

[mrmoviezombie]

We thought about canceling and rebooking, but the price would have to drop alot for it to be worth losing the perks we do have.

[danah33]

1 minute ago, mrmoviezombie said:

We thought about canceling and rebooking, but the price would have to drop alot for it to be worth losing the perks we do have.

 

Yes, we also have a lot of good perks I'd hate to give up. We'll only consider the rebooking option if (1) the situation is still murky at final payment time, forcing us to cancel, but (2) things look a lot better once June rolls around.

 

For us, risk avoidance is more important than getting the best possible deal. OTOH, I wouldn't be surprised if, after the crisis passes, HAL starts offering additional incentives to get people cruising again.

[mr. godfredo]

Thanks to all for the great perspectives. I called my TA today and he confirmed that I have the gift of extra time as my final payment for cruise and air is not due until 60 days prior. I also have some great perks and the price of the cruise has not dropped at all yet, so I will let it ride and continue to monitor things. 

[SedNabokos]

I'm on the same cruise (plus the one directly after)

 

I booked directly with HAL (via the future cruise consultant on my last cruise) and noticed the final payment date has changed from the 22nd of March to the 21st of April.

 

 

And the Australian Govt has just added Italy to their travel ban list.

 

So I'll wait and see for a while longer...

[danah33]

Woo-hoo! I just checked our booking on the HAL site, and the final payment date is now April 28 for our June 27 cruise. So we have 48 days to decide.

 

Thanks for the heads-up, SedNabokos.

[mrmoviezombie]

Yep. We got thru on the HAL number listed for adding the protection. Confirmed the April 20th date for final payment had just today been updated in the computer system. Didn't get a real answer on adding the Platinum from a supervisor, but the agent said yes on adding that before the April 20th date and made a note in the file to that effect. So that should be worth something. Will have to try again with the big box TA next week, to make sure they have the same answer.