Covid-19; Have Star Clippers cancelled cruises?

[Denarius]

Have Star Clippers cancelled or revised itineraries of cruises on account of coronavirus? Nothing on their website but no cruises to the Med listed before May.

[hobbsie65]

3 hours ago, Denarius said:

Have Star Clippers cancelled or revised itineraries of cruises on account of coronavirus? Nothing on their website but no cruises to the Med listed before May.

They have a cruise 17th April from Malta - no way will that happen & amazed if they do any med cruises before July at the earliest. We did a Caribbean cruise 4 weeks ago on the flyer so were very lucky.

[new_cruiser]

It is on their website, but not obvious. There is a page for "Travel Health":

https://www.starclippers.com/us-dom/travel-health-us.html

 

Currently, it says:

Due to governmental action requiring restrictions and closure of ports to cruise ships, Star Clipper will cease Asia sailings from 21 March to 11 April 2020.

Royal Clipper sailings are currently cancelled until 11 May 2020 and Star Flyer sailings cancelled until 2 May 2020.

 

There is no banner or anything highlighting the cancellation. When, I first found the Travel Health announcement, Plan Your Cruise still showed cruises that the announcement said were canceled. It now shows only cruises starting with the date they expect to resume. 

[Denarius]

Thanks for that info. Living in the UK I use the UK website www.starclippers.co.uk . The page to which you refer does not appear on the UK site.

I am due to sail in early July Rome to Venice. I am monitoring the situation with some concern as my final balance is due for payment in a few weeks time and communication from Star Clippers is notable by its absence.

[hobbsie65]

9 hours ago, Denarius said:

Thanks for that info. Living in the UK I use the UK website www.starclippers.co.uk . The page to which you refer does not appear on the UK site.

I am due to sail in early July Rome to Venice. I am monitoring the situation with some concern as my final balance is due for payment in a few weeks time and communication from Star Clippers is notable by its absence.

We have another one booked in August & I am not even confident that will go ahead. Our balance is due in June - tbh I would not mind if they just let me put that deposit against the one we have booked next year. They sure do not make it easy to see the cancelled cruises. 

[Diddn]

21 hours ago, Denarius said:

communication from Star Clippers is notable by its absence.

 

We have been last week on Royal Clipper. Cruise was cancelled the morning after embarcation. Same for the Star Flyer, I think.

 

Keep in mind that you have booked with a wonderful small cruise company. Their manpower is limited, and their primary tasks are getting their passengers back to their home countries. We got any help we needed on board, including the guarantee to stay until the next day onboard unless alternative arrangements could be made. And that was time enough for everyone.

 

Then they have to arrange anchor places or itineraries even for 'empty' ships. E. g., Royal Clipper left Barbados on monday evening, heading to a port named (as to AIS) "eastbound" - which means, that there was no next port available at this time. They need to go to Lisbon for drydock, but the slot is in three weeks and nobody knows if the drydock company will be able to work at this time (aas everywhere in the world).

 

Whithout confirmed ports they cannot publish new or changed itineraries, or even confirm their ongoing cruises. But I am sure, they work on it. Until then, they have some more to do: replacement crew wasn't there on time due to flight restrictions, and crew, which had just ended the contract, stayed onboard due to the lack of available flights and/or immigration restrictions, often even for transiting passengers. Last but no least, wherever they actually go, they need to be catered there, even for the crew.

 

Give them some time. After... I just realise that the cancelled cruise was my 13th cruise with Star Clippers... I know, that they sometimes communicate on a short time notice and with only a few words, but this was always reliable in the past. 🙂

Edited March 22, 2020 by Diddn
spelling corrections

[Noggins]

We were due to be on the cruise after Diddn. We were suspicious when we saw the ship track as having departed Barbados, done a few figure of eights and then gone straight back into port. For a short while we wondered whether someone had left a bag on the dock... Then the cancellation notice came.

They didn't waste time getting the ship on its way back to Europe. Hopefully the crew have been allowed to spread out a bit into guest cabins.

The dates all the cruise lines are quoting for restarting operations seem optimistic in the extreme but you can hardly blame them for living in hope. I guess we all are hoping for some sort of miracle. If I were inclined to bet I would not put money on a re-start before the new year. And who knows which lines will survive such a lengthy shutdown. (I bet they are glad they don't have Flying Clipper to worry about as well!)

[Denarius]

On 3/24/2020 at 2:39 PM, Noggins said:

We were due to be on the cruise after Diddn. We were suspicious when we saw the ship track as having departed Barbados, done a few figure of eights and then gone straight back into port. For a short while we wondered whether someone had left a bag on the dock... Then the cancellation notice came.

They didn't waste time getting the ship on its way back to Europe. Hopefully the crew have been allowed to spread out a bit into guest cabins.

The dates all the cruise lines are quoting for restarting operations seem optimistic in the extreme but you can hardly blame them for living in hope. I guess we all are hoping for some sort of miracle. If I were inclined to bet I would not put money on a re-start before the new year. And who knows which lines will survive such a lengthy shutdown. (I bet they are glad they don't have Flying Clipper to worry about as well!)

I suspect that the truth is that they are well aware of this but could not cope with the admin of dealing with refunds etc if they cancelled more. Cancelling cruises in batches enables them to deal with all refunds reasonably promptly without being overwhelmed.

[new_cruiser]

I also expect that they know this will end sometime and don't want to end up having cancel cruises that could have gone ahead so they are only cancelling to a certain point in the future. 

 

In case anyone has trouble getting to the web page from outside the US, they have extended the cancellations:

Travel Health Statement

Re Travel Health updated at 23 March 2020

Due to governmental action requiring restrictions and closure of ports to cruise ships, Star Clipper sailings are now cancelled until 9 May 2020.

Royal Clipper sailings are currently cancelled until 11 May 2020 and Star Flyer sailings cancelled until 2 May 2020.

Further saildates will be reviewed soon.

Star Clippers, Monaco

[Dunnedg]

Was on Royal Clipper on 14th March for one night. An inconvenience when cancelled but crew were brilliant considering it was far more than a convenience to them. For most it is complete stop of income. 

[Denarius]

On 3/26/2020 at 6:49 PM, new_cruiser said:

I also expect that they know this will end sometime and don't want to end up having cancel cruises that could have gone ahead so they are only cancelling to a certain point in the future. 

 

In case anyone has trouble getting to the web page from outside the US, they have extended the cancellations:

Travel Health Statement

Re Travel Health updated at 23 March 2020

Due to governmental action requiring restrictions and closure of ports to cruise ships, Star Clipper sailings are now cancelled until 9 May 2020.

Royal Clipper sailings are currently cancelled until 11 May 2020 and Star Flyer sailings cancelled until 2 May 2020.

Further saildates will be reviewed soon.

Star Clippers, Monaco

This information is now on the UK website. As far as I can tell, unlike many other cruise lines Star Clippers are not offering any special terms on late cancellations.

[Ben2travel]

On 3/21/2020 at 7:09 AM, Denarius said:

 

I am due to sail in early July Rome to Venice. I am monitoring the situation with some concern as my final balance is due for payment in a few weeks time and communication from Star Clippers is notable by its absence.

We were in a similar situation, except not due to sail until end of August (Athens to Venice).  I just traded my reservation in for 2021.  I think the chances of things being safe enough by that time to allow us to travel with ease are pretty low.  There were only a few remaining reservations on the cruise I booked, so I think it was a wise choice.  Best of luck regardless of the decision you make.

[hobbsie65]

3 hours ago, Ben2travel said:

We were in a similar situation, except not due to sail until end of August (Athens to Venice).  I just traded my reservation in for 2021.  I think the chances of things being safe enough by that time to allow us to travel with ease are pretty low.  There were only a few remaining reservations on the cruise I booked, so I think it was a wise choice.  Best of luck regardless of the decision you make.

We are due to sail the end of August as well but my travel agent said we can not move it to next year - did Star Clipper do this for you easily? We have another cruise booked next year so are happy to just add this deposit to that one. 

[Ben2travel]

1 hour ago, hobbsie65 said:

We are due to sail the end of August as well but my travel agent said we can not move it to next year - did Star Clipper do this for you easily? We have another cruise booked next year so are happy to just add this deposit to that one. 

Yes, I called Star Clipper and it was incredibly easy.   i just told the agent that I wanted to exchange this year's reservation for next year's.  She also applied the deposit I had paid to the new reservation.  My invoice says that full refunds will be made up to 120 days in advance, so depending on the date of your cruise you should be ok.  Best of luck and please stay healthy.

[hobbsie65]

8 minutes ago, Ben2travel said:

Yes, I called Star Clipper and it was incredibly easy.   i just told the agent that I wanted to exchange this year's reservation for next year's.  She also applied the deposit I had paid to the new reservation.  My invoice says that full refunds will be made up to 120 days in advance, so depending on the date of your cruise you should be ok.  Best of luck and please stay healthy.

Many thanks - we are in the UK so our booking rules are a bit different normally meaning the deposit is non refundable. I will wait another month & see but I will be amazed if anyone is cruising before September. You stay safe as well. 

[Denarius]

18 hours ago, hobbsie65 said:

Many thanks - we are in the UK so our booking rules are a bit different normally meaning the deposit is non refundable. I will wait another month & see but I will be amazed if anyone is cruising before September. You stay safe as well. 

I am due to sail on Royal Clipper on 4 July Rome to Venice, followed by overnight stay in Venice. All arrangements incl flights to Rome and from Venice made via Star Clippers. I have paid deposit plus flights, and final payment via travel agent is due by 2 May. Star Clippers say that they cannot refund flights as these were made on a non cancellable basis with the airline but are prepared to transfer the deposit to another cruise this year or next. Hope this helps.

[hobbsie65]

1 minute ago, Denarius said:

I am due to sail on Royal Clipper on 4 July Rome to Venice, followed by overnight stay in Venice. All arrangements incl flights to Rome and from Venice made via Star Clippers. I have paid deposit plus flights, and final payment via travel agent is due by 2 May. Star Clippers say that they cannot refund flights as these were made on a non cancellable basis with the airline but are prepared to transfer the deposit to another cruise this year or next. Hope this helps.

Many thanks - I will contact my travel agent again as I am not sure they even tried last time. Stay safe.

[hobbsie65]

On 4/21/2020 at 3:36 PM, Denarius said:

I am due to sail on Royal Clipper on 4 July Rome to Venice, followed by overnight stay in Venice. All arrangements incl flights to Rome and from Venice made via Star Clippers. I have paid deposit plus flights, and final payment via travel agent is due by 2 May. Star Clippers say that they cannot refund flights as these were made on a non cancellable basis with the airline but are prepared to transfer the deposit to another cruise this year or next. Hope this helps.

They have kindly now changed our cruise to next year as well - already have one booked so we will have to force ourselves to take another one 🙂