SUPRISE-SUPRISE-YOUR CRUISE LOOKS LIKE ITS GOING

[drowelf]

2 hours ago, VennDiagram said:

This REALLY illustrates how valuable the posters on CC can be.  And proves once again that what one hears from the HAL phone reps may be incorrect.

I think we are jumping on the phone reps a little too much. They can only report what their systems tell them. If the cruise has not been cancelled as yet in the reservation system, then they can only say is still a go, as its not cancelled. They may have an opinion on that, but stating it would probably get them into trouble, possibly even loss of job. 

 

Its the execs and planning folks that need to be vented at, so direct you complaints to the various HAL officials that actually make decisions. Stein and Ashford are good points to direct the complaints at. Both have email addresses that are available if you comb these forums or search CCL Websites. 

 

I agree that HAL should just bite the bullet and cancel all Alaska/Canada out through June, as Canadian Ports are going to be closed until July 1st. Also I saw that the Seattle Port is closed until some date in the future too. 

Edited April 9, 2020 by drowelf

[Copper10-8]

28 minutes ago, iancal said:

It seems that it is more of a gong show than is usually the case.

 

When is the last time you actually took a HAL cruise?

[iancal]

Several years ago.  But I have called in since with a question.  Got it answered twice.  Both were different.  It was my own fault.  I should have known better and simply asked our TA to get the answer for us.  This is not unique to HAL.  Our experience with Celebrity/RCI has been the same.

Edited April 9, 2020 by iancal

[Cindy]

  This is not unique to HAL.  Our experience with [insert the name of your favorite cruise line here![emoji23]] has been the same.

I fixed it for you![emoji6]

Seriously, this is the case with every cruise line I’ve cruised with. In my opinion, HAL is far from the worst offender!



Sent from my iPad using Forums

[sevenseasnomad]

5 hours ago, the col. said:

I called HAL late yesterday (Wed) to ask about our land/sea trip starting in Fairbanks on 14 May--then on to the cruise part starting on 17 May down to Vancouver --- I was shocked when she told me that right now it looks pretty GOOD that they will do this cruise--is that possible ? IF they do not cancel it--and I cancel it--will I only get FCC offered to me? Thanks for your guidance in this matter-- Sorry if this has been covered before--but the state/town I live in the lock down he just been continued until 30 April--

Your lockdown has been continued until April 30?  While I feel for you, be thankful.  Ours in Virginia is in effect until June 10th!  Hope your cruise is a go.  We're set to cruise out of Boston July 4 for Canada/New England.  Keeping daily track of the numbers of new COVID cases in Canada and U.S.  My heart goes out to all those so adversely affected by this terrible pandemic.  Cruising is second in my thoughts right now.  I'll be thankful for the day when we don't hear about another person dying due to coronavirus or another business in ruins or people suffering the awful effects of unemployment.

[CRUZBUDS]

3 hours ago, Takes Notes said:

About the closed Canada ports......the Zaandam is scheduled for Canada/New England May through July. HAL has cancelled only the first two sailings on May 2 & 9. Rather and one Canada port which is typical for Alaska, these itinerarys have five Canada ports.

 

I'm waiting for my back-to-backs May 23 & May 30 to be cancelled. As was pointed out in an earlier post, HAL is doing this gradually, usually about 4 weeks or so out.

3 hours ago, Takes Notes said:

 

Celebrity switched their Canada/New England, prior to July 1st, to Bermuda mixed with other east coast US ports.  Stay tuned - 

 

[Copper10-8]

Look, at the present time, HAL has suspended/canceled sailings scheduled to depart through May 14, 2020. The phone reps are going with that date as, I'm sure, they have been instructed to do, and as they did with the previous April 14 "do not pass go, do not collect $200" date. They're not going to get involved with what Canada did and/or how that reflects on the PVSA, posible waivers of that PVSA, etc.

 

Things will either get better in this world after May 14, we can speculate on that until the bovines come home, or there will be another extension of the hold into June or even July. Yes, it sucks big time with folks who have cruises scheduled after May 14, but we're all living in bad times at the moment. Go with the flow and have a plan B, C or D ready as many of us with cruises scheduled for the month of April already had to do        

 

   

[VennDiagram]

2 hours ago, drowelf said:

I think we are jumping on the phone reps a little too much. They can only report what their systems tell them.

 

My apologies, I didn't intend to "jump" on the phone reps.  They can only say what they are permitted to say.  It's the imprecise information that they are given (not only with this situation) that I intended to jump on 😉

[Heartgrove]

3 hours ago, iancal said:

We do not have a cruise booked.

 

 

 

Bingo!

[iancal]

So agree.  

 

People  should be happy that so far they have dodged the bullet.  Instead of floating around aimlessly on a cruise ship, being stuck in a foreign land,  or  lying in a hospital bed and hooked up to a ventilator.   
 

 

[drowelf]

25 minutes ago, VennDiagram said:

 

My apologies, I didn't intend to "jump" on the phone reps.  They can only say what they are permitted to say.  It's the imprecise information that they are given (not only with this situation) that I intended to jump on 😉

And that should be jumped on. Emails to the execs can possible help, but haranguing the phone reps does no good.

 

I remember a time long ago when I got stuck in an airport because of weather delays and had to go all the way out the front counter to deal with accommodations and rebooking. A couple in front of me were just tearing into the rep about the delays. Hey she does not control the weather or scheduling. The were upset that next flight out was late the next day. Well she took care of rebooking them and gave them hotel vouchers for the Days Inn. Next was myself. I was gracious and just stated that I understand this was not her fault, but just a fact of flying. I ended up in the Wyndam Suites and on a nice direct flight, with a cleared upgrade, to my final destination in the mid-morning. 

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, drowelf said:

And that should be jumped on. Emails to the execs can possible help, but haranguing the phone reps does no good.

 

I remember a time long ago when I got stuck in an airport because of weather delays and had to go all the way out the front counter to deal with accommodations and rebooking. A couple in front of me were just tearing into the rep about the delays. Hey she does not control the weather or scheduling. The were upset that next flight out was late the next day. Well she took care of rebooking them and gave them hotel vouchers for the Days Inn. Next was myself. I was gracious and just stated that I understand this was not her fault, but just a fact of flying. I ended up in the Wyndam Suites and on a nice direct flight, with a cleared upgrade, to my final destination in the mid-morning. 

One has to feel for the customer service representatives in these trying times. We once had a cruise that came in 2 days late on a holiday weekend (Labor Day) because of a hurricane. We were lucky and got on as the last standbys on the second flight. But, I did hear at least one person scream at the airline customer representative when told that there were no flights until the next day for where he needed to go. It's not like that person at the counter could magically make a flight appear.

[cbr663]

5 hours ago, EscapeFromConnecticut said:

....

 

    My guess is a corporate suit decreed that the reps will use cheery or neutral tones to stretch this out as long as possible ... as cash-bleeding HAL hangs onto cruisers' deposit money. 

We have a winner.  This is exactly what HAL is doing - hanging onto deposit money.

[wolfie11]

10 hours ago, CRUZBUDS said:

Celebrity switched their Canada/New England, prior to July 1st, to Bermuda mixed with other east coast US ports.  Stay tuned - 

 

 

7 hours ago, cbr663 said:

We have a winner.  This is exactly what HAL is doing - hanging onto deposit money.

Bar Harbor announced they are closed until July 1 to cruise ships.

[Takes Notes]

I suspect (no hard evidence) that HAL is not canceling more cruises sooner is to avoid a complete crash of their phone/internet communications systems. Canceling a "clump" of cruises every few weeks is better than canceling a much larger number. It's their way to "flatten the curve".

 

Also, as has been clearly stated in this board, it does let them keep our deposits and final payments for a few more weeks or months.

[ON cruiser]

I have the utmost respect for Copper 10-8, for his voice of reason and solid information on this board, and especially for how he came to the rescue of those elderly passengers at LAX (who were from the Amsterdam). Yet I must disagree with his post # 32, above. All the cruise lines must bite the bullet for certain cruises that they clearly know have no hope of going, and take the decision to cancel them.

 

For example, Alaska cruises are clearly impossible for various reasons. That includes the Canadian Federal government's decision to prohibit cruise ships in its ports until July 1, the Alaskan state quarantine requirement, and the recent CDC directive to extend an operational pause on cruising for up to 100 days. That pause may end sooner, but not likely before at least June.

 

The reasonable impression formed by many is that certain cruise lines, by not cancelling cruises which they know full well are not going ahead, are trying to get us, the passengers, to initiate a cancellation. Then, those cruise lines assert that since we, not they, cancelled, all they have to offer us is FCC instead of the choice of (usually enhanced) FCC or a refund. If the cruise lines initiate the cancellation, however, they typically offer enhanced FCC or a refund, with the choice made by the passenger.

 

For cruises later this summer or into the fall, where there is still genuine uncertainty as to whether these can go or not, it is appropriate to wait and see (and hope for a return to some semblance of normalcy). Yet, in my opinion, for cruises that are clearly not going to sail, a better business practice, which will enhance, not diminish, goodwill (that goodwill will be much needed by cruise lines in the months and years to come), again will be for them to promptly decide and announce the cancellation, so their customers can make their decision as to what they want: FCC or a refund.   

 

As I have suggested on other posts, those who have paid for cruises which are clearly not going to sail can also consider speaking to their credit card issuer, if they paid by credit card, so to see about disputing any charge. If some cruise lines have to later this year avail themselves of bankruptcy protection proceedings (hopefully not!), again, talking to ones credit card issuer may be an option to perhaps do better than the typical unsecured creditor. Its worth a phone call.

 

  

Edited April 10, 2020 by ON cruiser
cleaning up a typo

[iancal]

^+1.   

[Tampa Girl]

On 4/9/2020 at 12:30 PM, Boatdrill said:

FWIW, Carnival Cruise Lines (not corp) has announced their start up dates to resume cruising. Most are in mid-May in the Caribbean.  Their Alaska sailing starts July 7 from Seattle.

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/22755-when-carnival-cruise-line-ships-are-expected-to-start-sailing-again.html

 

 

Good luck to them!  I wonder how many ports will welcome in a ship from a country which will likely still have COVID cases.

[iancal]

It is not just HAL.

 

Many of the cruise lines are being less than forthright and very transparent when it comes to cruises that have no chance of sailing and cancellations. 

 

I mean really.....telling someone that it is 'looking good' for a May 15 Alaska cruise goes far beyond stretching credibility.

Edited April 10, 2020 by iancal

[Djptcp]

The CDC announced April 9th an extension of the cruise ship no sail order:  https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/s0409-modifications-extension-no-sail-ships.html

[dave34]

1 hour ago, iancal said:

It is not just HAL.

 

Many of the cruise lines are being less than forthright and very transparent when it comes to cruises that have no chance of sailing and cancellations. 

 

I mean really.....telling someone that it is 'looking good' for a May 15 Alaska cruise goes far beyond stretching credibility.

I agree 100 % , it’s not about the people answering the phone, we all no they are on a script. HAL has people’s money and a lot of folks are out of a job and needing the money ASAP. Taking 60 days to refund is outrageous, and not canceling cruise’s that we all no will never happen, no excuse. They have 12 thousand of mine that I have be waiting on since March 1, probably will never see it. I for one will remember HAL’S customer service in the future 

[cccole]

On Cruiser, I agree that it is economics driving the travel industry, cruise lines and airlines, to want the customer to cancel so they get credit and not a refund.  Almost everyday I get an email, re flights to Europe from Boston on April 25, to apply for the voucher or reschedule.  The fine print on the ticket says that if the airline cancels the flight there will be a refund.  I understand the cash flow problems of the travel industry but their customers may not be able to reschedule or may want to use the money for something else. I can say that a couple of the hotel chains I had reservations with had absolutely no problem refunding deposits and/or changing their cancel date to day of arrival instead of 2 weeks prior.  JMO,  Cherie

[Reagan0712]

9 minutes ago, cccole said:

...I can say that a couple of the hotel chains I had reservations with had absolutely no problem refunding deposits and/or changing their cancel date to day of arrival instead of 2 weeks prior.  JMO,  Cherie

Ditto. I was completely surprised to get an email from Icelandair vacations last week offering to rebook our missed March trip. They waived $200 rebook fee but said there may be add’l cost from suppliers. Turned out to be $22 per person. We gladly rebooked for September. Now hoping this crud doesn’t rebound in fall.

[bluesea321]

Well, looks like cruises are "not going" from the US after the CDC latest No Sail Order:

 

https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/cruise/index.html

See the PDF included in the link above if interested in the details.  It is quite damning of the industry.

 

April 9, 2020 Update

On April 9, 2020, CDC renewed the No Sail Order and Other Measures Related to Operations Order signed by the CDC Director on March 14, 2020—subject to the modifications and additional stipulated conditions as set forth in this Order. This Order shall continue in operation until the earliest of (1) the expiration of the Secretary of Health and Human Services’ declaration that COVID-19 constitutes a public health emergency; (2) the CDC Director rescinds or modifies the order based on specific public health or other considerations; or (3) 100 days from the date of publication in the Federal Register. See the attached order (print-only) pdf icon[PDF – 9 pages] for the full requirements.

Edited April 10, 2020 by bluesea321

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, iancal said:

It is not just HAL.

 

Many of the cruise lines are being less than forthright and very transparent when it comes to cruises that have no chance of sailing and cancellations. 

 

I mean really.....telling someone that it is 'looking good' for a May 15 Alaska cruise goes far beyond stretching credibility.

It's not just the cruise lines.

 

We had a bus trip to NY City and tickets to a Broadway play, Ain't Too Proud to Beg booked with a local firm. When I heard that Broadway plays were shut down, I called and asked for a refund. I was told no because there was a no refund policy. I replied that that can't possibly be in effect when you cannot provide the services we paid for, and they must be refunding the tickets prices to you. He only backed down when I said fine I'll have our credit card company look into this.

 

I looked at their website within the last few days. The only trip he has down as cancelled is to Ellis Island. He has Broadway shows for both April and May, both of which are already cancelled. He also has a trip to Cooperstown for the Baseball Hall of Fame Inductions for July (we did this with him last year) despite that was cancelled long ago. He has a home Mets game for May. But he seems to be still selling all of these.