Has the EBTA plus Med Cruises been cancelled?

[slg]

That is my thought too, but I have been thinking this might be the end of Disney. All their parks, hotels, cruises,shows cancelled. They have no money coming in except streaming. They just bought FOX. Do,they have the funds to do all these refunds with zero income for maybe 18 months? I hope I am wrong as I am a hard core Disney fan, but Disney vacations and experiences to not work well with social distancing. Going on rides...touching metal...where the virus is supposed to live for up to 9 days. This might be the end of them. I am in the May 8 Hawaii cruise and it hasn’t been cancelled yet, but I know it isn’t going to go as my friends daughter was a performer going on the wonder and her contract has been cancelled. Maybe they just want to hang on to our money as long as possible for their investments. They may be a rich company in assists, but may not have the cash flow right now.

 

[jlbf06]

It’s been quite a while since they announced the last cancellations. The European cruisers have long haul flights and travel arrangements to manage. This will be the last time that I book with DCL. I appreciate that we all have different opinions but mine is that they are just not handling this well enough.

 

[lorimay]

Well the airlines are offering refunds, just vouchers (at least Tap and Alitalia who we have tickets with).
We will lose over $1,000 on this cancelled trip.
Our ext trip across the pond won't be until 2021, so my vouchers will expire by then.

 

[jlbf06]

That is my thought too, but I have been thinking this might be the end of Disney. All their parks, hotels, cruises,shows cancelled. They have no money coming in except streaming. They just bought FOX. Do,they have the funds to do all these refunds with zero income for maybe 18 months? I hope I am wrong as I am a hard core Disney fan, but Disney vacations and experiences to not work well with social distancing. Going on rides...touching metal...where the virus is supposed to live for up to 9 days. This might be the end of them. I am in the May 8 Hawaii cruise and it hasn’t been cancelled yet, but I know it isn’t going to go as my friends daughter was a performer going on the wonder and her contract has been cancelled. Maybe they just want to hang on to our money as long as possible for their investments. They may be a rich company in assists, but may not have the cash flow right now.

I agree with you - but there are many people who also need that cash flow in their personal lives right now. We are fortunate that my husband works for Government and was already a home worker but this trip causes me an element of stress and every day I expect them to make some sort of contact from them. I would also like to manage cancellation of flights etc. - some closure on the whole thing. I expected more from Disney, that’s all - maybe I overestimated them!

 

[jlbf06]

Well the airlines are offering refunds, just vouchers (at least Tap and Alitalia who we have tickets with).
We will lose over $1,000 on this cancelled trip.
Our ext trip across the pond won't be until 2021, so my vouchers will expire by then.

We are covered for flights on our insurance - but only if we get the cancellation from DCL.

 

[lorimay]

We are covered for flights on our insurance - but only if we get the cancellation from DCL.

We have the insurance, but I'm not sure they will give us the refund.
Hmmm.... I should go read our policy again, thank you.

 

[jlbf06]

We have the insurance, but I'm not sure they will give us the refund.
Hmmm.... I should go read our policy again, thank you.

Good luck!

 

[lorimay]

Good luck!

Nope, our tickets not covered for this situation.......

 

[PirateFrank]

appreciate that we all have different opinions but mine is that they are just not handling this well

I agree! This is really frustrating. They *need* to make a decision here. It's not just managing the cruise and all that involves (port excursions, private excursions, plans on both ends of the cruise) but flights, hotels, etc. DCL needs to respect its customers and communicate intentions - so we can make the best plans we can. Stringing us along is really making me question my loyalty to this company.

 

[Karin1984]

I personally think Disney is doing the best thing: Wait. As the situation is changing per day, in some countries even per hour, 2-3 months is a whole lifetime. If they decide now to cancel everything and in the end they could have sailed: they will receive backlash as well.

An Italian doctor has said that he doesn't expect soccer matches to be played with public before October. If that is the case, then that is probably going to be the same for tourist attractions. https://www.football-italia.net/151420/no-fans-games-until-october (Only English article I could find)

 

[jlbf06]

Nope, our tickets not covered for this situation.......

Oh that’s too bad

 

[jlbf06]

I agree! This is really frustrating. They *need* to make a decision here. It's not just managing the cruise and all that involves (port excursions, private excursions, plans on both ends of the cruise) but flights, hotels, etc. DCL needs to respect its customers and communicate intentions - so we can make the best plans we can. Stringing us along is really making me question my loyalty to this company.

Me too, we just spend the holidays at WDW, cruise booked for May and another trip to Orlando in October. I always felt safe and valued by them but not this time.

 

[jlbf06]

I personally think Disney is doing the best thing: Wait. As the situation is changing per day, in some countries even per hour, 2-3 months is a whole lifetime. If they decide now to cancel everything and in the end they could have sailed: they will receive backlash as well.

An Italian doctor has said that he doesn't expect soccer matches to be played with public before October. If that is the case, then that is probably going to be the same for tourist attractions. https://www.football-italia.net/151420/no-fans-games-until-october (Only English article I could find)

I see your point but some people would prefer not to wait or at least to be given the choice. To hear absolutely nothing doesn’t represent good service in my opinion.

 

[Karin1984]

I see your point but some people would prefer not to wait or at least to be given the choice. To hear absolutely nothing doesn’t represent good service in my opinion.

They will not release any news for the next few weeks I guess, maybe mid April. All tourist companies are now first waiting how the measures taken will help. This goes for the measures in both in the US and in Europe. And that will take at least till Easter. I wouldn't expect anything the coming days/weeks.

Also, if Europe gets better and the US gets worse, US guests will be banned from Europe for a while longer. If the Magic would have to sail through Europe without US guests, can there be enough EU guests convinced to book a last minute to make up for the US guests? Or would there be less loss to cancel a cruise, instead of sailing with half empty cruise ship?

 

[jlbf06]

They will not release any news for the next few weeks I guess, maybe mid April. All tourist companies are now first waiting how the measures taken will help. This goes for the measures in both in the US and in Europe. And that will take at least till Easter. I wouldn't expect anything the coming days/weeks.

Also, if Europe gets better and the US gets worse, US guests will be banned from Europe for a while longer. If the Magic would have to sail through Europe without US guests, can there be enough EU guests convinced to book a last minute to make up for the US guests? Or would there be less loss to cancel a cruise, instead of sailing with half empty cruise ship?

I really hope that they announce something sooner than that. Not that I expect them to, but it would be nice.

In terms of timescale, I think we’re all in the dark but our PM Boris Johnson says that if we comply with the measures they’re introducing - social distancing, self isolation, closed schools etc then he hopes to “turn the tide” in about twelve weeks. Certainly nothing like Easter. That takes us way past the sail date. And from what we’ve seen of people flooding to the beaches and tourist spots here over the weekend, we might see some serious numbers in the next two weeks.

I also suppose that a lot depends on China - the eyes of the world are on them as we watch them lift restrictions.

I certainly wouldn’t be able to book new dates as it’s practically impossible to obtain travel insurance now in the UK.

 

[disneylove69]

I was thinking the same thing, as a best case scenario. The Med ports would appear to be unlikely in any circumstances at this point, particularly those in Italy, but also France, Spain, and Greece as those countries deal with more confirmed virus cases. Right now, even Dover might become questionable, but July 25th is still 4 months out. DCL has removed the EBTA and all the Med cruises from Barcelona and Rome so far from their online booking listings, providing some more time to decide what happens after that.

We’re actually booked on the Vancouver to Honolulu, Hawaii cruise on April 29th and the 12-night Med-Greek Islands cruise out of Rome on July 1st. Waiting on official cancellations so we can request refunds for both. We will not rebook, even with a significant rebooking incentive. We booked the EBTA for May 2021 on the recent opening day, and that’s now the earliest we have any plans to cruise. We also have an Aulani stay after our scheduled arrival in Hawaii, booked on non-refundable rented DVC points and various airfares that were purchased about as early as possible (close to the 330-day mark), so unlikely to be able to use within the 12 months of purchase limitations currently being required by both United and Aer Lingus. We expect to eat those costs, since our travel insurance has an epidemic/pandemic exclusion.

Canada is not letting cruise line come til July and if DCL was to use Seattle as a starting point Hawaii has a 14 day isolation policy for anyone entering Hawaii.

 

[CarolynU]

Nope, our tickets not covered for this situation.......

No mine aren’t either.

 

[lorimay]

No mine aren’t either.

Our focus on the insurance was to be covered for illness since we were going to be out of the country.
Live & Learn I guess..........

 

[Ralph&Pam]

Canada is not letting cruise line come til July and if DCL was to use Seattle as a starting point Hawaii has a 14 day isolation policy for anyone entering Hawaii.

True. Despite this, DCL has still not cancelled the cruises to and from Hawaii, so we’re still waiting on an opportunity for a full refund rather than just a credit against a future cruise within (now) 15 months. DCL cannot use Seattle for one-way cruises to/from Hawaii since that violates the Passenger Vessel Services Act. Even a closed loop cruise out of any US port would require a stop at a foreign port. From Seattle, the likely candidate would be Vancouver, but Canada is out as noted. Not much chance of anything happening, so DCL might as well cancel and let us get our money back.