Thoughts on August 31 Alaskan cruise

[mjw]

We are booked on this cruise and share concerns that others have voiced in general about cruising in 2020. We also understand that the CDC may ban all cruising through mid-August. Trying to determine the best course of action in the event Disney decides to go forward with this Alaskan cruise. That would eliminate possibility of 125% credit and at best, we would get 75% back with insurance cancellation "for any reason". Just wondering which way others booked on this cruise are leaning; waiting it out versus cancellation before the final payment is due.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

To be honest, even if the cruise goes, I would have serious concerns about the excursions. Because early season is cancelled, and due to travel issues, most of the seasonal workers who so the core operations of excursions are not going up to AK this year.

 

[travelmomof3]

I waited but obviously had no intensions to go on our June Alaska cruise. Well, I guess the choice was made for me by the Canadian government but I still did not want to go this soon.

I found waiting was easiest. Once we got the email we were told 125% rebook or refund. I've leaned both ways but the cruises that work for us next summer (the earliest I'll cruise) are both A LOT more expensive. So, we'll do the refund.

 

[mjw]

Thanks for the input. I hadn't given the excursions a thought but that definitely sounds like an additional concern. We have been leaning toward getting a full refund, but are frustrated that booking this same cruise next year is already $2,000 more than we paid.

 

[hockeymom944]

We are booked on this cruise and share concerns that others have voiced in general about cruising in 2020. We also understand that the CDC may ban all cruising through mid-August. Trying to determine the best course of action in the event Disney decides to go forward with this Alaskan cruise. That would eliminate possibility of 125% credit and at best, we would get 75% back with insurance cancellation "for any reason". Just wondering which way others booked on this cruise are leaning; waiting it out versus cancellation before the final payment is due.

My family was booked on the August 3rd Alaska cruise. I cancelled a couple of weeks ago and received a full refund since I had not reached my PIF date. But I did rebook a May 2021 Alaska Cruise. A few things drove that decision 1) I work at a private university and while I am pretty sure I will have a job when this is over, there is no guarantee. 2) I will have 2 kids in college next fall (both are going out of state.) I would rather make sure I have money for tuition than a cruise. 3) I had a few thousand dollars on Disney Gift cards, so I used those as a deposit on the May cruise. Thereby letting me keep the cash I had saved for August in the bank.

This year we could only cruise in early August, whereas next year most of the summer was open. The plus side to cruising in May was that it was cheaper. With the difference in price, I was able to upgrade from a 9C to a 9A and cover the cost of my flights that I had already purchased for August (that as of now cannot be changed or refunded.) We can’t wait to set sail next year on the Wonder!

 

[MSH518]

We were on the Aug 31 cruise as well and cancelled yesterday. The main reason being that we were supposed to take my mom and she is not comfortable cruising this year, no matter what happens over the next few months. However, we have also cruised Alaska with Disney before and we loved that cruise so much, we weren't confident that cruising Alaska this year would live up to our expectations. We aren't willing to take that chance given how expensive these cruises are. We have not rebooked Alaska next year yet (mainly due to the big jump in price).

 

[disneylove69]

We are booked on this cruise and share concerns that others have voiced in general about cruising in 2020. We also understand that the CDC may ban all cruising through mid-August. Trying to determine the best course of action in the event Disney decides to go forward with this Alaskan cruise. That would eliminate possibility of 125% credit and at best, we would get 75% back with insurance cancellation "for any reason". Just wondering which way others booked on this cruise are leaning; waiting it out versus cancellation before the final payment is due.

I know mo e is cancelled because of the CDC. I already told mybtravel agent what to rebook for but told her to wait til Disney official cancelled and get the 125% credit.

 

[nearlyfallinstar]

I'm booked on this cruise and we are in it for the long haul. So until DCL cancels on us, we're going.

 

[slg]

I feel very confident that prices are going to drop big time once cruise ships sail again. There will be lots of special deals. I wouldn’t let DCL keep my money at this time.

 

[ajo]

I feel very confident that prices are going to drop big time once cruise ships sail again. There will be lots of special deals. I wouldn’t let DCL keep my money at this time.

The Points Guy said the same thing.
https://thepointsguy.com/news/why-you-should-ask-for-a-refund-not-a-credit-for-your-canceled-cruise/

 

[darwinsrule]

If you do get to go, as _auroraborealis_ said it won't be business/cruise as usual. We have HAL Koningsdam booked leaving Vancouver leaving August 29th on basically the same itinerary as the Wonder, we would love to be able to go, thinking there is a maybe a 10% chance at best. If it does go ahead, expect limited options for excursions based upon the availability of options. And remember it isn't just the CDC that needs to change its guidence on this, but the Canadian government. Right now Transport Canada has banned ships until July 1st, expect that date to be extended and it won't surprise me if the next extension takes that date to the end of the summer. Given where we sit on the curve here (we are a couple of weeks behind NYC), given the issues involved in fighting this, the government here is making it clear that a return to 'normal' is a long way off.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

And remember it isn't just the CDC that needs to change its guidence on this, but the Canadian government.

Honestly, if the US tries to reopen without extensive testing, I cannot see Canada letting Americans cross that border as a matter of common practice at all this summer.

 

[Freya424]

Personally, I don’t see any Alaska or Med season happening this year. We were booked on a cancelled June Alaska cruise and we opted for the refund. I didn’t want to pay more for next year or run the risk that even next year things might not be “back to normal” as far as international travel or Alaskan ports go. We will book some smaller cruises once they start running again and think about Alaska for 2022.

 

[darwinsrule]

Honestly, if the US tries to reopen without extensive testing, I cannot see Canada letting Americans cross that border as a matter of common practice at all this summer.

The comments from PM Trudeau this week are playing in to our thinking. We got an incredible deal on the HAL Alaska cruise, one that will be hard to repeat (well maybe not given how bad things look now). Hate to cancel, but we are basically resigned to it now.

I work for a smaller agency of the Canadian government. We are just starting to look at planning for how things will restart/look when things calm down. As someone who has been on immune suppressents for years, I have been told I would be among the last to return to the office. Best case late summer/early fall before I am able to return to the office, and even then I shouldn't expect it to be a full-time thing. The way we have worked for the last few years just won't work going forward. Like a lot of places we have moved to open offices, designed to jam as many people in to as small a space as possible. Suddenly one sick person could wipe out an office/floor/department. Crazy times we live in. Glad we got the Wonder repositioning cruise in from SJ to NOLA at the beginning of February since I am not sure when we will be able to cruise again.

 

[dclpluto]

I’m booked on this cruise. I’m leaning towards not going. Not because of the virus but because of plane tickets. If you pay the cruise off you want to look into plane tickets. But now you can’t do that. You book your plane tickets than the cruise gets cancelled than your out the cost of your tickets. You wait until it gets close to your cruise than you might have to pay a higher price for your plane tickets. It’s a gamble. Might change it to the fantasy that way I can drive if there isn’t decent flights at a good price when it gets close to the cruise. I’m guessing thou no cruises will be cruising at that time thou.

 

[Candycane83]

With what the prime minister has said, I think they will not ease on travel bans anytime soon which leads me to believe any non-essential travel will be the last thing to be restored. I personally don’t think at cruises will sail out of Vancouver this year...

 

[nearlyfallinstar]

I’m booked on this cruise. I’m leaning towards not going. Not because of the virus but because of plane tickets. If you pay the cruise off you want to look into plane tickets. But now you can’t do that. You book your plane tickets than the cruise gets cancelled than your out the cost of your tickets. You wait until it gets close to your cruise than you might have to pay a higher price for your plane tickets. It’s a gamble. Might change it to the fantasy that way I can drive if there isn’t decent flights at a good price when it gets close to the cruise. I’m guessing thou no cruises will be cruising at that time thou.

I already have our plane tickets bought and they have told me that I would be getting a refund if our cruise gets cancelled.

 

[mjw]

Did you book your airfare through a travel agent? We booked our outbound on our own with Air Canada long before there was a concern about coronavirus. We were planning to go to Hawaii afterwards on United and that one is entitled to a credit if we decide to cancel; but our return to Boston on American is iffy because it was booked so long ago that the credit is likely to expire before we would have a chance to use it.