When to give up being optimistic and cancel March 2021 trip?

[jaceraden]

I booked flights, put a deposit on a villa, bought park tickets 6+ months ago for a trip over Manitoba's Spring break 2021. My sister is a teacher so she only gets the 1 week off. I could probably get 2 weeks off for quarantine after return and both the teenagers we were going to bring can do online school. But, that's probably a bad idea.

At what point do you think I need to give up being optimistic and should get to trying to get refunds and travel credits? I appreciate the opinions.

 

[FigmentSpark]

I just moved my March 2021 DCL cruise to March 2022. Of course, that's a cruise, but I have to say that I'm not sure I want to leave Canada (or can) in March. I'm in Ontario, and I haven't even been able to visit my parents in Manitoba all year, so why would I go to Florida before there?

That's another point... Manitoba has just gone on a month-long lockdown. With Christmas coming, don't hold your breath for it to be much better after that. And even if they are successful in abating the virus after the month, Manitoba is going to be very strict with travellers, as they have been all pandemic.

If I were you, sadly, I'd change my plans.

 

[hdrolfe]

I can't see any vaccines being available and distributed enough by then to be useful. If you are ok with wearing masks, a 2 week quarantine when you arrive home, and the possibility your flights will be changed (it seems they are cancelling and consolidating), then I'd keep waiting.

Was the villa booked through Disney? Check your cancellation policy regardless, if you can wait, maybe do. I am not hopeful for March, or April, as much as I wish it could happen.

 

[grantclaire]

I just moved my March 2021 DCL cruise to March 2022. Of course, that's a cruise, but I have to say that I'm not sure I want to leave Canada (or can) in March. I'm in Ontario, and I haven't even been able to visit my parents in Manitoba all year, so why would I go to Florida before there?

That's another point... Manitoba has just gone on a month-long lockdown. With Christmas coming, don't hold your breath for it to be much better after that. And even if they are successful in abating the virus after the month, Manitoba is going to be very strict with travellers, as they have been all pandemic.

If I were you, sadly, I'd change my plans.

We did the same with our cruise, changed to March 22. Same week and same cruise, one bonus it came out a few hundred $ cheaper!

 

[bcwife76]

We have a March 2021 cruise booked on the Wonder and why am I bothering? Honestly, I should have cancelled ages ago but I booked it on a CDN residents rate which are few and far between....ugh, I KNOW I'm going to cancel before our PIF deadline in late January so why do I still hang on to it? If I think that is hard, wait til I have to move our Aug 2021 Europe cruise....

 

[FigmentSpark]

Good point about "check your cancellation policy". We've rented through HomeAway (aka VRBO) before and they often have a "pay in full" 60 days in advance with no refunds. So being clear on your options will be key to figuring out what you what to do.

 

[deedubb]

Wondering the same thing. Moved our July 2020 trip to July 2021, but I'm not very optimistic about it. Debating on canceling.

"Fauci told Tapper on Sunday that he thinks the nation could start getting back to "relative normal" by April or July of 2021 -- saying he thought that would be possible to achieve by the second or third quarter next year -- but that the question of when Americans can safely gather in large groups again depends on a number of factors."

 

[Minniemoo15]

We have a March 2021 trip booked too.. I know with 99% certainty we will be canceling but just can’t bring myself to do it yet. I have to cancel before 30 days out due to our DVC points so will probably do so after Christmas sometime. Sigh. Hopefully we can soon book March 2022 !

 

[mab2012]

I booked flights, put a deposit on a villa, bought park tickets 6+ months ago for a trip over Manitoba's Spring break 2021. My sister is a teacher so she only gets the 1 week off. I could probably get 2 weeks off for quarantine after return and both the teenagers we were going to bring can do online school. But, that's probably a bad idea.

At what point do you think I need to give up being optimistic and should get to trying to get refunds and travel credits? I appreciate the opinions.

Depends on your personal concerns. If it's the quarantine you're worried about, I'd hold out for now. Alberta is piloting a testing program that could considerably reduce quarantine requirements. If it goes well, the intention is to roll the program out nationally. Ontario is independently looking at a similar program. I think other provinces will follow.

If you're concerned about actually catching COVID, hoping that a vaccine will be distributed widely enough to have it under control by March, or hoping that federal travel recommendations will have changed, I think you might as well go ahead and cancel now.

 

[TammyLynn33]

We have May booked (dvc) and august ( cash to book park days ) I haven’t booked air yet as my travel bank is out of the USA. I’m still ever so slightly hopeful. I will give it to two months out or so I guess.

 

[Disney Addicted]

My cruise was cancelled in August and they were trying to push me to reschedule for March Break 2021. I have not rescheduled as I do not want to cruise that early. They first tried to get me to reschedule between October-December which was crazy. Sure enough, no cruises are taking place and they would have had to reschedule my cruise and flight once more.

I will wait and see what happens in January. I'm hoping they will let me take it March Break 2022 but they might try to pin me down to summer. Hopefully I don't lose the cruise.

 

[Woodview]

Hold on ....... Have you booked your flights from Canada to U.S.A.

If yes then do not cancel holiday yet ...... wait till Airline cancels flight ..... due to Border

being closed .... then cancel cruise as you are not allowed to Leave / enter U.S.A.

A full refund should be given

 

[bcwife76]

Hold on ....... Have you booked your flights from Canada to U.S.A.

If yes then do not cancel holiday yet ...... wait till Airline cancels flight ..... due to Border

being closed .... then cancel cruise as you are not allowed to Leave / enter U.S.A.

A full refund should be given

Well someone might want to tell WestJet that as they have $3425 of our money and insisting on sticking us with their travel credit vs getting our money back.

 

[Disney Addicted]

Have you tried contacting WestJet recently? I read an article, I feel like just a short while ago, where WestJet was suppose to have finally given in and starting giving actual refunds back to people instead of travel credit.

 

[deedubb]

Have you tried contacting WestJet recently? I read an article, I feel like just a short while ago, where WestJet was suppose to have finally given in and starting giving actual refunds back to people instead of travel credit.

I know someone in that situation and WJ is still sticking to the credit as opposed to a refund. Apparently, if WJ canceled your flight, you will get a refund. If you canceled it, they will still only give you a credit.

I canceled July 2020 and got a credit. I have rebooked for July 2021 but WJ has a policy of no-fee cancellation for this trip, so if I cancel it again, the funds will go back into my travel bank but it looks like I will have another 2 years to use it (2 year clock starts over again).

 

[Silvermist999]

WJ has our money sitting in travel credits also and they won’t budge since we were the ones who cancelled our March break flight right after the WHO declared the pandemic, which was just a few days before Canadian-US borders were closing.

 

[bcwife76]

We are in the same boat as the posters above. We cancelled our August flights in June, two weeks before WJ cancelled We cancelled our Oct flights in July, again three or four weeks later WJ cancelled. So eventhough the flights no longer existed,we are stuck with travel bank credit due to us pulling the trigger to cancel before WJ. It sucks

 

[jaceraden]

Thank you all for your thoughtful replies.

Quarantine time after the trip is not possible for 1 of our travellers so that's an issue. I don't really see that changing much since I work in Public Health and I understand the incubation period after possible exposure. That reason alone makes travel doubtful for us. Our Province is currently doing the worst in Canada for managing COVID but I still think our risk might be worse going to Florida since we do live in a rural area of our Province.

I pulled the cord and started doing the cancelling this morning. I have not yet tackled the flights because mine are not direct flights so I am unsure what the recovery will be. As far as I can tell, even with our borders closed to car traffic, people seem to be able to travel by plane to wherever the heck they want to go. Travel credit might be the best I can hope for at this point.

 

[Frozen2014]

Final payment coming up for our March 2021 cruise. Won't be paying it. Same as others, can't bring myself to cancel but will. So sad as we booked it almost 2 years ago, looking forward to it, planning, etc. Already cancelled last March, August, and moved Dec 2020 to Dec 2021.

I guess the parks are better but then you have the border issue. Good news on a vaccine (and I heard today Moderna also showing great results) but will probably take awhile to distribute. I know..it's a hard call whether to hold out or not. Guess wait until your final payment date and then decide.

 

[jeepwreck]

Thank you all for your thoughtful replies.

Quarantine time after the trip is not possible for 1 of our travellers so that's an issue. I don't really see that changing much since I work in Public Health and I understand the incubation period after possible exposure. That reason alone makes travel doubtful for us. Our Province is currently doing the worst in Canada for managing COVID but I still think our risk might be worse going to Florida since we do live in a rural area of our Province.

I pulled the cord and started doing the cancelling this morning. I have not yet tackled the flights because mine are not direct flights so I am unsure what the recovery will be. As far as I can tell, even with our borders closed to car traffic, people seem to be able to travel by plane to wherever the heck they want to go. Travel credit might be the best I can hope for at this point.

i think that was the best call

as much as it kills me i think our 2021 trip will not happen until 2022. i think the way things are going down south and even in Canada now too, as numbers seem to be going up and i don't see the boards opening up any time soon.

plus with Disney taking away many of the things we love like the dining plan, fast passes, live and night time shows its just not worth it right now for us until some of that stuff comes back and the parks go back to the normal operating hours too