steverk Posted May 23, 2020 Report Share Posted May 23, 2020 I'm really looking forward to my Nov 23 cruise on Celebrity Solstice from Auckland to Sydney. But then again, I see Matt's article about Australia being closed until at least mid September. I've already paid for the cruise, but not the airfare portion, and have a non-refundable deposit. My final payment date is August 24, so, I'm soon going to have to make a tough decision. Do I cancel? Do I keep it scheduled, pay the remaining balance and hope for the best? Do I cancel the air portion but keep the rest assuming the cruise will cancel or that I can get a future cruise credit? What does everyone think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLMoran Posted May 23, 2020 Report Share Posted May 23, 2020 If you're OK with the Cruise With Confidence options (100% FCC if you cancel up to 48 hours prior, possibly the option of Lift & Shift as it gets closer to cruise time), then I would say to go ahead and make the final payments. I'm making an assumption that your airfare was purchased through Celebrity, and that you chose a refundable airfare option. Long as that's the case, you'll be in good shape. Even if you just cancel before the trip, your airfare will still be refunded to your credit card. If Celebrity cancels it before you decide to, then you'll almost certainly get the 125% FCC that other canceled cruises have been getting, along with getting your airfare refunded. Might even get the option to Lift & Shift. Speaking from experience here. I just did an L&S of my Iceland & Greenland cruise after final payment, but only after having my TA confirm all the key points: Airfare would be refunded Even though I was past final payment date, new cruise was still cancelable and refundable before the standard 90-day mark I had refundable deposit on the original booking, so I confirmed my deposit remained refundable after L&S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baked Alaska Posted May 24, 2020 Report Share Posted May 24, 2020 I would Lift & Shift and hold off on buying airfare. cruisellama 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steverk Posted May 24, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2020 Thank you both for you suggestions. For the moment, I'm going to wait until August to make a final decision, but I'm thinking it is unlikely that the cruise will actually happen. The airfare is "refundable" until August. After that, it is only partially refundable. Baked Alaska and JLMoran 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew72681 Posted May 26, 2020 Report Share Posted May 26, 2020 On 5/24/2020 at 9:33 AM, steverk said: Thank you both for you suggestions. For the moment, I'm going to wait until August to make a final decision, but I'm thinking it is unlikely that the cruise will actually happen. The airfare is "refundable" until August. After that, it is only partially refundable. I would wait unless there’s another option you are ready to pull the trigger on now. Most sources say airlines will take years to recover so I doubt there’d be a huge jump in airfare cost (hard to tell as I don’t know where you are located) or the flights being sold out that far out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Horner Posted May 27, 2020 Report Share Posted May 27, 2020 We have a Celebrity cruise booked out of Florida for November 21st. We have the same questions you do. Now, there is also the question of whether Celebrity might require you to wear a mask during the cruise - which is unacceptable to us. We will wait until August and then decide whether to cancel or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyC Posted May 28, 2020 Report Share Posted May 28, 2020 So very hard when there is airfare involved. I had to make final payment for a cruise in August that I'm fairly certain will be canceled, but it's in driving distance. Masks don't make a difference to me; it's all about protecting myself, no different to ME (not saying it should be different for anyone else) than having to wear a seatbelt in a car. I can put up with it if I need to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew72681 Posted May 28, 2020 Report Share Posted May 28, 2020 14 hours ago, kontraxed said: We have a Celebrity cruise booked out of Florida for November 21st. We have the same questions you do. Now, there is also the question of whether Celebrity might require you to wear a mask during the cruise - which is unacceptable to us. We will wait until August and then decide whether to cancel or not. We’ll be right there with you on 11/21. Hopefully with a quick result test so the masks can be left in the bag throughout the week. We leave out of Port Everglades on 11/21. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisellama Posted July 1, 2020 Report Share Posted July 1, 2020 We're on Edge over Thanksgiving break. I'm not confident we'll be sailing by then. We won't cancel, will make final payment and hope for the best. Seems they've been working hard to make things right with the FCC. WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLMoran Posted July 1, 2020 Report Share Posted July 1, 2020 12 hours ago, cruisellama said: We're on Edge over Thanksgiving break. Wow, you're only on edge when Thanksgiving comes around? I've been on edge for at least 4 months now, and if we're still cooped up by Thanksgiving I'll be full-blown NUTS!! This dad joke brought to you by your friendly Chief Science Officer, a proud dad for going on 20 years now. GrandmaAirplane, USCG Teacher, WAAAYTOOO and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.