Friends can’t come, we are 55 days out, what are our options?

[PrepperJack]

We invited our best friends to come on a 3 night cruise to celebrate my 40th birthday.  We paid for everything.  They just had to show up.

Now they can’t come, we are 55 days out and no travel insurance.  I really don’t even want to go anymore because the whole point was to spend a long weekend with our friends.

I realize we stand to lose 75% of our room fee if we outright cancel.

Help!  We would really use some suggestions.  

[hoagie]

Can't you invite a different couple that you are friends with?

 

[Censored]

34 minutes ago, PrepperJack said:

We invited our best friends to come on a 3 night cruise to celebrate my 40th birthday.  We paid for everything.  They just had to show up.

Now they can’t come, we are 55 days out and no travel insurance.  I really don’t even want to go anymore because the whole point was to spend a long weekend with our friends.

I realize we stand to lose 75% of our room fee if we outright cancel.

Help!  We would really use some suggestions.  

reach out to customer service and ask if you can change names and bring somebody else or ask for a future cruise credit or on board credit.

[PrepperJack]

19 minutes ago, hoagie said:

Can't you invite a different couple that you are friends with?

 

We don’t really have a lot of friends.  Especially friends who can find childcare for almost a week (we were going to spend a few days in Orlando too).  
 

We also lost my 22 year old sister in July.  We considered her to be a daughter and she was living with us.  There haven’t been many people who are willing to have fun but honor those moments of grief.   (We aren’t crying all over the place, I swear.  It’s just not comfortable to spend long periods of time with many people right now.)

[twangster]

Could you push the cruise to a future date?

[D Alt]

Can you change the cruise to another date and just incur a change fee? I would call to find out options. 

[Reigert2008]

I’d highly recommend getting some travel insurance.  Travel insurance covers far more than just the cruise, like medical costs in a foreign country.  Sure, your credit card “may” cover your travel expenses, but neither of our cards cover medical when we’re out of the country and our regular medical doesn’t either.  

[Ampurp85]

I am sorry for the loss of your sister.

I lost my best friend and husband when I was younger and to say I was an emotional mess was an understatement. I learned who my true friends were and now I can count on one hand how many there are. I definitely can't travel/vacation with lots of randos.

I don't know if you had two rooms or if they in your room. Shorter sailings have a better grace period I believe so if you outright cancel you might be looking at 50% loss. Or you can have your TA/Royal rep looking it a possible change of cruise. Without knowing all the details, it might be hard for many of us to troubleshoot.

[PrepperJack]

8 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

I am sorry for the loss of your sister.

I lost my best friend and husband when I was younger and to say I was an emotional mess was an understatement. I learned who my true friends were and now I can count on one hand how many there are. I definitely can't travel/vacation with lots of randos.

I don't know if you had two rooms or if they in your room. Shorter sailings have a better grace period I believe so if you outright cancel you might be looking at 50% loss. Or you can have your TA/Royal rep looking it a possible change of cruise. Without knowing all the details, it might be hard for many of us to troubleshoot.

Thank you.  It’s been a horrible 6 months.  
 

it’s independence of the seas, 3 nights, we have separate rooms.  Because we are 55 days out, the most they would do is offer a change of date, otherwise we loose 75% of the room fee.  

[TexanTwoStep]

12 hours ago, PrepperJack said:

We don’t really have a lot of friends.  Especially friends who can find childcare for almost a week (we were going to spend a few days in Orlando too).  
 

We also lost my 22 year old sister in July.  We considered her to be a daughter and she was living with us.  There haven’t been many people who are willing to have fun but honor those moments of grief.   (We aren’t crying all over the place, I swear.  It’s just not comfortable to spend long periods of time with many people right now.)

 

I'll be your friend!  LOL. 

 

Seriously though, that sucks.  I hope that you can at least push the cruise to later and enjoy it with your friends at a later date.

[Ampurp85]

2 hours ago, PrepperJack said:

Thank you.  It’s been a horrible 6 months.  
 

it’s independence of the seas, 3 nights, we have separate rooms.  Because we are 55 days out, the most they would do is offer a change of date, otherwise we loose 75% of the room fee.  

I don't know if a change of date would work for you. If your friends can agree to that you would only lose a little per booking and you could enjoy the cruise the way it was meant to be enjoyed with your actual friends.

[FireFishII]

So sorry about your loss.  I wish I had some magical advise to give to you.  I think you should still go on the cruise.  Yes, the purpose was getting away with your friends but the change of scenery may help with your grief.  Either cancel the second room, sell the second room (you should be able to change the names on the room), or invite other friends or relatives.  Just because they are using the room does not mean that you have to hang out with them. 

If you don't mind, I would also ask you to consider seeing a professional to help YOU. What you are experience is normal but sometimes we all need that little extra help.  

Best wishes. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

3 hours ago, FireFishII said:

Either cancel the second room, sell the second room (you should be able to change the names on the room)

They will not be able to sell the room.  At least 1 of the original names must remain on the reservation.  Royal does this JUST to keep people FROM selling existing bookings to someone else and making a profit.

This is probably not the solution that the OP is interested in BUT they could move one of them from their reservation over to the friends' reservation and then have the friends be "no shows".  That would give both of them double points on their cruise.  That would essentially leave a vacant room OR each of them would have their own room !!

Yes, I know there have been varying degrees of success with getting double points when the others on a reservation are no-shows...but for the most part, I think it works.

[FireFishII]

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

They will not be able to sell the room.  At least 1 of the original names must remain on the reservation.  Royal does this JUST to keep people FROM selling existing bookings to someone else and making a profit.

This is probably not the solution that the OP is interested in BUT they could move one of them from their reservation over to the friends' reservation and then have the friends be "no shows".  That would give both of them double points on their cruise.  That would essentially leave a vacant room OR each of them would have their own room !!

Yes, I know there have been varying degrees of success with getting double points when the others on a reservation are no-shows...but for the most part, I think it works.

Thanks, @WAAAYTOOO.  I thought it was a name on the reservation and not on the cabin.  But on your solution - they would have to move one of them into their friends room and one of their friends into their room. Otherwise, the remaining person in their room may be hit with a solo charge?  Or am I missing something? 

[Ampurp85]

26 minutes ago, FireFishII said:

Thanks, @WAAAYTOOO.  I thought it was a name on the reservation and not on the cabin.  But on your solution - they would have to move one of them into their friends room and one of their friends into their room. Otherwise, the remaining person in their room may be hit with a solo charge?  Or am I missing something? 

They would only get hit with charges if they remove the other guest.

In this case they would just swap names, then allow the friends to be no-shows. So OP and one friend in the 1st room, OP's spouse and other friend in 2nd room. When they board the friends will be no-shows and any port taxes fees and cruise planner purchase will be returned. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

31 minutes ago, FireFishII said:

Thanks, @WAAAYTOOO.  I thought it was a name on the reservation and not on the cabin.  But on your solution - they would have to move one of them into their friends room and one of their friends into their room. Otherwise, the remaining person in their room may be hit with a solo charge?  Or am I missing something? 

Yes…you and @Ampurp85are correct.  One of the friends would have to be moved over to the OPs reservation or the OPs reservation could be repriced as a single which could cause issues.  Good catch.

[BennyandBo]

I agree with everyone coming up with ways to get port fees & taxes back with no shows etc. I also agree that travel insurance is a must. However, most don't purchase cancel for any reason as it cost more and generally isn't offered first. So your friends reason for canceling may not be good enough anyway. (Unless I missed that?) Lesson buy travel insurance and good coverage as well. But I say go on the trip. The fresh sea air and the connection with the sea and blue sky will clear your mind and help restart your engine. Everyone needs a reset after a loss. ❤

[AshleyDillo]

3 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

, I know there have been varying degrees of success with getting double points when the others on a reservation are no-shows...but for the most part, I think it works.

It's actually spelled out now in the C&A FAQ that you have to book solo to get the solo points, unfortunately.