Europe cruises/travel summer 2020 -Anyone else thinking of cancelling??

[Karin1984]

Well I am in Germany and have been monitoring this for weeks. I have to as my job requires it. Work for the Lufthansa Group.

If your flights are not able to operate due to stop in services, or travel bands, usually the airlines such as we waive any change fees, refund in many cases.

Hi Lufthansa, KLM employee here

It's the same for the Air France KLM group, at the moment all rebook policies due to corona-infected-destinations (China & northern Italy) are free of charge. For me I am also not cancelling, if my cruise (Late August) gets cancelled, I get a full refund. Otherwise I will lose money on it.

 

[smmco]

Do you have tangible proof or medical information regarding this.

The flu virus can live on hands roughly 5 mins or up to 24-48 hours on smooth surfaces. Part of the reason for the flu spreading in the winter is the close proximity and indoor climate that occurs in the winter.

This version of the coronavirus can possibly be living on smooth hard surfaces for 9 days. This makes it more dangerous for spreading.

Also you have to account for the flu which people potentially end up with immunity to and why it eventually dies out through not having more hosts to jump to in its short infection time-line when outside the human body.

Roughly 10% of the US gets the flu annually resulting though in a tiny death total of roughly 0.1% while this disease is still just over 2% and has no prevention like the flu shot. To put that in perspective that would be roughly 600k dieing from the Coronavirus while only 30k would die from the Flu if they spread to equal amounts of people at the average of 10% range.

So based on everything I have been following it seems wild speculation that it will just die off. Interested in your sources though if you have some stating that as a good possibility.

As someone who travels extensively in North America this has me on my toes and I have already canceled work trips based on avoid Toronto as an example when news broke there a week prior to me traveling last month.

Governments are taking this extremely serious so to me that signals a need to be cautious myself.

I said it could possibly act like the flu. Possibly is the key word here. Not that it would but “possibly”. Anyway I prefer to stay positive and not panic. I’m not going to cancel plans unless I have to. I would hate to cancel things prematurely and this whole things blows over.

 

[2Gma]

Hi Lufthansa, KLM employee here

It's the same for the Air France KLM group, at the moment all rebook policies due to corona-infected-destinations (China & northern Italy) are free of charge. For me I am also not cancelling, if my cruise (Late August) gets cancelled, I get a full refund. Otherwise I will lose money on it.

That's the problem for people like me. We have a trip for Hawaii planned in March. We've been following the situation closely and have personally decided being on an island that could potentially have airfare cut off or supplies run low is not the safest option right now...unfortunately because there is no travel restrictions to that locale (thus ability to cancel without penalties) we stand to lose a lot of $$$$. I understand the airlines, hotels, resorts, etc. shouldn't have to take a complete hit on people cancelling but I feel its unfair for consumers not to be able to cancel without severe penalties either.

A lot of people I know are still going on spring break vacations because they paid for them which will further complicate spread...I really feel the governments should limit non-essential travel. It might slow the spread to put less strain on the healthcare system but I'm sure it will affect economy and supply chains though too so not sure if there is a good solution.

 

[kiford]

We're delaying booking our cruise(s) for British Isles/Western Europe for a few weeks just to see how things shake out. I'm not that concerned about catching coronavirus or even being quarantined; I'm more concerned with booking flights and having the cruise cancelled, booking the cruise and being unable to get flights, or booking the cruise and having the flights cancelled. We'll definitely get insurance when we do book, but the coordination right now of flights, hotels, and cruise is just a pain as some of those scenarios may not be covered by insurance. I figure that many people are already reluctant to book or are cancelling so I don't think the price will go up so I can wait a bit.

 

[GatorMomInNC]

Hi Lufthansa, KLM employee here

It's the same for the Air France KLM group, at the moment all rebook policies due to corona-infected-destinations (China & northern Italy) are free of charge. For me I am also not cancelling, if my cruise (Late August) gets cancelled, I get a full refund. Otherwise I will lose money on it.

Oh wow, because my flight from Paris to Venice is on Air France. Maybe I should call and see if I can cancel or get a credit. My flight to Europe (Paris) is actually Delta operated by Air France.

 

[GatorMomInNC]

That's the problem for people like me. We have a trip for Hawaii planned in March. We've been following the situation closely and have personally decided being on an island that could potentially have airfare cut off or supplies run low is not the safest option right now...unfortunately because there is no travel restrictions to that locale (thus ability to cancel without penalties) we stand to lose a lot of $$$$. I understand the airlines, hotels, resorts, etc. shouldn't have to take a complete hit on people cancelling but I feel its unfair for consumers not to be able to cancel without severe penalties either.

A lot of people I know are still going on spring break vacations because they paid for them which will further complicate spread...I really feel the governments should limit non-essential travel. It might slow the spread to put less strain on the healthcare system but I'm sure it will affect economy and supply chains though too so not sure if there is a good solution.

I understand that airlines will take big hit. I would be happy with a full credit to be re-used in 2 years...

 

[Travel60]

We have a 18 day trip in Germany/eastern Europe planned in June (Munich, Passion Play, Danube cruise) and the Disney cruise to fjiords out of Dover late August/Sept., lots of $$$ already spent on the Germany trip but we do have decent (we think) insurance if cancelled. Not sure about if we get spooked and drop out. We've decided to wait it out and see. We're taking it seriously but also think there's some fear-mongering going on.

 

[smmco]

We're delaying booking our cruise(s) for British Isles/Western Europe for a few weeks just to see how things shake out. I'm not that concerned about catching coronavirus or even being quarantined; I'm more concerned with booking flights and having the cruise cancelled, booking the cruise and being unable to get flights, or booking the cruise and having the flights cancelled. We'll definitely get insurance when we do book, but the coordination right now of flights, hotels, and cruise is just a pain as some of those scenarios may not be covered by insurance. I figure that many people are already reluctant to book or are cancelling so I don't think the price will go up so I can wait a bit.

You have given me some food for thought. Our flights are booked with miles and are fully refundable and our hotels are booked with points. My cruise is paid in full, but fully refundable until April 15. I could move the cruise to next year and take a wait and see approach. Prices aren't going up and they most likely will be offering some good GT rates. It's easy to move the cruise back a month or two before sailing since everything else is in place. I may even save some money in the long run. Hopefully, in 6 weeks I'll have some clarity on the situation.

If I was you I would hold out until after the PIF date to book. If your ok booking a GT rate you may save some money. I would think there would be deals on airfare too.

It's funny we were originally booked on the inaugural cruise of the Carnival Mardi Gras out of Copenhagen, That cruise cancelled due to the ship falling behind schedule. I had to cancel flights, rebook on Disney, spend an extra 2k, and find new business class award seats....those are not easy to find. I feel like I've been planning and replanning this trip for months.

I have a 25% discount on Carnival to use, but I can't even think about what to do with that at this point. If I book by March 3 I would also get 400 OBC, but like I said I have no clue. I've never cruised on Carnival, but this will be my 24th DCL cruise.

 

[mmmears]

We are booked on the Magic in late August. I'm waiting to see what happens, but it's not looking good from where I'm sitting. Flights booked on AF with points, hotels in Copenhagen and Paris also booked with points, so I can cancel if needed, up until PIF date I guess. I have prepaid a few private tours, but we have insurance, so hopefully the hit won't be too big. I'm going to give it some time and see what happens for now, but if my PIF date was now I'm not sure what I would do.

 

[White_Rabbit18]

I am in the opposite side. I am wondering if I will travel to the States this summer from Europe and if I don’t go then I will lose the plane tickets. Anyway I will decide right before my trip....

If I was traveling to Europe I guess I would wait and see how it plays out. We decided on not doing a cruise because I would hate being stuck on the boat.

For Italy... I would avoid because I am not a fan of their health system

 

[disneyholic family]

we're also in the opposite direction...we have a trip to the states in october that includes a west coast cruise on the disney wonder, an ABD trip and a few days in vegas on business.
The thought of cancelling has definitely crossed my mind.
We would lose the plane tickets and also the ABD deposit of $1000 would be lost (ABD has a no refund policy after the first 2 weeks).

I can wait until final payment and then decide. We're actually not that far away from final payment - i think it's in May.

And i agree, the study results are very very very very scary.

Yes, that was me. I didnt realize it was you as I wasnt paying attention to screen names. LOL

It seems like those most adversely affected have high blood pressure or heart issues.

My situation is somewhat complicated too. I receive Remicade infusions for Crohn's disease. This puts me in the immuno compromised category. My blood pressure is in check and I dont currently have heart issues although a known problem with Remicade is CHF. Its a small percentage that develop this but it does raise my risks. However since I am not currently having heart issues I wasnt concerned, I figured at worst I would get flu like symptoms but more than likely nothing would happen to me. I was far more concerned with what a quarantine would mean for my husband's job than actually contracting a serious case of COV.

Until this morning. I read this. Basically they are finding changes in the lung tissue of even asymptomatic patients. Obviously this isnt as robust of a study as I'd normally like before making decisions but I also dont have the time to follow them long term to see what the implications are for these patients.

There was another (again small sample size) study this morning that strongly suggest people are contagious 24 hours before becoming symptomatic.

So, if I could cancel the cruise without penalty now I would. So now I need to decide if we want to play a game of chicken to see if MSC cancels or if I should cancel now with the penalty. As for airfare, Im SOL so might as well hang tight for a bit and see what happens with that.

anyone on remicade needs to be a zillion times more careful, but you already know that.
it's not just that you're immunosuppressed, you're also at a disadvantage in terms of what treatments you can receive if you do get sick.

It's possible this virus will act like a flu virus and die out in the Summer. I would wait until the last possible moment to make a decision. I think a lot of people are making rash decisions based on fear. Since the quarantine of the passengers on the Diamond princess went so badly hopefully that course of action is off the table.

people keep saying that it will die out in the summer because of the hot weather.
If that's true, then why is it spreading in Thailand where it's already hot?

.

 

[Karin1984]

I understand that airlines will take big hit. I would be happy with a full credit to be re-used in 2 years...

Cancelling all flights for at least 2 months to the major airports in China... That does hurt. My airline already has announced several budget cuts to migitate the effects of the virus.

 

[GatorMomInNC]

So I am going to cancel the cruise on 3/19 (4 days before final payment date) if things have not improved or have gotten worse. Surprisingly, there has been no new rooms opened for booking on the cruise. So either people are not cancelling yet (like myself) or MSC is not reflecting those cancellations on their website.

France, and esp. CDG, are experiencing issues, and that is where we fly. Right now AF and Delta are allowing changes for flights through March, I will just have to wait to see if this gets extended to June. If not, and if things aren't as dire as they seem, maybe we will still go in June. But if Disneyland Paris is like Disney in Asia, they may close the park at some point.

If we lose our flights, including my husband's booked separately on American - and if can't get our deposit back from Disneyland Paris - I'm looking at about a $6-7k loss :-(.

My husband told me he thinks our stocks dropped about $20k in the last few days.

So maybe people are overreacting, maybe under-reacting, but anyway you view this it is not good.

But honestly, if we are only effected financially we are lucky compared to all those who have been sick or quarantined or lost a loved one to the virus.

If a year from now those are the only losses we have experienced I will be thankful because right now I am stressing it could be so much worse. I know many more people will get sick, even in the best case scenario. And people in all kinds of occupations are at risk of layoffs.

 

[2Gma]

If we lose our flights, including my husband's booked separately on American - and if can't get our deposit back from Disneyland Paris - I'm looking at about a $6-7k loss :-(.

My husband told me he thinks our stocks dropped about $20k in the last few days.

But honestly, if we are only effected financially we are lucky compared to all those who have been sick or quarantined or lost a loved one to the virus.

If a year from now those are the only losses we have experienced I will be thankful because right now I am stressing it could be so much worse. I know many more people will get sick, even in the best case scenario. And people in all kinds of occupations are at risk of layoffs.

Same thoughts here. We stand to lost between $6-8K on this Hawaii trip in March BUT the costs to us personally if someone falls ill or we can't get home would be much greater. No way to tell right now if we're making the right decision. I hope for the world's sake I'm wrong and it doesn't have the devastating effects we are starting to plan for.

 

[SirDuff]

Geneva just cancelled the Motor Show. I know nothing about cars, but this is apparently a major event on the "auto show circuit". I know that it brings a lot of people into Geneva (enough that we are told not to hold meetings with external people while it is on since hotel rooms are so hard to find).

As of yet, no changes to my travel plans. Just got back from Kenya (on KLM actually) with plans for Mid-East and Southeast Asia for work in March/April and personal travel back to the US in April.

Off topic: @Karin1984 - would you be able to answer a question about FlyingBlue if I sent you one? Specifically about how "years" are counted for Lifetime Platinum?

 

[mmmears]

If we lose our flights, including my husband's booked separately on American - and if can't get our deposit back from Disneyland Paris - I'm looking at about a $6-7k loss :-(.

My husband told me he thinks our stocks dropped about $20k in the last few days.

So maybe people are overreacting, maybe under-reacting, but anyway you view this it is not good.

But honestly, if we are only effected financially we are lucky compared to all those who have been sick or quarantined or lost a loved one to the virus.

If a year from now those are the only losses we have experienced I will be thankful because right now I am stressing it could be so much worse. I know many more people will get sick, even in the best case scenario. And people in all kinds of occupations are at risk of layoffs.

I feel the same. Losing some money isn't good, but if that is all that happens I will count us lucky in all of this. I'm not really concerned about our trip - it's just a vacation and in the great scheme of things not very important. I'm still going to wait and see what happens, but it's not my main concern.

 

[Canadian Girl]

It was tough to cancel my Greek cruise as I lost my OBB and 200 credit, but my daughter was refusing to go and it was for her. Kids are seeing so much online and I am really sad they feel so vulnerable. I am hoping next year might have some last minute specials if we decide to do it again. I do have November booked on the Dream anyway. Months to go before PIF. I did take a hit on my flights however. Will not book flights as early as I did ever again. Now wish DVC would let us move our reservation but we are only two weeks out and I would forfeit my points. Hoping North America stays relatively unscathed until then.

 

[jenf22]

So I am going to cancel the cruise on 3/19 (4 days before final payment date) if things have not improved or have gotten worse. Surprisingly, there has been no new rooms opened for booking on the cruise. So either people are not cancelling yet (like myself) or MSC is not reflecting those cancellations on their website.

Have you taken a look at their cancellation schedule? Our final payment is due 3/11 for our June British Isles cruise so I was stressing a little about what we should do. I checked this morning and if we cancel in days 89-57 before the cruise, we would only lose our deposit of $200. So I'm now looking at ~4/10 as our make a decision date. Our flights are through Princess and they don't get ticketed until 45 days prior to the cruise, so we wouldn't lose anything there either. It makes me feel a little better to have more time.

 

[Gentry2004]

Have you taken a look at their cancellation schedule? Our final payment is due 3/11 for our June British Isles cruise so I was stressing a little about what we should do. I checked this morning and if we cancel in days 89-57 before the cruise, we would only lose our deposit of $200. So I'm now looking at ~4/10 as our make a decision date. Our flights are through Princess and they don't get ticketed until 45 days prior to the cruise, so we wouldn't lose anything there either. It makes me feel a little better to have more time.

Disney has something similar at 57+ days out, but I didn't know that until it was too late. I thought PIF was PIF, the end.

 

[travelmomof3]

I've been thinking about this non-stop. We have a 10 day HAL cruise coming up for spring break. I am mostly worried to be on a cruise ship right now. Just one of the thousands of fellow passengers could have the virus and infect many others onboard.

I do worry also how this will affect the economy. I'd gladly take a voucher and use it next year rather than a full refund. We will need to make a decision soon.