Posted on 03/28/2021 11:46:32 AM PDT by Capt. Tom
Christine Duffy’s message painted the picture quite clearly already, but Carnival Cruise line has now also made amendments to its payment and cancellation policy.
In an e-mail sent to guests and travel agents, the cruise line said it had made no change in its plans to cruise in June 2021. The cruise line intends to sail only from US ports and, as the president said before, will not be moving ships to any other homeports to circumvent the CDC and its safe sailing framework.
However, Carnival Cruise Line has changed its cancellation and payment policies to give guests more freedom to change or keep their reservations.
Adjusted Dates So while the competition has been shuffling ships around to accommodate new homeports in the Caribbean and Europe, Carnival is steadfast in its belief that the US’s progress to battle the pandemic is paying off.
Of course, this does not mean that guests are not eager to sail and are eager to find out whether Carnival will be canceling its cruises this June.
As of right now, to provide further confidence, the cruise line is offering guests the opportunity for several ways to handle the situation. First of all, the cruise line offers guests an extended payment deadline for all June 2021 sailings. This means that final payments now need to be completed before April 30, 2021.
Although this sounds like a long time before the cruise line will make any decisions, the e-mail states that they will be deciding before that time. It merely serves to give those that have not made their final payments the chance to see what will be happening in the upcoming weeks.
Should guests want to keep their reservations active, they do not have to take any action until April 30. Guests that would like to cancel their booking in light of the uncertainty have several options.
The Previous Offers Still Stand Carnival has said the previous cancellation offers still stand, and guests can still cancel June 2021 itineraries without penalty. However, if a guest keeps the itinerary and the ship does sail, guests will be eligible for a $100 onboard credit per cabin. The cruise line calls this an appreciation of loyalty from the guests.
Should a guest wish to cancel their cruise, and this is done before April 30, they will receive a full refund of monies paid, including a refund on any additional purchases like taxes, gratuities, beverage and WIFI packages, and more.
Suppose a guest chooses this option and the voyage did not have a future cruise credit (FCC) or OBC applied to it, and the voyage is eventually canceled. In that case, they will not be eligible for any rebooking offers made to guests who have remained on the voyage.
Worth Reading: Huge Debt for Top Three Cruise Lines But Positive Signs Ahead
If guests booked the voyage with an FCC, they will receive a refund for any amount paid above the FCC. The FCC will remain in place, as will any OBC, as long as any next voyage is booked before September 30, 2021, for any voyage departing by April 30, 2023.
Carnival Cruise Line asks that guests who have any further questions regarding their sailings and bookings contact their travel agent or Carnival Personal Vacation Planner.
Carnival Will Not Budge The message from the cruise line comes after President Christine Duffy said this week in her video message to guests and travel agents that the line does not intend to change their sailing locations or to move ships to any Caribbean or other ports for now:
“Here at Carnival Cruise Line, we currently do not have any plans to move our ships away from their US homeports. I’ve always said, Carnival Cruise Line is America’s Cruise Line. We sail from 14 US homeports, 50% of our itineraries are less than 7-day sailings and a significant number of our guests drive to their Carnival cruise vacation.”
While Royal Caribbean has decided to change their ways and sail from new homeports, and Norwegian Cruise Line has now canceled voyages for multiple ships for a possible redeployment, it seems Carnival guests can still count on the line to remain true to their US homeports. Something Governor DeSantis of Florida will surely appreciate
It looks like Carnival is ignoring the CDC shutdown in the USA to at least November 2021, and Carnival believes the CDC will change its mind and Carnival will be cruising in June 2021 from the USA.
Time will tell. -Tom
Good for them.
From the article-
"While Royal Caribbean has decided to change their ways and sail from new homeports, and Norwegian Cruise Line has now canceled voyages for multiple ships for a possible redeployment, it seems Carnival guests can still count on the line to remain true to their US homeports. Something Governor DeSantis of Florida will surely appreciate."
Tom here- We will see how this works out ,but personally I don't see any cruises from Carnival sailing from the USA Ports until a few months after June. -Tom
I hope they sail in June because I bought some CCL July options.
I read that Governor DeSantis is asking the CDC to reconsider the November recommendation.
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/florida-governor-rondesantis-cruises/2021/03/28/id/1015457/
Florida Governor says he will sue to reopen cruising.
IMHO about 6 months too late.
The suit can be stalled in court for many months, and our Taxpayer money used to defend the CDC.
I don't believe the CDC or the Biden Group is intimidated by a possible Republican VP or Presidential nominee like Gov. DeSantis getting some publicity this far ahead of the 2024 Presidential Election.
So the CDC can continue to crush the cruise Industry.-Tom
Yes, good for Carnival if they can pull it off.
Others are jumping off the ship like rats.
I see no conflict between new homeports this summer due to the US shutdown till October and continued cruising in the US. I do think some of the new Caribbean homeports along with California will stick. Also unmentioned in the article the fact that Carnival owns a number of brands, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn, P&O Cruises (Australia), Costa Cruises, AIDA Cruises, P&O Cruises (UK) and Cunard, many of which offer numerous additional homeports outside of the US.
Carnival Cruise Line threatens to remove its ships from US home ports to sail elsewhere
They certainly have,and it seems all the cruise lines are trying to get going again against virus lookdowns and medical regulations.
No doubt in my mind the Cruise Lines have to reorganize and start over with less ships doing cruises.
The Lines have spent Billions of their own money, plus Billions of borrowed money, and are now running on recently borrowed money ,with no income coming in.
It will take many years to pay off those debts, no matter how many people have signed up for future cruises. -Tom
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