Holland 26-Day Cruise to Europe

I am currently booked on a 26-day repositioning cruise that crosses the Atlantic and then has 15 stops, beginning in Portugal and ending in Venice. In addition to Venice, there are two other stops in Italy.

So far, Holland has not changed the itinerary or announced cancellation of the cruise. I don't see how they can stop in a country that's on lockdown, but I guess that's a topic for another discussion. They have announced new "cancellation policies" that allow you to cancel a cruise and receive a "future cruise credit" for the amount of the paid fare if you book in 2020 and cruise by the end of 2021. Of course, under this scenario, they hang on to your money all this time. Fortunately, I purchased their Cancellation Protection Plan, which allows you to cancel for any reason up until the start of your travel and receive a refund equal to 90% of what you paid.

For now, I'm just playing a waiting game to see if they sweeten the pot with any additional offers. I don't really want to lose 10% of what I paid, but I also don't want to subject myself to testing or possible quarantine. I was really looking forward to this cruise and will be sad if I have to cancel. Sigh.

26-Day Passage To Rome & Greek Odyssey

Not sure how President Trump's announcement from this evening affects this??

We are booked on HAL Nieuw Statendam from 4/12 Caribbean and the 4/19 to Amsterdam. We would return 5/15. We also took their premium insurance too. Thank goodness. We probably will wait to cancel until 3/31. Very disappointed as we had a lot of perks on these trips. Good luck on your decision.

If I cancel, it will be a few days AFTER March 31 as that's the cut-off to get future credits for those who don't have the CPP waiver. I am glad you have it also.

Linda, please explain how we can wait until after 3/31 to cancel and not lose a portion of what we paid. I guess I didn’t understand the policy correctly. I hope they just cancel our cruise and we won’t have to make the decision. I see you were leaving the same day as we were. We did your cruise last year and it was fabulous and the weather was delightful. We did the spring and fall transatlantic in 2019. It was much easier on the fall crossing as far as the time change. I will be interested as to your final decision.

The policy for the platinum CCP waiver says you have up until the day of the cruise to cancel and get 90% back. You can print out the CCP waiver from your account on line.

Yes, we have the platinum plan as well. Just don’t want to lose 10% of $14,000! We will wait for another two weeks.

Good luck to both of us!

Well, Holland has announced suspension of all cruises for 30 days - through April 14. My departure is April 19. One nice thing is that on cruises departing during the next 30 days, HAL is offering BOTH a 100% refund AND a 100% credit against a future cruise. Would be nice if that same offer is made for my cruise. I will wait to see.

Our first reservation was for 4/12. Hope this includes us! I bet we will be going nowhere on 4/19.

A more recent email from Holland's CEO says either/or about refund/credit, not both. BUT they were including the cost of the CCP waiver in the refund options. Nice!

Now to just wait until they announce info about sailings after April 14.

Hope it all works out.......but i am spitballing here that things don’t settle for 6 weeks or 42 days. Even if it looks calm from alot of people heeding and doing mass self isolation, folks will be afraid to get back to full normal and reignite the spread.

You are a smart traveler, but it is not too far fetched to come down with it during the journey, At what port would you want to fight it. I think the answer is usually at home or USA.

Who would ever think flights to/from SXM suspended for anything other than a post hurricane thing.

I am hoping our best friend is sunny, warm weather to put the virus down for at least the summer until a vaccine can be made.

I would take the refund. Not sure about HAL in particular, but I figure there will be at least one bankruptcy out of this deal. Cannot imagine that Princess will survive without a chapter 11, at the least.

Or a cash infusion from the taxpayer to cover idling cost of cruise ships and airlines.

As you know, Princess amongst others all belong under Carnival Cruise Corp. So the “good” news is they have a few big cruise mouths to feed with Carnival Corp, Royal Carib group, Norwegian.

It truly is a catastrophe that no business manager could have expected in my life time. It is worse than 9-11 right now because you aren't hunting for some bad guys with xrays and metal detectors. That is easy.

Some would argue, let the virus go and take its toll while keeping the trains/planes running. Most will survive.
I have lost the bubble. Is that what happened with H1N1? Others? I think this is different but is it? Is it worth devastating our entire way of life? 1% think so, 99% may nor in a few months.

This will be painful but we have to find a way to bounce back. There will be a toll during the get back to life phase. This is a measure to avoid a massive spike, but we cant stop all mini spikes that follow or the annual seasonal return.

Expect a massive demand for Corona Vaccine each year. That is what the world needs right now, vaccines.

Cant believe im writing this.

Delete it if it is crazy.

Finally Holland came through this morning. They have extended their moratorium on all cruises for another 30 days; this includes my sail. The offer is for 125% credit against a future cruise plus $250 onboard credit, OR a full refund, including the cost of the CCP waiver I purchased. I have processed my request for the latter. They say it may take 30-60 days to process.

Now all I have to deal with is my AA air fare from PDX to FLL, which I purchased on my own. Thankfully, I purchased my return air from Venice - PDX through HAL so I will be getting 100% of that back as part of my refund.

Sorry to hear as it looked like a super cruise with many great stops.

We liked Kusadasi for Ephesus.

I’m glad they are handling it well.

Now, you can focus on planning another great trip when the seas and skies clear.

Definitely the wisest course, to get your money back. Best wishes to be able to re-book, when things calm down, whenever that might be.

Well, the loop is now closed on this trip. Over the weekend, I received a full refund to my credit card for the cost of this cruise, including the waiver insurance. I had already received a refund from AA for the air fare I booked direct with them.

So disappointed. I really wanted to go on this cruise.