Having just come off a cruise that was curtailed by the pandemic crisis, we suspected our next scheduled  cruise would be cancelled.  The cruise lines have been slow to cancel cruises, but we finally got the news that we expected.  Our 10-day June cruise to Bermuda from New York has been officially cancelled by Celebrity.  In this post, I will discuss some of the tips I have for managing your way through a cruise cancellation.

Decide Whether to Take Credit or Cash

The first decision you must make is whether you plan to cruise with the same line before any of their cruise credit offers expire.  If you do not plan to travel with that line, it may still be worth while to wait for them to cancel (see next section).  In any event, verify the following:

• When do any future cruise credits and/or on-board credits expire?
• What is the default selections – credit or refund?
• What is required to exercise your desired option.
• If you take credits, when do they expire?
• If you take a refund, how long will it take to show up?
• How much of the costs are credited or refunded?

Wait for the Cruise Line to Cancel the Cruise

I know many of the cruise lines are offering convenient ways for you to cancel your cruise.  However, you will get your best deal if you wait for the cruise line to cancel.  If you initiate the cancellation, you may get a refund or future cruise credit.  It is unlikely you will get any bonus credits or incentives.  If you are going for a refund, this might be best.  Should you be planning to cruise in the future, this is definitely not the best approach.

By waiting until Celebrity cancelled the cruise, we benefited in the following way.

We got 125% future cruise credit for payments

Since we knew we were going to book another cruise (see below), this provided additional funds for our new booking.  If we had cancelled earlier, we would have received 100% of our payments less any non-refundable deposits.  This is important as some or all of your deposit could be non-refundable.  Check your booking information to determine what is refundable and what is not.

Future on-board credit for pre-paid items

You will only be refunded for pre-paid excursions which were charged to your credit card if you cancel early.  In our case, we had a large ($900) on-board credit that we used to pre-purchase excursions.  Celebrity has stated they will give us 125% of this amount as on-board credit for our future cruises, which magnifies the purchasing power.  And we still get additional on-board credit for the next cruise if that is part of the incentives provided.

Your cruise insurance may be forfeit

If you purchased cruise insurance, check your policy (or better yet, call them) to find out how they handle a cancellation.  If you cancel voluntarily, you will probably forfeit the insurance.  As it turned out, our insurance will allow us to reuse the insurance if we book within the specified time frames.

Act Swiftly as There may be Time Limitations

In our case, we had to take action to receive on-board credit for pre-paid items and we had to complete a form.  Fortunately, my travel agent, Kevin, was on top of this and handled it for me. This is one of the reasons I suggest booking with a qualified agent.  Likewise, if you don’t take action, the cruise line may convert your booking to future cruise credits versus giving you a refund, if that is what you desire.

Even if you Act Swiftly, the Cruise Lines may not

Be aware that the cruise lines, airlines, and your travel agents are all working extremely hard to handle all the cancellations.  Even though you act quickly, they will probably need 45-60 days to complete the transaction.  On our trip to South America where we were forced to miss four days of excursions, Princess promised to refund the cost of the excursions to our credit card.  Initially, we were told this would take about two weeks.  However, when I called them, I was told it would be 60 days due to the incredible workload.

Likewise, Celebrity states that it will take about 45 days to process all the cancellations from the last round.

So, be patient.

Don’t Forget Air Fare

If you did not book your air via the cruise line, you will also need to cancel your air fare.  We were using United frequent flyer miles to get to our cancelled cruise.  When the cruise was cancelled, I was able to cancel the flight and take advantage of United’s relaxed cancellation policy.  The miles were redeposited to our account and we were refunded the small processing fee.  However, all airlines are not the same and, if you booked through an aggregator such as Expedia or Google Air, you may need to go through them to get your refund.  Not all airlines are treating cancellations the same, so you need to do the homework to figure out what is required to get your money back or to book another flight.

Cruise Insurance is a Sticky Area

If you purchased cruise insurance, check your policy to see what they will cover.  For example, if you cannot recoup your air fare, will they cover it?  Some policies do and some don’t.  Likewise, if you purchased your policy through the cruise line, verify to see if it is refundable.

We purchase our travel insurance through our travel agent.  The cancelled trip was insured by Travelex.  Their policy is that you can repurpose the policy for a future cruise so long as you book the cruise before the scheduled sailing date for the cancelled cruise and the new cruise must sail within two years of when you purchased the insurance.  In our case, the first condition was easy, but the second one is not, since we purchased the insurance in January 2019 and were planning to sail on the new cruise in July 2021.  We do plan to call them once we have finalized everything to see if we can get some sort of refund.

Keep Good Records

As with any situation where you are speaking with multiple persons, keep good records.  If you fill out a form, make sure you have a copy of it.  Keep receipts to document costs to be reimbursed.  Maintain a journal to record phone calls and what was discussed.  Depending on the state where you live, you can also consider recording the phone calls.

It is always better if you can state when something happened, who you spoke with, and what was said.  In most cases, the companies are trying to be considerate since they want to keep us as customers, but there are some bad players out there, especially when dealing with third parties.

An Example of Converting Credits

We were booked to take a 10-day cruise from New York to Newport, Charleston, and Bermuda.  This trip was planned  a long time ago using future cruise booking on a previous Celebrity cruise.  We had booked a balcony room and had scheduled all our excursions, some of which were paid with on-board credit.

We looked at a replacement cruise in 2021.  Unfortunately, the same itinerary was only being offered in early May during the same time we had already booked another cruise.  We did find a shorter (7-day) cruise leaving in July (no longer going to Charleston), so we decided to book it.  On looking at the credits we were getting from our cancelled cruise, we determined that we could book a Celebrity Suite at little or not additional cost to us.  Given the amenities that come with the suite, we decided to splurge and try it out.  On top of this, we will have on-board credit both from the cancelled trip and from our new booking to pay for excursions and spa treatments.

Since our future cruise credits have not yet been processed, our agent got us a courtesy hold from Celebrity until the end of May to allow time to process the credits.  We wanted to move fast, since prices will change and cabins will fill up.  If the price goes down, Kevin has been able to get us the reduced price in the past.  This is the value of a good agent – they will monitor the fares and the sales to get you the best deal.

It is unlikely that we would have booked a suite without the extra credit.  In the end, we turned a really nice trip into a fantastic one without spending more money.

Other alternatives are to use the future credits for multiple trips or to add additional persons.  Just be aware of when the credits expire.  In our case, we must book by December 31, 2020 and take the trip by April 30, 2022.  These deadlines may be different for other cruise lines and depending on the date when your cruise was cancelled.  In our case, they are clearly stated.  Check with your agent or the cruise line if you have any confusions.

Summary

If you are the recipient of a cancelled cruise, accept it and manage the situation to get the most out of it.  Hopefully, you will be in a position to take advantage of the credits to leverage an even better cruise in the future.  If not, be patient as you will eventually receive your refunds.

Please ask any questions or let us know of your experiences in the comments below.