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I'm Gary Bainbridge and this is the
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second of my videos answering questions
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and talking about topics that people
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have asked me to talk about related to
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the whole cruising shutdown and future
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plans about cruising I've had loads and
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loads of questions about canceling
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cruisers refunds what you can expect
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when you can do it and very importantly
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for a lot of people whether you can get
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money back from the cruise companies
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because a lot of people are concerned
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for example about the viability of
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cruise lines and of course for many
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people this whole shutdown has affected
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their incomes and their financial
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situation all people want cash back
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rather than future credits so what are
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your options available to you there are
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really three different scenarios and the
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three different scenarios differ in what
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actually happens first of all if the
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cruise line cancels your cruise secondly
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if you decide you want to cancel cruise
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that is still currently scheduled to run
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and that really is up until about July
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or September and thirdly if you want to
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cancel cruises after that sort of July
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to September time so for the rest of the
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year and perhaps into next year so first
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of all let's talk about what happens if
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the cruise line cancels your cruise now
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I personally believe that we will see
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more and more cruisers being cancelled
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so what actually happens if the cruise
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line cancels first of all they will
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refund automatically any add-on cost so
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if you've paid for gratuities excursions
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flights whatever that will be refunded
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in cash pretty much as soon as they can
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so you'll get that money back quite
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quickly for the actual cruise fare the
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first thing they will offer you is
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future cruise credit and normally
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there'll be some kind of incentive from
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anything from 25% to 100% so for example
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in virgin voyages canceled they are
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offering 200% of your original cost if
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you keep the booking and look at a
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future cruise so there's some kind of
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incentive if you cancel the other thing
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they will offer you though is your cash
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back and they'll offer you 100% of your
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money back the way you get that is you
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have to apply for it so most of the
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cruise lines have forms that you fill
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out an hour link all of those ones that
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are available for the major cruise lines
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in the description so you go online you
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fill out a form and they requesting that
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you had to get your money back rather
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than a future cruise credits at the time
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of recording they were all available so
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certainly if your cruise gets cancelled
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you have you will get your cash back if
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you want it back for everything you paid
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both the fare and all the bits and
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pieces that you might have booked so
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what happens if you decide though that
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you want to cancel your cruise and you
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perhaps got cruises in May at the moment
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of June or July or depending on some
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Cruise Lines right through to the end of
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September if you want to cancel your
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cruise between the when cruising is due
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to start up and that time period they
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are offering you again two options one
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future cruise credit and again there's
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lots and lots of different benefits and
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perks that they're offering or secondly
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the cash option and again you use those
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forms to apply for the cash rather than
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the perks however they're offering quite
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big perk so let me give you an example
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of some of the perks they're offering
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if you go with Royal Caribbean they're
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offering you one hundred twenty-five
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percent of your fare to encourage you to
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take it as a future cruise credit you do
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have to use that by the end of next year
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so quite a long time norwegian again
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pretty much the same they're offering
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you one twenty five percent and you can
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use it right through to 2022 princess is
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offering you different incentives based
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on when the cruise was so kind of the
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closer it was to the beginning of
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cruising you've got a bigger increase
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but it's anything between a 25% to 100%
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but it's MSC Cruises in the Caribbean
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again it's 125 percent if it's outside
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of Europe they're offering at your
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onboard credit I already mentioned
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Virgin voyages were offering two hundred
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percent and Crystal Cruises again about
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one hundred and twenty five percent and
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Viking we're doing the same what was
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great with with Viking is if you don't
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have to use that future cruise credit by
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the end of 2022 they will actually fund
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it in cash with the others you kind of
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will lose it so you can see that if you
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do want to cancel your cruise you will
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get some incentives in future cruise
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credit however with the thing changing
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so fast if you do have the ability to
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hold on and you don't need that cash or
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you don't want that bonus
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I would suggest hold on to those
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bookings into May into June and wait for
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the cruise line to cancel those if you
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possibly can because you're likely to
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get much more back because even when
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they are refunding sometimes they're
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also giving a little future cruise
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vouchers to incentivize you or as an act
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of goodwill to try and get you to book
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so I would say basically wait what most
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cruise lines are offering which is very
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important is their cruise with
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so those bookings that are in that time
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periods to July or September depending
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on the cruise line they're still
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offering that 48 hours before you head
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off on your cruise cancellation so the
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third areas if what if you want to
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cancel cruise for most cruise lines
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after July or in the case of Norwegian
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after September in this case there's
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very little that you can do of course
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you could cancel now and in most cases
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if you've got a non-refundable deposit
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you will lose the deposit now because
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there's been many many incentives and
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promotions you might find the deposits
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very little however there's no real
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benefit at the moment for cancelling
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cruises later in the year you may as
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well wait because again as the date of
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cruising shifts I think we'll find the
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cruise lines will start to bring in
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there's various incentives at the moment
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for those later cruises
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they're still requiring you to pay your
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final balance when that becomes due
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although some cruise lines have
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shortened from 90 days to 60 days and
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theoretically you still will lose your
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deposit if you cancel so I would
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actually say if you've got cruises later
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in the year I would just wait and see
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how the whole cruising process moves
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because you don't wanna cancel now and
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lose your deposit it's worth just
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waiting and seeing because as the whole
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thing shifts I think we'll find much
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more flexibility coming in towards the
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end of the year is that a complicated
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basically summarize the key thing to do
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if you possibly can is wait for the
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cruise line to cancel your cruise
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because you are going to get the best
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options and then the most amount of
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options you really want the cash because
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you've are novus about the future of
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cruise lines or you just need the cash
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then of course I would also cancel now
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and request the cash option in terms of
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cruise lines going bus or people who are
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asking me that personally I'm less
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turned about that because I think they
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have quite a little funding I think we
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will see as liquidity becomes tighter
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and tighter they will be supported by
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banks government whatever in terms of
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loans but that's of course a key
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decision that you need to take on what
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you feel works for you and what you
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believe will happen with the Cruise
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Lines I think they are just too big and
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too important to the economy in the
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medium and long term and a way will be
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found to keep them liquid got cash and
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to keep moving forwards if you do have
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any other questions you want to ask I
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have other questions that I will address
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in a couple of future videos and as I
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mentioned I will keep making these
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videos answering questions as a
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situation changed if you have them until
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then remember stay indoors stay home
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stay safe look after yourself and of
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course we can all keep dreaming of the
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day when life comes back to something
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more normal when it's safe to venture
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out our homes and of course venture even
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further afield traveling and cruising
