GOOD FOR FRED

[poole boy]

×Reduced payment due dates
We appreciate that in these uncertain times, our guests are looking for a little more flexibility and peace of mind. That’s why, for all sailings between 1st July and 31st December 2020, we have reduced our balance payment due date from 90 days prior to departure to only 28 days.

This means that cruises are secured with a 15% deposit until four weeks before departure, and guests have more time to make any decisions regarding their booking. With this in mind, we will also ensure that we let guests know of the status of their cruise at least four weeks before departure, in case their cruise is cancelled or altered.

Don’t forget, all guests can benefit from our Booking Reassurance Guarantee, which allows them to move their booking to any 2021 or 2022 cruise currently on sale, too.

[Whynd1]

Thats brilliant.
Wish P and O would follow.

[Ian Perth]

Looks like desperation for me, must be concerning though for cruise companies survival.

[Whynd1]

Desperation or not, my final balance for a P and O cruise in October is due at the end of June.
I feel that things may not have settled down by then so may have to use the FCC.
If I had this option I would wait and probably the full balance which would fall at the beginning of September. If things were getting back to sort of normal would feel confident of paying and sailing.

[Manoverboard]

I very much doubt that things will be back to ' normal ' within the next 12 months …. just saying

[towny44]

Desperation or not, my final balance for a P and O cruise in October is due at the end of June.
I feel that things may not have settled down by then so may have to use the FCC.
If I had this option I would wait and probably the full balance which would fall at the beginning of September. If things were getting back to sort of normal would feel confident of paying and sailing.

I am with you Linsdey, if P&O reduce their final balance payment period to 1 month, I will be happy to leave my late Sept booking intact until mid August before making a final decision. If not I will have to accept a FCC for the deposit and hope they allow us to use them for summer 2022 cruises, which might be launched in September.

[Whynd1]

Its less work for the P and O hard pressed staff in the long run.

[Gill W]

Fred Olsen were slightly slow off the mark (but quicker than P&O), but their response has been reasonable. An initial two month cancellation, a consistent policy and now this reduction in the due date for the balance payment.

I’ll no doubt think they are even more reasonable when I get my refund. I got my cancellation invoice two weeks ago - they have indicated that I might get my money by next Friday.

Freds latest action takes pressure of both passengers and staff on the phones, and gets a thumbs up from me.

[Happydays]

I think that's a good offer from them, it means one less thing for future passengers worry about at the moment.

[poole boy]

following on from my post on this subject I contacted my t/a to see if they would sort out transferring my cruise this august to the same cruise next august just one day later.
Fred Olsen agreed to this and all sorted within 30 minutes I also received an up grade to the next level and the cabin is exactly in the middle of the ship, we also got £50 each on board spend and tips included for the same fare we originally paid needless to say we were both very pleased with this and would like to thank all concerned.
if only Cunard were as helpful they are still trying to insist on only offering a cruise credit for our cruise 7th June as we already have 2 cruises booked for next year and are not prepared to accept this especially as you can only book 2022 to the end of April so if Cunard do not see sense and relax there rules a bit we could be seeing them in the small claims court later this year

ps the reason we cancelled the Cunard cruise is Boris Johnston telling everybody over seventy to go into lock down for 12 weeks as this end on the 15th June it would be impossible for us to board on the 7th June

[Whynd1]

I am a bit annoyed with Warners.
Booked for early July,balance to be paid by next Friday.
They have a policy where they request you pay the balance but then near the time if you don't wish to travel and take your break you can apply for a refund.
What a performance and adds to admin etc.
As I am still waiting for P and O to process my refunds I am not going through the same with Warners. Will have to lose the small deposit.

[Gill W]

I think I would do the same. I'd rather lose the deposit than go through the rigmarole of paying for something that you know won't go ahead and then waiting for weeks to get the money back. (although, I think they are probably hoping that people will feel like that so they can hold on to some of the money)

I'm feeling less Fred love at the moment, as the waiting time for a refund has increased to 8 weeks. They've shut down the admin phone lines, to allow more time to be spent on refunds, so it does look as if they are making an effort.

[Ray B]

Like all other lines I should imagine they try to hang on to as much money as poss to help stop them going into difficulties.
A drip drip situation.

[Gill W]

Fred Olsen have now said that they extending the pause in sailings beyond 23rd May

https://www.cruisetradenews.com/fred-ol ... eyond-may/

People will now get at least 30 days notice of their cruise being cancelled.

Coupled with the news that they reduced the balance due date to 28 days, this means that people can just wait until Fred confirm the cancellation, then ask for their deposit to be refunded.

I had a phone call from Fred yesterday to say they are processing my refund, so I'm hopeful of getting my money back 'soon'.

Overall, Fred seem to be dealing with this quite well.

[GillD46]

When Cunard cancelled our Far Eastern cruise a month before departure, at the beginning of this crisis, we received our full refund within 10 days.. plus they paid out for the admin fee Qatar charged us (£1262) for cancelling our self booked flights. I was very impressed.

[Whynd1]

Still waiting for my P and O refund, well over a month now.
Lost my Warners deposit this week as they were insisting you pay balance of the holiday then claim it back if you couldn't go.
Am waiting for enough to come back from P and O without having to jump through more hoops. It also seemed highly unlikely they would be open fully by early July.
Another company with cash flow problems I assume.

[poole boy]

have had an email from Cunard saying all cruises are cancelled up to 31st July included in this email was a form allowing you to claim for a refund of fee paid so filled this in you have to be very patient though as Cunard says it will take up to 60 days for refund to happen.
still we now have cruises booked for July and august next year so lets hope everything is OK by then

[Stephen]

This is pretty much standard now across most cruise lines. Like you poole boy we fortunately have a cruise already booked for next year.

You can almost guarantee once we come out of this pandemic the travel industry won't know what hit them with people wanting to book up anything and everything.

Get in now while you can I say.

[Stephen]

Still waiting for my P and O refund, well over a month now.
Lost my Warners deposit this week as they were insisting you pay balance of the holiday then claim it back if you couldn't go.
Am waiting for enough to come back from P and O without having to jump through more hoops. It also seemed highly unlikely they would be open fully by early July.
Another company with cash flow problems I assume.

The latest P&O info does state it can take up to 60 days to be refunded.

[Gill W]

I received most of my refund for my Fred Olsen cruise and excursions yesterday, seven weeks from when I requested it. I’ll get the remaining £100, which was the deposit paid when I was on board, by BACS transfer to my current account. They phoned me for my bank account details, the the remaining money should be paid within a few weeks.

Generally, I’m happy with how Fred has dealt with this. There has been communication throughout the process, so it felt like something was going on.

The P&O process doesn’t seem to be going smoothly, and going by comment on SM and forums, it seems that there’s barely any refunds happening yet. For the first people that requested their refunds, the 60 days is up next week, so will be waiting to see if P&O deliver.

[Whynd1]

My 60 days are up on the 19th,cancellation was done on the 16th March but P and O letter of confirmation of cancelled cruise is dated the 20th.
I dont know of anyone with P and O who has been refunded yet.

[towny44]

There are some postings on CC about people getting refunds, but some of these seem as though they might be for cancelled shore excursions or speciality dining bookings, and all of them sound very iffy.

[Gill W]

There are some postings on CC about people getting refunds, but some of these seem as though they might be for cancelled shore excursions or speciality dining bookings, and all of them sound very iffy.

I've been following that CC thread as well, and agree that the few people that have had refunds, either sound like they are refunds for incidentials or refunds for situations that arose before the general cancellation of cruises. Non of the people seemed to be very clear with their explanations.

However, there's a person who has posted today saying that he's had his refund for his cancelled cruise. This one sounds more believable, as he's a long standing poster, and he said a few days before that he'd made contact with P&O about this. I suspect that his refund has been pulled out of the pile and be actioned as a respect of the contact.

On other social media, people are saying that they still haven't had their refunds for the Norway cruise on Aurora that had to turn back, as Norway's ports had closed. They had a letter from the Captain, saying that they'd get their refunds within 7 days. They must be very close to the 60 days now.

[poole boy]

Fred Olsen have just said they are stopping cruises until the end of June 2021