We take a look at Royal Caribbean and how they're handling the situation.
From cruise suspensions, future cruise credits to refunds
nd what changes you'll likely see onboard.
And we also take a look at where the ships are now.
This is a must-see if you're planning on sailing with Royal Caribbean.
Ahoy there cruisers.
I'm David and this is Ben.
Together we are Cruise with Ben & David.
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So lets take a look at the updated cancellations and cruise suspensions of Royal Caribbean so far.
Well, the whole fleet is suspended until at least October 31st, 2020
and for Europe and transatlantic ceilings, they are all cancelled to at least the end of November.
For Australia and New Zealand cruises were due to start in early October,
but now they have been cancelled until at least November.
And for the brand new beautiful Odyssey of the Seas which was due to start cruising in November.
This has been pushed back to April next year due to some Shipyard delays.
Now, let's take a look at Future Cruise credits and refunds.
If your cruise has been cancelled you can choose between a future Cruise credit or a refund.
We do recommend though that, if you can, you do take the future cruise credit
as Royal are offering you 125% of your cruise fare back to you in future Cruise credits.
But do keep in mind though that the extra 25% credit will only be based on the actual Cruise fare.
So it doesn't include things like port taxes, gratuities or any packages you may have added
on top of your cruise, for example, a dining or a drinks package.
Port taxes gratuities and any of those packages you booked
will be refunded back to you and will not be part of the future Cruise credit.
They'll automatically be refunded back to the method of payment.
If you've only paid a portion of your cruise fare, you'll only receive their 125% of what you've paid so far.
You'll only receive the full 125% of your cruise fare if it has been fully paid.
But it is still a good reward and in some cases let you book a better cabin or a longer cruise.
Once you've accepted the future Cruise credit
Royal Caribbean will send you a future cruise credit certificate
and if you book direct of Royal, this will be sent to the email address that you booked with.
or if you booked through a travel agency
it will be sent to your travel agent.
At the moment, It's taking a few weeks for Royal Caribbean to send out all the certificates.
It can take up to 45 days after your cruise has been cancelled to receive it.
If you choose a refund, the money will be returned to you in about two weeks to your original
form of payment or travel agent.
But at the moment Royal Caribbean are the fastest cruise line to provide refunds.
Some other cruise lines are taking more than three or four months.
So.
So how do you use the future Cruise credit?
You can use it to pay off a complete cruise or towards any other cruise.
The cruise needs to depart before April 30th 2022.
So you're going to have plenty of time to use that credit.
But you need to book this cruise by December the 31st 2021.
Still leaving plenty of time.
If you book your cruise directly with Royal Caribbean,
you can redeem your future cruise credit online or on the phone.
When booking online you have the option to add your future cruise certificate numbers on the payment page
so it's nice and easy.
If you booked with a travel agent, you just need to redeem it through them.
If the cruise fare of your new booking exceeds the future cruise credits value,
you're going to have to pay the difference.
But if the cruise is actually cheaper
you'll receive a brand new future cruise credit for the remaining balance.
So you're not going to miss out on any money at all.
And you can also use your future Cruise credit on another future Cruise.
If you already have one booked.
You can put the credit on to that booking.
It's really easy.
Credits can be used on any of the of the other Royal Caribbean family of brands.
Such as Celebrity or Azamara.
If you booked a Royal Caribbean cruise, you can only use the credit on a Royal Caribbean cruise.
But if you are sailing with Celebrity or Azamara
this information that we're giving you in this video is exactly the same for them as well.
For more information and for phone numbers and contact details
check out Royal Caribbean's website on how to get in contact with them.
So next up.
Let's take a look at the cruise with confidence scheme.
So what's the scheme?
Well, it's there to give you extra confidence when booking a cruise with Royal Caribbean.
It means basically you have the option to cancel your cruise
up to 48 hours before it departs, with no extra charges or anything like that.
This is for all cruises departing up till April the 30th 2022
and the credit can be used towards any cruise that set sail through December 31st, 2021
or 12 months past the sail date.
Whatever one is further along.
But bear in mind, with the cruise with confidence scheme,
you can claim a future cruise credit and not get a refund.
Refunds are only given as an option if your cruise has been cancelled by Royal Caribbean.
To cancel your cruise.
It needs to be 48 hours before your cruise is due to sail.
If you book direct with Royal Caribbean,
you can fill in an online form on the website or you can call them to cancel.
If you booked with your travel agent.
You'll need to inform your travel agent.
The cruise with confidence scheme also comes with two extra benefits.
The first one is the best price guarantee.
It means if you spot a better cruise price on your booked cruise
up to 48 hours before departure,
you'll receive that price difference in the form of a non-refundable onboard credit.
So if you do spot your cruise has gone down in price, make sure you give them a call
and then you'll receive the difference in onboard credit.
The second one is the lift and shift benefit.
This basically means you can book the exact same cruise,
in the same cabin type, for the same time next year.
As we said the cruise needs to be the same itinerary, length, stateroom and everything like that.
There'll be no price difference.
So the cruise would cost exactly the same.
They're not going to charge you any more.
The cruise needs to be dated within four weeks either before or after the original sailing.
But a full year later.
So this is great.
So it means you can basically do exactly the same cruise in 2021
that you're going to do in 2020
and it's not going to cost you a penny in difference.
So what are Royal Caribbean doing to get cruising started again?
Well, they set up the healthy sail panel with rival cruise line Norwegian.
This is comprised of a group of top experts.
They include former heads of the CDC,
Governors, a former Secretary of Health, as well as doctors.
These experts are being put together to help guide the cruise lines forward.
They're planning to make their recommendations by the end of August.
They will then submit these plans to the CDC and other regulators for approval to return to service.
No plans have really been set in stone as of yet.
Hopefully after the healthy sail panel make their recommendations this week.
We'll see Royal put together a comprehensive return to cruise plan.
But Royal Caribbean have gave us sneak peeks and ideas of what to expect.
It includes starting off with fewer ships from fewer ports.
Maybe we'll see some Cruisers set off just for Miami or from Europe.
We don't know yet.
Plus lots of changes on board.
Some things were bound to expect are
a new virtual muster drill, which Royal Caribbean already announced.
So they won't be doing the big public muster drill anymore.
Or it will all take place on your ship TV or your smartphone device really easy.
You'll also see things such as social distancing,
lower ship capacities at around 50% to begin with,
enhanced cleaning on board,
changes to the buffet with no more self service,
better medical facilities and a swab test on boarding.
This is really expected.
We're really do expect many of the same things that MSC of put into place.
So where are on Royal Caribbean's ships currently?
Or as some people call them the ghost ships.
Yeah, what are they doing right now just floating around with no passengers aboard? .
Well, the ships are spread in three different parts of the world.
Here the ships that are docked in the waters of North America.
And these are the ships that docked in Europe.
And finally the ships that are in Asia
This is changing constantly, but it gives you an idea of what they are doing.
The ships are either just floating off the coast and regularly visiting ports
for change of crews and restocking of fuel or food
Most ships are operating with skeleton crews.
Meaning that the minimum crew possible for engineering, maintenance and ship navigation
is on board
Royal have done a fantastic job in repatriating its crew.
Getting crew back home to all destinations around the world.
So that's it for this video.
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That's it till next time.
Happy cruising.