Back on March 1st, my sister’s fiancee called up a cruise line where they’d planned a southern European honeymoon cruise in June. He had quite a struggle. Basically he felt that the pandemic was going to cause cancellations across the board on vacation travel for more than half the year, so he wanted to cancel & get a refund. They were hesitant to do it, claiming they’d have to fine him like $1,500 because he was a few days over the cancellation time limit. They suggested he not cancel and wait to see how it plays out. Well, he refused to do that. Because he has dealt with cruise lines many times before (it’s basically the only kind of vacation he takes if it’s more than 5 days off), he suspected that if he waits and there is a mass cancellation, he may not get his money back for a very long time. And… he wanted to plan a different honeymoon vacation with that money. Well, he got it knocked down to $500. Next, the airline… I don’t know how he resolved it, but that was another battle he had to undertake.
I have to wonder if cruise rates will go up after this pandemic is over, or if they’ll be heavily discounted due to people fearing cruises for their close-contact nature…