Coronavirus - COVID-19
Coronavirus - COVID-19
Wishes Family Travel official statement
As of March 9, 2020, Updated March 12, 2020: Updated April 10, 2020
Updated January 13, 2021:NEW CDC guidelines issued for ALL Air Travel into the US on 1/12/21, to go into effect on 1/26/21. All Travelers must obtain a negative Covid-19 viral test (NAAT or antigen test) with 3-days of flight departure into the US. Please stay tuned for more information. We will provide more information as it becomes available. CDC Site
The health and safety of our guests is our highest priority. The COVID-19 outbreak has many travelers concerned. Wishes Family Travel recommends that you follow the advice of the CDC and your personal health care professional as to making travel decisions. We cannot tell you what you should or should not do. Those decisions are yours to make. We will honor and respect your decisions. Please understand that your agent is working diligently on your behalf, and most likely now for free. Patience and kindness for everyone involved is greatly appreciated.
4/10/20 - CDC issued a continued No Sail order to cruise ships that use US ports for 100 days for all passenger ships that carry more than 250 people and / or are out to sea for longer than 24 hours. The 100 days expire on July 18, 2020. We are waiting with you for updated policies and cancellations from the cruise lines. Our best advice is to hold off cancelling your cruise until the cruise line formally cancels in order to protect the value of what you have already paid. You can read about the new order from the CDC here. NO SAIL ORDER EXTENDED updated 1/13/21
We also would like to make you aware that if you choose to cancel any of your travels that qualify for a refund, that those are taking up to 90 days to receive due to the high volume of requests.
In order to give you our BEST advice on which factors should go into making your decisions, we have formulated the following questions to ask yourself. This is NOT an exhausted list, nor is it intended to be the ONLY way to make the decisions. This just gives you a framework to assist you in logically making the decisions.
- Do you or a member of your immediate personal circle, have an underlying medical conditions that, according the medical professionals, places them at a higher risk of severe outcome if they contract this virus?
- What is the travel provider providing in the way of extra protection? ie additional hand washing stations at theme parks; more strenuous and frequent cleaning.
- What would the ramifications be if you or a member of your family were forced into a 14+ day self quarantine after you return from your travel?
- What are the financial ramifications of changing dates or canceling? Does that matter?
- What is the CDC, US State Department, your local state county and city saying about travel and quarantine? Are there alerts posted for your destination or method of transportation?
It is our best advice to go directly to the source for your information. CDC, US State Department, and Travel Suppliers.
Here are some helpful facts / links to assist you with making those decisions:
- CDC is updating every day the status of the outbreak. This is the link to the summary page. There is so much useful information available on this website. Please see the Travel Information section for specifics to travelers. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/summary.html
- State Department website also has VITAL information for travelers. This page https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/ea/novel-coronavirus-hubei-province--china.html is specifically about the Coronavirus outbreak and their recommendations.
- State Department official Travel Advisories can be located here: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories.html/
- Travel Insurance and Individual Travel Supplier policies will all be different. You will need to check your terms and conditions and the specific insurance policy to see what the financial ramifications will be of changing or cancelling your travel plans. Your agent is not an insurance broker. She can only answer surface questions. Specific coverage questions should be directed to the insurance company directly.
- If you will be issued any sort of refund, it can take several weeks for you to see that on your credit card statement.
- Some Cruise lines have altered their normal change / cancellation policies. They have also implemented more stringent screening processes, etc. Please see their sites directly for specific information.
Carnival Cruise Line https://www.carnival.com/health-and-sailing-update.aspx
Royal Caribbean Cruise Line https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-with-confidence
Norwegian Cruise Line https://www.ncl.com/travel-alert/coronavirus
Disney Cruise Line https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/guest-services/advisory/
Wishes Family Travel Terms & Conditions