Holiday cancelled due to pregnancy

jillie1974

Cruise ships usually dont allow you onboard past 28 weeks as they do not have the medical facilities onboard to assist you should there be any complications. So even if an airline would take you there, you would not be allowed onboard.
What was the £1500 the deposit?
You would not get that back from the agency, you would need to claim off your travel insurance

duchy

Why do I get the feeling the long silence means no insurance <sigh>

Mands

Cassie5000 wrote: »

We booked a cruise & flight back in May 2012 and paid approx £1500 for the holiday which was due to happen at the end of January 2013. We discovered that I was pregnant at the end of August. The travel agents have told us that the airline won't take me because I will be over 30 weeks pregnant by then. Consequently, we have no way of getting to Antigua for the cruise & have had to cancel the holiday.

Antigua embarkation in January sounds like Sea Dream. Their policy is not to accept passengers beyond week 24 of pregnancy so the flight is a non-issue.

As others have said, you'll need to claim on your travel insurance.

Best of luck,
Mands

Cassie5000

Thanks everyone for the replies. Most of you seem to be suggesting claiming on travel insurance. However, we've tried to do this but have been told by the insurance company that we are not covered as pregnancy is not a "medical condition". We're now pursuing a claim via our credit/debit card but not feeling very hopeful. I simply don't understand why we are not getting a full refund, given that we have given the tour operator 4.5 months' notice. It's not as if we wanted to cancel the holiday - we are being told that the airline won't take us (understandably, of course). Since I wasn't pregnant when I booked the holiday, I would have thought a full refund was due....

Cassie5000

ps- i booked the holiday with "Cruise Nation". Their customer service is appalling. They have given us absolutely no help or advice whatsoever, but have simply kept our money. Even the company director has failed to respond to my correspondence. I would never make the mistake of booking with them again.

malkie76

You got pregnant but somehow it's their fault?
They kept their side of the contract.

It's unfortunate, but its worth having insurance which covers this if you are in any danger of getting pregnant.

I'd focus on the child and not stress about the loss.

Alan_Bowen

No disrespect but it was your choice to get pregnant, many insurance policies take the same view as your insurers that preganacy is not a medical emergency and insurance is for unexpected events. You certainly have no claim at all against the credit card used, that can only apply when someone has broken a contract and is unable to offer a refund.
The only business that could offer a refund is Cruise Nation, they appear to be part of Hays Travel, their 'balance due date' is 14 weeks before departure and it looks as though you cancelled before that date so cancellation should not be 100%. The problem is their own web site gives no indication of cancellation charges, so they must be on the original invoice, read them and see what they say. If there are no cancellation charges shown at all, they cannot impose 100% charges, if they refuse to help, complain to ABTA, 30 Park Street, London SE1

luci

I have just checked several travel insurance policies and none of them cover pregnancy and one actually states that it is not an "unforeseen event".

The only one I checked that doesn't mention pregnancy at all is the Nationwide FlexAccount policy.

missellie74

I doubt you will get a refund. Are they offering you the chance to transfer your deposit onto another holiday? I know some companies will let you do that as long as you travel within 6 months either side of your original travel date.

I had to reschedule a holiday a few years ago as I would've been too pregnant to fly, but we moved the holiday to the next year and didn't lose the deposit. Worth checking this out as then you won't lose any money.

loobs40

In my experience you pay a deposit for a cruise and then the final payment is due to the cruise line 90 days before. So if you told Cruise Nation in August that you could not travel,you should have only lost your deposit.

Was the £1500 the deposit?