Cruise cut short when ship got damaged by freak wave - what are our rights?

Kess

Hi,

We recently got back from our first ever cruise, a 4-day Northern Lights cruise from Tromso - Kirkenes - Tromso with the Norwegian company Hurtigruten.

Unfortunately the cruise was cut short before we even reached Kirkenes when the ship was hit by a force 10-11 storm and a freak wave damaged the bridge. The ship limped back to the nearest port (Honningsvåg) where we were instructed to pack and disembark to be coached all the way back to Tromso (a gruelling 11 hour journey!) where we spent the rest of our holiday in a fairly basic hotel.

So, does anyone know what our rights are, if any? We had less than half the cruise, and lost various perks (e.g. "non-refundable" on-board credit and drinks packages), but I guess Hurtigruten could argue that it was an Act of God, not their fault, we should be happy to be alive etc. Should we complain or would that be futile?

paddyrg

What do your insurers say?

joerugby

Who is your contract with? What do their t&cs say?

MasterPoo

"Act of God" is usually not covered, but that depends on what your insurance/contract states?

jpsartre

Kess wrote: »

So, does anyone know what our rights are, if any? We had less than half the cruise, and lost various perks (e.g. "non-refundable" on-board credit and drinks packages), but I guess Hurtigruten could argue that it was an Act of God, not their fault, we should be happy to be alive etc.

Why not ask them instead of guessing?

Kess

jpsartre wrote: »

Why not ask them instead of guessing?

Er, I will, but I just wondered if anyone else here with cruise experience knew what normally happened in such cases.

Their T&Cs do state "we regret we cannot accept liability or pay any compensation where the performance of our contractual obligations is prevented or affected by ... any event which we or the supplier of the service(s) in question could not, even with all due care, foresee or avoid. Such events may include war or threat of war, riot, civil strife, actual or threatened terrorist activity, industrial dispute, natural or nuclear disaster, adverse weather conditions, fire and all similar events outside our control."

So I guess we have no grounds to complain (unless it can be shown they failed to "foresee or avoid" the storm.)

Katiehound

Just maybe they will have some kind of "goodwill gesture." It is worth your while to ask them politely stating your disappointment, first cruise etc.
I'm thinking that Fred Olsen recently had an engine fire, curtailed the cruise, gave everyone full refunds and half price offer on a future cruise.
However the difference here might be that Hurtigruten is not a cruise line- they are working ships which travel up and down the Norwegian coastline.

Skinflint156

I was on the same trip and received a satisfactory compensation cheque from Hurtigruten today together with the offer of 25% discount on a future trip.
No arguments, no wriggling so well done Hurtigruten.

Kess

I also just received a surprise unsolicited letter from Hurtigruten apologising for our experience, followed by a surprisingly good compensation cheque and the offer of 25% off another cruise.

So Hurtigruten - thank you! :beer: