Ferry cancelled twice

jimdale · 13 February 2016 at 8:04AM

I'm looking for some advice on how to deal with a ferry company who have cancelled my booking from Portsmouth to Spain twice in past week.

We were due to travel last Tuesday but the ferry crossing was cancelled due to bad weather. We were then rebooked to travel on Friday (yesterday). I noticed that the ferry we were due to board in Portsmouth was in Spain and it's crossing had been cancelled due to a technical problem. I contacted the ferry company on Tuesday. I was told not to worry as the technical problem would be fixed and we would sail as normal. I called again on Wednesday and was told it was being fixed and all would be ok. Another phone call on Thursday and was told it would probably sail on Saturday. I called back on Thursday afternoon to be told that the sailing was cancelled and I had been rebooked on to next available sailing which is Sunday night but instead of it being one night on board and roughly a 24 hour crossing this one is two nights on board and is around 36 hours.

We are now arriving almost a week later than planned. Additionally we had booked a wheelchair accessible cabin but as there were none available we are in a normal cabin which is less than ideal for my partner.

I've been given £15 compensation which is the AA approved cost of mileage between our original arrival port of Santander and the new arrival port of Bilbao.

I know there are rules for airlines cancelling flights or delays but are there any similar rules for compensation for ferry bookings?

Any help would be appreciated.

agrinnall · 13 February 2016 at 1:51PM

I doubt if there is any legislation for it. This sounds like a situation where you would make a delay claim on your travel insurance.

sheramber · 13 February 2016 at 5:06PM

Were you offered a choice of rebooking or a refund?

jimdale · 13 February 2016 at 5:19PM

We were offered a refund or to rebook. We have a car filled with things to go to our villa in Spain so had no real choice in the matter.

Alan_Bowen · 14 February 2016 at 10:12PM

There are compensation rules relating to ferries but like airlines, bad weather will prevent a claim being made. Your second delay if it was due to technical difficulties may well be claimable, write to Brittany Ferries. The claim is for 25% of the cost for delays over 6 hours on 24 hour routes and 50% for delays over 12 hours