Cancelling a Cruise Holiday

roro321

We booked a cruise - our very first - in early March 2020, pre covid and no restrictions whatsover in place. The cruise sails in Nov 21 on a round trip to Nprthern Norway from Dover. We paid a hefty deposit on booking and apart from the initial flurry of emails confirming the booking we heard nothing from the bokking agent or the cruise line until a couple of months ago we got a reminder that the final invoiced amount needs to paid by end of August.

We then checked to see what we had to do and unsurprisingly a shed load of extra conditions have now been imposed, some by the cruise line some by the Govt. None of these conditions were in force at the time of booking, indeed had they been we wouldn't have booked it, for same reasons we haven't booked any holidays since restrictions were imposed.

We now find we have to undertake,  A PCR test 72 hours before embarkation. A test on embarkation. Testing before any diembarkation at the ports of call, Mandatory mask wearing in all indoor areas on board unless eating, mandatory mask wearing ashore, a PCR test 2 days after returning. Apart from the hassle of it all we would have to bear considerable extra cost booking and paying for PCR tests with uncertainty as to whether the 72 hour result would actually reach us in time given the "performance" of the testing companies.

At no time were we contacted by anyone from the booking agent or the cruise line to say these conditions were now in force, nor were we given any opportunity to cancel.

I believe the terms and conditions have been changed so dramatically since we booked we should be able to cancel with a full refund. The cruise line aren't interested because we didn't book direct and the agent just says the cruise is going forward so if we cancel we lose our deposit. Just to rub salt in the cruise line will allow anyone who booked from Sept 2020 to April 2021, when restrictions were in force,  a full refund if they decide to cancel for any reason at all but it seems we are to be excluded because we booked to soon.

 Whilst I believe we could "postpone" the cruise to next year we don't want to do that for various reasons not least the inevitable increased cost.

I don't think the cruise line or the agent are being fair at all . Someone has had a hefty 18 month interest free loan and we think we are entitled to it back.

We would really appreciate any advice from anyone who has found themselves in a similar situation as to how they resolved it.

Many Thanks

roro321

eskbanker

roro321 said:

I believe the terms and conditions have been changed so dramatically since we booked we should be able to cancel with a full refund.

That seems unlikely based on what you've posted - obviously any holiday now has to encompass a non-negotiable Covid testing regime, but IMHO in itself that's unlikely to be regarded as a significant enough change to grant you unilateral cancellation and refund rights.

roro321 said:

Just to rub salt in the cruise line will allow anyone who booked from Sept 2020 to April 2021, when restrictions were in force,  a full refund if they decide to cancel for any reason at all but it seems we are to be excluded because we booked to soon.

Yes, many travel companies had to offer generous terms in order to incentivise people to book once it had all kicked off, which those who booked previously do generally feel unhappy about....

sheramber

it is not the cruise line who have imposed the extra charges. It is the governments of the various countries you are visiting.

Dr_Crypto

It doesn’t seem that fun, especially the mandatory masking and so much testing. 

roro321

sheramber said:

it is not the cruise line who have imposed the extra charges. It is the governments of the various countries you are visiting.

No - it's definitely the cruise line that is imposing the 72 hour PCR test prior to embarkation and the face mask routine and the embarkation test - we won't actually be going any near a country for several days

Dr_Crypto

It’s also the cruise lines that are forcing people to take their shore excursions on which you also have to wear masks. 

We loved cruising pre-Covid and were thinking about booking one for next year but I’m not sure I’d want to with all these rules. 

sheramber

roro321 said:

sheramber said:

it is not the cruise line who have imposed the extra charges. It is the governments of the various countries you are visiting.

No - it's definitely the cruise line that is imposing the 72 hour PCR test prior to embarkation and the face mask routine and the embarkation test - we won't actually be going any near a country for several days

Would you rather there were no  precautions taken  and the whole ship went into quarantine when one passenger embarked with covid?  You could end up stuck on the ship for weeks as happened before.


 

bagand96

Whilst the pandemic (and all the restrictions that have come with it) are not your fault, they aren't the fault of the cruise line either.  We all have to live with the "new normal".

Nearly all travel companies have introduced some kind of flexibility in their booking conditions due to the pandemic.  What do the websites of both the cruise line and the agent say in relation to this?  Moving the date of the cruise may be best compromise if there's no option to a refund.

roro321

The cruise line offer full refunds for booking made from Sept 2020 - so only if you booked AFTER the pandemic started .

The cruise line are passing the buck to the agent because I did not book direct and the agent - predictably I'm afraid - aren't interested and have not replied to my last set of emails .

roro321

sheramber said:

roro321 said:

sheramber said:

it is not the cruise line who have imposed the extra charges. It is the governments of the various countries you are visiting.

No - it's definitely the cruise line that is imposing the 72 hour PCR test prior to embarkation and the face mask routine and the embarkation test - we won't actually be going any near a country for several days

Would you rather there were no  precautions taken  and the whole ship went into quarantine when one passenger embarked with covid?  You could end up stuck on the ship for weeks as happened before.


 

Absolutely not - and that is the EXACT reason I feel we should be allowed to cancel. There were no restrictions when we booked and no precautions were neccessary and we don't feel comfortable about being confined onboard in the present circumstances.

We have never been contacted by anyone to inform us of the restrictions it's just been a case - seemingly - of we've got your money so tough.

Upsidedownandaround

roro321 said:

The cruise line offer full refunds for booking made from Sept 2020 - so only if you booked AFTER the pandemic started .

The cruise line are passing the buck to the agent because I did not book direct and the agent - predictably I'm afraid - aren't interested and have not replied to my last set of emails .

It was a pandemic from early March around about the time you say you booked the cruise. Whole ships were being quarantined by February 2020 and being refused permission to dock and all passengers were being tested. I don’t really see how you can say you booked “pre-COVID” and when no restrictions were in place. 

Personally I think you may have had a valid argument if you booked a few months before but by early March it was fairly obvious that cruising would be different for some time to come.

You took a risk booking at this time and unfortunately it has not paid off. It sounds like you will have to be pragmatic and see about moving it or cut your losses.