Cruise Cancelled on day of Departure

McJax

After booking 20 months in advance (pre-Covid) and after a rollercoaster of uncertainty in December 2021 we flew to Buenos Aires for a cruise to Antarctica on 31 December. We knew there'd be risks as Omicron was rising but it was too late to cancel. We took out extra insurance to cover the trip, and booked everything through a travel agent.
8 hours after arrival in Buenos Aires we were informed that the cruise was cancelled - new Argentine law stated that no passengers could leave the ship until PCR tested and there wasn't time to process that and get the new passengers on board.
It was now past midnight on 31st December in the UK so could't get hold of the insurance provider, but were able to register what had happened with the travel agent's duty manager.
On January 1st, we spent the day discussing options with the travel agent and decided to come home asap. Subsquently found out that our business class tickets were not flexible and we'd have to stay 7 days to use them, so we ended up buying 2 new single flights to travel home on the 2nd January.

We're now in a horrible position - we have chosen to reschedule the cruise for December 2022 so don't want to make any claim on that, but the insurnace company say it is the travel agent's responsibility to refund the other elements of the trip (it was booked as a single-contract package) but they say it is the insurance who should cover this.

Does anyone have experience of this or can advise what we should do?

Thanks in advance.

Alan_Bowen

If this was sold as a single package product, check the bottom of your ATOL Certificate, and the cruise line cancelled, then your insurers are correct. It is indeed the organiser who is responsible to refund you, presumably, they can get the cruise costs back from the cruise line but they will lose the value of the flights

McJax

Hi, thanks. Yes, the ATOL cert shows 'Package - Single Contract' but the travel agent has indicated in their T&Cs that they cannot be held responsible for failure of third party suppliers - so not really a watertight 'package' at all! But, we have taken the cruise company's offer to rebook for 2022 so given what you say, it looks like the flights are a lost cause?
We genuinely thought we had insurance cover for all aspects of this - extra top up, cruise and covid clauses but it seems that a cancellation after starting the journey is an issue, and not being able to get good advice on 1st Jamuary will cost us dearly.

We did everything we could in good faith but will lose thousands because the cruise company cancelled, but I don't think they had a choice. We couldn't cancel in December as it was within 30 days of travel (cruise company rules).

We weren't happy travelling during the pandemic but thought we had the risks covered - alas it would appear not.

Upsidedownandaround

What are the "other elements of the trip" you are seeking a refund for given the cruise has been rescheduled?

daveyjp

"On January 1st, we spent the day discussing options with the travel agent and decided to come home asap."

What were the options?

McJax

Upsidedownandaround said:

What are the "other elements of the trip" you are seeking a refund for given the cruise has been rescheduled?

Had to buy new flights to come home (the alternative was to stay for a further 6 nights until could use existing returns but thought that if we'd stayed for a 'holiday' it would invalidate any claims .... wish we had now, got something out of it!), we'd also booked 7 nights accomodation & transfers at the end of the cruise.

McJax

daveyjp said:

"On January 1st, we spent the day discussing options with the travel agent and decided to come home asap."

What were the options

Stay on in Argentina, but we genuinely thought that would invalidate any insurance claim if we had a 'holiday' ... I wish we had! I thought that it would be a case of claiming for the non-cruise elements and that we were covered either by the fact it was a package with a national travel agent or by the extra insurances we took out.

Upsidedownandaround

Personally I would have thought the booking of new flights to get you home and not using the the other nights accomodation that was available would be an insurance matter if you were covered. 

Alan_Bowen

It really doesn't matter what their booking conditions say, they cannot overrule the law which has been clear for the last 30 years, that as an organiser of a package holiday, they are responsible for all the elements they sell whether they have control over them or not.

It is then up to the organiser to protect themselves with appropriate insurance cover and adequate contractual relationships with their suppliers. It was their responsibility to get you home and arrange a refund for the cruise and any other services you had booked and were shown as part of the package. If you try to make an insurance claim, I expect they will simply tell you to go back to the organiser as they have legal  responsibility in this case 

Voyager2002

Alan_Bowen said:

It really doesn't matter what their booking conditions say, they cannot overrule the law which has been clear for the last 30 years, that as an organiser of a package holiday, they are responsible for all the elements they sell whether they have control over them or not.

It is then up to the organiser to protect themselves with appropriate insurance cover and adequate contractual relationships with their suppliers. It was their responsibility to get you home and arrange a refund for the cruise and any other services you had booked and were shown as part of the package. If you try to make an insurance claim, I expect they will simply tell you to go back to the organiser as they have legal  responsibility in this case 

In the light of this observation, I would check whether the travel insurance includes legal cover to enable you to make this point forcefully to the travel agent.

Upsidedownandaround

Alan_Bowen said:

It really doesn't matter what their booking conditions say, they cannot overrule the law which has been clear for the last 30 years, that as an organiser of a package holiday, they are responsible for all the elements they sell whether they have control over them or not.

It is then up to the organiser to protect themselves with appropriate insurance cover and adequate contractual relationships with their suppliers. It was their responsibility to get you home and arrange a refund for the cruise and any other services you had booked and were shown as part of the package. If you try to make an insurance claim, I expect they will simply tell you to go back to the organiser as they have legal  responsibility in this case 

So this means that where any part of a package holiday is cancelled when a person is on holiday (in this case the cruise) a person can choose to cancel all other elements of the package and fly home at the cost of the travel agent? Is that correct?