Hefty lost deposit on cancelled cruise

katejo

NoodleDoodleMan said:

Maybe he did take out a policy - but omitted to declare known health conditions relevant to the problem(s) which caused the cruise cancellation ?

Or possibly did have a policy but hadn't paid a cruise supplement? I was surprised to find out very recently that my usual insurer requires payment of a supplement for river cruises. I had always thought that the supplement was for ocean cruises only. I didn't get caught out but it has stopped me booking a river cruise with my current annual policy

TELLIT01

I can understand the extra insurance costs for ocean cruising, but river cruising isn't likely to incur additional costs for insurers if somebody is taken ill for example.

soolin

I suspect it is futile trying to help the OP who does not engage with the thread. Hopefully their lack of engagement is due to not getting the right answers and not due to health issues. 

IvanOpinion

katejo said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

Maybe he did take out a policy - but omitted to declare known health conditions relevant to the problem(s) which caused the cruise cancellation ?

Or possibly did have a policy but hadn't paid a cruise supplement? I was surprised to find out very recently that my usual insurer requires payment of a supplement for river cruises. I had always thought that the supplement was for ocean cruises only. I didn't get caught out but it has stopped me booking a river cruise with my current annual policy

We haven't cruised in years but when we did we never paid the cruise supplement since the holiday element of the cruise was adequately covered under the standard insurance. The cruise insurance supplement only seemed to cover days that you may have been confined to cabin, missing a port or missing a shore excursion. Things may have changed in the last 10 years.

katejo

TELLIT01 said:

I can understand the extra insurance costs for ocean cruising, but river cruising isn't likely to incur additional costs for insurers if somebody is taken ill for example.

That's what I said to Insure & Go but they insist that it is as hard to remove a sick passenger from a river cruise as it is from an ocean cruise. I don't believe them. 

Neil49

Unfortunately Imagine Holidays take a hefty deposit up front whereas if they had booked directly with the cruise line (or even another agent) they could have incurred less of a hit. 

We booked through them last year for a specific cruise which they were running through P&O but basically Imagine were able to impose their own terms and conditions. 

bring_back_threepenny_bit

Hi, thanks for all your comments, and contrary to popular speculation we do have travel insurance and will be pursuing that avenue. It was more the sizeable loss of deposit that I found objectionable, though as it is in the terms and conditions it seems there's no avoiding it. Certainly not by appealing to Imagine's better nature.
The insurance question is a tricky one as my condition is still under investigation and, as yet, not fully diagnosed. I may require extensive treatment and have been told to avoid extreme temperatures, which as the cruise involved Dubai and the Far East seems wise to avoid. Also had I not cancelled now I would, as a poster pointed out, be liable for the entire cost and stand to lose it all. I spoke to my GP practise and they were unable to write to the insurer in the first instance, they will though respond to Insurer requests for information. So I am effectively obliged to cancel, then contact the insurer and hope that my GP agrees on the inadvisability of committing to the cruise under current circumstances. Which is all separate to any treatment my OH may require, and neither condition was apparent when we booked the cruise.

Incidentally I answered my own question as I didn't confirm my acceptance of their conditions in my response to the Company, but they accepted my cancellation anyway - though no doubt this was because I paid the money.

NoodleDoodleMan

Didn't you accept their Ts&Cs at the time of making the reservations ?