If you’ve booked a cruise and need to cancel your trip you could find that you lost out financially. Here’s what you need to know about your cancellation rights before you call off your trip.
Following the recent Costa Concordia cruise ship tragedy you may be left wondering exactly what your cancellation rights are when you book a cruise.
Here’s where you stand if you want to cancel or change your cruise booking.
I’m booked for a cruise on the Costa Concordia
All bookings for the Costa Concordia up until 21st May, 2012 have been cancelled and will be refunded by Costa Cruises.
If you are booked for a cruise after this date then your booking will be transferred to an alternative ship.
Costa Cruises have said that they plan to contact everyone who was booked to travel on the Costa Concordia over the coming weeks, with passengers set to travel in the next few weeks being contacted first.
To contact Costa Cruises to arrange your refund you can call 0845 351 0552 or visit the Costa Cruises website.
What about extra costs?
If you have paid for on-shore excursions as part of your Costa Cruises booking that has been cancelled then the cost of these will be included in your refund.
If you have bought flights to your cruise departure location these are unlikely to be covered unless they were purchased as part of an all inclusive package with Costa Cruises,
If they were part of your Costa Cruises booking they will either refund the cost or arrange alternative travel if required.
It is also worth double checking whether your travel insurance will allow you to claim the cost of cancelling flights to and from your cruise.
However, in most cases your insurer will decide that as your flights are unaffected by the cruise cancellation and still set to fly that they will decline your claim.
Can you cancel if you’re worried about safety?
If you have a booking with Costa Cruises and want to cancel you are free to do so as long as you contact the company by 7th February, 2012.
However, if you booked with a sister or separate cruise line then you have no automatic right to cancel your cruise without incurring a cancellation charge.
As with most package holidays the closer you are to your travel date, the more you are likely to be charged by the travel operator for cancelling your trip.
Under current Costa cruises terms and conditions there is a £100 cancelation fee on all booking less than 3 months in advance - cancel within 4 days of your departure date and you are likely to lose all your money.
If you have booked a cruise with a different cruise line and want to cancel your booking you will need to check their terms and conditions to find out exactly what penalty charges you are likely to incur.
As a rule the earlier you cancel your holiday the less you will be asked to pay.
Will my travel insurance cover cancellation costs?
If you want to cancel your cruise with another company following the Costa Concordia disaster and believe that your travel insurance will cover the costs you may be sorely disappointed.
While travel insurance policies vary depending on the level of cover you have, the vast majority of insurance providers will view cancelling your cruise due to the sinking of one cruise ship as insufficient, especially if your booking is with a separate cruise company.
Instead they will treat you cancellation as being your decision rather than a result of circumstances beyond your control and may refuse to pay out.
