Queasy_Cruiser

Allianz Travel issues annual policies, which mostly cover medical and evacuation/repatriation expenses, which can be very, very expensive. MedJet also offers plans to cover evacuation/repatriation expenses. As others have noted, Cancellation Coverage makes travel insurance a lot more expensive, but if one can "afford" the losses associated with cancelling a cruise, policies that cover the catastrophic expense of hospitalization and evacuation/repatriation, are relatively reasonable. We never travel without medical and evacuation/repatriation coverage.

Our last cruise was on Silversea, which provided each of us with a Very Nice backpack, which we've since used for other travel. The backpacks are far nicer than any tote we've been given on any cruise line. I'm looking forward to getting another backpack when we travel with Silversea next year! As we'll also be traveling with RSSC next year, for the first time, we'll be sure to bring our backpacks as reminders that giving away things like backpacks and caps pays off in years of free advertising among the same clientele RSSC is courting.

Regent bears the responsibility for this problem; Viking, too. They've known about NZ and Aussie rules on Biofoul for some time, and could have anticipated the problem. Since passengers have no control over how or when to deal with the issue, they should not be made to "share" the expense. In my experience there are few passengers who travel from home just for the "hotel" experience. Cruise passengers expect that an occasional port will be missed due to inclement weather or other issues beyond the ship's control, and when that's happened on cruises we've been on, there was some disappointment, as one might expect, but passengers understood the problem and we all went on with our day at sea. Biofoul and the Aussie and NZ rules are not beyond the ship's control. Missing multiple (or more!) ports because the ship didn't meet the ports' standards is unacceptable and Regent (Viking, too) should step up, refund the passengers' fares as they would almost certainly do if they had failed to reserve a berth, failed to pay taxes or other fees or otherwise failed to make the necessary arrangements (or to comply with local laws) to stop at a planned port. Cruise lines need to figure out how to comply with the rules or drop Australia & New Zealand from their itineraries. Passengers should not suffer because cruise lines fail to adequately prepare.