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3 out of 5 ports cancelled. What compensation can we expect?


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Costa NeoRiviera cancelled all ports in Madagascar but only confirmed this once we were onboard and no chance of cancelling. We got €150 each as compensation which basically covered forced gratuities regardless of service satisfaction etc. Surely we are entitled to full compensation as it is highly unlikely many people would have agreed to a 2 port stop after paying for 5.

Does anyone know of a precedent ? I have written to Costa as instructed by the onboard staff however no response !

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You might want to post this on the Costa Board.

 

Each cruise line is different. The only requirement they have would be to credit you for the port taxes and fees but some cruise lines have done much more such as provided a significant discount towards another cruise.

 

Keith

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I am sorry that you missed your port calls - but have to wonder why you expect full compensation because of an event which was contemplated in your cruise contract.

 

When you say you got 150 euro each "as compensation" was it for each person of each port cancelled?

 

From "precedents" I have experienced, and heard of the experiences of others, you have done as well as might be expected .

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"Full compensation" as in a full refund of your cruise fare? Ain't going to happen, no way, no how. The ship consumed fuel, fed you, entertained you.

 

"Full compensation" as in refund of any port fees and any ship's excursions you might have purchased that were canceled? Yes, should have happened.

 

Agree with the others, posting on the Costa board is the far more appropriate thing to do.

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Thanks everyone, €150 each in total was what we got in total.mMy main point is that Costa purposely insisted we were going to Madagascar and only once we were onboard did the break the news to us. Unfortunately I missed the 300 passenger meeting which lead to a Reunion couple being taken off board with a Police escort. I gues you need to have been onboard to experience the disappointment people were expressing. The bulk of passengers booked the cruise because of the Madagascar stops. I agree health wise not a good idea but Costa could have pre planned different stops like Zanzibar or Commores . At least we could have tendered off Praslin for a day for example . Seychelles and Reunion were awesome stops however we did expect 5 stops. The onboard staff told us to email their head office to resolve the issue.Perhaps the Captain could have held a few " for info." Meetings which may have lead passengers to understand and accept the position.

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I’ve never had a travel insurance policy that would pay for missed cruise stops, There is one US company that offers such a policy, but it’s not available in my state.

I have missed many scheduled stops. All I’ve ever received were the port taxes back.

You aren’t entitled to compensation. No one should book a cruise because they must visit a particular port; it’s too risky.

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Our UK policy pays out £100 each for a missed port, up to a maximum of 5 per cruise. Nice to have, but no compensation is really sufficient if you miss a couple of ports in a once in a lifetime cruise.

 

Sent from my SM-T700 using Forums mobile app

 

Through the years, I've been on anumber of cruises when porrts were missed for one reason or another and we were refunded port fees and that is all. That is all I would expect to receive.

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Perhaps you should consider that stopping at any of those missed ports might mean that it will be the LAST CRUISE of you lifetime....if you happen to catch pneumonic plague. It is unfortunate that your ship must skip ports to assure the life and safety of passengers. But why should the cruise line be penalized? Refunding port taxes and fees is appropriate (and required in some countries) but no other compensation is required. Missing these ports is in no way the fault of the cruise line.

 

Whenever folks plan vacations, events can be impacted by many issues. If you fly to an exotic place (for a trip of a lifetime) and get a week of rain, should the airline refund your fare?

 

Hank

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Through the years, I've been on anumber of cruises when porrts were missed for one reason or another and we were refunded port fees and that is all. That is all I would expect to receive.
But that is the point of having an insurance policy. You pay for the cover, so why not make a claim, as you are entitled to do so? Our policy also pays out if one or both of us are confined to our cabin due to norovirus. Again, we would make a claim if this happened to us

 

Sent from my SM-T700 using Forums mobile app

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Just my opinion. If communicating the change was purposely withheld until everyone was on board, then that would be really bad customer service. I understand Costa acted within their contract rights, but if info about major itinerary changes is available it should be shared. Assuming I understand what happened here, they probably wanted to avoid having their agents deluged with phone calls. They should have had the guts to step up and give the bad news as soon as it was available. Hearing a company do something like this makes me avoid that company in the future.

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Had Costa not insisted that we were definitely stopping at the 3 ports in Madagascar despite all the warning signs, I would have accepted this , however they chose to wait for us to board the ship before cancelling one port and then a few days later the other 2. They knew very well that passengers would have wanted to cancel the cruise. This is what upset most on board. and lead to the story making headlines across the world. Thanks again for everyone's feedback

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A few years ago we were on a repositioning cruise from Ft Lauderdale to Seattle.

I can't remember the name of the sickness that broke out in Mexico. ALL cruise ships that had Mexican ports were told not to stop at any of them. So we missed a few ports.

All we got back were our port taxes and fees. Since kit happened so quickly, our captain was able to get at least 1 port for us and we back tracked down to Corinto. We limped into San Diego with very little fuel left because of all the back tracking we did.

There have been other cruises where we missed a port or 2. These things happen.

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Had Costa not insisted that we were definitely stopping at the 3 ports in Madagascar despite all the warning signs, I would have accepted this , however they chose to wait for us to board the ship before cancelling one port and then a few days later the other 2. They knew very well that passengers would have wanted to cancel the cruise. This is what upset most on board. and lead to the story making headlines across the world. Thanks again for everyone's feedback

But if you canceled a few days before sailing, You wouldn’t receive a refund anyway.

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But that is the point of having an insurance policy. You pay for the cover, so why not make a claim, as you are entitled to do so? Our policy also pays out if one or both of us are confined to our cabin due to norovirus. Again, we would make a claim if this happened to us

 

 

I

Sent from my SM-T700 using Forums mobile app

 

If I had planned and paid for a costly wedding on a Caribbean island, and the port was missed, I might submit a claim in thgt circumstance but likely would have confirmed with the insurer at the time I bought the policy ifffhey would honor a claim for such circumstance

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But that is the point of having an insurance policy. You pay for the cover, so why not make a claim, as you are entitled to do so? Our policy also pays out if one or both of us are confined to our cabin due to norovirus. Again, we would make a claim if this happened to us I Sent from my SM-T700 using Forums mobile app
If I had planned and paid for a costly wedding on a Caribbean island, and the port was missed, I might submit a claim in that circumstance but likely would have confirmed with the insurer at the time I bought the policy fhey would honor a claim for such circumstance
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A few years ago we were on a repositioning cruise from Ft Lauderdale to Seattle.

I can't remember the name of the sickness that broke out in Mexico. ALL cruise ships that had Mexican ports were told not to stop at any of them. So we missed a few ports.

All we got back were our port taxes and fees. Since kit happened so quickly, our captain was able to get at least 1 port for us and we back tracked down to Corinto. We limped into San Diego with very little fuel left because of all the back tracking we did.

There have been other cruises where we missed a port or 2. These things happen.

 

I vaguely recall that situation in Mexico you mention. There was also a time Mazatlan was off the port of call list due to crime, if I recall correctly. We have missed various ports due to weather conditions. Like you say these things happen and I think a lot of us have experienced a missed port at some time or another. What I find disturbing, if it is true, is that Costa withheld sharing a major itinerary change. I understand this would likely not make a difference in the ability to cancel or compensation. However, there is a value to knowing. Let's say folks had private tours booked. At least they could have cancelled them before they boarded the ship.

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