ronko

I have a friend who is trying to take a Boston to Nova Soctia cruise -- their flight was delayed by 3 hours so they missed the ship in Boston -- they were told to go to Bal Harbor, Main and get on the ship, BUT they were not allowed on the ship, because they were told they could only get on in a foreign country --- Seeing the ship was destined to St. Johns, Canada -- they are on their way their now -- Meanwhile they have incurred expenses -- auto rental - hotels, meals, etc. -- I never heard of such a ruling - they said it was maritime law??? Also, how can they get reimbursed for all their expenses???

FYI they did not book the flight thru the cruise line - they made that arrangement separately.

I am trying to understand what is happening and how they could get reimbursed for their inconvenience.

Ron

divineMissM

I don't think that they can get re-imbursed unless they bought some kind of trip-interruption insurance.
When you buy a cruise ticket with a non-refundable clause, the cruise company expects you to board the ship or lose your money. It's the same whether you live a block from port and walk to the ship, or if you fly in from Timbuktu.
However, as for having been told to go to Bar Harbor Maine, if the CRUISE company told them this, and then did not let them on the ship, they may have some sort of a claim with them. If the airline or someone else just "suggested" that they try to board the ship, that's different.
(Doesn't sound right though that they could board the ship in Boston but not in Maine. Neither are foreign boarding spots!)

LoveItaly

Unless your friends had travel insurance that covered this situation, Ron, I don't imagine there is any way that they will be reimbursed. I have only taken a few cruises so I am not an expert by any means but my understanding has always been if one books their airline seperately from the cruise line this is what can happen if the flight is delayed.

You might want to post this on Fodor's Cruise Forum also in case there is some solution to their problem, although I don't believe there is sad to say.

SAnParis2

3 hours, & they missed the criuse ? Sounds like poor planning was a major issue. Most folks will arrive at port a day prior to aid in avoiding just such things. 3 hours ?

Dayenu

I wonder if this is true they can board the ship only in a foreign country - foreign for them?? or for the ship, that is usually assigned to some 3rd world country? Maybe with the higher security these days the ship would not have enough time to send their information to Canada?

If they don't have insurance, nobody will reimburse them, unless this was the wrong info to go to a specific port.

Why don't you post the same on the Cruise forum of Fodor's, maybe you'll get more info there (if you haven't done so already)

Dayenu

On another thought... did they make both air and cruise reservation through a travel agency? They may get some money from them.

sf7307

>>

Why?

Dayenu

SF7307, I don't know why, but on the Cruise forum everybody keeps saying, if you made reservations through a travel agency, the agent will take care of you in case your flight is late, etc... So I wonder, maybe there is truth to what they say?

Maybe at least a cabin credit from the travel agency for the next cruise?

gail

The only reason I can think that a travel agent might bear part of the cost is if they recommended such a tight flight connection for this cruise.

Trip insurance or flying in the day before is really the only reasonable thing to do - but I guess at this point they already know 3 hours was way too tight a time window. Hope they catch the ship.

Suzie

I don't know the answer, but what a complete drag/bummer/disaapointment. Hard to enjoy a vacation even if they did catch up with the cruise ship.

nytraveler

If a travel agent books you on both a cruise and the flight to it - and puts you on a flight with such a tiny window of opportunity without pointing it out I would consider them partially culpable. Of course, the travelers are also partly to blame - since it should be apparent to anyone that a 3 hour window is not nearly enough for safety.

The second question is who told them to go to Bal Harbour. If it was the cruise line, and then they weren't allowed on the ship they have a reason to complain. If it was someone else's advice - they can only blame themselves.

janisj

This is a shame. But my goodness. What semi-intelligent person would book a flight that close to a cruise departure??? Unless they booked the flight through the cruise line, or a TA booked it as some sort of package including the connection -- they are SOL.

"I am trying to understand what is happening and how they could get reimbursed for their inconvenience." No one is to blame but they themselves (or possibly an inept TA -- but it sort of sounds like a TA wasn't involved). Don't even suggest to the couple that someone will reimburse them. Won't happen.

The maritime laws are sort of weird and it is very likely true they cannot board in a US port after the initial embarkation.

emd3

Trip insurance, trip insurance, trip insurance...I just got my check for 5K for major trip interuptions and trip delay during our trip to Peru a few months ago. I never go anywhere where the trip costs more than 1K without trip insurance. It is a relatively inexpensive investment that can pay off big time when something bad happens to the vacation of your dreams.

And when we have taken cruises, we always fly in the day before, to avoid this type of problem.

BudgetQueen

Even if they have trip insurance this may not be a doable claim. This flight was clearly too tight and may be outside an insurable guideline- meaning not doable to begin with. Insurance companies, have all their "i's" dotted and don't pay out unless they have to.

I suspect, that no travel agent was involved in this airline booking??

Sorry, but no one here is a fault or obligated for any expenses except the passenger.

And what SENSE, does the "can't board in Bar Harbor" make- BOSTON is NOT a foreign port and everyone boarded there??? More likely, they didn't have the ability to process them there, and with St. John even more limited, I wonder about that embarkment??

It will be interesting to see if any updates are posted.

GoTravel

It is true that you cannot board a cruise ship in the US if the cruise originates in the US from another departure city if the ship is registered in another country.

Meaning, if the cruise leaves from Miami and the first stop is in Key West you cannot board in Key West.

ronko, even if your friends booked through a travel agent, the agency is not liable.

A quick peak on any travel forum would have told them to never ever fly into a departure city on the day of the cruise. You always fly in the day before.

It sounds like some uninformed gate agent told them to catch the ship in Maine.

BudgetQueen

It is true that you cannot board a cruise ship in the US if the cruise originates in the US from another departure city if the ship is registered in another country.


Thanks for the clarification!!

sf7307

>>

For further clarification, it's the LAW, not the policy of the cruiseline. I was curious so I looked it up last night. It's an arcane law that people wish would be abandoned, but at present it's still "on the books", supposedly for the protection of the American shipbuilding industry (I didn't get as far as to figure out HOW this protects the American shipbuilding industry ) I understand from what I read that the captain can make an exception in exigent circumstances (which I guess usually means a medical emergency, not a flight arriving late, since they'd be a making a LOT of exceptions if that were a "good reason")

doug_stallings

I answered this post in the cruise forum. Yes, that is U.S. law. You can't board at the next U.S. port, just a foreign port.

And yes, the captain can make an exception and allow the passengers to board in a U.S. port, but that's rare these days. If the captain does allow it, the passengers have to agree to pay the fine. I don't know how much the fine is, but it's a few hundred dollars per person. I'm thinking it's $500 per person, but I can't remember off-hand.

sf7307

I read the fine was $300 a person, but that was a couple of years ago.

Dayenu

We were almost late to a cruise once

Flying from San Francisco to Los Angeles (OAK airport) I didn't think Southwest can be late! Just in case... picked an early flight out, and this had saved us.

In January, they kept the planes overnight in Oakland, and they got iced in. As this almost never happened, they had only one de-icing machine.

We were only 3 hours late, lucky us! But what shocked me, we had a shuttle to the port reserved, and it was a huge Greyhound-size bus, and this bus was full!! So many careless travelers

I was not nervous as we had insurance, but I won't do it again. Learned my lesson.