Cancelled/postponed trips due to COVID - please share your outcomes

[outofofficebrb]

We just got email from Aggressor about our April 24 T&C trip, offering a free reschedule within 12 months, vouchers to follow. At the moment I don't know if the vouchers will be for a week, or for the 25% off price we paid originally. I would understand either outcome.

I had a Dive The World 25% off sailing as well and they offered me a voucher for the same boat, itinerary, and cabin. It was not based on what price I bought the berth at but what I service/sailing I purchased which is awesome. Rest assured!

 

[drbill]

When they discovered my cancer three days before I was to go to the Maldives, there was no refund for the two weeks on a liveaboard I had booked. I was told I should have taken out trip insurance. The only difference I see between that and the coronavirus is that we've had months of warnings about it and I had no warning about the cancer.

 

[Damselfish]

Someone mentioned to me they are offering a discount on the rescheduled sailings which should offset the 40% they are keeping but that they are charging a reschedule fee (what you just quoted) that basically offsets the discount and gets everyone back to square 1....screwed.

And what if the rescheduled trip (that you gave them even more money for) gets cancelled.

 

[outofofficebrb]

When they discovered my cancer three days before I was to go to the Maldives, there was no refund for the two weeks on a liveaboard I had booked. I was told I should have taken out trip insurance. The only difference I see between that and the coronavirus is that we've had months of warnings about it and I had no warning about the cancer.

I’m sorry to hear about cancer. Cancer sucks. I hope you are in remission now and have squashed it!

A major difference that I can see is almost all trip insurance would have covered the need to cancel due to a cancer diagnosis, especially one needing treatment or contraindicative of travel. Almost all trip insurance (the vast majority) won’t cover for COVID because it’s a “health situation/pandemic/epidemic”. There are a couple of exceptions: Cancel For Any Reason would cover it but not 100% and there are a few policies that do though some have changed their policies to not cover it going forward in new policies since they probably realized it is a real thing and has cost them a lot.

And what if the rescheduled trip (that you gave them even more money for) gets cancelled.

SMH. I can’t imagine right now. At that point, it’s probably better to just run far away.

 

[Tobinobin]

I had a group booked on the Infiniti LOA in Tubbataha for April 19th. We booked through Dive The World. Neither group reached out proactively, but when I emailed Dive The World they coordinated with Infinite and have offered to rebook us next spring at no cost (the LOAs only go to Tubbataha for ~3 months out of the year so it will be a loooooong wait.... but I'm very thankful for their generosity in even offering that). A few people in the group are unable to do next spring so we've asked for a refund for them instead and are still waiting to hear back on whether that is an option.

 

[BDSC]

I had a group booked on the Infiniti LOA in Tubbataha for April 19th. We booked through Dive The World. Neither group reached out proactively, but when I emailed Dive The World they coordinated with Infinite and have offered to rebook us next spring at no cost (the LOAs only go to Tubbataha for ~3 months out of the year so it will be a loooooong wait.... but I'm very thankful for their generosity in even offering that). A few people in the group are unable to do next spring so we've asked for a refund for them instead and are still waiting to hear back on whether that is an option.

Perhaps if a refund is not an option, they would allow a transfer of the booked individual to another person. Tubbataha has such limited access that someone else might jump on those spots.

 

[d^2b]

I had a Dive The World 25% off sailing as well and they offered me a voucher for the same boat, itinerary, and cabin. It was not based on what price I bought the berth at but what I service/sailing I purchased which is awesome. Rest assured!

Yes, the vouchers arrived, and it's for the cabin/boat, not the amount paid.

 

[Centrals]

The EU Travel Directive guarantees the cost of a vacation with more than one element (eg travel & accommodation) by ATOL Bond. Americans are in the wild west and have no such protection.

What is that going to do with UK in the not distant future?

 

[Graeme Fraser]

What is that going to do with UK in the not distant future?

The vast majority of EU Directives and Regulations will remain in place in the UK after the Brexit process is completed. The only real change will be someone tippexing out EU and putting UK on the paperwork.

In the specific case of ATOL and ABTA, I believe (though stand to be corrected) that these were originally based on UK Instruments anyway.

Relevant (but not relevant) is EU legislation around commercial vehicle operations. I went to a seminar by a leading commercial transport barrister who said he'd been lobbied repeatedly by operators demanding that restrictive EU laws around drivers hours be repelled after Brexit. He had to point out that ALL these regulations were based on the UK model and adopted in full by the EU. In other words, no chance!

 

[d^2b]

Yes, the vouchers arrived, and it's for the cabin/boat, not the amount paid.

Surprisingly Air Canada has refunded those tickets, if I understand correctly because they rescheduled the flights before March 18 (so we are covered by the flight reschedule rules). They kindly offered us the choice of cash or a credit for the same amount for two years . We took the cash . I'm pretty sure if the Bank of Canada collapses, Air Canada credits are not going to be that useful.