Dear Tripped Up,
After graduating college in 2022 and working for a year, I used my bonus and some of my savings to book me and my partner a nine-day Mediterranean cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line. The $7,657 cruise package included airfare from Atlanta to Barcelona, Spain via Newark, and Norway’s BookSafe travel protection plan, which included travel insurance and also allowed me to “cancel for any reason” for a 75% credit. Weather delayed our first flight, we missed our connection, and United Airlines couldn’t get us to Barcelona in time to board. I called Norwegian and the agents suggested I buy last minute tickets on a different airline, but I don’t have that kind of money. And even if I did, there were no direct flights to later ports and I wasn’t willing to risk missing another connecting flight. So we stayed the night at the Newark airport, paid for our return flight to Atlanta the next morning, and canceled the cruise and the remaining air legs. I got $1,184 back immediately from Norwegian and then an additional $232 back (for the return flight) from travel insurance when I filed for a travel delay, but a trip cancellation claim for the cruise was completely denied. I think I should at least get the 75 percent credit — otherwise what was the protection plan for? You can help? Ivy, Atlanta
Dear Ivy,
You’re not the first traveler to write Tripped Up after missing a cruise due to flight delays on the same itinerary the cruise line had booked for them.
Also, make every effort to resolve this issue yourself, first by filing complaints with the Better Business Bureau, the Georgia Attorney General, and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (where Norwegian is based). take advantage. Even when I offered to help, you didn’t stop and — before I could do anything — pushed Norwegian to give you a credit of just over 75 percent, or $5,420, on a future cruise “as a gesture of goodwill.” IMPRESSIVE.
I would have stepped forward to help another Tripped Up reader, but Norway’s use of the blame-avoidance phrase “as a gesture of goodwill” bothered me. I wanted to know why BookSafe didn’t cover you and what other cruise customers can do to protect themselves.
The BookSafe program actually has two main parts: a travel insurance policy, managed by Aon Affinity and underwritten by Nationwide, and a “credit cancellation for any reason” facility, provided by Norwegian itself.
I read the fine print and it turns out (and Aon confirms) the travel insurance department does not reimburse a cruise if airline problems cause a traveler to miss it. But under Cancel for Any Reason, it seems to me that Norwegian should have given you this credit without hassle.
I tried to confirm this with Norwegian, but the company refused to answer most of my questions, instead responding with inaccurate statements via email.
“Although Norwegian Cruise Line provides flight arrangements as part of its cruise offering,” the first email read, “we have no control over airline operations and are not responsible for any flight changes or cancellations.”
“Due to the very nature of unexpected situations such as this, we strongly recommend that all visitors purchase travel insurance,” the statement continued.
But again, you bought the travel protection plan and the insurance part didn’t cover you. Regarding the Cancel for Any Reason credit item, Norwegian sent another email, which you forwarded, which read: “We are unable to issue a credit for the penalties assessed on your booking as this does not qualify for Cancel for Any Reason before departure. “
When you initially complained to the Better Business Bureau, Norwegian doubled down, giving it the same wording.
I can’t understand why. For the credit to start, BookSafe clearly states that you only need to cancel “before the ship departs”, not before your flight departs. You forwarded me a cancellation document, dated the day you flew back to Atlanta — which was also the day the cruise sailed. This seems to qualify, unless Norwegian decides that the cancellation happened minutes or hours after the ship’s departure. That would be pretty disingenuous of them, considering you’ve been on the phone with them since the night before, asking about your options.
When I asked Norwegian about the initial rejection, I received a statement that “you had mistakenly submitted a trip delay claim instead of a trip cancellation claim” and that the credit was “later added” to your account.
To me, this is somewhere between confusing and false. What actually happened was that you filed a “travel delay” claim with Aon that only turned out to cover your flight back to Atlanta. (That’s what trip delay coverage does, it covers unexpected expenses.) Then you filed a “trip cancellation” claim, also with Aon, but that would never work: Trip cancellation coverage ended as soon as you got on the plane, and another type of coverage, the “journey break”, begins. But filing a claim wouldn’t do you any good: Norwegian’s trip interruption policy doesn’t cover airline delays.
That’s why you ended up—after some blood, sweat and tears, that is—with the 75 percent credit from Norwegian.
It’s confusing, no doubt. You’ve been falling into a common trap with trip cancellation, delay and interruption policies — assuming that this coverage will pay for anything that isn’t actually your fault. However, claims adjusters tend to be extremely literal in their interpretation of the fine print list of “perils” or “perils” that your policy covers.
“If it’s there, you’re good, and if it’s not there, you’re not,” said Stan Sandberg, co-founder of TravelInsurance.com, a website that aggregates policies from different companies, providing easy-to-use direct links to state-specific policies.
I was curious and decided to compare BookSafe’s fine print with the default travel protection plans on cruise lines such as Carnival, Disney, MSC, Princess, Royal Caribbean and Viking. I used the New York editions for consistency and looked specifically at how well they covered issues caused by delays and cancellations of “common carriers” — airlines, trains, and the like.
All plans have ‘trip delay’, ‘trip cancellation’ and ‘trip interruption’ coverage managed by insurance companies. Most include a separate “cancellation for any reason” credit section that is managed by the cruise lines themselves. (Only MSC does not.)
I focused on trip interruption, which typically provides a maximum benefit of 125 or 150 percent of the trip value. This means that a traveler could theoretically be reimbursed for the full cost of the cruise, plus any additional expenses incurred due to the disruption.
Three of the seven plans I reviewed — Norwegian, Royal Caribbean and Princess — leave airline problems out of trip interruption benefits, making it impossible, in a situation like yours, to claim the value of a missed cruise in its entirety. “This is mind-blowing,” said Jason Schreier, managing director of Aegis General Insurance’s travel division.
“Ninety-five percent of the travel insurance plans you’ll find have common carrier issues in both cancellation and trip interruption benefits,” he said.
The other four cover delays to varying degrees. Carnival only mentions weather issues. MSC and Viking cover mechanical problems, weather delays and strikes — pretty standard language, but not all-inclusive. Only Disney’s plan allows trip interruption for “any common carrier delay” as long as it causes you to miss at least half of the trip.
Mr. Schreier of Aegis told me that the cruise lines themselves will often delete common risks from custom plans to reduce liability. When I asked Norwegian about this, the company referred me to Aon Affinity. But Beth Godlin, president of the Aon Affinity Travel Practice, wrote that Aon “works with many different cruise lines” and tailors plans “to meet the needs of the cruise line.”
Finally, there’s that cancellation-for-any-reason-for-partial-cruise-credit thing. As we’ve learned, Norwegian’s plan, as well as those of Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Princess and Disney, includes flight issues, allowing travelers to cancel up until the ship’s departure. Only Viking’s is different — it ends as soon as you board your first flight. (Again, MSC does not offer this benefit at all.)
I’d caution against choosing a cruise line on an exclusive basis if their protection plan covers common carrier delays — you’d just be asking for something different to go wrong. But Ivy, since you are using your credit, I would consider taking the time to look into buying a separate insurance plan, using comparison sites like TravelInsurance.com or Squaremouth, or going directly to companies like Aegis, which Mr. Schreier has a cruise-specific package and a “Less Stress” feature that could have paid on the spot for a flight on a different airline to get you to Barcelona on time.
Whatever you do, I hope you have a wonderful cruise and at least temporarily forgive Norway for what happened — as a gesture of goodwill.
If you need advice on a better travel plan gone wrong, send an email to TrippedUp@nytimes.com.
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