Cruise traces can deny boarding to passengers. Here is methods to keep away from it

Image it: You arrive on the cruise port, and the ship is true there ready so that you can board. Quickly you will be sitting in your cabin’s balcony, sipping a tropical drink as you sail away.

Or possibly you will not.

Sadly, a tragic scene repeats every single day in cruise terminals all over the world. As an alternative of being welcomed aboard, some excited passengers are denied boarding.

As a shopper advocate, I often obtain requests for assist from bewildered cruise passengers turned away on the port. With just a bit planning, the next would-be passengers may have simply prevented their destiny.

Study from these 4 cautionary tales, so you do not lose your subsequent trip — and the cash you spent on it.

Denied boarding for not having proof of vaccination

Erin Beztilny got here down with COVID-19 very early within the pandemic. Shortly after recovering, she got here down with a variant and by no means ended up illness-free for lengthy sufficient to be vaccinated. She and her husband stayed house for the majority of three years.

When vaccine restrictions had been lifted for many of the world, they wished to journey once more.

Working with an agent on the Alberta Motor Affiliation, the couple booked a 14-night cruise from New Zealand to Australia on Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Spirit. They might fly Air Canada nonstop from Vancouver Worldwide Airport (YVR) to Auckland Airport (AKL), the place the cruise would start.

“We selected NCL as a result of different cruise traces nonetheless required passengers to have had the vaccine,” Beztilny informed me. “Due to my bouts with COVID, I had by no means had the vaccine.”

She says her AMA journey agent checked with NCL and confirmed she may board the cruise unvaccinated.

“It was so thrilling to lastly begin touring once more,” Beztilny defined. “I used to be giddy, reserving cruise excursions, dinners and spa appointments. I simply knew this was going to be an unforgettable journey.”

And it could be an unforgettable journey … however for all of the incorrect causes.

NCL: ‘We can not can help you board the vessel’

A number of weeks later, the unvaccinated couple arrived in New Zealand after a 16-hour flight. However as quickly as they stepped into the check-in space on the cruise terminal, issues went downhill quick.

“The NCL agent requested me for my vaccination card and I informed her I did not have one,” Beztilny recalled. “She walked away after which returned with a supervisor and a denied boarding card.”

The supervisor defined that though New Zealand did not require a vaccination card, Australia nonetheless did. With out the required doc, Beztilny was not permitted to board the ship. Even worse? The denied boarding card clarified that NCL meant to maintain the cash the couple paid for the cruise.

In tears, Beztilny referred to as her agent again in Canada, whose solely recommendation was to return house. That night, they had been on a nonstop flight again to Vancouver, utterly deflated.

The excellent news for these cruise ship passengers

In March 2023, when this couple was denied boarding, NCL’s web site had incorrect vaccination details about cruises to Australia. Beztilny’s agent made a mistake counting on that misguided steerage when she suggested the couple they had been clear to cruise.

These two exterior errors, mixed with Beztilny’s oversight in not checking vaccine necessities herself, led the couple on a $10,000, 72-hour, 15,000-mile journey nightmare.

Most denied boarding circumstances don’t finish on a constructive word, however for the Beztilnys, there was excellent news.

I contacted NCL on their behalf, declaring that they might not have booked the journey if the right vaccination info had been posted on the cruise line’s web site.

Finally, NCL agreed with my reasoning and issued the couple a full future cruise credit score. When all COVID-19 restrictions had been lifted, the Beztilnys took that dream cruise.

Whereas COVID-19 vaccinations are not required for vacationers, cruise passengers ought to at all times verify well being and security info for all locations on their itinerary. Relying on the place you’re going, chances are you’ll want different vaccines or preventative drugs.

The U.S. Division of State can offer you up-to-date necessities and proposals for each nation you will be visiting throughout your cruise.

This analysis must be accomplished nicely upfront of your crusing, since many vaccines have to be administered a while earlier than they turn into protecting. Or, as with the COVID-19 vaccine, chances are you’ll want a couple of dose.

Vacationers must also remember that their private medical situation could necessitate vaccines, pictures or different preventative drugs, even when these interventions aren’t a strict requirement. It’s at all times sensible to seek the advice of together with your physician previous to worldwide adventures.

No visa for India results in deportation and a missed Viking cruise

In some ways, octogenarians Thomas and Jane Entenza’s expertise was worse than the Beztilnys’.

The Entenzas spent $28,000 on a self-described bucket-list Viking cruise by way of the Bay of Bengal. A number of days earlier than the ship was set to sail, they flew from Jacksonville, Florida, to New Delhi. They meant to discover that metropolis just a few days earlier than boarding the luxurious Viking Mars.

Sadly, the couple by no means made it additional than Delhi Indira Gandhi Worldwide Airport (DEL).

After the arduous 20-hour journey to New Delhi, they stepped as much as the immigration window with out the visas they did not know had been required. The distraught couple was denied entry to India and detained to await deportation.

A number of hours later, immigration officers put the couple on one other flight headed proper again to america. It was a devastating flip of occasions for the exhausted husband and spouse.

Cruise passengers should know and possess their required documentation

When Entenza requested me if I may assist, Viking had already rejected his refund request.

Like each different main cruise line, Viking’s phrases and situations (PDF hyperlink) clarify that it’s at all times the passenger’s final accountability to know what paperwork they should efficiently navigate their whole itinerary: “It’s your accountability to make sure that you’ve all vital paperwork to take part within the cruise or tour(s) bought, and neither VRC nor the Service accepts accountability for acquiring required visas or for advising passengers of visa or different immigration necessities.”

Sadly, cruise passengers typically overlook potential visa necessities for overseas locations.

Entenza informed me that he had relied on his Viking cruise advisor to advise him of the paperwork he and his spouse wanted for the journey.

That was a mistake. A cruise advisor just isn’t an official supply to study what documentation you’ll want to journey.

Some excellent news from Viking

However regardless of Viking’s coverage, the Entenzas’ cruise advisor had given the couple incomplete entry necessities steerage.

This cruise advisor suggested the couple {that a} visa was required for Sri Lanka, giving them the impression that they didn’t want another visas for the cruise.

As a result of the cruise advisor gave his shoppers partial info that finally led them to overlook the $28,000 cruise, I contacted Viking on their behalf. I urged that the cruise line’s personal consultant bore some accountability for this fiasco.

Viking agreed with me and evenly break up the accountability between the Entenzas and the cruise line. In the long run, the couple obtained a bit greater than $14,000 in future cruise credit and a harsh lesson about what occurs if you happen to attempt to enter a rustic with out the required documentation.

Dependable, official sources of details about what you’ll want to cruise

Cruise passengers ought to by no means depend on one supply to find out what paperwork they want. Opposite to fashionable perception, the cruise line is not the place to go to get official info.

The highest sources to get entry and transit necessities are:

• The U.S. State Division: The U.S. State Division web site maintains a web page for each nation worldwide the place you may find out about entry necessities, together with well being and security dangers, in addition to vaccinations wanted. There may be even a web page devoted to cruise ship passengers.
• Timatic: Entry this free device, created by the Worldwide Air Transport Affiliation, by way of particular person airways or websites like Seats.aero to get customized entry necessities for all locations in your itinerary, together with well being and security guidelines. You present all your info (passport, itinerary, goal and size of go to), and it’ll inform you precisely what you have to need to efficiently full your journey. Timatic is up to date dozens of occasions per day with new knowledge.
• Consulate of the nations you are touring to: Visiting the web site of the consulate of the nations in your itinerary provides you with additional readability about what you want for entry.
• VisaCentral: Vacationers ought to by no means overlook the opportunity of needing a visa for entry or transit to any nation on their itinerary. VisaCentral presents a free, easy device that you should use to verify whether or not any of your locations require a visa.

Too pregnant to cruise

Final December, Marissa Vacca and her husband had been trying ahead to their cruise aboard Movie star Reflection with their younger daughter.

It might be their first cruise ever and the household’s final trip as a trio. Vacca was nicely into the third trimester of her being pregnant when the group arrived in Fort Lauderdale the day earlier than embarkation.

That night, Vacca was casually reviewing their cruise paperwork when she got here throughout a piece that made her coronary heart drop.

Below the part titled “Health to Journey, Denial of Boarding,” it learn (PDF hyperlink): “Any Passenger who will enter the twenty fourth week of being pregnant by the start of, or at any time throughout their cruise or CruiseTour agrees to not e book the cruise or board the Vessel or Transport below any circumstances.”

At that second, Vacca was 29 weeks pregnant.

Cruise passengers getting into their twenty fourth week of being pregnant will likely be denied boarding

Vacca says she instantly referred to as Movie star Cruises and spoke to a sympathetic cruise advisor.

“She informed me that I’d nonetheless be capable of board the ship,” Vacca informed me. “So we went all the way down to the pier at our scheduled time.”

Regardless of the agent’s considerably encouraging suggestion, Vacca couldn’t take the cruise. She had already crammed out the passenger info type and indicated her stage of being pregnant. And even when she hadn’t, she was visibly pregnant, and throughout the cruise business, the 24-week rule is rigid.

So the household gathered their suitcases and, as a substitute of boarding the ship, went again to the airport.

Learn your cruise contract and forestall denial of boarding

Vacca had booked the cruise on her personal by way of the Movie star Cruises web site. As a result of she had by no means cruised earlier than, she was unfamiliar with the 24-week cutoff for pregnant passengers — a rule shared by each main cruise line.

I contacted Movie star Cruises on Vacca’s behalf to see if there was any probability of a future cruise credit score for the household.

Sadly, the reply was “no.” When passengers are denied boarding as a result of they are not “match to journey,” the ticket contract makes it clear: There will likely be no cruise, no refund and no future credit score.

Ready to learn by way of the ticket contract till the night time earlier than the cruise was an oversight that triggered this household to overlook their trip and lose the cash spent on it.

Whether or not you are a first-time or a seasoned cruise ship passenger, it’s at all times sensible to familiarize your self together with your contract.

Loads of helpful info is contained in that doc, a few of which is essential. However you have to learn it lengthy earlier than you present up on the pier.

Arriving too late to board the ship

One of the vital frequent causes cruise ship passengers get denied boarding is exhibiting up too late on the port. Simply final week, John Heald, Carnival Cruise Line’s model ambassador, informed his Fb group a couple of couple who acquired caught in site visitors on the best way to Port Canaveral, Florida. They arrived 10 minutes after the ultimate name for Carnival Glory, and the terminal was closed.

The would-be passengers thought that as a result of the ship was nonetheless within the port, Carnival staff simply wanted to reopen the door and allow them to in. They had been incensed when that did not occur and the vessel sailed away with out them.

They despatched their grievance to Heald and requested him who to contact about their “full refund” since Carnival staff had deserted and stranded them on the pier.

The Division of Homeland Safety’s 60-minute passenger rule

The U.S. Division of Homeland Safety requires that cruise traces present a last passenger manifest 60 minutes earlier than departure. After boarding is closed and that listing is filed, no extra passengers can be part of the cruise. That’s nonnegotiable.

These two passengers weren’t denied boarding by mistake; they’d missed the ultimate name for the cruise.

Whereas sympathetic to their plight, Heald defined that passengers should at all times be on time on the port. If that does not occur and so they miss the boat, the cruise line does not present a refund.

This coverage just isn’t distinctive to Carnival. It’s an industrywide normal a part of each main cruise line’s contract of carriage.

Though these Carnival passengers had been positive they missed their cruise “by way of no fault of our personal,” it was finally their accountability to reach on time. They did not, and they also missed their cruise and misplaced their cash.

Journey insurance coverage or journey safety

Heald supplied that Carnival’s Trip Safety may have helped these passengers keep away from the monetary lack of their missed cruise. The cancel-for-any-reason a part of that plan permits clients to cancel proper up till the ship’s departure and obtain a 75% future cruise credit score.

Conventional journey insurance coverage would possibly cowl a flight or site visitors delay-related cruise cancellation. However earlier than assuming you are protected, it’s essential to verify the named perils (occasions which might be coated) of your coverage.

Backside line

Being denied boarding your cruise will be an embarrassing and traumatic expertise with heavy monetary repercussions.

Earlier than you enter the penalty part of your subsequent cruise:

• Learn your cruise contract: It is a prolonged doc, however most of what you’ll want to know to keep away from being denied boarding your cruise is in it.
• Do your analysis: The Division of State’s web page for cruise passengers is a good place to start out.
• All the time plan to reach at your embarkation metropolis a day early: Many cruise passengers by no means think about what’s going to occur if their flight is delayed or they hit site visitors on the best way to the port … till it occurs to them. All the time work at the very least a one-day buffer into your cruise trip, so you will not have to fret about arriving too late on the port. Bear in mind the Division of Homeland Safety’s 60-minute manifest rule.
• Think about using an expert journey advisor: In case you’re unfamiliar with cruising or have a very difficult itinerary, an skilled journey advisor will be a useful useful resource. The American Society of Journey Advisors’ VeriVacation website has a search characteristic for specialists specializing in cruise journey.

The excellent news is that, if you happen to comply with these steps, you’ll nearly assure that you simply will not be rejected on the pier. Completely satisfied cruising!

When you have an issue with a cruise line, airline, automotive rental company or bank card firm, ship your grievance to ombudsman@thepointsguy.com and I will be glad to research and assist you to, too, if I can.