Many residents, industries and planned vacations (not to mention oil soaked wildlife that is lucky if it gets a dish soap bath) lie in the wake of the Gulf Oil Spill disaster. The way that the tourism industry has reacted to the spill runs the gambit: from closing their eyes, with a nothing to see here attitude, to getting out in front and showing webcam evidence that there is nothing to see here… yet. Some hotels in Florida have not only uploaded live feeds to show their beaches tar-ball free, but have even adjusted their cancellation policy to accommodate worried prospective guests.  Ability to adapt to circumstances is what separates surviving industries and businesses from those that experience death by emaciation. So what has the cruise industry done to show its flexibility to meet and alleviate its customer’s fears… remember above when I mentioned industries closing their eyes?

While my frustration festers with this oil spill and the cruise lines inaction, I decided to investigate accommodations of cancellation fees for cruises, like the ones made by the aforementioned hotels. What I found is that not only were there no accommodations being made, but cancellation policies, across the board, border on unfair. (I also discovered that finding information on cruise websites is not easy, but that is a discussion for a different blog post.)

If you were to book an inside cabin on a 7 day Eastern Caribbean cruise aboard Norwegian Epic in mid September your cruise fare would be $679 and your deposit amount would be $250 (37% or total fare, in this case) per person. You might ask: “Why are you mentioning the deposit fee?” Well, because according to NCL’s Cancellation Policy: “Cancellation fees will begin immediately once money has been applied to the reservation.” This policy also states that if you cancel 75-30 days before your cruise, your cancellation fee is your deposit.  Ouch!

Now I don’t mean to pick on NCL because Royal Caribbean Cruise Line has the same policy and Carnival is only $50 less, but the point is the same: In a time when there is uncertainty and perceived inconveniences for cruise passengers, either effectively communicate that the ports of call and shipping lanes are unaffected or relax the cancellation policy in a show of good faith.

The truth is, however, the cruise lines, such as the above mentioned, as well as, Princess, Disney, Costa… will not change their policy. Instead they will continue to advise their customers to purchase travel insurance to cover the costs of any cancellation that comes about because of unforeseen circumstances. While I echo this advice, I will add that it is important for anyone purchasing a cruise to know their cruise line of choice’s cancellation policy and know their travel insurance options before they purchase.

Cruising continues to be one of the best value propositions available as a vacation option. The variety of things to do, see, eat and drink on a cruise is relatively unmatched for your vacation dollar, but it is still your dollar. Protecting your investment with vacation insurance is a good step, but the best step you can take is getting informed.

Here at MeetOnCruise.com, we are trying to help by offering not just a forum with a long semi-comprehensible thread, but a community of travel experts, cruise enthusiast and future ship mates that you can interact with and hopefully answer questions you might have. We’ve recently added a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) section to each cruise line (including the above mentioned, as well as, P&O, Holland America, MSC, Celebrity and more to come) in the Cruise Guide section of the website. This FAQ section will hopefully begin and add to the conversation in this community and help you, the cruiser become better informed. Let us know what you think about this new section and if there are some other questions you feel should be a part of the FAQs. Let us know and we will research the answer and consider for inclusion in this section.