A lack of planning on your part...

[sam_gordon]

OK, this has me steamed a little bit...
https://abc7ny.com/post/7-side-flight-delay-refund-after-missed-vacation/15260807/

Family from NY books a cruise (from Port Canaveral) to celebrate a college sendoff.
They book their flight for the same day the cruise departs. (issue #0)
There's a delay of about 1:45.
They get to Orlando, but don't make it onto the cruise.
They get upset and fly immediately back to NY. (issue #1)
The cruise line gives them a refund (issue #2). Delta gives them a $250 ecredit pp. (issue #3).
They reach out to the TV station, who reaches out to Delta, who refunds them the remainder of the ticket prices (issue #4).

So, issue #0...
Sorry, this is EXACTLY the chance you take when you try to fly in the day of a cruise. If the schedule is SO tight that a delay of less than two hours will cause you to miss the cruise, YOU'RE CUTTING IT TOO CLOSE. Let's not forget this is also what Trip Protection is available for (no word on whether they purchased it).

Issue #1
You're in Central Florida. Presumably you've got return airfare for after the cruise. So, worst case, you're out the cruise fare (surely they didn't know they were going to get refunded from the cruise line that quickly). Any extra charges for a last minute flight could have gone to a cheap hotel and some meals and you could salvage SOMETHING from the trip. Nah, let's fly back home and cry to the media.

Issue #2
Since when does the cruise line give you a refund (except for taxes & fees) if you miss the ship? The article never mentions what cruise line. Hmmm...

Issue #3
They were delayed less than two hours and Delta gave them $250 credit each? Of course, that's not acceptable. Nope, off to the media! Then Delta supposedly issued a refund? Sorry, no.

Yes, I feel bad this family missed their vacation. But it was because of a lack of planning, NOT because Delta messed up.

 

[ronandannette]

As a seasoned cruiser, I find it impossible to believe the cruise line refunded their fare without insurance. Simply DOES NOT happen. They must have had coverage, probably the basic little policy you get for a few dollars by checking the box when you book the cruise. The article is unclear on this, purposely, I believe, to make the airline look worse.

In my business, we call this type of behaviour consumer terrorism, usually done through social media. I wish more companies would start pushing back by making a robust public defence of the facts. It’s infuriating to me that people expect companies to provide everything (and more) that they have contractually agreed to, but refuse to understand that they (the consumer) are equally bound by those contracts.

 

[kdonnel]

When we first started cruising we would fly in on the day of the cruise about 50 percent of the time. We figured we were flying out of Atlanta and there are multiple fights every hour from Atlanta to the cruise ports we were leaving from and we had plenty of time to make alternate flights. We were also inexperienced, reckless, and stupid.

Luckily the worst that happened is we spent 4 days of a 7 day cruise without our luggage. That was bad enough that we realized our mistake and always arrive at least one day prior.

We also never purchased travel insurance.

After having to disembark a ship in Mexico on day 3 or 4 of a 7 day cruise due to a medical emergency we have always purchased travel insurance. That was an expensive lesson as we had to pay for hotel for 4 days and to change our flight to leave from Mexico instead of Los Angeles. Of course the cruise line did not refund anything for the 4 days we missed. Luckily we have never needed the insurance since we have started purchasing it for trips.

 

[Cadiewampus]

As a seasoned cruiser, I find it impossible to believe the cruise line refunded their fare without insurance. Simply DOES NOT happen. They must have had coverage, probably the basic little policy you get for a few dollars by checking the box when you book the cruise. The article is unclear on this, purposely, I believe, to make the airline look worse.

In my business, we call this type of behaviour consumer terrorism, usually done through social media. I wish more companies would start pushing back by making a robust public defence of the facts. It’s infuriating to me that people expect companies to provide everything (and more) that they have contractually agreed to, but refuse to understand that they (the consumer) are equally bound by those contracts.

Agree something is rotten in Denmark

 

[fla4fun]

I would never fly into Orlando the day of a cruise. Too many reasons flights can be delayed, for sure. I wouldn’t even stay in Orlando the night before the cruise. There’s always the risk of a traffic delay on the 528 that could cause you to miss your cruise as well. I would be in one of the hotels in Cape Canaveral the night before where I can see the port from my room.

I can’t imagine why anyone would book a cruise, or any expensive non-refundable vacation, and not buy travel insurance. The cost is generally reasonable for the coverage, and it gives you so much peace of mind. You do have to read the coverage first, so you know what is specifically covered, but that’s a lot better than being stranded somewhere when things go wrong.

The whole story almost sounds made up to me. No one could be that clueless and still get everything refunded to them. There’s a part of the story that is missing for sure. . .

 

[hertamaniac]

Last month, we cruised out of Port Canaveral and was astonished at the number of people who flew in that morning. Our cruise line has a policy of no boarding within 2 hours of listed departure. We sail the same cruise line and ship in a few days out of PC and will be curious if we encounter the same pattern.

I live about 1.5-2 hrs. from PC and always build-in about 1 hour of traffic delay/accident "insurance" into my timeline. We have zero stress and are not concerned about being among the first to board the ship; it starts our vacation in no worries mode.

 

[Magical2017]

On one of our trips to WDW, we had a flight delay to Orlando. It was a very early morning flight, and it was a pretty long delay. Some passengers from a cruise were leaving that day and ended up missing their cruise. Southwest was unable to put them on another flight until much later in the day. This was over spring break. I would never leave same-day for a cruise, no matter what airline I was flying.

 

[kdonnel]

To be fair, if you book your airfare through the cruise line, they will most likely sell you day of sailing flights, even for departures from different countries.

They will then guarantee getting you to a later port if you miss boarding. It must not happen often enough to make it cost effective for them to require purchasing a hotel night as part of the booking process.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

We're also basically teaching people that they don't need to take responsibility, and that if they complain then someone else will fix it. Terrible lessons.

 

[sam_gordon]

To be fair, if you book your airfare through the cruise line, they will most likely sell you day of sailing flights, even for departures from different countries.

They will then guarantee getting you to a later port if you miss boarding. It must not happen often enough to make it cost effective for them to require purchasing a hotel night as part of the booking process.

Of course, the reason to fly in the day before is to greatly reduce the chance of missing boarding. If the cruise line guarantees getting you to a later port, yea, it sucks, but the fall out from missing boarding isn't as bad.

I can't believe A) the station did a story on this and B) there isn't PART of the story that's missing. Like BIG parts.

 

[kdonnel]

I can't believe A) the station did a story on this and B) there isn't PART of the story that's missing. Like BIG parts.

That is my experience with most stories I read on my local news stations sites or watch on their broadcast.

The details are generally missing and I end up having more questions than were answered in the story.

 

[sam_gordon]

That is my experience with most stories I read on my local news stations sites or watch on their broadcast.

The details are generally missing and I end up having more questions than were answered in the story.

I remember the station I worked at hired an "investigative" reporter. He'd spend WEEKS on a single story (most reporters got about 4-5 hours MAYBE), and would turn in stories that were 4-5 minutes long. EVERY story he did would leave me with more questions.

 

[soccerdad72]

I can't believe A) the station did a story on this and B) there isn't PART of the story that's missing. Like BIG parts.

I suppose that's a two part problem - that society today seems to reward people who complain to the media and that news stations actually take these people's phone calls and put them on the air.

 

[hertamaniac]

We're also basically teaching people that they don't need to take responsibility, and that if they complain then someone else will fix it. Terrible lessons.

Agreed. Squeaky wheel syndrome often supersedes the correct methodology.

 

[dizneegirl]

We're also basically teaching people that they don't need to take responsibility, and that if they complain then someone else will fix it. Terrible lessons.

That's been happening for a while now. It's hard to find people that DO take responsibility for their actions anymore.

Or are capable of finding a fix for their own problems.

 

[mjkacmom]

I call BS, cruises don’t offer refunds, any would be from travel insurance. That airline delay was short, why any compensation? I’ve known folks delayed by days.

 

[MillauFr]

I can’t imagine why anyone would book a cruise, or any expensive non-refundable vacation, and not buy travel insurance.

I don't buy the insurance. I use the insurance I get from my credit card company which includes medical evacuation insurance. That is the only one I really care about. If I lost a few thousand on the cruise I would be upset for a bit but get over it pretty fast. I buy insurance to prevent a financial catastrophe. Not an inconvenience.

 

[hertamaniac]

I don't buy the insurance. I use the insurance I get from my credit card company which includes medical evacuation insurance. That is the only one I really care about. If I lost a few thousand on the cruise I would be upset for a bit but get over it pretty fast. I buy insurance to prevent a financial catastrophe. Not an inconvenience.

The coverage difference in the emergency transport from my credit card company vs. purchasing the insurance is substantial. I have no issue paying up to a couple of hundred dollars extra to get, say, an additional $50K in coverage above my credit card and not worry about holding a massive debt bag.

 

[hertamaniac]

I call BS, cruises don’t offer refunds, any would be from travel insurance. That airline delay was short, why any compensation? I’ve known folks delayed by days.

Yeah..it's usually an onboard credit or FCC, not a refund. Interesting.

 

[sam_gordon]

I call BS, cruises don’t offer refunds, any would be from travel insurance. That airline delay was short, why any compensation? I’ve known folks delayed by days.

I know. It seems very strange. But the station reached out to Delta to get the refund, so apparently that's not BS. But why would Delta give them ANYTHING? They took the flights. A two hour delay is NOTHING. I agree something seems fishy about the entire story.