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I caught Covid on a cruise and was left £7,300 out of pocket

Boat Niagara Falls cruise
Boat Niagara Falls cruise

Gill Charlton has been fighting for Telegraph readers and solving their travel problems for more than 30 years, winning refunds, righting wrongs and suggesting solutions.

Here is this week’s question...

Dear Gill,

In June my wife and I, both in our 70s, set off on a round-trip cruise to the US on the Queen Mary 2, booked through Imagine Cruising. The package also included a week touring Niagara Falls, New York and Washington.

Unfortunately I tested positive for Covid-19 on the day we were due to rejoin the ship. The local travel courier told us we would have to make our own way back to the UK.

We felt utterly abandoned by our tour company – but, thanks to a helpful hotel concierge, we managed to buy flights home. Aviva, our travel insurer, has informed us that while it will ­consider reimbursing these flights, it will not cover the holiday curtailment losses. These, it says, are the responsibility of the tour operator.

Imagine Cruising denies this and has given us a curtailment invoice for £2,355 to give to the insurer. I would welcome your advice on what to do.

– SB

Dear SB,

Cases of Covid-19 on board cruise ships continue to cause problems, but I would have expected the local agent for Imagine Travel to have stepped up to fulfil its duty of care under the Package Travel Regulations.

I asked Imagine Cruising why this hadn’t happened. It was surprised, as its agents are required to give customers its 24-hour emergency number in such cases (this number is also in the holiday paperwork). Imagine says that it will remind agents of this requirement. It also claims it sent you an email (hopeless as you didn’t have email access) and phoned your hotel the next day by which time you had checked out. The Aviva agent was wrong to tell you that you couldn’t claim for curtailment, though it can be seen as a grey area. Usually, if the insurer pays for a new flight to get you home, you don’t get a refund of the original ticket. But it can be argued here that the seven-day translatlantic cruise is an integral part of your holiday.

I am pleased to say that Aviva has now agreed to pay your claim in full, including the cost of an overnight stay at Heathrow and a chauffeured car back to Carlisle, a total of £7,300.

Covid testing is still mandatory for the QM2, the Queen Elizabeth and P&O Cruises sailings from Barbados among others. If you are turned away, your first call should be to your insurer: some will arrange flights; others will give approval to buy new tickets. Tour ­operators have a duty to help arrange flight tickets but you must pay for them.

– Gill


Gill takes on a different case each week – so please send your problems to her for consideration at asktheexperts@telegraph.co.uk. Please give your full name and, if your dispute is with a travel company, your address, telephone number and any booking reference. Gill can’t answer every question, but she will help where she can and all emails are acknowledged.