Can Oceania keep airfare refund?

  • By Christopher Elliott
  • Wednesday, February 25, 2015 3:37pm
  • Life

Question: My wife and I booked a South Pacific cruise on the Oceania Marina recently. We didn’t buy insurance. My wife was diagnosed with lung cancer, and we had to cancel our trip a few weeks before our departure.

I understand from my friends, who still went on the cruise and had the room next door, that our room was occupied the whole trip.

I know we probably won’t get back the $29,000 we spent on the cruise. But we paid an extra $14,000 to upgrade our flight to Australia to business class. Oceania has received a refund from the airline, but the cruise line won’t reimburse us for it.

This was supposed to be a trip of a lifetime, and we certainly cannot afford it again. Is there any way you can help us?

Brian Dean, Kitchener, Canada

Answer: I’m so sorry to hear about your wife’s illness, and I wish her a speedy recovery. It’s too bad you didn’t buy insurance. It’s always a good idea to consider a policy that covers a vacation of a lifetime like the one you planned to take, even if it made it a little more expensive.

Your cruise met two of the criteria for buying insurance: It cost more than $5,000, and you couldn’t afford to lose the value of the vacation. I’m really surprised that your travel agent or Oceania didn’t explain why a policy was necessary.

Cruise refund policies are fairly rigid, in part because cruise lines don’t want to lose money and in part because they want to sell more insurance. It’s particularly distressing when you learn that your cabin was occupied, which might mean that Oceania “double dipped” by keeping your cruise fare and reselling your cabin to someone else.

I share your disappointment. If a cruise line resells a cabin, it really should refund your fare. But that’s a debate for another time.

You’ve already written off the cruise portion of your vacation as an expensive lesson learned. I wish you didn’t have to. You’re trying to recover the upgrades on your flight, which the airline refunded to Oceania, since you booked your airline tickets through the cruise line.

Is Oceania entitled to keep it? Maybe. Its terms and conditions say air tickets are refundable to “Oceania Cruises only and considered a part of the total cruisetour fare.” So if your cruise was nonrefundable, then your airfare was, too.

That doesn’t seem right. Oceania is already keeping $29,000. Should it pocket your $14,000 as well because that’s its “policy”? I don’t think so.

I contacted Oceania on your behalf, and the company reviewed your request. “Since we received a partial credit back from the airline, we will process a refund for the business-class air to Mr. and Mrs. Dean,” a spokesman told me.

Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine and the author of “How to Be the World’s Smartest Traveler.” You can read more travel tips on his blog, elliott.org, or email him at celliott@ngs.org

(c) 2015 Christopher Elliott. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Life

Sarah Jean Muncey-Gordon puts on some BITCHSTIX lip oil at Bandbox Beauty Supply on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, in Langley, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Bandbox Beauty was made for Whidbey Island locals, by an island local

Founder Sarah Muncey-Gordon said Langley is in a renaissance, and she’s proud to be a part of it.

A stroll on Rome's ancient Appian Way is a kind of time travel. (Cameron Hewitt)
Rick Steves on the Appian Way, Rome’s ancient superhighway

Twenty-nine highways fanned out from Rome, but this one was the first and remains the most legendary.

Byrds co-founder Roger McGuinn, seen here in 2013, will perform April 20 in Edmonds. (Associated Press)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

R0ck ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer Roger McGuinn, frontman of The Byrds, plans a gig in Edmonds in April.

Mother giving in to the manipulation her daughter fake crying for candy
Can children be bribed into good behavior?

Only in the short term. What we want to do is promote good habits over the course of the child’s life.

Speech Bubble Puzzle and Discussion
When conflict flares, keep calm and stand your ground

Most adults don’t like dissension. They avoid it, try to get around it, under it, or over it.

The colorful Nyhavn neighborhood is the place to moor on a sunny day in Copenhagen. (Cameron Hewitt)
Rick Steves: Embrace hygge and save cash in Copenhagen

Where else would Hans Christian Andersen, a mermaid statue and lovingly decorated open-face sandwiches be the icons of a major capital?

Last Call is a festured artist at the 2024 DeMiero Jazz Festival: in Edmonds. (Photo provided by DeMiero Jazz Festival)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Jazz ensemble Last Call is one of the featured artists at the DeMiero Jazz Festival on March 7-9 in Edmonds.

Kim Helleren
Local children’s author to read at Edmonds Bookshop

Kim Helleren will read from one of her books for kids at the next monthly Story Time at Edmonds Bookshop on March 29.

Chris Elliott
Lyft surprises traveler with a $150 cleaning charge

Jared Hakimi finds a $150 charge on his credit card after a Lyft ride. Is that allowed? And will the charge stick?

Inside Elle Marie Hair Studio in Smokey Point. (Provided by Acacia Delzer)
The best hair salon in Snohomish County

You voted, we tallied. Here are the results.

The 2024 Kia EV9 electric SUV has room for up to six or seven passengers, depending on seat configuration. (Photo provided by Kia)
Kia’s all-new EV9 electric SUV occupies rarified air

Roomy three-row electric SUVs priced below 60 grand are scarce.

2023 Toyota RAV4 Prime XSE Premium AWD (Photo provided by Toyota)
2023 Toyota RAV4 Prime XSE Premium AWD

The compact SUV electric vehicle offers customers the ultimate flexibility for getting around town in zero emission EV mode or road-tripping in hybrid mode with a range of 440 miles and 42 mile per gallon fuel economy.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.