For many people, having a cruise booked for vacation has meant seeing no minimal during the government shutdown.
Given that cruises sail from practically any major port from Seattle to Boston and all points in between, hundreds of millions of passengers are within driving distance of a port. They simply drive to the port on the day of their cruise, hop on the ship, and enjoy their trip.
But many people fly into ports around the country to take a special cruise, because they find a deal, or simply to avoid having to drive long distances.
Unfortunately, those people flying into port have been caught up in the middle of the shutdown. While it now looks like the impasse is coming to a close, the impacts continue to be felt — especially when it comes to air travel.
With the shutdown, air traffic controllers have gone without pay for more than a month. According to USAToday, “20% to 40% of controllers have been absent on any given day at the 30 biggest U.S. airports during the shutdown.”
That’s led to numerous delays and cancellations for flights. USAToday also reports that on Monday alone 2,300 flights were cancelled and 8,700 flights were delayed. On Sunday, NBC News reports that about 10% of all scheduled flights were cancelled.
There’s little doubt that some people flying to a port city to catch a cruise were caught up in the mess. And there’s likely to be many more as there are warnings that the flight issues could continue even after the shutdown is fully resolved.
Miss Your Cruise Due to a Cancelled Flight? Now You Don’t Lose Money… With This Line
When flying to a port city for a cruise, it’s always a good idea to arrive to the city the day before. For many people, however, that’s not always practical. Work, flight schedules, and the costs of an extra night cause many people to fly in the day of the cruise. Given that cruises don’t board and depart until the afternoon, flying in that morning is normally no issue if everything goes right.
In the case of the government shutdown, that’s a much bigger risk. And if you don’t arrive to the ship before it departs, you are usually out of luck. The cruise line will treat it as a cancellation, meaning you typically forfeit your cruise fare as a penalty.
Now one cruise line at least is trying to take some of the sting out of flying these days.
Virgin Voyages has shared a note with their upcoming passengers saying that if they have a flight cancelled and they can’t make the ship, then they will give them a future voyage credit instead of charging a penalty.
Here’s the note in full:
We’ve Got You
Flight cancellations = uncertainty.
Who needs more stress before their vacation’s even started?
This isn’t what you signed up for or what you deserve, and it certainly isn’t your fault.
Virgin Voyages has always been for you. If your flight gets canceled and you can’t make your voyage, reach out to Sailor Services with your airline cancellation confirmation, and we’ll grant you an immediate future voyage credit.
We can also help you navigate rebooking options to get you here.
What we can’t guarantee: no cancellations. What we can guarantee: we’ll take care of you. We can also guarantee – No Kids.
When things get back to normal, we’ll be right here, ready to take you away from all of it. You’re definitely going to need it. The smiles are on us.
That’s a promise.
That’s our way.
Because it’s The Virgin Way.
Flight Delays Aren’t Mentioned, Only Cancellations
For passengers anxious about an upcoming flight, this is a great reprieve. It’s similar to what many cruise lines did during the pandemic where they were much more lenient on cancellations due to testing positive for the virus.
One thing to note is that flight delays aren’t mentioned in this offer from Virgin Voyages. So if you have a flight the day of the cruise and it’s delayed to the point that you miss the ship, it doesn’t appear it would be eligible for the future voyage credit.
Even so, knowing that you’ll still be able to cruise in the case of a flight cancellation is a welcome sight.
