Hi,

I would post this as your own topic - will get noticed by more people.

Mark

Split from other topic.

luci

i too was the same ..my insurance company wont pay for the extra tickets i brought (in total in was my third set of tickets ........one set for liverpool on the 11/11/2010...one set for hollyhead on the 11/11/2010 and finally on set on the train from liverpool on the 12/11/2010....
also had to use a taxi from york at 0120 on morning of 14/11/2010 to get home..
by the way had a great cruise though ... .

Your contract was with Fred Olsen not with the insurance company.

The insurance is to cover the items that are outside the contract. You fall and break your leg so the insurers pick up the bill because that does not form part of the contract.

In your case Fred Olsen were contracted to deliver you to a particular place at a particular time, They failed to do so and in my opinion are responsible for the additional costs incurred.

fwh

It's highly unlikely a standard insurance policy from a UK company would cover this. I did a bit of a survey a while back and found none. Policies tend to have sections about cancellation or delayed departure but you weren't cancelled and this was a delayed arrival. The staff may know of foreign insurers that would cover it. So first of all, have you found a section in your policy that seems to offer any cover for this?

It doesn't get any better down the other route either. Fred Olsen's main liablity was to get you to Liverpool and to look after you whilst they did it. They do seem to have done that and at great expense to themselves. They probably have something buried in the T&Cs about not guaranteeing schedules. So you are entering into the area of consequential loss and all transport operators will defend themselves against that. As you say, the cause of the delay was the weather so they have a good defence. Any court action would go all the way to the High Court.

The big question is - were the train tickets really unusable? Only Advance tickets are completely unusable/non-refundable if you miss the train. And that doesn't mean tickets bought in advance - it means those with the name Advance printed on them. Just because a ticket came with a reservation it doesn't mean it can't be used on another train. So what does it say on the originals and those booked for the Holyhead option, Advance, Off-Peak or Anytime ? If they are Off-Peak or Anytime they can be refunded (less an admin charge).

Johndoes post shows he used First Transpennine Express services which may have offered a way out at the time (too late now!). That company already has a published scheme to allow airline passngers who land late and miss their train to use Advance tickets on later trains. Had Fred Olsen's customer services staff phoned TPE and explained the situation they may have worked something out.

I will check my insurance policy,my rail tickets could only be used on the day printed on them.I was rather suspicious about the sudden announcement that we were going to Dublin, it just so happens that 700 Irish people were waiting to board the next cruise at Dublin ,an Irish company had chartered the ship.

I have phoned my insurance company and they are sending out a claim form as they say that I am covered ,when I pointed out that in the policy it only states about delayed departures they did say that it also covered delayed arrivals.

have also spoken to innsurance company ..they have said they will have another look at it .
claim form sent to me i have filled it in and sent it back...waiting time now.

insurance company paid out in full ..impressed ..

well don't keep it to yourself! which insurance company? and was it a general policy or a cruise special?

hi steve..the company was called insure and go ...general policy but informed them when taking out said policy that i did cruising as well.

Great news,payout very quick ,I will take a note of the insurance company for future reference,I have posted my insurance claim and will let you know the outcome when I receive it.

Was told on the phone that I was covered now they AA travel insurance say that im not and are declining the claim despite it stating in my policy we will pay if your departure from or return to UK is delayed by more than 12hours it is not the money but the principle of it as I think that the policy is worded very badly so the moral of this story is buy your travel insurance from insureandgo like Johndoe did.

This is what I feared. The cover they are refering to is probably for spends whilst waiting for a delayed departure to come home and on a round trip cruise that's technically impossible! But don't all go charging off to insure&go - policies change like teenage fashion so always work out what could go wrong and ask before you buy.