The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission has set new rules that require cruise lines to issue full cash refunds to guests for cancelled cruises.
The FMC is the American government agency tasked with regulating U.S.-based ocean travel worldwide. Its MAR ruling, recently made public, is in response to consumer complaints about non-cash compensation, like future cruise credits, for cancelled or delayed cruise departures, as well as differing policies from cruise line to cruise line.
FMC research revealed that over half of cruise customers were unhappy with their options for compensation as a result of a cancelled or delayed cruise.
The existing regulations are part of the Passenger Vessel Act which dates back well over a century, virtually unchanged. (That’s the same piece of law often referred to in discussions of Canadian ports on Alaska cruises as it requires foreign-flagged ships to call in a foreign port (Canada) while sailing between U.S. ports.)
Changes to the PVA relating to customer compensation for cancelled cruises were proposed back in AUG 2021.
Now, under the new ruling, “non-performance” of a cruise is defined as a cancellation or delay of three or more days. Such "non-performance" triggers the requirement for a full cash refund.
“After a two-year rulemaking process, we’ve finally got across that hurdle,” said Louis Sola, FMC Commissioner, according to NBC News. “People can be confident moving forward,” he added.
The new rules have two key components. They require cruise lines to offer affected guests a full refund - including all fees - and to publish these new policies on their web sites.
While the FMC regulations don’t specifically apply to Canadian cruise customers, Canadians may benefit from a ‘halo effect’ of U.S.-based cruise lines modifying and publishing required new refund policies that would apply across the board to all their customers.
