TUI Passengers Demand Money Back After Broken Propeller Truncates Cruise

[pontac]

"TUI passengers are demanding their money back after a £2,000-a-head cruise failed to dock in a third of the ports it was scheduled to because of a broken propeller.

The travel operator’s “Rhine Gems” cruise, was scheduled to visit eight cities in Germany, Switzerland, and France on August 26.

However, the ship only reached one country, with 155 passengers on board left stuck in Frankfurt for three nights. More than 100 travellers have joined a messaging group on WhatsApp to demand their money back."

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/prisoner-passengers-left-thousands-out-of-pocket-after-cruise-ship-breaks-down/ar-AA1raR7D

 

I wonder how successful the passengers will be as I suspect TUI's T&Cs absolve them of responsibility for such mishaps.

[hallasm]

Might be successful 

I'm not an expert, but EU Regulation 1177/2010, governing the rights for passengers traveling by sea and inland waterway might help. The EU regulation contains strict guidelines on compensation in connection with cancellation. 
The EU also has very restrictive rules when flights are delayed or cancelled. The rules do not apply to delays due to weather but for cancellations due to technical problems.

 

The Package Travel Directive (2015/2302/EU) may also help. It protects the rights of European travelers when booking package holidays, for example in relation to cancellation, liability, repatriation and refunds. A river cruise in Europe is defined as a 'package holiday’.

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 03:45 PM by hallasm

[notamermaid]

I agree that passengers have a good chance. This is not low or high water (force majeure) and even then refunds are likely. EU regulations go into quite some detail on that and country-specific consumer rights also kick in of course.

 

notamermaid