NCL cruise line introduces a new scheme in the States for passengers affected by job loss.

Phil's comment: Here is a good topic I have picked up from Travel Weekly in the USA. They have adopted an insurance against job loss which will protect all passengers on a booking should they find themselves in the unfortunate position of being made redundant after booking their NCL cruise holiday.

I would hope that most cruisers in the UK are insured prior to travel and a large number of policies will have cover for redundancy but for those who do not, I will be speaking to NCL in the UK to find out if they plan to extend this service to UK passengers.

Anyway here is the article...

In a sign of the economic times, Norwegian Cruise Line will fully reimburse passengers if they cancel due to a job loss.

Customers can cancel at any time up until their scheduled departure, said NCL, if they buy NCL's Book Safe Travel Protection Plan.

"In this challenging economic environment, we are offering a safety net for guests who want to book a cruise, but are uncertain about what the future holds in terms of their employment," Andy Stuart, NCL’s executive vice president of global sales and passenger services, said in a statement.

Effective Feb. 26, passengers who purchase NCL’s BookSafe Travel Protection Plan for any NCL cruise departing on or after May 1 are eligible for reimbursement of any cancellation fees if an insured passenger loses a job, as long as the person has been an active employee at the same company for at least one year.

So if a family books a cruise and one person in that family gets laid off, they can all cancel without penalty if each person has taken out the policy.

The new feature is part of NCL’s travel-protection plan and is available starting at $29 per person.