The Maritime and Port Bureau has proposed a draft standardized contract for cruise ship ticket transactions to protect non-group passengers, allowing them to seek compensation from cruise ship operators if they alter or cancel tours.
The bureau proposed the draft contract following a series of disputes involving cruise ship passengers.
In April, the trips of about 6,000 cruise ship travelers were affected when the Costa Serena was stranded in Japan, because of maintenance issues.
Photo: Lu Hsien-hsu, Taipei Times
A similar situation occurred in December last year, when technical malfunctions on the MSC Bellissima disrupted the trips of about 4,000 people.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications had to coordinate with Taiwanese airlines to deploy flights to bring back some travelers from Japan.
The nation’s standardized contract for overseas cruise travel, which was stipulated by the Tourism Administration, only protects group passengers.
The draft contract was mainly designed to protect individual passengers.
Under the bureau’s proposal, cruise ship companies should calculate and explain to passengers the fare differences if itineraries are changed due to ship issues.
Travelers would also be entitled to seek compensation of at least twice the fare difference, the proposal says
If a delay exceeds five hours, but is less than a whole day, it shall be calculated as a full day, it says.
Travelers may claim compensation based on the number of days they were delayed, and the daily compensation amount shall be calculated by dividing the total cruise fare by the number of travel days, the draft says.
If tours were canceled before departure, cruise ship firms must offer refunds for the tickets and pay compensation, it says.
The later the notice for canceling tours, the greater the compensation the firms must pay, the bureau added.
If the tour was canceled at least 41 days before departure, the compensation would be 5 percent of the fare, the draft says.
However, if it was canceled on the day of departure, operators would be obligated to pay 100 percent of the cruise fare as compensation, the bureau added.
Additionally, cruise ship operators cannot ask passengers to pay an additional fee for an increase in operating costs due to natural disasters that may force them to change travel itineraries, it says.
Should cruise operators shorten trips due to natural disasters, they should refund passengers for the unspent ship docking fees that were included in their fares, the draft says.
Cruise ships can deduct non-refundable administrative fees when refunding passengers, the bureau added.
The refund must be processed within six months, it says, adding that a one-time extension of up to three months may be permitted if necessary.
Cruise ship operators must also inform passengers why more time is needed to process refunds, the draft says.
The bureau said the draft contract would be submitted to the Executive Yuan after the administrative procedures are complete, adding that the Consumer Protection Committee would convene a meeting with representatives from the industry, government and academia to discuss and revise the draft contract.
The final draft contract would be submitted to the Executive Yuan for approval and then promulgated and implemented by the ministry, the bureau said.
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