Missed Adriatic Cruise

We arrived early to the airport for our flight to Athens, Greece. This was the start of our much-awaited dream vacation — taking an Adriatic cruise. We were so excited, having planned and saved for a long time! The forecast on the day of our departure was for severe thunderstorms. After a 5 hour delay due to the extreme weather, we finally boarded our aircraft anxiously wondering if we’d still be able to make it to our cruise ship before it was set to sail. Within minutes of boarding the plane, the pilot made an announcement. Due to “timing out”, our flight was now canceled — we had to deplane and rebook our flight. As many other flights were canceled that day, we stood in a long line until early morning to rebook. We were told the next available flight was three days later and with connections. We didn’t know how we could possibly catch up with our ship, not to mention that no one knew where our luggage was. That would entail another four-hour wait to put in a claim for our luggage, which could take up to a week to be delivered. With so much invested in this dream vacation, it didn’t make sense to chase the ship already so far through the cruise itinerary. We would have missed over half our vacation and had no luggage, so we went home from the airport feeling defeated. That’s when we started the process of trying to recover our losses. Between dealing with the airlines and cruise line, our stress level was through the roof. It was only when dealing with Travelex that we felt some comfort and relief. Travelex was very supportive; assured us they would help in any way and have our claim processed as soon as possible. We immediately gathered all our receipts and submitted our claim. To our delight, we received an email within 10 days stating we would receive a full refund for our entire trip! The check arrived four days later. For the first time we smiled and that night popped a bottle of champagne. Thanks to Travelex, we have now rebooked our dream vacation for next year. You can be sure that we will purchase Travelex insurance for this trip and every other trip that’s in our future. — Manny & Donna Garofalo

Protect yourself from the unexpected. Get a quote for a travel protection plan today.