Ferry and ship: delays and cancellations

What you may be owed

Refund or alternative transport

If the crossing is cancelled or leaves more than 90 minutes late, you choose: getting to your destination as soon as possible at no extra cost, or a refund of the ticket within seven days, with a free trip back to your starting point if the journey no longer makes sense.

Assistance while you wait

With a delay of more than 90 minutes or a cancellation: meals and drinks in line with the wait and, if you have to stay overnight, accommodation on board or ashore and transport to it. Ashore it may be limited to €80 a night, three nights at most, and it isn’t owed if the weather makes sailing dangerous.

If you arrive late

25% of the ticket price with a delay of at least one hour on crossings of up to four hours, two hours on those of four to eight, three hours on those of eight to 24 and six hours on longer ones. 50% if the delay is double. It’s paid within a month of asking, in money if you prefer; amounts under €6 may not be paid.

When there’s no compensation

If you were told before buying the ticket, if it was your fault, or if the operator proves the weather made sailing dangerous or there were extraordinary circumstances that couldn’t be avoided.

How to claim, step by step

1. Complain to the operator or the terminal within two months of the journey. Within a month they have to tell you whether they’re dealing with it, and give you their final answer within two months at most.
2. If you’re not satisfied, complain to the national enforcement body of the country the ship left from (or the one it was arriving in, if it left from outside the EU), which will give you a non-binding opinion. You may also go to another country’s body, and the official list for every country is one of this page’s sources.
3. If it left from Spain, your complaint is handled by the consumer authority of the region; the Directorate-General for Consumer Affairs of the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and 2030 Agenda coordinates. You must have complained to the operator or the terminal first.
4. You can also use alternative dispute resolution (if you live in the EU) or the courts, including the European small claims procedure.