What about the coronavirus?

The coronavirus epidemic (COVID-19) raises many emotions and doubts. The truth is that, as of today, probably no one is able to predict how the situation will develop. YACHTIC.com has already started making settlements with charter operators about possible ways to proceed in case the situation starts to deteriorate rapidly.

Some charter operators have already noticed the problem and came up with new proposals for their customers. Each of the operators has a slightly different policy in this field and adopts different solutions, which we briefly describe below.

For customers who have already booked a charter

In case the charter is unable to take place as a result of quarantine, formal closure of borders preventing access to the charter base, closure of the area on which the charter base is located:

  1. Enabling the change of the charter date to another in the future (moving the date within the season or issuing a voucher to the next season).
  2. Change of charter place ( applies to operators running their activity in different places)
  3. Possibility to resign from a charter before the specified date.
  4. Individual negotiations in order to find a solution.

For clients who are just going to book a yacht

  1. Possibility of free resignation within an extended period of time.
  2. Reduction of the amount of 1 charter payment.
  3. Possibility to pay the last rate later than the standard 30 days before the charter.

Cancellation insurance

For many years we have been offering our customers a convenient option of charter cancellation insurance. Contrary to popular belief, this insurance also works for coronavirus. Of course, there are some restrictions to be taken into account:

  • Cancellation insurance option 100%  – only covers a case of illness as a result of an epidemic,
  • Cancellation Insurance option 100% MAX – covers not only the situation when the customer falls ill, but also when he proves that he has been quarantined, the destination has been quarantined or cannot reach his destination due to border closure.

However, it must be taken into account that if the scope of the epidemic increases, the insurance company may change its offer and there will be no more such insurance options.
[Update 11/03/2020: from today the newly purchased cancellation insurance does not cover the effects of epidemics and pandemics. The insurance conditions concluded up to this day remain of course unchanged]

So what to do?

Every week, our customers sail in various charter areas of the world and so far have not faced any real problems. This also applies to many customers sailing in the Canary Islands, where, as we know, cases of virus infection have been found. The most popular charter regions: Croatia and Greece are still before the season, but there are no worrying signs either.

For now, it is important to remain calm and to follow the progress of the situation. Customers who start their cruises in the next few days or are close to the deadline for payment of the booked charters must think about choosing the best solution for them. If they have any questions they can always write to us at info@yachtic.com.

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