BEWARE Pearl Seas Cuba Cruise

We booked in Feburay on Pearl Seas to go to Cuba in December 2016. As of this date they have had to cancel 6 cruises due to NO APPROVAL to travel to Cuba. When we discovered this, we called to cancel. They would NOT take cancellation over phone. Had to send certified letter. Funny, they booked us and took our deposit over the phone. After several calls and assurances that someone would call me back...they never did. However they refunded 1/2 of our deposit stating that the other 1/2 $850 was ADMINSTRATIVE FEES. I am posting to WARN anyone considering this company that they are in my opinion false advertising. They DO NOT have permission to travel and they kept 1/2 of our deposit which is shocking!! Which appears to me to be theft of my "good faith" deposit as it is not our fault they do not have permission to travel to Cuba. Please BEWARE, they not reputable.

When open travel is permitted to Cuba, it will be big news. Open travel to Cuba for US citizens is not available at this time.

No wonder they get bad reviews, even here on Cruise Critic!

Thanks for sharing this.

I was wondering how they came out with the Cuba cruises so fast. We too received a brochure.

Keith

Thank you for the warning.

Sorry you have not gotten all your money back.

$850 would be $425pp and it's buried in their T&C which nobody bothers to read. Once we click a web site's "I accept the terms and conditions" we have no recourse.

I'm sorry you had such a bad and expensive experience dealing with them but maybe others will learn from your warning.

We booked in Feburay on Pearl Seas to go to Cuba in December 2016. As of this date they have had to cancel 6 cruises due to NO APPROVAL to travel to Cuba. When we discovered this, we called to cancel. They would NOT take cancellation over phone. Had to send certified letter. Funny, they booked us and took our deposit over the phone. After several calls and assurances that someone would call me back...they never did. However they refunded 1/2 of our deposit stating that the other 1/2 $850 was ADMINSTRATIVE FEES. I am posting to WARN anyone considering this company that they are in my opinion false advertising. They DO NOT have permission to travel and they kept 1/2 of our deposit which is shocking!! Which appears to me to be theft of my "good faith" deposit as it is not our fault they do not have permission to travel to Cuba. Please BEWARE, they not reputable.

I suspect that if you had waited for them to cancel you would not have been charged the penalty. This is a lesson to be learned. It also seems that you jumped the gun, it is a long time until December and there is no way to speculate that far ahead what might or might not have been canceled.

Thank you for the warning.

 

Sorry you have not gotten all your money back.

If one of the main stream lines collected a cancellation penalty would you have been sorry that the poster did not get their money all back. That is all that happened here. The OP elected to cancel and the cruise line imposed teh penalty that the contract called for, there is nothing wrong with that.

I really do feel bad for the OP as people work hard for their money.

That being said the warning here should not be about the company but the consumers is responsible when agreeing to a contract which includes reading it.

Just as a general curiosity I went to the web site. At the bottom of their ad is this.

* These cultural voyages are subject to final government approvals.

That is the first piece of information a consumer needs.

I would have waited until the final government approval.

This is just a reminder for all of us to read the small print.

Thank you for the warning.

And sorry.

We booked in Feburay on Pearl Seas to go to Cuba in December 2016. As of this date they have had to cancel 6 cruises due to NO APPROVAL to travel to Cuba. When we discovered this, we called to cancel. They would NOT take cancellation over phone. Had to send certified letter. Funny, they booked us and took our deposit over the phone. After several calls and assurances that someone would call me back...they never did. However they refunded 1/2 of our deposit stating that the other 1/2 $850 was ADMINSTRATIVE FEES. I am posting to WARN anyone considering this company that they are in my opinion false advertising. They DO NOT have permission to travel and they kept 1/2 of our deposit which is shocking!! Which appears to me to be theft of my "good faith" deposit as it is not our fault they do not have permission to travel to Cuba. Please BEWARE, they not reputable.

Thank you for the warning, and don't mind the trolls who want to make this your fault for some insecure reason. It a good warning to others that Pearl Seas will keep a deposit for a cruise that's 7 months away. That's not typical in the cruise industry.

I saw a lot of warning signs with Pearl Seas, so much that when I was submitting for a free cruise here on Cruise Critic a few months ago, I rescinded after I looked further into the company. I have a feeling they won't be around for long.

I'd try disputing with your credit card company.

Thank you for the warning, and don't mind the trolls who want to make this your fault for some insecure reason. It a good warning to others that Pearl Seas will keep a deposit for a cruise that's 7 months away. That's not typical in the cruise industry.

 

I saw a lot of warning signs with Pearl Seas, so much that when I was submitting for a free cruise here on Cruise Critic a few months ago, I rescinded after I looked further into the company. I have a feeling they won't be around for long.

Sorry OP. My post was a little harsh. I guess I just needed a dog to kick!

(I would never kick any animal)

It is just a shame how big corporations take advantage even if it was written in tiny print.

They had no business taking money for a product they weren't selling.

I would keep going up the ladder.

Someone there has the power to refund your money. It's just finding the right person.

Just be kind and try for empathy from someone at that company.

Here is the public relations site. media@pearlseascruises.com

Also they are on Face Book. Maybe make an appeal to the company. You want someone to say what have we done to this family.

I would definitely dispute with cc company. They sold a cruise they didn't even have permission to do - I don't care what their terms are this is just wrong. Now if they billed as maybe a cruise to Cuba...

I would definitely dispute with cc company. They sold a cruise they didn't even have permission to do - I don't care what their terms are this is just wrong. Now if they billed as maybe a cruise to Cuba...

THIS!

THEY "cancelled", not you!

And of course, they didn't really "cancel".

They sold you something that they absolutely could not produce.

It's extremely difficult to imagine that your charge card company wouldn't refund your money and go after this cruise line to recover, once they understand the situation.

Which charge card did you use?

It would be good to know how they handle this.

Good luck!

Thank you for the warning, and don't mind the trolls who want to make this your fault for some insecure reason.

Just because someone did not give the poster a pat on the back doesn't mean they are a troll.

troll

One who posts a deliberately provocative message to a newsgroup or message board with the intention of causing maximum disruption and argument

I don't think anyone has done that here. They just didn't have a lot of sympathy. I mean, if you are going to call people names, you should at least call them the right name.

THIS!

 

THEY "cancelled", not you!

 

And of course, they didn't really "cancel".

They sold you something that they absolutely could not produce.

 

It's extremely difficult to imagine that your charge card company wouldn't refund your money and go after this cruise line to recover, once they understand the situation.

 

Which charge card did you use?

It would be good to know how they handle this.

 

Good luck!

The cruise line DID NOT cancel the cruise, though they may in the future. The OP decided that it might get canceled sometime in the next seven months so they went ahead and canceled. In all likelihood that cruise will be approved. If OP had been smart they would have waited for the cruise line to do something instead of jumping the gun.

They can dispute all they want with their credit card company but they are not likely to prevail because the cruise line will simply provide the contract that shows the cancellation fee.

The lesson here is to be patient, both when booking and when cancelling.

A possible argument would be that they sold a product that they don't have which could amount to fraud or false advertising. It all depends on how the cruise was marketed and sold to the buyers. I wouldn't let this one go so easily until all avenues are looked at and considered.

A possible argument would be that they sold a product that they don't have which could amount to fraud or false advertising. It all depends on how the cruise was marketed and sold to the buyers. I wouldn't let this one go so easily until all avenues are looked at and considered.

This is what I was really trying to get at...they are selling a product they don't have. They didn't notify the people on the 6 previous cancelled cruises until a couple of days prior to departure. That is very wrong and surely caused lots of problems for travelers at the last minute. I like to plan my travel way ahead and I just didn't want to end up with a last minute cancellation. I believe that they know they are false advertising....they certainly did for the first 6 cruises they had to cancel!! I was nice when I made my calls and they assured me EACH time that a supervisor would call me back. Didn't happen. They are not honorable, but rather scammers!!!

The cruise line DID NOT cancel the cruise, though they may in the future. The OP decided that it might get canceled sometime in the next seven months so they went ahead and canceled. In all likelihood that cruise will be approved. If OP had been smart they would have waited for the cruise line to do something instead of jumping the gun.

 

They can dispute all they want with their credit card company but they are not likely to prevail because the cruise line will simply provide the contract that shows the cancellation fee.

 

The lesson here is to be patient, both when booking and when cancelling.

I am not willing to wait until 2-3 days prior to departure to get cancelled. Pearl Seas had to cancel 6 trips to Cuba and did it only a couple of days prior. Can you imagine the difficulty that caused all the travelers??! Cancelling airline/hotel, etc! Not something I want to go through!!

The cruise line DID NOT cancel the cruise, though they may in the future. The OP decided that it might get canceled sometime in the next seven months so they went ahead and canceled. In all likelihood that cruise will be approved. If OP had been smart they would have waited for the cruise line to do something instead of jumping the gun.

 

They can dispute all they want with their credit card company but they are not likely to prevail because the cruise line will simply provide the contract that shows the cancellation fee.

 

The lesson here is to be patient, both when booking and when cancelling.

I would definitely dispute with cc company. They sold a cruise they didn't even have permission to do - I don't care what their terms are this is just wrong. Now if they billed as maybe a cruise to Cuba...

I agree that if I cancelled a trip that they actually have permission to provide then I would expect a fee, but this is one with NO APPROVAL so it really is basically false advertising. I just hope others will not lose money like I did. I think I may get on their FB page and make my argument there. Bet they won't be too happy about that!!

I agree that if I cancelled a trip that they actually have permission to provide then I would expect a fee, but this is one with NO APPROVAL so it really is basically false advertising. I just hope others will not lose money like I did. I think I may get on their FB page and make my argument there. Bet they won't be too happy about that!!

This is on their website...

"* These cultural voyages are subject to final government approvals."

This is not in fine print, not buried in a paragraph. Its clearly and distinctly on the web page that describes the cruises, with the full list of scheduled voyages, in the same size type as the cruise description.

They are disclosing that they have not yet received final approvals, so its not false advertising.

They also disclose on the General Information page in a specific section on US and Cuban laws that "Operation of the planned voyages is subject to obtaining all necessary approvals, permits and licenses from the governments of the U.S. and Cuba."

Selling these cruises without final approval is just like professional sports teams selling playoff tickets before they've actually made the playoffs. Fans have to pay for them...and if the team doesn't make it, they get a refund.

Selling these cruises without final approval is just like professional sports teams selling playoff tickets before they've actually made the playoffs. Fans have to pay for them...and if the team doesn't make it, they get a refund.

No, it really isn't "just" like that. If the team doesn't make the playoffs, they give full refunds. No handling fees, and in most cases, the teams don't even process the credit cards or cash the checks.

Book another cruise line! Forget these folks!

No, it really isn't "just" like that. If the team doesn't make the playoffs, they give full refunds. No handling fees, and in most cases, the teams don't even process the credit cards or cash the checks.

The reason the OP didn't get a full refund is most likely because THEY cancelled the booked. Had the OP just kept the reservation and the cruise line cancelled, there would be a very strong case to get 100% of a refund. They'll never know now since they've chosen to cancel the booking.

I completely agree that the handling fee of $400+ is excessive...but the cancellation fee was disclosed, the fact that final approval was pending was disclosed. Its a shame the OP is out the money, but those are the terms they agreed to when booking.

Thanks for posting the warning. And from now on, I'll try to read the terms of the contract before putting down a deposit.