News Story: Graduation cruise ruined for Wayne County High seniors

I hope these kids can salvage something out of this situation. If not, at least they will have learnt a valuable life lesson. Before you book your high school graduation cruise, join Cruise Critic and ask how you should organise and pay for it.

Of course, if they do ask, they will have to wade though the "I hate kids" comments but eventually they will get their question answered. ;)

I believe most of these kids will get a cruise. It has become a human interest story now. Local business have set up a couple of funds to help, and law enforcement is very involved in the case.

It seems one of the parents was collecting the money and doing the payments and cruise setup. While Carnival has not legal requirement to step up I believe you will see them take some actions here. I could see Carnival offer deep discounts or fill last minute cabins with these High School Students on this cruise or future cruise. But for maximum value the Cruise Line need to let the story grow a little. It is all about the value of PR and advertising.

In the end I think must will learn a lesson more valuable and important than the cruise. You cannot trust or expect people and business to protect you, you need to look at everything and protect yourself.

I believe most of these kids will get a cruise. It has become a human interest story now. Local business have set up a couple of funds to help, and law enforcement is very involved in the case.

 

It seems one of the parents was collecting the money and doing the payments and cruise setup. While Carnival has not legal requirement to step up I believe you will see them take some actions here. I could see Carnival offer deep discounts or fill last minute cabins with these High School Students on this cruise or future cruise. But for maximum value the Cruise Line need to let the story grow a little. It is all about the value of PR and advertising.

 

In the end I think must will learn a lesson more valuable and important than the cruise. You cannot trust or expect people and business to protect you, you need to look at everything and protect yourself.

Yep, or as Rodney Dangerfield used to say "Always watch out for number 1, and make sure you don't step in number 2".

In the end I think must will learn a lesson more valuable and important than the cruise. You cannot trust or expect people and business to protect you, you need to look at everything and protect yourself.

In other words, "Trust, but verify".

Yep, or as Rodney Dangerfield used to say "Always watch out for number 1, and make sure you don't step in number 2".

I always liked him, he knew his limits and made the most with what he had to work with.

In other words' date=' "Trust, but verify".[/quote']

 

Yes you could put it that way. While I understand these students and parents are hurt now, and this does not look like a good thing, in fact it really is.

 

I do not think any of these people here who have had losses will ever look the same way at things. Yes the trip could have been a wonderful memory, what happen is a very valuable life lesson worth move than any 7 day cruise.

My 1st ever cruise was through a group and I never gave any of my money to the group organizer. There were people who gave the organizer their moneies to place on their accounts. My observation, I don't think anyone in the group who gave their money to the "parent," have traveled before as you need to input your personal information into the WEB page.

When I put down my deposit, I went to the WEB page of the TA, used the group id number and set up my page, paid the deposit and the final payment on that WEB site. I also inputted my Passport Number, birthdate, etc, info I wouldn't give to a "group, parent, etc." leader. I need to know my stateroom number, etc and if sharing a room, I "fly" solo/singe, who with.

People seemed to trusting and worse yet, did not research on what was required.

Ramona

How about being one of their chaperones?...

Considering most issues happen after dark; and being woken by the ship's staff, maybe about midnight or 3 am or later ?:)

Hormones don't seem to sleep.

 

Been there.

Ex-teacher. Chaperoned the 8th grade trip to the local amusement park many times. On the ride home late at night, the boys sat in the back and the girls sat in the front and the chaperones sat in between. No kids conceived on any of these trips. LOL

Good Apples & Bad Apples..... In any group it seems you always find good and bad. Just because 100 Chaperons are great does not mean 101 is not very bad. This is back to basics here you need to always check and be watchful. For this cruise they did not handle the trip correctly next time I'm sure no one in this group will do the same thing.

How about being one of their chaperones?...

Considering most issues happen after dark; and being woken by the ship's staff, maybe about midnight or 3 am or later ?:)

Hormones don't seem to sleep.

 

Been there.

1) Like this was not happening on shore before and after the trip.

2) I am sure they did not wait until dark. On my senior class trip, my room mate and I were one of the later ones getting our room info. On the walk to the room, walked past a room of my classmates, and a girl was getting dressed. :D

My high schooler is in the band and they’re doing one of those Disney trips next summer, we have to pay the booster club and in installments, but they only want checks. I would have at least insisted on a receipt if it was cash. But what else can you do?

My high schooler is in the band and they’re doing one of those Disney trips next summer, we have to pay the booster club and in installments, but they only want checks. I would have at least insisted on a receipt if it was cash. But what else can you do?

You can say no and demand they follow rules and laws in place. Talk to the principle and tell him her that you feel at risk. It is a school approved trip so they have overview of it. Most people seem to want to just go along. I would be asking the boosters do they have a business license to be taking and hold funds are they registered with the state? Can they legally function as a travel agent because they are doing so?

Paying by check only gives you a record so you could take actions after the fact. I believe the principle will correct, if not move up the ladder to his boss. And if they still say no to direct payments time to file a lawsuit against the school and shut down the the trip until they can provide correct ways to handle this.

I think the school will correct and fix because of this case here and they do not want the heat.

Or they can say ‘don’t send your kid on the trip then’, which is what would happen. I don’t feel at risk, the booster club is run by people I trust. And like most Texas schools, our principal is not going to disrupt the entire band program because one parent has an issue. Most parents just don’t want their kid to get the short end of the stick in school because you decided you needed to pick a fight with the way things have been run for years and years.

If they paid credit card they will get a 100% refund from the credit card service. Just need to file a credit card dispute. Many grounds for a dispute including fraud. So they should not loose any money.

Most credit card policies I’ve seen have a time limit to file a dispute on a charge, usually 90 days. For something like this the deposits were probably paid much more in advance for the trip. For my daughter’s senior trip we contributed monthly over three years, automatic withdrawal I believe. Not sure that was wise either.

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Or they can say ‘don’t send your kid on the trip then’, which is what would happen. I don’t feel at risk, the booster club is run by people I trust. And like most Texas schools, our principal is not going to disrupt the entire band program because one parent has an issue. Most parents just don’t want their kid to get the short end of the stick in school because you decided you needed to pick a fight with the way things have been run for years and years.

One parent can and has shut down school programs and ways of doing business. Saying that is the way it has been done for years is exactly why this thread is here. Just because it was done for years doesn't make it right. The principle will disrupt the program if he needs to do so based upon a court order or that a order will be issued. Like I already said in this thread, protect yourself and check everything. If I cannot send my children on a trip and keep it safe, it is a problem. Sorry, I would have no issues shutting down the whole trip.

Most credit card policies I’ve seen have a time limit to file a dispute on a charge, usually 90 days. For something like this the deposits were probably paid much more in advance for the trip. For my daughter’s senior trip we contributed monthly over three years, automatic withdrawal I believe. Not sure that was wise either.

 

 

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Limits involved when the services/ goods are provided so if you prepay for a service goods you have until 90 days after the service goods are provided. And then you have the Federal Credit Card rules and laws. One of these say if you still making payments, even if the service or item was provide a year before you can still dispute.

I wouldn’t want to be the kid of the overly paranoid parent (YOU) who got the program shut down because YOU’RE uncomfortable with the way it’s run.

And learn from #Ibjen - it’s “principal”, not “principle”. This is the fourth post you made the error.

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I got to go on a spring break senior trip to England and Spain that a Spanish teacher and history teacher organized. My mother was reluctant, because my brother had signed up four years earlier for a trip the art teacher at the school had tried to organize. It ended up fizzling out, and my mother had a lot of difficulty getting her money back. Fortunately, our neighbors had been on the trip the previous year with the Spanish and history teachers, so my mother knew that it was legit.

I feel sorry that these families were duped.

I wouldn’t want to be the kid of the overly paranoid parent (YOU) who got the program shut down because YOU’RE uncomfortable with the way it’s run.

 

And learn from #Ibjen - it’s “principal”, not “principle”. This is the fourth post you made the error.

 

 

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Sorry not your choice. As already said trust no one..... check everything..... and it required kill the whole trip. If these things had been done this thread would never be here. It happen because parents and students trusted people. Never trust people trust yourself

I hope this legal situation gets resolved. Besides that if I was a parent the last thing I would do is allow my senior to go on a graduation trip or cruise.with other kids... Natalie Holloway comes to mind. Parents today need to use some common sense.

Most band boosters are the most organized, official & legitimate organization in a school. We never had any hesitation in sending our child on band trips (chaperones were even assigned overnight hall duty) I've never heard of any band booster association having any of these types of issues ...

Parents just setting up complex trips on their own, collecting $$ from other parents ... that's an altogether different story!

First off, of all the high school graduation trips this year, how many have gone off without a major trip-breaking event? Probably over 99% of them.

Secondly, group trips are not unusual for a cruise line. Cruise Critic even has an article about organizing one. In this case, someone really BLEEPED up this one.

I believe that some people get ripped off because they fail to do even the most basic diligence or listen to their gut. Getting wrapped up in the moment or in the idea is fine.

Handing over money to a casually organized group with zero track record for organizing let alone managing monies is quite another thing.

My spouse has a cousin who probably still has a stack of almost worthless Iraqi dinars in her closet. She bought them on the recommendation of someone at her church. She did not even bother to do a quick check on Google. Doing so would have exposed the scam to her in three seconds flat. Instead she dd what others in her group seemed to be doing. There is an old saying...trust but verify. It works.

There is an old saying...trust but verify. It works.

100% Agree

Really do not care if it is someone who has been handling school trips for years, has awards for it, keys to the city..... does not matter check and confirm everything.

There really was no need for any parent to collect money in the first place. Regardless of group pricing etc....

The smart thing to do these days so credit cards could be used is to just say...

If you are interested in going on a senior trip ...we are using this TA ....please contact them as they can arrange the booking in a competent professional manner

I'm guessing the parent in charge of the money was not only ill but inexperienced and probably a low life who squandered the money.

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This is why we have travel agents.