Incredible Journeys Out of Business

Have any cruisers on the MSC Divina booked with Incredible Journeys on the March 8th to 28th Transatlantic from Miami to Genoa? We received a notice that the company is going under and our entire trip has been cancelled. We already paid LJ almost $6,000, plus $3,000 in airfare is lost. The company will decide on December 1st as how to proceed. We are devastated , but seem to have no recourse. Anybody in the same boat?

I have family who paid 1500 by check to l.j. they were promised a refund. We shall see. Apparently some employee or employees stole from the company. Others broke off and stole customer list I have been told. Sad story. My family was able to maintain their MSc reservation by working with MSc directly.

Have any cruisers on the MSC Divina booked with Incredible Journeys on the March 8th to 28th Transatlantic from Miami to Genoa? We received a notice that the company is going under and our entire trip has been cancelled. We already paid LJ almost $6,000, plus $3,000 in airfare is lost. The company will decide on December 1st as how to proceed. We are devastated , but seem to have no recourse. Anybody in the same boat?

Did you pay with a credit card, cause here in Australia if you did, you can ask for a charge back if you dont get what you paid for?

I feel for you and hope you get your money back. Something similar happened to us a few years ago and we were able to work with Royal Caribbean to get on our cruise for the same price. We did have to pay again, but claimed the money back from my credit card company in the UK. Good luck

We live in Florida and the same business here was called Legendary Journeys. Yes, we can also hop on your boat for booking with them and loosing our money. Most people paid by check because they gave a $200 discount per person when the final payment was due. We have traveled with them for years without any problems. We had insurance but it did not cover agency non-payment. MSC notified us that our cruise was cancelled due to non-payment and gave us a number to call if we wished to rebook with them. They also gave us the prices we were originally given from the agency. The person I worked with at MSC was a pleasure to work with. Hopefully, something will be resolved by the agency in December.......However, I'm not holding my breath. I can't imagine how many people were affected by this, and how many hundreds of thousands of dollars were lost! While I hate being conned, it's over and done with. We are going on the Divinia next week, our first with MSC, and are looking forward to having a great adventure.

Rubor, we live in Florida and were on their mailing list. I have to admit we were tempted by some of their itineraries. There was one a few years ago that had a cruise from the west coast, some time in Banff and then a train back to Florida.

Just never got around to booking with them, thankfully.

Sorry this happened to you. Hope your cruise on Divina is wonderful.:)

Have any cruisers on the MSC Divina booked with Incredible Journeys on the March 8th to 28th Transatlantic from Miami to Genoa? We received a notice that the company is going under and our entire trip has been cancelled. We already paid LJ almost $6,000, plus $3,000 in airfare is lost. The company will decide on December 1st as how to proceed. We are devastated , but seem to have no recourse. Anybody in the same boat?

Charge back on your credit card will get it all back. You DID pay by credit card, right?

If not THAT is why you ALWAYS put travel on a credit card, as anyone who lived through the various airlines' bankruptcies knows. Otherwise you are at the mercy of any x cents on the dollar settlement that unsecured creditors are awarded by the court overseeing the liquidation.

According to Rubor's post (above yours), "most" paid by check because LJ was giving them a $200 discount to do so. :(

According to Rubor's post (above yours), "most" paid by check because LJ was giving them a $200 discount to do so. :(

Just came across this thread now. We booked with Legendary Journeys our of Florida and lost money on both cruises. My parents used LJ for almost 20 years. We booked with them once previously and recently booked 2 MSC cruises with them. We paid cash (check) to save the $200. Hindsight, right???

So, we booked MSC Seaside transatlantic on December 1 and also MSC Divina transatlantic on March 8. Both trips were cancelled by MSC for non-payment. In order to go on the trip, we had to re-book directly with MSC. They gave us a great rate for the Seaside but no special deal on the Divina.

We learned there were 250 cabins booked on Seaside by LJ and 550 people were cancelled. Not sure on the Divina.

There is now a court filing open for LJ who is claiming bankruptcy. Supposedly, refunds will be available but in the US after anything goes through the legal system, there is very little that gets paid out. Only the lawyers are guaranteed to make money.

Here is the link to our Seaside Roll Call which is still being used to communicate on this issue. Would love to hear from others who are in the "same boat"!

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2348751

And to add to the Divina mess for us, we had fully paid LJ, then fully paid MSC and now had to cancel our cruise due to the death of a dear friend, which is not covered by insurance. So, this is the most expensive cruise we never went on. Lesson learned.

I would have insisted that payment be made through my credit card.

However, I would never had told dh about the save $200 by booking with a check deal because he would have wanted to do that.

Sorry this happened to you guys.

Like I said before, somehow I was on their mailing list and some of their itineraries were quite unique and tempting.

In addition to paying with a credit card, I insist all payments be processed by the cruise line themselves. It takes an extra day upon booking but it is so worth it. Basically, the TA never touches your money. The bill shows up on the statement from the cruise line not the agency. Be skeptic of any agent who doesn't want to do this. Agents get commission paid to them directly from the cruise line after you sail, so no reason for an agency to ever bill your credit card directly. I'm terribly sorry this happened to you and wish you all the best in recourse.

In addition to paying with a credit card, I insist all payments be processed by the cruise line themselves. It takes an extra day upon booking but it is so worth it. Basically, the TA never touches your money. The bill shows up on the statement from the cruise line not the agency. Be skeptic of any agent who doesn't want to do this. Agents get commission paid to them directly from the cruise line after you sail, so no reason for an agency to ever bill your credit card directly. I'm terribly sorry this happened to you and wish you all the best in recourse.

When I said paid by my credit card I also meant booked through the cruise line also.;)

It was one of the first things I learned on Cruise Critic.

:)

...I would never had told dh about the save $200 by booking with a check deal because he would have wanted to do that.

 

Sorry this happened to you guys.

Ha ha! Yes, well, from now on, we will too! After serving my folks for 20 years and our own single experience, we thought we were just fine with saving the $200.

We learned that LJ is not a true "travel agent", they are a "tour operator". Most travel agents don't actually process your credit card payment, they only complete the transaction on your behalf with the cruise line. They don't retain any fare money paid by you. In the case of LJ, they took our money (or credit card), cashed our check (or processed the CC) and deposited the money to LJ accounts. The cruise line had no knowledge of it unless LJ paid them.

One saving grace for the December 1 Seaside folks was that LJ had to purchase airline tickets in advance. We got $99 airfare from Miami to Venice, which was one reason we rebooked the cruise with MSC.

I'm terribly sorry this happened to you and wish you all the best in recourse.

Thanks BB2014. I didn't mean to duplicate your information. You posted as I was writing!

Charge back on your credit card will get it all back. You DID pay by credit card, right?

 

If not THAT is why you ALWAYS put travel on a credit card, as anyone who lived through the various airlines' bankruptcies knows. Otherwise you are at the mercy of any x cents on the dollar settlement that unsecured creditors are awarded by the court overseeing the liquidation.

Some years ago, an airline company went bankrupt. I had payed with credit card, MasterCard. MasterCard did not refund me one cent. They wanted to have a written confirmation by the bankrupt company, that MasterCard was going to get the money back from them. Of course this was impossible. The company closed the doors and a long queue of clients did not get any refund.

Ivi

I understand its tempting to pay the TA directly to get a discount...but buyer beware. I have booked cruises online since 2000 and while I give my credit card information to the online agency....its always just a pass thru where they act as the middleman and my cruise is charged to my CC under the cruise lines name.... NO money is taken by agency...they get their cut from Cruiseline

Aren't most tour companies, required to have bankruptcy insurance, to protect the customer?

The Next What-If: Tour Company Bankruptcy

As airlines, cruise lines and related businesses struggle to stay afloat, consumers need to know how to protect themselves.

December 02, 2001|JANE ENGLE | TIMES STAFF WRITER

Choose a reputable company. You want your cruise or tour operator to have been in business awhile; some experts recommend five years or more. Ask whether it belongs to the U.S. Tour Operators Assn. or the National Tour Assn. These groups require members to post bonds or otherwise demonstrate financial responsibility.

Also ask to see the company's California Seller of Travel registration. State law requires companies that sell travel to Californians to register and prove they have a consumer protection plan. If the company is also based in California, ask to see its registration as a member of the California Travel Consumer Restitution Corp., or TCRC, a private, nonprofit organization that administers a fund financed by fees paid by travel sellers.

http://articles.latimes.com/2001/dec/02/travel/tr-10611

Hope you get your $$$$ back.