If there is more than 1 port change are you entitled to full refund?

[028snowball]

Hello

 

I was originally booked on the Egypt and holyland cruise leaving this year 28/9/14 with the upset in Egypt it was taken off ( thomson never bothered to send me a letter to notify me but that is another story) it then changed to aegan and holyland tour it now seems that Israel is in the news and looking a bit dodgy if Israel is pulled off also does anyone know if I'm entitled to a full refund as these were the 2 main ports I wished to visit. I'm just trying to think ahead also wondering if there are changed will thomson ever tell me had a bad experience and haven't even got onboard yet ..

 

Has this happened with anyone else would love to hear your experiences I've now paid in full and don't want to go on a cruise if it's not going were I had paid to go...

[joeholiday2]

That's a very good question Snowball. Unfortunately I can't help you.

 

I would like to think you are entitled as I would see it as a significant change to the cruise you booked.

 

Maybe one to ask on the official Thomson FB page?

[028snowball]

I have contacted them directly but got no answers only to wait and see what happens next although I doubt I'll even receive a letter to tell me if they do take it off. Dontthink I will be using thomsons to book in the future last time I had a thomsons cruise booked through Thomas Cook they kept me well informed of all changes etc

[CRUISIN LINDA]

I think Kruzseeka had something like this happen to her once. Are you there Agent K? :D

[happy v]

I don't think you are entitled to a refund as the situation is beyond Thomsons control. I think when this happened last year passengers were given some onboard credit.

 

Please don't shoot the messenger because I know this won't be what you want.:eek:

[028snowball]

They've already given me onboard credit for Egypt being cancelled the ship is me at to dock in Israel for 2 days not sure where else it would go if it was cancelled surely u could at the very least transfer it to another holiday?

[happy v]

I would think you would be allowed to transfer.

I would hope so, anyway.

[kruzseeka]

I think Kruzseeka had something like this happen to her once. Are you there Agent K? :D

 

Yep! Booked an Aegean cruise calling at Skiathos and Thessaloniki when the new brochure came out in April as we hadn't been to those ports so that was the attraction. In September our friends asked if our cruise had been pulled as they had the Sept brochure and couldn't find an itinerary which remotely resembled the one we'd booked.

 

I was dumb struck. As is Thomson's way customers hadn't been informed though clearly it had been in the planning for some time since they'd had time to print the new brochure.

 

I rang my TA. Skiathos and Thessaloniki had disappeared altogether from the week we'd booked plus Dikili which was the worst port we'd ever been to had been included. Discounting the base port (surely even Thomson wouldn't change that) three out of five ports in our first week were different. That's a 60% change to the published itinerary.

 

Now bearing in mind there was no apparent reason for the change - no earthquake, ash cloud, war or civil disturbance what could possibly be behind the changes? Operational reasons apparently - translated by the lay man to be 'finding somewhere cheaper to berth/less distance to travel/made a mess of the forward planning' ie saving money or a complete planning failure. I cannot understand what else was behind it but whatever the reason it was for their benefit.

 

So given the changes apparently weren't covered by the clauses in their contract about changes to itinerary like war, you'd think it would hav the been easy to cancel.

 

Not a bit of it. My TA had to really push our case to allow us to swap to another holiday. We lost the AI we'd had with the original booking and my TA seemed to think we'd done well not to lose the deposit! I was livid. I said I wasn't even going to pay an admin charge to swap either since none of this was my fault. And I didn't.

 

But what would have happened if I hadn't seen another cruise we were prepared to take instead?

 

I feel sure we could have won the case if we'd cancelled without loss of deposit but not without a fight and possible legal threats. 60% change isn't minor in anyone's book.

 

Your situation is different since I reckon they have a get-out on the basis of political unrest to say nothing of the Foreign Office advising against visiting which they will if it doesn't settle down.

 

So I think you might have a battle given my experience since there is a good reason for them to change. We had a struggle when they couldn't provide ANY reason for changing 3 out of 5 ports.

 

I'm not saying you shouldn't pull out all the stops to try to resolve the issue to your satisfaction but perhaps the best you can hope for is like us to get your deposit transferred to a different cruise. But since they have the contract which does cover this contingency you may not be able to avoid an admin fee.

 

Sorry to not be able to be more optimistic but I was in disbelief when they weren't giving us our deposit back no questions asked when clearly they had broken their contract with me! :(

[028snowball]

Thanks for your update it seems thomsons think it's perfectly normal to make changed and not tell you about them! I know what you mean about the circumstances my original cruise was called Egypt and holylands and now may not be going to either unless it sorts itself out the first sailings to Ashdod are 1st September so will just see what happens wondering now what new posers they may add as Israel was a 2 day port any suggestions? Although honestly if prefer my money back or transfer to another holiday if that were the case although I know I'll have a fight on my hands

[KirkNC]

Hello

 

I was originally booked on the Egypt and holyland cruise leaving this year 28/9/14 with the upset in Egypt it was taken off ( thomson never bothered to send me a letter to notify me but that is another story) it then changed to aegan and holyland tour it now seems that Israel is in the news and looking a bit dodgy if Israel is pulled off also does anyone know if I'm entitled to a full refund as these were the 2 main ports I wished to visit. I'm just trying to think ahead also wondering if there are changed will thomson ever tell me had a bad experience and haven't even got onboard yet ..

 

Has this happened with anyone else would love to hear your experiences I've now paid in full and don't want to go on a cruise if it's not going were I had paid to go...

 

Sorry but if you read the fine print of a cruise contract they can change ports as often as they like.

[Tina.w12]

My friend has just changed a cruise which called in ashod for 2 days in October to a cruise in the Caribbean in January, as it is a more expensive cruise no admin charges. I on the other hand have swooped to a beach holiday in Sharm and had to pay the admin. We hadn't made the final payment.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[shot2bits]

Not a hope in h**l! We are on the Black Sea cruise which follows a week round the Greek Islands in August. The Black Sea week originally included the likes of Sevastopol and a couple of other Ukraine ports. This was the main reason for booking. I got an updated brochure from my local Thomson shop and noticed that they altered the itinerary to miss out Ukraine. Now, I fully understand the reasons and indeed I don't particularly want to holiday in what is almost a war zone. But, Thomson didn't tell me. I got onto my TA and got her to check if I could cancel or change to another holiday in view of the substantial changes. The answer was and is, yes I could cancel and lose the £500 deposit I had paid. I could change to another cruise, and lose my AI, which was free, or I could change to a land based holiday. In the latter two cases there would be a £50 admin fee. I decided to stick with the original cruise, after all, I've never been to Bulgaria (which has replaced Ukraine) so it may be ok. I still haven't had any letter from Thomson, and, bye the way, I haven't had any tickets yet either. We sail on the 4th. So, this is my last Thomson cruise and I have already booked my cruise for next year, with another company.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Souloggie]

We had exactly the same experience with our Crimean Adventure Cruise.We ended up jumping ship (literally) to the Arctic Affair on the Spirit,departing tomorrow.Lost our AI and had to pay an admin fee.The only saving grace is that Arctic Affair was a lot cheaper then Crimean Adventure so the loss of AI should be absorbed by that.

I can understand Port changes,it happens,but when it is the main attraction that is cancelled,there should be more done for paying customers.After all its OUR holiday that we have worked all year to fund to see places that interest us ie Crimean battlefields.

Mark.

[Miss C]

We were on Azorean Enchantments last year which ended up not going to the Azores because of weather, we got the canaries instead. Got £25 each onboard credit. I think when the whole focus of the cruise changes more should be done. I appreciate changes need to be made for safety and other reasons but people choose itineraries for a reason (usually because they have already done others)!

[checheguevara281070]

I'm feeling a bit isolated here :( . This is our third Thomson cruise, and we haven't really had much in the way of issues at all, save a for a delay in the refund of some cancelled trips. Always found it pretty OK to be honest. I have mentioned on another forum about Thomson's communication. We booked all our holidays online, and have never had any communication issues. We received emails about Alex being cancelled, and the recent one about Visa changes for Turkey.

[kruzseeka]

I'm feeling a bit isolated here :( . This is our third Thomson cruise, and we haven't really had much in the way of issues at all, save a for a delay in the refund of some cancelled trips. Always found it pretty OK to be honest. I have mentioned on another forum about Thomson's communication. We booked all our holidays online, and have never had any communication issues. We received emails about Alex being cancelled, and the recent one about Visa changes for Turkey.

 

 

No need to feel isoltaed - good to have your comments and know that Thomson can get it right. :D Long may you have positive experiences! ;)

 

To be fair, we have done a lot of Thomson cruises and overall there have been few problems but on here we do get a bit hot under the collar about communication failures - it is a wekaness and it puts Thomson in a poor light when that happens and is poor for their PR as well as customer confidence.

 

Enjoy your trip. :)

[geomagot]

yes this happened to us last year when they pulled port said and alexandria and renamed the cruise from pharaohs and the promised land to delights of the promised land (btw...it was a good cruise in the end….. I was never enamoured with alexandria anyway so the new itinerary turned out to be a bit of a bonus for us)

 

affected passengers were given the opportunity to switch to another cruise or continue with the new itinerary and receive £50pp onboard credit....we took/grabbed the credit;)

 

majesty red sea cruises were completely cancelled (at short notice) for the foreseeable future and all passengers were given a full refund

 

I agree that thoms did not keep us all informed of the changes....we found out via facebook/this forum (they did eventually write to us a couple of weeks before departure....but we did book up last minute so i guess we were the last to told)

[mtt]

we had a cruise in 2011 changed due to egypt not long before we went we were going through the suez sharm to barcelona, suppose to go to portsaid and alexandria, both took off and also was messina and barcelona, we went to limasol had a free trip and flew home from naples which was a disaster and also 400 crew flewhome on that day, the airport could not coped remember being stuck on a coach outside for an hour, and a mad rush to departures, we got no other to cancel or any obc, missed 2 port last year on a cruise due due the weather, and as had the same as geomagot above but on the spirit got 50 obc and was a great cruise, we are booked on the spirit in oct have a day in beirut and an overnight in ashdod, so wondering what will happen

[028snowball]

I'm hoping if they pull Israel they let us know sooner rather than later so we can all decide if we want yo continue on the cruise where else would it go? My original cruise was names Egypt and the holylands dosnt look to promising at the minute... I'm keeping up on these forums because thomson forgot to inform me Egypt was off so worried I won't know of any changes until on board