Dream - itinerary change, Pride of Panama

[csmjfmbe]

agree len.... yes their customer services could do with some 'sorting' cuban revolution turning into cuban fusion is not a small change imo they should at least allow people to rebook something else without having to pay any extra fees

 

but what i am saying really is..... the dreams ex Jamaica itineraries are fraught with difficulties (they were last year)

 

they do try to get into ports and stick to the schedule but sometimes its out of their control

 

some ports are known to be tricky to get into especially in western caribbean

 

costa maya (nearby huge sandbank) ditto roatan

 

playa del carmen (weather can change very quickly within minutes)

 

grand cayman (needs dredging but that will destroy the swimming with stingrays cash bonanza)

 

san blas (notorious for ferocious trade winds and unpredictable currents)

 

we had an overnight in cozumel (missed pdc) then we were back in cozumel again the following week

 

we had an unscheduled sea day (missed costa maya) (as well as the 2 scheduled ones per week)

 

roatan was a late arrival but we made it into port (phew)

 

we arrived in havana about 1.30pm but by the time they had done the: ebola check/passport check/baggage screening/security screening and queued for local currency it was 5pm before we stepped into havana old town

 

san blas was substituted long before we embarked for the cruise (they didnt let us know formally) santa marta is a disappointing substitute for san blas imo (others may disagree)

 

other cruises had overnights in colon! (not the prettiest of ports for an overnight) and missed out the beautiful costa rica

 

all this is what has put us off booking ex jamaica this year… we’ve booked celebration

Dear Geo

My opinion is that this does constitute a major change to what was advertised and people have booked.

No one can predict months in advance what the weather will be in the region, as you correctly state, in that region it can change within an hour, at which point it is the Captains decision, it is not for HQ to dictate what the Captain may decide in 4 months time.

A lot of people's anxiety over this could have been avoided by Thomson's with a swift notification and explanation to those who had already booked.

Cheers

Mike

[iambruce]

With regard to the Cuban Revolution cruise the itinerary shown on the Thomsons website and in several editions of the brochure had changed long before Thomsons emailed people who had booked, but it suited them to leave it as long as possible, as the other cruise Cuban Fusion has an itinerary the same as the Cuban Revolution is now, so it looked then 'on paper' as there was an alternative Cuba cruise but now they are both the same. shameful! I wonder if we would have got to know now had it not been for the new brochure which is due out and no doubt has the changed itinerary?

[Len Baker]

Music requests for Cuban Revolution cruise:-

 

Revolution - The Beatles

 

I've never been to Cuba - The Moovin & Groovin Orchestra

 

Don't Mess with Doctor Dream - Thompson Twins

[geomagot]

could call it a cuban 'miss isle' crisis:D .... sorry:o

[louthebowler]

could call it a cuban 'miss isle' crisis:D .... sorry:o

 

:D:D like, like, like.

 

 

Seriously though, I would be mad at losing so much of Cuba-lovely place and people.

[790294]

I was punted around when I phoned and each department saying another dealing. There is tendering problems at Santiago de Cuba and Holguin I was told but I had already done my research and saw that there is major redevelpoment going on at Santiago de Cuba harbour so why didnt Thomson know about this when first advertising the cruise:confused: Very poor on there part and worse not informing us, it's back in hands of my TA again.

[MazzyKn]

I was punted around when I phoned and each department saying another dealing. There is tendering problems at Santiago de Cuba and Holguin I was told but I had already done my research and saw that there is major redevelpoment going on at Santiago de Cuba harbour so why didnt Thomson know about this when first advertising the cruise:confused: Very poor on there part and worse not informing us, it's back in hands of my TA again.

 

Following my letter of complaint we have now received a refund of our £500 deposit. I understand that Thomson have informed ABTA that they will offer all affected passengers a refund or option to change to an alternative cruise.

[skioncruises]

I see you are all discussing the dropping of Santiago de Cuba as one of the ports of call on the Dream over the winter season.

 

I booked the Atlantic Adventure (25 days) away back in November 2014 and this was to be one of our stops. I know it is not until April but I haven't heard a cheep from Thomson regarding the alteration. I assumed it was because we were only going to be in port for a short time and the distance to be travelled between ports was perhaps the reason but on reading your posts obviously my sleuthing was wrong.

 

It's not too long before they will be hounding me for the balance and I wonder if/when they will let me know.:eek:

[iambruce]

Great news MazzyKn! we also have been refunded our deposit in full!! Thomson certainly were aware that the stops at Santiago de Cube and Holguin would not be included yet still kept adertising and taking bookings, so pleased our local branch were supportive and never once mentioned the 'ticking the T&C box' which has not been the case on this thread. hope Smile19, skoincruises, arnie321, HCN1955, Tina.w12, Len Baker, tourist1375, 790294 and everyone else 'in the same boat' will be able to get a good result also,

many thanks to all.

[skioncruises]

That's good to know people are being refunded their deposits.

 

As Santiago de Cuba was scheduled to be the only port in Cuba we are not too upset, especially as departure time was 15.00. Hopefully it means we will arrive in Grand Turk earlier than scheduled (10.00) the next day.

 

Good luck to all those who want to cancel.:)

[wheatleyfrmal]

Santiago de Cuba and Holguin have also been taken off Cuban Revolution, still awaiting to be informed by Thomson!! I can understand having to change itinerary's due to operational reasons but there is absolutely no excuse not to inform customers. They manage to email me several times a week trying to sell me another holiday but seem incapable of sending something of importance.

 

Booked the Cuban Revolution cruise with Thomson Cruises because of the itinary - 3 ports of call in Cuba and circumnavigation of the island. Have now been notified by them that they will only make one call there, longer at sea, with three ports of call in total instead of four.

I would NOT have booked a cruise with this itinary.

In effect the advertised cruise has been cancelled and replaced by one of Thomsons regular cruises - Cuban Fusion.

Thomsons have not given any detailed or satisfactory reasons for this major change - only that the have “some concerns about the infrastructure ……..in Santiago de Cuba and Holguin”. What are these concerns and should they not make an effort to overcome them instead of taking the easy way out?

Has the infrastucture deteriorated since the cruise was planned and advertised?

Are the Cuban authorities not making efforts to increase tourism which should be supported?

No doubt it is much easier and cheaper for Thomson to use a tried and tested port.

They have made a derisory offer of £50 onboard spending money which in no way reflects the upset to me by this major change. They have a moral obligation to their customers to do better than this.

Unless they are prepared to offer reasonable compensation I feel that they will suffer commercially in the long term due to adverse publicity, loss of trust, and a fall in future bookings.

[gillhalfpint]

A bit worrying this one.

Some have their full deposit back.

Some have an offer of £50 OBC as compensation.

Presumably the poor souls not on CC or FB get told of the changes when they board.

Feeling happy to have chosen the Celebration for Jan 16.

[iambruce]

We were the same as you wheatleyfrmal booked the cuban revolution, only informed of the changes a couple of weeks ago, offered £50, we have insisted they allow is to cancel without loss, this has now been agreed and all the money we paid has been refunded, contact headoffice and ABTA if needs be, not going to be a happy cruise this one if people still unaware of the drastic changes.

[MazzyKn]

Booked the Cuban Revolution cruise with Thomson Cruises because of the itinary - 3 ports of call in Cuba and circumnavigation of the island. Have now been notified by them that they will only make one call there, longer at sea, with three ports of call in total instead of four.

I would NOT have booked a cruise with this itinary.

In effect the advertised cruise has been cancelled and replaced by one of Thomsons regular cruises - Cuban Fusion.

Thomsons have not given any detailed or satisfactory reasons for this major change - only that the have “some concerns about the infrastructure ……..in Santiago de Cuba and Holguin”. What are these concerns and should they not make an effort to overcome them instead of taking the easy way out?

Has the infrastucture deteriorated since the cruise was planned and advertised?

Are the Cuban authorities not making efforts to increase tourism which should be supported?

No doubt it is much easier and cheaper for Thomson to use a tried and tested port.

They have made a derisory offer of £50 onboard spending money which in no way reflects the upset to me by this major change. They have a moral obligation to their customers to do better than this.

Unless they are prepared to offer reasonable compensation I feel that they will suffer commercially in the long term due to adverse publicity, loss of trust, and a fall in future bookings.

 

Hi Wheatleyfrmal

Below is the response we received from ABTA, Thomson did contact us and refund our deposit when we complained to them and ABTA simultaneously. Hopefully you will receive a full refund shortly.

 

"Hi ABTA, customers will be contacted and offered a free amendment or cancellation. This is of a gesture of goodwill. Kind regards, Tom."

 

Following the members' comments, we have been advised that all you need to do is to go back to Thomson regarding this and they will be discussing the offer with you further.

[Carib cruiser]

I found out about this yesterdy and am due to pay tomorrow. I have spent 2 hours on the phone this morning ringing different nos, one person told there is a note on my booking that says i will be given £50 ob spend but have received no notification of this and no one will say they are giving deposits back. How did you all get your deposits back. I need to know this asap please. Any help appreciated

[Len Baker]

Hi Carib,

 

we decided to continue with our original plan and go on the cruise. I received an e-mail saying we had £50 OBC pp awarded due to the itinerary change (in addition to £50 pp OBC awarded when making the original booking) which will be added when we board the Dream.

 

We have not received our deposit back as we are going on the cruise. If you wish to cancel your cruise then you should confirm if Thomson will refund your deposit or be prepared to take a £500 hit. If they will refund then the OBC issue is irrelevant. If you wish to cruise then keep any paperwork regarding OBC as you need to ensure you receive your full entitlement when boarding.

 

Hope this helps

 

Len

[Carib cruiser]

Hi Wheatleyfrmal

Below is the response we received from ABTA, Thomson did contact us and refund our deposit when we complained to them and ABTA simultaneously. Hopefully you will receive a full refund shortly.

 

"Hi ABTA, customers will be contacted and offered a free amendment or cancellation. This is of a gesture of goodwill. Kind regards, Tom."

 

Following the members' comments, we have been advised that all you need to do is to go back to Thomson regarding this and they will be discussing the offer with you further.

Thanks Len, looks like we'll be doing the same. Im just annoyed and upset that i didnt know anyhing about it so havent the same chance as others to do something about it. Wevd had this booked since last January specifically for these 2 places. Thomsons just dont care. I cant remember how many people ive spoken to today. ABTA wont send me an email stating what Thomsons have agreed because I havent registered the complaint with them, but I havent time to do anything before the balance is due. The worst thing is my TA didnt know about it so I could have paid tomorrow and arrived in Jamaica before we knew anything. I dont know why we keep cruising with them. I suppose its because they do they kind of cruises we like and go to the ports we want to visit. USUALLY!!

[Pensioncruiser]

My thoughts are that the cruise's are in the main OK it's back home that we have the problems, with IT and customer service issue's. Hope this doesn't spoil your holiday 😕

[Carib cruiser]

found out about this by accident and am fuming. only booked because of the itenerary. phoned thomson - very unhelpful, said i would loose deposit if i cancelled as it is deemed by them to be "minimum change" Said they are contacting all clients who have booked - but no-one has contacted me yet. To make things worse thay have added Cozumel!

 

You were lucky,I still havent been informed officially (23rd October) my sister told me after seeing it on Cruise critic. Am due to pay balance today and no time to do anything

[iambruce]

Hi Carib cruiser, sorry to hear you also are having problems, as you'll see on my my previous posts, firstly (as we booked in our local Thomson TA)we put our request to them in writing requesting 'cancellation and refund without loss' we also wrote a letter of complaint to ABTA, we also would have to pay the balance which we were not going to pay, the branch contacted us to say Thomson have agreed to the refund which we have received, so we have cancelled the letter of complaint to ABTA but they will be aware of the problem. hope you get your refund, this is not going to be a happy cruise!

[geezer466]

Am glad now we opted for Celebration this January.

 

We did the Cuban Fusion/Mayan Ad last Feb/Mar and the new Cuban ports sparked our interest but as much as the itinerary was the same we held off.

 

Settled for 14 nights on Celebration on 10th Jan and was keeping my eye on the price via the website. We chose this one mainly as there were a few ports we have never done and it has a full day in the BVI which we will always want to go back too.

We are not fussy about cabin type or free all inclusive and always look for a cheaper price when available,

 

Anyway last Sat went online to do my usual check and it wasn't on the website, a quick call to Thomson and the (rather bored) telephone op said it was sold out.:eek:

 

Managed to book the last Cruise (Cuba and Mayan) with about 14 days lead time to departure and got a good price for it.

 

Other half went online and found it still advertised with a third party site. Got on the phone and within half an hour we had booked and paid in full with preferred flights and what we were told was the last cabin. On the plus side price was <£250 than I had seen it on the Thomson site.

 

Then one day in the middle of last week I looked on Thomson site and the same cruise was back slightly cheaper although it has gone again this morning.

 

Def think their website has some serious teething issues....