What happen when things don't go as planned?

What should happen when things don’t go right on a cruise? We recently booked a River Cruise with Vantage on their latest and newest vessel the River Voyager launched on April 26, 2016, its first themed ship highlighting jazz music. Why then would this ship, well past shakedown fail with the bow thruster going out of service into the 6th of a 13 day cruise on July 13, 2016? Was it human error or some other cause? And how should Vantage have performed in light of this development? As things stand today no reasonable compensation has been offered. Vantages immediate reaction was to make a 15 day river cruise into a bus excursion something to horrendous to even considers and yet they went ahead notwithstanding the complaints and criticism of most passengers. To those who wanted to leave then and there, nothing was offered in the way of a refund, not then and not now. How safe is this vessel for any future river cruise? Can it happen again? Up to this time passengers have been too stunned to respond; but I feel that will change in the near future as more of the 170 plus on that ill-fated adventure begin to speak out and demand compensation. There are many precedents as to what others lines have done in similar circumstances, why does Vantage feel that they are different?

What should happen when things don’t go right on a cruise? We recently booked a River Cruise with Vantage on their latest and newest vessel the River Voyager launched on April 26, 2016, its first themed ship highlighting jazz music. Why then would this ship, well past shakedown fail with the bow thruster going out of service into the 6th of a 13 day cruise on July 13, 2016? Was it human error or some other cause? And how should Vantage have performed in light of this development? As things stand today no reasonable compensation has been offered. Vantages immediate reaction was to make a 15 day river cruise into a bus excursion something to horrendous to even considers and yet they went ahead notwithstanding the complaints and criticism of most passengers. To those who wanted to leave then and there, nothing was offered in the way of a refund, not then and not now. How safe is this vessel for any future river cruise? Can it happen again? Up to this time passengers have been too stunned to respond; but I feel that will change in the near future as more of the 170 plus on that ill-fated adventure begin to speak out and demand compensation. There are many precedents as to what others lines have done in similar circumstances, why does Vantage feel that they are different?

What happens when things don't go as planned?

You should post this under river cruises and include vantage in the title

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Why then would this ship, well past shakedown fail with the bow thruster going out of service into the 6th of a 13 day cruise on July 13, 2016?

Has your car ever broken down?

I'm sorry this happened to you. That had to be a disappointment. This is one of the problems with travel....things happen that are out of everyone's control and you have to adjust on the fly and adapt to the change. My philosophy has always been to make the best of whatever situation occurs. Keeps me happier.

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I was watching the series on tv about various cruise ships. In one episode the bow thruster went out. An essential piece of equipment! The cruise company was forced to employ tugboats at every stop. After a couple of days by the chief engineer, it was determined that an electrical module needed to be replaced. It took a couple of days more to have another flown in. Like someone else said, just make the best of your trip! You are on vacation.

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It took me all of 20 seconds to find the terms and conditions which passengers agree to when booking with Vantage...this clause sums it up:

"We reserve the right to modify tour itineraries and substitute hotels and accommodations without liability to Vantage. Included features may not be available

for all departures. If a vessel is not able to complete the scheduled itinerary due

to low water, high water, mechanical breakdown, or other reason, we reserve the right to modify the itinerary, which right shall include the use of hotels and motor coaches where necessary."

By these terms, you knew ahead of time that in the event of a mechanical breakdown a bus was a possibility.

I am posting just to give Cruise123 some support. If we expected everything in those impenetrable contracts to happen whenever we travel, it would be better just to stay home and enjoy wherever we have chosen to live. We travel in the expectation that the promised adventure will reasonably closely approximate the descriptions in the brochures or on line. With Vantage, we lost one engine on the Danube, had to slow down and as a result sailed past the "Iron Gates of the Danube" at midnight in total darkness. On Viking, recently, we experienced a coach tour masquerading as a river cruise, literally more time on the coach than on the vaunted "longship" in motion. (Turns out, from conversation with a senior officer, that the mechanical problem had been known to Viking headquarters for weeks but decision was taken to delay repairs and "make do" until a team could be assembled to fix the problem and receive the parts at a convenient stop on one or another cruise). On both occasions, there was NO, rpt NO, compensation for the failure to produce the advertised products. On another occasion, a North Atlantic crossing from Europe to USA was diverted to mid Atlantic, due to a storm in the north Atlantic, causing us to miss the essence of the cruise. In that case, Princess Cruises offered a 30% future cruise voucher good for two years and made possible for us a virtually costless cruise the next winter. It is possible to acknowledge failure to provide an advertised product and offer something of value to ease the disappointment. It a matter of whether the offering party cares about it's clients. Sorry for the length and the rant, but the callous replies to Cruise123 just bothered me.