vwtlat7

For those of you who were on the Douro river cruise to start in Madrid on May 12 here is some information. I am on the cruise on the Douro that started on May 5. It is now May 18 and I am in a hotel in Madrid. We leave for home tomorrow. While on the cruise, on May 10, the cruise Director informed us that all future cruises on the Douro for the remainder of the year were to be canceled. All of the workers on the boat would have no jobs when the cruise ended. When pressed for the reason why, the tour Director was very evasive. We assume it was financial. In speaking to the other cruisers, many of us had problems with our flights being rebooked, leaving the states. And when we got here, the tour guides were unable to provide us with any headsets for our tours. As you will know this is an issue since there are at least 40 people in each tour group, so it was very difficult to hear the guides who were screaming at the top of their lungs. When pressed about the headsets, again, Vantage was very evasive. They said there was a problem with the headset company. This is not believable since on most of our tours, Viking tour groups were walking right along with us, and they all had headsets. Both hotels were both top rated. The rooms on the Douro Serenity were very small and the food was not as good as it normally is on vantage owned boats. We spent a lot of time on buses going to, and from the tours, which were not close to the boat. Many people people were sick for most of the trip, probably due to the close contact on the buses. All in all it was a pretty nice trip, and I am glad we got to go because in no way do I believe that we would have gotten our money back if canceled. I am truly sorry that those of you who were to start your trip on 12 May were canceled at the last minute. Best of luck in trying to get your refund. We will not be booking with Vantage anytime soon.

We are scheduled to leave on the 5th for the Douro River Trip. Ours journey goes from Lisbon to Madrid. After sending multiple emails to the Vantage gmail address (Vantagetravel.customercare@gmail.com), we received a call from "Fotene" (Vantage Air), this past Wednesday, 4/26. We had upgraded to Premium Economy so we have connecting flights. Fotene gave us new flights on United outbound and Lufthansa returning. I called each airline and we have been ticketed and was told the flights were paid for. I hope that helps.

For those of you waiting for plane tickets here is a heads up. I am/was on the Douro River trip on May 5. Our flights are on Air France because we paid the extra $1500 for Premium Economy. I was on the Air France website on Mon, 4/1. I entered my Conf#, and looked at my seating. During the process, I was instructed to proceed to the payment section to pay for my tickets. This was weird because Vantage was supposed to pay. So I called Air France, and was told that out tickets had not yet been paid for. I called vantage and was told by "Fotene", the Vantage Air Rep, not to worry because Vantage did not actually pay for the tickets until 2 weeks before the trip and they would do it in the next couple of days. So, on Fri, 4/21, I went to the Air France website, AND MY CONFIRMATION # WAS NO LONGER VALID. I called Air France and was told that VANTAGE HAD CANCELLED MY RESERVATION. I then called Vantage and ALL of their phone lines were dead and the website had a "502 BAD GATEWAY" error. I have been trying unsuccessfully to contact Vantage ever since. For some reason, today I went back to the Air France website and lo and behold, my Confirmation # was back and so was my Air Reservation. HOWEVER, MY ORIGINAL PREMIUM ECONOMY SEATS WERE GONE, AND WE HAVE NO SEAT ASSIGNMENTS. THERE WERE NO PREMIUM ECONOMY SEATS REMAINING! I again called Air France and this time was told that VANTAGE HAD STILL NOT PAID FOR THE TICKETS AND THAT IS WHY THE SEATS WERE REASSIGNED TO SOMEONE ELSE. So folks, those of you who think you have tickets, you better check your reservations with the airlines. The reservation is just a place holder until the tickets are paid for. GOOD LUCK

We were supposed to be on the Douro Serenity, boarding on May 9, after spending 3 days in Lisbon. There is some internet news reported by CBS regarding Vantage getting hacked: If we get our plane tickets we will go.

We were supposed to be on the Douro Serenity, boarding on May 9.

We have taken 5 trips with Vantage, and never had any problems. We had never been on the Douro River (Portugal/Spain) and friends recommended it. We booked a May 5 cruise, and paid in Nov, 2022. We had all kinds of invoice problems with Vantage, where they tried to tell me we owed an additional $3500, after I had already received my "paid in full invoice". At that point I told them I had not planned on spending that much and tried to cancel. I was told it would take over a year to get a refund.and since I had read all of the bad press about people waiting for years for a refund, we settled with Vantage for an additional $1500, and stayed on the cruise. We are/were supposed to go on May 5, 2023. I checked our Air reservation with Air France on Mon, 4/17, and found that although we had a reservation and seats, Vantage had yet to pay for the airfare. So I called "Fotene" (617-878-6038 -Vantage Air), and her phone was dead. So I called Cheryl Sheehan, the Sales Manager in Boston and left a VM. I received an email that day from Cheryl that she would take care of it. Shortly after that, Fotene called to tell me that Vantage normally paid for the flight tickets within a couple of weeks of the departure date, and not to worry. On Fri, 4/21/23, I went out to the Air France website and our CONFIRMATION # no longer existed. So, I called Air France and was told that Vantage had cancelled our plane reservation. I immediately called VANTAGE AND NONE OF THEIR PHONES CONNECT. THE LINES WERE ALL DEAD. I THEN WENT TO THEIR WEBSITE TO CHECK MY RESERVATION AND THEIR WEBSITE IS GONE.......error msg (502 BAD GATEWAY). While there is no info online about Vantage going out of business, I wouldn't be surprised to see something this week. Good luck trying to get your money back. Some people have been waiting for over 3 years for a refund. Check the BBB website. There are 600 lawsuits against Vantage. An expensive lesson learned. We are out $11,360. If anyone cares to send email to the Vantage executives , herE is a link to a website that has all of their email addresses. https://www.elliott.org/company-contacts/vantage-deluxe-world-travel/