twototravel

Okay. I sent an email to Delgado, Palmira <PDelgado-Brito@vantagetravel.com>; Rosen, David <DRosen@vantagetravel.com>; Lewis, Henry <HLewis@vantagetravel.com. Here's the text of my email:

"If your executive team is not following social media regarding your newest, not ready for passengers, ship, The Ocean Odyssey, they should. I am booked in February 2023 for the Bali to Singapore sailing. I am amazed that you are still asking if I want to pay you more money to upgrade my cabin, and have even added this trip to your Ways To Save section. I paid full price for my trip months ago and you have over $30,000 of my money. What all your future passengers see is that this ship is still in China and that you have "postponed" their cruises in the last several months, refusing to offer refunds. 

Here's what I hope is going to happen, and hope is all we have :). The Odyssey will be finished in the next month or so. Sea trials will occur, etc. etc. The ship will stay in Asia and commence the Asian cruises scheduled for 2023. As someone else mentioned, my cruise Bali-Singapore is also still being advertised; even made the Ways to Save reduced list (that make me mad when I paid full price). Vantage is even pushing me to give them more money to upgrade my cabin. NO way! 

Another option would be that Vantage leases another ship to keep to their current trips. This would be a big financial hit for them, but their reputation may survive.

I think we had Rick and Christopher on our Puget Sound cruise earlier this year. Rick is kind of a short fella that loves to dance and Christopher is tall and skinny and loves musicals, right?

I just checked, and these are the only reasons you can cancel your trip using Vantage's policy and get a refund:

• Sickness, injury, or death of traveler, travel companion, or family member
• Quarantine, jury duty, court order to appear as witness for traveler or travel companion
• Traveler or traveling companion’s place of employment damaged due to natural disaster, requiring traveler or travel companion to remain at work
• Documented theft or loss of passport or visa
• Job transfer
• Documented traffic accident causing missed trip departure
• Organized labor strike, bad weather, or mechanical breakdown of aircraft for 24 hours or more
• Shutdown of airport or air traffic control system for 6 hours or more, preventing trip departure
• Emergency military duty resulting from natural disaster for traveler or travel companion
• Previously granted military leave revoked for traveler or travel companion
• Job termination or layoff with employer

Really regretting giving them 30k of our money for the Bali to Singapore cruise in Feb 2023 on the Odyssey. Since we've had issues on every other Vantage trip should have known better. Other travel companies we use, Gate 1 and OAT have kept in contact via email with their clients about their struggles this year and always give an option to either get a refund (especially if you bought their insurance), or reschedule at a future date if they have to cancel a trip. 

To get around their no refunds because they say the trip is postponed, could we cancel now if we have the CFAR policy and get most of our money back?

Can someone please copy and paste the NYTimes article? I can't access it. Thanks.

@DonnaMW Thanks for the news. I keep watching the ship's location and it still shows China. 

The staffing issue will never be fixed. It is too easy for crew to just walk off the ship at a port when they decide the work is too hard or not to their liking. This is a fact of life when using an all-American crew. You don't really see this on the ships that hire foreign crew.

@DonnaMW What is strange is that there was an article about the ship being launched by the Chinese ship maker in Nov 2021. Maybe the hold up is furnishing the inside or some kind of government hold up. Sunstone's Fifth Infinity-Class Cruise Ship Launched In China (maritimeprofessional.com)

@theLuna Has anything been resolved with your refund request?

I was able to chat with a Vantage rep earlier today regarding the status of the Ocean Odyssey. All they were able to say was that the ship is still in China and cruises will not occur through September on this ship. Their expectation is that future cruises on this ship will go as scheduled once put into operation.

@Austinite by birth I hope all your details are made as your trip should start in just a few days. Hoping you have a wonderful time and all is well with the new ship. 

@Billybob79 I hope your trip as well in Oct goes well. 

Looking forward to hearing from both of you about your travels on this new ship.

@rfkeith10 Check out the cruises using one of their new ships. They may work better for your situation.

Since the ships have elevators, you shouldn't have any problem onboard getting around on a scooter. Getting on and off may be a challenge...the older ships have you embark and disembark at ports using a small, plank board going from the ship to the shore, sometimes at steep angles. On our two cruises, people with mobility issues were assisted by crew getting on and off the ship where their chair or scooter was waiting for them.

Keep reading about Gate 1 getting a new river boat to replace one of their Monarch series. Anyone heard anything as well?

@Austinite by birth I know your trip will be fantastic! Please post a review upon your return. Good luck with your flights. LHR is one of the airports that is having all the issues. Hopefully the issues will improve by your travel date. We are on a trip to Copenhagen and other countries a few days after you. We have a direct flight from NYC to Copenhagen with no stops in European hubs, thank goodness.

P.S. We are booked in cabin 417 for our Odyssey trip in Feb. 

@Austinite by birth I was able to chat with Vantage earlier today and they did tell me, although slightly delayed, the Odyssey was currently on its way to Europe! I also confirmed that our cruise in Feb is still a go but as of now, has low numbers booked. The route is Singapore to Bali and then reverse. Hopefully if one doesn't fill up, they can consolidate us all on the other route. We have signed up for the Pre trip to Ubud, then Bali to Singapore on the ship. This will be our third Vantage trip. First was a cruise/tour to Burma about 6 years ago, then South Africa just last month. I hope you have found under the Ways to Save menu the cruise deals that they offer if you can travel at short notice. Some of them have been amazing! 

@Austinite by birth When are you booked on the Odyssey? Are you saying it's not operational yet? I'm booked on it for Feb 2023 and have given Vantage a lot of money!

@miklingaThey must have encountered an issue to change the ports like you state. Excursions do fill up quickly, especially the premium ones. Don't count on being able to sign up for those once aboard, although they usually have a session going over all the excursions soon after boarding. If possible, I know they can increase the size of the excursions to allow more people to participate. A lot of times people who have signed up early, change their minds once onboard, so check with the ship staff for openings. Have a great trip!

@OC PAT Did you do the entire Mississippi? Was it a full ship?

What new ship are you talking about? From my understanding the Odessey has already started sailing.

If you follow cruise ship news, I think most ships have decided to stop enforcing CDC recommended Covid protocols, at least some of them.

We just got back from a Vantage land trip to South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana. We had a wonderful time. We also did go ahead and book the Bali to Singapore cruise on their new MS Ocean Odyssey ship for Feb 2023. I agree their customer service out of the Boston office needs work, but the destination guides, itineraries, and accommodations are great. 

Anyone gone on the new ship Castor yet? We are booked on the Bergen-Kirkenes route 8-13 Sept 2022. The photos of the ship are beautiful. 

The Castor is operating as normal.