Pricing of Botanica World Discovery Cruise

[Whalewothca]

I was recently a passenger on a Botanica World Discovery Cruise which departed New York along the Hudson River, through the Great Lakes and the St Lawrence River, ending in Montreal. The name of the cruise was "BTUS15 - 15 Days US Mansions & Gardens of the Hudson River and Canadian Lakes".

 

It was very disappointing and an object lesson in the importance of doing your homework before booking.

 

I booked about a year in advance. The cost for single occupancy of a cabin was over AUD$18,000 for 15 days. From memory, the cost for dual occupancy was over AUD$12,000 per person. As you can imagine I was expecting a really special experience.

 

As the departure date approached, I received a warning that the cabins might be smaller than expected. I still had in my head the idea that what I was paying would be reflected in what I received. But no, shortly before departure, a cabin map arrived showing the room sizes. They were extremely small. Too small really for dual occupancy, particularly for passengers with mobility issues.

 

As it turned out, my cabin had no fresh air and was right near the bow thruster (which was very loud and used when manoeuvring, sometimes during the night).

 

It became clear the cruise was wildly overpriced. In many ways, it fell short of the expectations set by the pricing. For example, whilst we were promised internet, there was a filter imposed on the internet on board to cut costs (!), with the result that no Australian email servers were accessible - in fact only a limited number of US sites were accessible when the filter was imposed. There were other disappointments that I won't bother you with. Safe to say it was not a luxury cruise.

 

The cruise was operated by a US company Blount Small Ship Adventures and rebadged and slightly modified by Botanica to add two botanical guides and slightly change the Blount itinerary. After a few days on the cruise, I decided to check the Blount website. I felt sick when I discovered they were offering much the same itinerary for a bit over USD4,000 to their customers. If you google them, you can find the pricing for the same itinerary next year.

 

I think I would have been happy with the cruise at Blount's price. At Botanica's price, I and many of the other customers were expecting so much more than was delivered. I felt sorry for the Blount staff who did such a good job of dealing with the gap between our expectations and the reality.

 

The reason I wanted to post here was that whilst some of the passengers were seasoned travellers, many were not. Many were elderly and somewhat new to luxury cruising. In some cases, I think there was an element of "this may be our last chance for a big overseas trip, so let's make it the holiday of a lifetime". These people were probably spending a big chunk of their savings.

 

I can't say I would ever trust Botanica to do the right thing after this experience. I hope anyone planning to spend a significant amount on a cruise looks at this and other forums first to assess what is out there. I would be particularly wary of anyone effectively re-selling a cruise operated by another cruise line.

 

I wish I had done my homework. I feel like such a sucker.