Uniworld cancels six cruises of riverboat rammed by MSC ship

[Host Jazzbeau]

Thanks to Keith1010, here is a link to a Seatrade News article about the Uniworld ship in Venice:

Uniworld cancels six cruises of riverboat rammed by MSC ship

[dogs4fun]

Thanks for posting. It appears that the ship will be back in operation July 21st so not too many dates will be cancelled.

[Lois R]

Hi Jazz, I am lucky......my cruise on this riverboat is in October.    I wonder if someone who had a cruise on her in the missed timeframe will post on here about what Uniworld is planning to do (compensation wise). 

[Murrmaid1]

Our Uniworld River Countess cruise was scheduled for August 25. We just got notice last night that it has been canceled also. They said the damage was worse than thought. There was no mention of when they thought it would be repaired although one of the options was to take the same trip later in the year. Another option was to take a different cruise in similar cabin category up to 2 weeks with $500 for airfare change with documentation or reimbursement of cruise with no airfare compensation. 

We called first thing this morning hoping to change to another cruise at the same time period as we have another cruise booked afterwards so wanted to minimize the air changes. The problem is that most of the cruises are sold out or only have the "steerage cabins" available (not what we paid for! We have already traveled most of the routes. I am not happy with Uniworld right now!!

[Roz]

11 minutes ago, Murrmaid1 said:

Our Uniworld River Countess cruise was scheduled for August 25. We just got notice last night that it has been canceled also. They said the damage was worse than thought. There was no mention of when they thought it would be repaired although one of the options was to take the same trip later in the year. Another option was to take a different cruise in similar cabin category up to 2 weeks with $500 for airfare change with documentation or reimbursement of cruise with no airfare compensation. 

We called first thing this morning hoping to change to another cruise at the same time period as we have another cruise booked afterwards so wanted to minimize the air changes. The problem is that most of the cruises are sold out or only have the "steerage cabins" available (not what we paid for! We have already traveled most of the routes. I am not happy with Uniworld right now!!

Won't Uniworld pay you back the difference between steerage and the class of cabin you booked?

 

Roz

[Murrmaid1]

12 minutes ago, Roz said:

Won't Uniworld pay you back the difference between steerage and the class of cabin you booked?

 

Roz

They made no offer of that. However, the overall full price of the cruise we're looking at is more expensive...We had paid the full price of our cruise last January and gotten some good deals on that (they've also had our money interest free that whole time).

[Roz]

Did you book thru a TA?  If so, have them go to bat for you.

 

Roz

[Murrmaid1]

9 minutes ago, Roz said:

Did you book thru a TA?  If so, have them go to bat for you.

 

Roz

No...directly through Uniworld.

 

[acwmom]

When our cruise was canceled, we were also offered a full refund. Had we taken it, we could have still gone and done our own land trip, and come out ahead. Our other option was to move the date to the following week. We countered with option 3, which was to choose another cruise leaving the same date (not an option presented to our TA) Our TA got us moved to another cruise, in a higher class cabin than what we originally booked, he also got them to reimburse us for flight changes, and for the premium economy upgrades we had paid for (which were non-refundable). Where does your next cruise depart  from?

 

Robin

[Roz]

I've had a similar experience to Robin's when the cruise I booked was in an overbooked situation.  Uniworld treated me fairly and generously.  One of my options was a full refund, but I just moved my cruise to a later date and Uniworld gave me a cabin upgrade and paid air change fees (I had booked air thru them).  I would call them with a polite counterproposal and see what they say.

 

Roz

[Murrmaid1]

11 minutes ago, acwmom said:

When our cruise was canceled, we were also offered a full refund. Had we taken it, we could have still gone and done our own land trip, and come out ahead. Our other option was to move the date to the following week. We countered with option 3, which was to choose another cruise leaving the same date (not an option presented to our TA) Our TA got us moved to another cruise, in a higher class cabin than what we originally booked, he also got them to reimburse us for flight changes, and for the premium economy upgrades we had paid for (which were non-refundable). Where does your next cruise depart  from?

 

Robin

It departs from Bordeaux. We had bought airfare from Venice to Toulouse, planning to stay a couple of nights in Toulouse and then take the train to Bordeaux. We've already done the Uniworld cruise in Bordeaux so we were thinking about trading the Venice cruise for the Douro River Cruise (which we already did on Vantage). This is our 50th anniversary so we were hoping to treat ourselves this trip to a little nicer cabin also.

 

[Murrmaid1]

3 minutes ago, Roz said:

I've had a similar experience to Robin's when the cruise I booked was in an overbooked situation.  Uniworld treated me fairly and generously.  One of my options was a full refund, but I just moved my cruise to a later date and Uniworld gave me a cabin upgrade and paid air change fees (I had booked air thru them).  I would call them with a polite counterproposal and see what they say.

 

Roz

They seem to be swamped with calls since they have many people to accommodate with changes and not very amenable to much in the way of counterproposals. We did our own air with FF miles and upgrades. Their offer is only $500 for air change. That is the reason it makes no sense to do it at a different time...we'd have to not only change our air for the August trip but order more air for a different time. We also are booked up with trips through the end of October. I'm sure it's a different story if you are the only person they are trying to rearrange for.

[acwmom]

54 minutes ago, Murrmaid1 said:

They seem to be swamped with calls since they have many people to accommodate with changes and not very amenable to much in the way of counterproposals. We did our own air with FF miles and upgrades. Their offer is only $500 for air change. That is the reason it makes no sense to do it at a different time...we'd have to not only change our air for the August trip but order more air for a different time. We also are booked up with trips through the end of October. I'm sure it's a different story if you are the only person they are trying to rearrange for.

Our entire cruise was canceled, not just us. I was really thankful for what our TA did for us.

Is there availablilty on the Seine or Rhone cruises? (or have you done those before?) Uniworld is also part of The Travel Corporation, perhaps there is something there for you?

If you are on Facebook, I would post there, they are very social media responsive. 

I also worry about the remainder of the Venice sailings this year. This is one of the ships due to be refurbished over the winter, and they could decide to simply not return her to service, depending on what all needs to be done.

 

Robin

 

[Murrmaid1]

2 minutes ago, acwmom said:

Our entire cruise was canceled, not just us. I was really thankful for what our TA did for us.

Is there availablilty on the Seine or Rhone cruises? (or have you done those before?) Uniworld is also part of The Travel Corporation, perhaps there is something there for you?

If you are on Facebook, I would post there, they are very social media responsive. 

I also worry about the remainder of the Venice sailings this year. This is one of the ships due to be refurbished over the winter, and they could decide to simply not return her to service, depending on what all needs to be done.

 

Robin

 

Thank you, Robin! We asked about the Avignon-Lyon cruise but that was sold out (yes, we've done  them before, but were just looking for something that would fit the time period. According to their website, the September cruises are still on but I have my doubts also. I'll check out the FB page!

[Got2Cruise]

6 hours ago, Murrmaid1 said:

Our Uniworld River Countess cruise was scheduled for August 25. We just got notice last night that it has been canceled also. They said the damage was worse than thought. There was no mention of when they thought it would be repaired although one of the options was to take the same trip later in the year. Another option was to take a different cruise in similar cabin category up to 2 weeks with $500 for airfare change with documentation or reimbursement of cruise with no airfare compensation. 

We called first thing this morning hoping to change to another cruise at the same time period as we have another cruise booked afterwards so wanted to minimize the air changes. The problem is that most of the cruises are sold out or only have the "steerage cabins" available (not what we paid for! We have already traveled most of the routes. I am not happy with Uniworld right now!!

I’m sorry this happened to you.  And to complicate matters you have another cruise that follows. 

 

“Steerage” class is not what you paid for, but I assure you it is not “steerage” class. You are treated the same as if you were in the largest suite. If you are offered a cabin at a very good rate it might be something to consider. 

 

You might want to consider another brand River Cruise and take a refund. 

 

Yes its not the vacation you imagined but you will still have a wonderful experience. 

 

[Lois R]

WOW...the August 25th was cancelled? I have a friend who was supposed to sail BEFORE then......I will email her and see what she says.

[Roz]

15 hours ago, Got2Cruise said:

“Steerage” class is not what you paid for, but I assure you it is not “steerage” class. You are treated the same as if you were in the largest suite. If you are offered a cabin at a very good rate it might be something to consider. 

 

I've been in the "steerage" cabins, more affectionately called "aquarium class".  They are great little cabins, and will be booking them in the future unless Uniworld has some kind of special deal going on the higher level cabins.

 

To the OP, you've been given several good ideas, and my advice is to just make the most of the situation and enjoy your vacation.

 

Roz

[skiptomylou]

On 6/4/2019 at 7:54 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

Thanks to Keith1010, here is a link to a Seatrade News article about the Uniworld ship in Venice:

Uniworld cancels six cruises of riverboat rammed by MSC ship

We were just informed that Uniworld has cancelled more cruise dates besides these first six:

 

We have just been informed by Uniworld that the River Countess will not be returning to service until September. Apparently, the authorities would not allow the ship to be moved for over two weeks during the investigation.  Also, when the ship arrived in the shipyard, they found that some of the damages were more extensive than originally thought.

[sawtooth]

When we arrived in Venice on 6/14 and stayed at the Hilton Molino on Giudecca, the River Countess was moored rights across the canal where the collision took place.  You could clearly see extensive damage.

it was moved on 6/17 before we left on our ocean cruise.

[Lois R]

33 minutes ago, skiptomylou said:

We were just informed that Uniworld has cancelled more cruise dates besides these first six:

 

We have just been informed by Uniworld that the River Countess will not be returning to service until September. Apparently, the authorities would not allow the ship to be moved for over two weeks during the investigation.  Also, when the ship arrived in the shipyard, they found that some of the damages were more extensive than originally thought.

WOW even more...…...I am sailing October 13th (I HOPE)!!!!   I wonder if Uniworld is going to update their website.....Oh....I do see something on the website under "Already Booked"...…...looks like July and August are all cancelled. So sorry for everyone who was supposed to sail on one of them and hope you can find

another cruise or that they will refund all your money!

[not-so-ancient mariner]

I'm sure they will accommodate everyone fairly.  After all, Uniworld has collision insurance to cover costs and  the MSC Cruise Line will ultimately have to pay for any expenses not covered by insurance.

 

[Lois R]

7 hours ago, not-so-ancient mariner said:

I'm sure they will accommodate everyone fairly.  After all, Uniworld has collision insurance to cover costs and  the MSC Cruise Line will ultimately have to pay for any expenses not covered by insurance.

 

Good morning, I agree that MSC will be paying (eventually)……..and I would guess Uniworld will do the right thing but I feel really badly for the folks who were supposed to sail and cannot go now.   I have a gf who was supposed to sail...….I am waiting to hear back from her on all of it. She was originally supposed to sail in July, then re-booked for August and now? She can't go in Sept due to work.  I know all she wanted at this point was  a full refund she could find something else.