Costa world cruise debarkation disaster

[AFK@sea]

I am a solo cruiser and a smoker. Costa only charges a single supplement so I don't have to pay double. Also, I can smoke on my balcony. The world cruise started out ok then came COVID-19. We ended up in Genoa instead of Venice and missed all of Asia. Fast forward to debarkation. I was given 24-hour notice to leave the ship early on April 23rd. They chartered me out to Paris where I was left stranded! There was no Costa rep to meet me. I was deserted and wheelchair assisted. They told me I was getting a hotel for 1-night and then fly back to Toronto the next day. I argued with them that France was shut down. The English Rep was Eve Mc Alpine and she was nasty, snobby, and useless! I had business class flights booked from Frankfurt to Toronto; plus a hotel room. She refused to let me go on the Frankfurt charter. So I slept on the terminal floor for the night. My son back in Toronto arranged flights for me. I was assaulted at the airport during the night. It was a terrible experience, a total nightmare. THEY ( COSTA) know all about this and have done nothing. PLUS I was forced to leave my luggage on the ship ( to be sent to me at home) It has been over 3 months and I still do not have my luggage. We were offered a credit of 35% but I have yet to see that either. They are so disorganized and that Eve Mc Alpine should be fired!!!! This was my 4th cruise with them and by far the worst experience of my life. They should be giving us a free cruise to Asia that we missed. The 35% won't cover the cost to see the Far East. I have been traumatized.

[tenpin]

there is a world wide pandemic, you was offered a hotel room & flight, all leads to total chaos which although not good was an answer.

Your booked business Flight perhaps was not available from Paris or they could not get you to Frankfurt. While this is totally unacceptable in normal times, these are anything but.

 

Yes you should be repaid for loss of lots of your cruise & every other expense you lost, even a new world cruise, but Covid19 threw the rule books out of the door.

 

Hope you get satisfaction, but fear this may take a long time Italy was in total lock-down with thousands of cases like yours to deal with.

Good luck for a good outcome.

  

[henry hound]

Having cruised several times on Costa , and have met the English speaking host I can only offer praise . The host Eve was approachable , helpful, knowledgeable and I observed her going out of her way for guests. 

 

Unfortunately due to the pandemic that was very prolific in Italy and other parts of Europe at the time many thousands had their travel plans thrown into chaos. Many flights cancelled and routings closed. 

 

I cant begin to imagine the workload the staff on board ships, airlines , travel agents, hotels , airports and call centres had to deal with . 

 

 

 

[drsel]

The English host on Costa twice hosted a party for us

[ighten]

We were onboard for the final Smeralda cruise that was cut short (by a day) disembarked in Marseilles and not Barcelona and the only port we could visit was day 2 in Palma...

 

Despite having private arranged flights back from Barcelona that had nothing to do with Costa - they smoothly and without any effort on our part arranged new flights home from Marseille (at their expense)-  instantly compensated us for all the missed ports (it was back on the credit card before we arrived home) and gave a nice discount and stack of club points.. I have to say I was very very impressed with how they organised everything..

 

Seems like you really had a run of bad luck -  Was your Frankfurt flight an open ticket or did you still disembark on the same day as planned

Edited July 30, 2020 by ighten

[Dancer Bob]

My cruise from Dubai to Savona (transfer to Nice) was cancelled, with a lot less than 24 hours notice. I ended up flying home, via Nice through Paris, after my flight through Amsterdam was cancelled when Netherlands closed its borders.

You need to look at specific flights, on specific dates, with specific non-EU citizen rules to figure out what practical solutions were. The OP doesn't say what travel insurance is reimbursing, or whether they chose to self-insure.

It took me maybe three minutes to book flights after I decided on the stopover Nice to salvage a bit of my vacation, even though it cost me a few extra dollars. I can't comprehend why it was necessary for someone in Canada to do the booking.

I'm guessing there's more to this story than has been admitted.