No cabin refurbishment on MS Maud?

[Baysidelad]

I am from Australia and booked 2 cruises on MS Maud May and Dec 2022 in a suite. We also received the email offering a 500 Euro compensation. I have received further emails from H I which they state that none of the refurbishment is going ahead. We booked both cruises based on the refurbishment and the advice by H of the new look vessel. 
 

We have also now been told that we will lose some of our money if we either cancel or change the voyage. 
 

I have now been in contact with the Australian Competition Consumer Commission and they have advertised that H appear to have breached Aust consumer laws in that the product and services they offered for sale were not able to be offered at the time of the advertisement. This is a major misadventure by a supposedly reputable company that had disregard for its clientele when they advertised the refurbishment, got people to book, then retracted their statement and are trying to offer only 500 Euro to spend onboard but are not offering any compensation or a total and full refund. 
 

This action and stance by H will impact them immensely when this gets out to the wider public. I will be following up through legal channels to ensure that H are brought to account legally for their poor customer service and lack of consideration of how their action has affected so many customers. 

[comcox]

20 hours ago, Baysidelad said:

I am from Australia and booked 2 cruises on MS Maud May and Dec 2022 in a suite. We also received the email offering a 500 Euro compensation. I have received further emails from H I which they state that none of the refurbishment is going ahead. We booked both cruises based on the refurbishment and the advice by H of the new look vessel. 
 

We have also now been told that we will lose some of our money if we either cancel or change the voyage. 
 

I have now been in contact with the Australian Competition Consumer Commission and they have advertised that H appear to have breached Aust consumer laws in that the product and services they offered for sale were not able to be offered at the time of the advertisement. This is a major misadventure by a supposedly reputable company that had disregard for its clientele when they advertised the refurbishment, got people to book, then retracted their statement and are trying to offer only 500 Euro to spend onboard but are not offering any compensation or a total and full refund. 
 

This action and stance by H will impact them immensely when this gets out to the wider public. I will be following up through legal channels to ensure that H are brought to account legally for their poor customer service and lack of consideration of how their action has affected so many customers. 

Thank you for this information.  I have written to Hurtiguten offices in both U.K. and Norway to complain about this but have not heard back.  With your permission, may I send the information above to the U.K. office?

I'm also worried about the new British Isles cruise I signed up for August 2021.  When I talked to them by phone this week, I asked when shore tours would be posted and was told they had not organized any yet and were waiting to hear from U.K. government.  So they are selling this British Isles cruises, the earliest of which is now 4 July, and yet they have no idea if they will even be able to stop in any of the ports and offer tours?

Both Fred Olsen and P&O cruise lines have been in constant communication with the U.K. government and have adjusted all their summer cruises accordingly.  When some had to change, they offered free cancellations or changes.  Hurtigruten is not dealing fairly with us at all.

[richws]

5 hours ago, comcox said:

 

I'm also worried about the new British Isles cruise I signed up for August 2021.  When I talked to them by phone this week, I asked when shore tours would be posted and was told they had not organized any yet and were waiting to hear from U.K. government.  So they are selling this British Isles cruises, the earliest of which is now 4 July, and yet they have no idea if they will even be able to stop in any of the ports and offer tours?

Both Fred Olsen and P&O cruise lines have been in constant communication with the U.K. government and have adjusted all their summer cruises accordingly.  When some had to change, they offered free cancellations or changes.  Hurtigruten is not dealing fairly with us at all.

 

Hello again. I'm also unimpressed with Hurtigruten's Comms. with Customers. 

From a UK Resident - I'm not surprised at response re excursions & this will be an accurate answer for each of the 12+ cruise lines sailing in UK waters this summer. All of them are selling Voyages they cannot guarantee will happen due to potential changes in COVID Regs, this is true of so much worldwide at present.

Whilst the UK Government has given ok for "domestic cruises" to take place from May 17th the Scottish, Welsh & Northern Irish Devolved Governments/Administrations have not to my understanding (& I have been looking out for any announcements). Each Nation in UK has different COVID Restrictions (as someone resident in England I could not travel to Scotland until a few weeks ago) and the relaxation of rules is not all happening at the same time. In addition there was a full Election of the Scottish & Welsh Administrations 2 days ago and decisions/announcements may well have been delayed by this.

Having said that I expect both Scottish, Northern Irish & Welsh authorities will confirm these voyages can proceed - you will have seen that the planned Republic of Ireland call has been withdrawn & replaced as per issued email from Hurtigruten. Hurtigruten, along with all the other Cruise Lines, will then (& only then) be able to confirm itineraries and ports of call etc

I'm planning for yachting voyages on West of Scotland in June & July so monitoring the restrictions there regularly.

[richws]

On 5/6/2021 at 11:14 AM, JuCru said:

Glad that Cruise Critic is showing this information about Maud - apparently still Midnatsol and in Bergen.  Our cruise for June to Southern Scandinavia was cancelled so we were able to get a full refund and that arrived within 2 weeks.  Once we saw that no upgrading of the cabins had taken place we no longer wanted to sail on Maud.  The website has subtly changed the cabin photos and the Scandi decor has been replaced by Art Deco!.  We did the coastal voyage on Richard With and accepted the simple and economical cabins which were adequate and comfortable, though the shower would have been difficult for larger people.  Last  year we were lucky enough to get a short cruise on Fridtjof Nansen and appreciated the lovely large Polar Outside cabin and all the public areas and were very much in favour of the technical specification of the ship including hybrid engines.  There was however a big failing with the auditorium design.  Unfortunately Maud is promoted as an expedition ship, at expedition ship prices, with Coastal Voyage cabins and far too many passengers for a good expedition.  It also has many cabins with limited or no visibility.  This is very disappointing.  

I'm, also impacted by the (lack of) changes. From my perspective the planned "design" changes were a mixed blessing. The current design of the public areas is to my mind at least as attractive as the planned "Scandi" one.

 

Just a few clarifications as someone familiar with Midnatsol:

• all the cabins will be the same size as if refurbishment had taken place
• there are now current pictures of all cabin classes in the Cabins Section of the ship's description, previously there were only a handful of computer impressions  in the main page of ship's description
• the number of "limited" view" cabins would not have changed with the refurbishment - these have been described in cabin descriptions for each cabin class both before and after recent website changes

[Baysidelad]

On 5/8/2021 at 7:21 PM, comcox said:

Thank you for this information.  I have written to Hurtiguten offices in both U.K. and Norway to complain about this but have not heard back.  With your permission, may I send the information above to the U.K. office?

I'm also worried about the new British Isles cruise I signed up for August 2021.  When I talked to them by phone this week, I asked when shore tours would be posted and was told they had not organized any yet and were waiting to hear from U.K. government.  So they are selling this British Isles cruises, the earliest of which is now 4 July, and yet they have no idea if they will even be able to stop in any of the ports and offer tours?

Both Fred Olsen and P&O cruise lines have been in constant communication with the U.K. government and have adjusted all their summer cruises accordingly.  When some had to change, they offered free cancellations or changes.  Hurtigruten is not dealing fairly with us at all.

 

[HolPro]

We are booked on 10th Sept British Isles cruise on MS Maud.  We will be driving from Fermanagh to Dover!  We were not amused when our Oct 2018 MS Roald Amundsen Galapagos Cruise was cancelled at very short notice. The ship, with problems, seemed to be stuck in Vancouver.  Luckily we received a full refund via ROL. We also received a compensation credit for another Expedition cruise from Hurtigruten to ease our pain! We fought somewhat to keep this credit until we were able to spend a similar amount to the credit on an Expedition cruise. The Dover-British Isles-Dover Cruise strangely included Waterford in the Republic of Ireland, but this has now been replaced by Holyhead, where we go several times during a normal year. We are disappointed about the lack of cabin refurbishment and feel that communication with customers does not appear to be top of Hurtigruten’s list. Their Marketing Dept must have spent a fortune on brochures as we have quite a pile here!

 

We sincerely hope that there will not be any more unpleasant surprises now we have paid the final balance, which includes an upgraded cabin. We paid this, because we had to, on the deadline day, just after receiving an email with the €500 pp on board credit offer.

 

....I also hope we won’t be presented with bowls of red berries at every meal. Such was the round trip of Norway!

Edited May 9, 2021 by HolPro

[comcox]

On 5/8/2021 at 11:03 AM, richws said:

I'm, also impacted by the (lack of) changes. From my perspective the planned "design" changes were a mixed blessing. The current design of the public areas is to my mind at least as attractive as the planned "Scandi" one.

 

Just a few clarifications as someone familiar with Midnatsol:

• all the cabins will be the same size as if refurbishment had taken place
• there are now current pictures of all cabin classes in the Cabins Section of the ship's description, previously there were only a handful of computer impressions  in the main page of ship's description
• the number of "limited" view" cabins would not have changed with the refurbishment - these have been described in cabin descriptions for each cabin class both before and after recent website changes

It's not the cabin size that is a problem for me but the bed size.  I am a plus-size person and I've sailed on the coastal ferry before and had a terrible time sleeping comfortably.  I only booked this cruise because they advertised and showed double beds and kettles in the cabins--neither of which will now be true.

[richws]

27 minutes ago, comcox said:

It's not the cabin size that is a problem for me but the bed size.  I am a plus-size person and I've sailed on the coastal ferry before and had a terrible time sleeping comfortably.  I only booked this cruise because they advertised and showed double beds and kettles in the cabins--neither of which will now be true.

On Maud & Trollfjord 703-706 have double beds (U Class cabins). Hope that helps.

[comcox]

23 hours ago, richws said:

On Maud & Trollfjord 703-706 have double beds (U Class cabins). Hope that helps.

Beyond my budget as a solo traveller though.

[Baysidelad]

I posted earlier on this thread about my disappointment at how Hurtigruten managed the advice of only a limited refurbishment to MS Maud. We were booked on 2 cruises next year. 

 

After approaching the Australian Consumer Competition Commission about the blatant false advertising that Hurtigruten used to get people to book when they must have known full well that the refurbishment was not proceeding, they have offered us a full refund including the cancelation fee. 

 

At least this is finally a show of respect  for their customers and a recognition that they overstepped the boundaries of legal advertising. 

 

Maybe others can also achieve this same  outcome. 

[comcox]

8 hours ago, Baysidelad said:

I posted earlier on this thread about my disappointment at how Hurtigruten managed the advice of only a limited refurbishment to MS Maud. We were booked on 2 cruises next year. 

 

After approaching the Australian Consumer Competition Commission about the blatant false advertising that Hurtigruten used to get people to book when they must have known full well that the refurbishment was not proceeding, they have offered us a full refund including the cancelation fee. 

 

At least this is finally a show of respect  for their customers and a recognition that they overstepped the boundaries of legal advertising. 

 

Maybe others can also achieve this same  outcome. 

I'm still waiting to hear about my complaint abut charging a cancellation fee for a Maud cruise. 

[comcox]

On 5/18/2021 at 5:20 AM, comcox said:

I'm still waiting to hear about my complaint abut charging a cancellation fee for a Maud cruise. 

Finally heard back from Hurtigruten regarding my cancellation:

"We would like to apologize once more for the disappointment caused and for our delay in reverting to you. The safety, well-being and comfort of our guests is of paramount importance to Hurtigruten and we can understand your disappointment in the refurbishment status of MS Maud. In consideration of this, we will provide you with a full refund of your money paid to Hurtigruten for your MS Maud sailing.

 

Please note that we are in discussion with colleagues about an alternative offer. Within the next two weeks, we are looking to revise the current offer for those booked on a sailing with MS Maud. When we have further communication, we will be sure to reach out to you if you would be interested in knowing what the new offer may be.

 

Alternatively, if you would like to proceed with a refund, would you kindly provide us with the below bank details so that we may provide you a wire transfer? Due to system limitations, we are unable to process a refund back to credit cards."

 

Not too happy about the wire transfer bit as I will incur currency conversion charges, whereas if it had gone back on my credit card I would not have.  Not sure what the "alternative offer" may end up being.

[derek_in_eastcote]

After some consideration of the changes to the refurbishment on the Maud, we decided on a change of course. We've cancelled the Norwegian trip and booked an Antartica expedition in November 2022  on the Roald Amundsen  instead.

[Norveg2]

To be honest, I haven't heard of this, but I don't deny it.