Toulon stop cancelled in Irresistible Med cruise

[Travel_Lover28]

5 minutes ago, capecodmommy said:

It is amazing how many people are complaining about a cancelled port. I understand if you are not a seasoned traveler to be disappointed but in all reality, if a port is cancelled all the way into the future

This is not way in the future and the reason was not for safety as we were told. I would easily be more understanding if it was. You are right that some of us are not seasoned travelers. Some of us have to save up many years to be able to experience a trip like this. We are not privileged to visit many countries like others and would be fine with something like this because they have been to this port many times. This would be our first to Toulon, to France. This would have been a memorable trip for us. We save up for a trip like this. Who can guarantee me that I will be back another time?

[hotsauce126]

53 minutes ago, capecodmommy said:

It is amazing how many people are complaining about a cancelled port. I understand if you are not a seasoned traveler to be disappointed but in all reality, if a port is cancelled all the way into the future (I am booked for August and also got the notice of change) then something happened and I would rather be a little disgruntled, safely on the ship, with what I am sure will be a fun filled sea day than having an issue in the port. I am sure it wasn't a snap decision. 

 

I was in Africa last month on tour and our days in Johannesburg got so scary and sketchy that our tour director called to tell the tour company what had happened and it was immediately removed from any of the future tours effecting even the people who were coming right behind us. The travel industry does not tell you everything but a company that puts the travelers safety first is the type of company I will always choose.

 

what a condescending comment lol. I’m very well traveled but nobody books a european cruise to spend a bunch of time on the ship, you can do that for a lot cheaper in the Caribbean. Virgin’s email cited nothing about safety, it cited “recent sailor feedback”

[Travel_Lover28]

3 minutes ago, hotsauce126 said:

what a condescending comment lol. I’m very well traveled but nobody books a european cruise to spend a bunch of time on the ship, you can do that for a lot cheaper in the Caribbean. Virgin’s email cited nothing about safety, it cited “recent sailor feedback”

You said it! Thank you!✌️

[CruisingWalter]

8 hours ago, VVhater said:

This isn’t due to circumstances beyond the carrier’s control. It’s a money-saving change that Virgin delayed announcing until it was too late to cancel a booking. And the fact that they also canceled a nearby port on other itineraries strongly suggests bad faith. Yes, they may be legally protected, but it’s a disgraceful way to treat people. 

 

Not it's not a disgraceful way to treat people. It's in the cruise contract of every single cruise line that the itinerary can be changed at any time, up to and including after the cruise has started. We've had multiple itineraries changed over the years. Sometimes before the cruise, sometimes after the cruise.  We know that's a possibility when we book. It's part of cruising.  

 

If there are destinations that are very important to you on any cruise, don't book the cruise. Book a land vacation instead so you're sure to be able to spend time where you want to. 

 

 

[richele]

Maybe they will cancel all the ports and keep us all on the ship for the entire cruise.

[Svea817]

I came on here for this topic as this affects our June 13th cruise.

 

Definitely disappointed. End of the world? Nope.  Bad faith and will affect my future cruise line decisions? Absolutely.  It's almost scary/cultish if you see zero issue with this.

 

If this was due to an unpredictable spike in crime/violence/political chaos....or (assuming cruise was next week, due to weather) then I'm all good.  I have no pity for people who complain because they cruised the Caribbean during hurricane season.  But this is not the same. 

 

Past customer feedback is not a crisis. It can, and should, affect decision making.  But there is no reason to have it affect cruises booked where a refund window has passed.  

 

And...if this falls in some gray area where they really need to not visit Toulon...then exceptions for refunds should be made, in good faith.  If they did that, I'd be fine with their call, and I'd likely not even opt for the refund myself.  

 

Just not a fan of companies that can afford to not be shady being shady.

[misscruiser36]

I get missing ports is a part of cruising. I was on a European cruise last year and we missed 2 ports due to weather. The cruise line was very apologetic and not only refunded the port fees and taxes, but also provided passengers with refundable credit. 

Advertising a cruise and then pulling a port for no good reason (I have never thought to myself 'gee I need more sea days') is poor customer service. Refunding $11 seems like they are thumbing their nose. If they want to change next year's itinerary, fine, but don't change it when many people have already booked.

I won't let it ruin my cruise but that doesn't mean I can't complain about it.

[Blair Waldorf]

22 minutes ago, Svea817 said:

I came on here for this topic as this affects our June 13th cruise.

 

Definitely disappointed. End of the world? Nope.  Bad faith and will affect my future cruise line decisions? Absolutely.  It's almost scary/cultish if you see zero issue with this.

 

If this was due to an unpredictable spike in crime/violence/political chaos....or (assuming cruise was next week, due to weather) then I'm all good.  I have no pity for people who complain because they cruised the Caribbean during hurricane season.  But this is not the same. 

 

Past customer feedback is not a crisis. It can, and should, affect decision making.  But there is no reason to have it affect cruises booked where a refund window has passed.  

 

And...if this falls in some gray area where they really need to not visit Toulon...then exceptions for refunds should be made, in good faith.  If they did that, I'd be fine with their call, and I'd likely not even opt for the refund myself.  

 

Just not a fan of companies that can afford to not be shady being shady.

Well said! I completely agree with you.

[misscruiser36]

They just reinstated Toulon on my cruise on 8/25. 

 

 

[VVhater]

Virgin just caved and reinstated the Toulon call

[Gretchendz]

They just announced they are reversing the decision 🙂

[CruisingWalter]

2 minutes ago, BrianB1964 said:

And the audacity of people making it ok to for the cruise line doing this is insane.  This will be the last cruise we take.  The boat was simply a mode of transportation for us!  Horrible on VV!!

 

There is no audacity on anyone's part. Itinerary changes are normal in cruising. It's in the contract. Those of us who have been cruising for 20 years know exactly how all of this works. Anyone who books through a travel agent knows that your itinerary is NEVER guaranteed on a cruise ship. If Toulon is the most important thing in the world to you, fly there. Don't take a cruise.

 

That holds true of any cruise destination on any cruise line from the cheapest to the most expensive luxury cruise. If your vacation is going to be RUINED because the ship won't stop at XYZ port, don't take a cruise. Fly there. 

 

It's not audacious to understand itinerary changes. It's understanding the cruise contract and understanding that itineraries can and will be changed. 

[Svea817]

Glad to see that Virgin re-evaluated.  It also goes to show that there wasn't a legitimate reason to skip this port to cruisers who had already paid and were beyond the point of a refund.

 

To be fair...they never said there was a legitimate reason to act in bad faith. I look forward to my first VV cruise and potentially future cruises (their quick resolve outweighs the hasty boneheaded decision in my book..(I'm sure there's an intern to blame lol))

 

So in the end, there were some characters in this thread who showed their over-the-top loyalty in this litmus test sort of situation and I am glad to know who's advice to take with less than a grain of salt moving forward. Imagine the audacity of suggesting that if a cruise line turned their entire itinerary to sea days, we should be happy with it...because...we signed up for that possibility.  

 

Cheers to everyone who is now getting what the product that was advertised, in good faith

[hotsauce126]

1 hour ago, CruisingWalter said:

 

There is no audacity on anyone's part. Itinerary changes are normal in cruising. It's in the contract. Those of us who have been cruising for 20 years know exactly how all of this works. Anyone who books through a travel agent knows that your itinerary is NEVER guaranteed on a cruise ship. If Toulon is the most important thing in the world to you, fly there. Don't take a cruise.

 

That holds true of any cruise destination on any cruise line from the cheapest to the most expensive luxury cruise. If your vacation is going to be RUINED because the ship won't stop at XYZ port, don't take a cruise. Fly there. 

 

It's not audacious to understand itinerary changes. It's understanding the cruise contract and understanding that itineraries can and will be changed. 

 
How you don’t get the difference between allowed to and should is beyond me. Luckily virgin gets it even if you don’t 

[mnocket]

1 hour ago, hotsauce126 said:

 
How you don’t get the difference between allowed to and should is beyond me. Luckily virgin gets it even if you don’t 

Exactly.  It always surprises me how some people can't distinguish between what a company is legally allowed to do, and what is the right thing to do.  Some things, actually lots of things, can be legal but result in companies treating their customers poorly.  Still the fanboys won't hesitate to run to the company's defense. 

Edited March 29 by mnocket

[Morechampagne]

Just woken up to apologetic email from their COO saying they listened yesterday to all the feedback and have reinstated Toulon on our sailing in May so we are very pleased about that. 

[richele]

This is great! Now I have faith in Virgin and know they do value our opinions.

[DCGuy64]

11 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

 

READ. THE. CONTRACT.  You agreed to a cruise contract that say the cruise can be changed at any time. YOU. AGREED. TO. THIS. 

 

So you ordered a cruise that can be changed at any time and now you're complaining they changed the cruise which they said they might do when you booked the cruise. "I deserve a refund because the cruise line did exactly what they told me what they might do!"  It's incredible how many people never read the contract, have no idea what they're agreeing to, and then scream bloody murder when their cruise is changed. 

 

I guess now that Toulon has been reinstated you can go back to being that amazingly wonderful person that the crew absolutely can't wait to welcome onboard the ship. 

👏👏👏 Bravo! Well stated. It never ceases to amaze me how people can sign a contract and then are shocked and appalled that they, wait for it, signed a contract! You can't make this stuff up! I'd like to know when these complainers are cruising so I can avoid them. Something tells me they're not really Virgin's target market, anyway.

[rebeccac]

This is not something that is particular to VV.  It can and does happen on ALL cruise lines (and yes, it does happen on other lines even for reasons other than weather or safety).  The fact that someone points out the contract does not make them a blind loyalist of any particular line, it just means that they have actually read the contract.  

[BrianB1964]

11 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

 

There is no audacity on anyone's part. Itinerary changes are normal in cruising. It's in the contract. Those of us who have been cruising for 20 years know exactly how all of this works. Anyone who books through a travel agent knows that your itinerary is NEVER guaranteed on a cruise ship. If Toulon is the most important thing in the world to you, fly there. Don't take a cruise.

 

That holds true of any cruise destination on any cruise line from the cheapest to the most expensive luxury cruise. If your vacation is going to be RUINED because the ship won't stop at XYZ port, don't take a cruise. Fly there. 

 

It's not audacious to understand itinerary changes. It's understanding the cruise contract and understanding that itineraries can and will be changed. 

When a cruise ship markets a itinerary and then drops it 90 days prior, that is a bad decision on their part.  Hence, why did they re-instate it?   This was a business decision that went bad!  Apparently they read the concerns of their customerson here and most likely got their lines flooded with calls about cancellations.  I would get it if the destination was cancelled due to weather or unrest in that country.  But this was a bad call.  If they want to take Sailors advice, make that change on a new cruise. Not one that you have already started selling!! 

[BrianB1964]

11 hours ago, Svea817 said:

Glad to see that Virgin re-evaluated.  It also goes to show that there wasn't a legitimate reason to skip this port to cruisers who had already paid and were beyond the point of a refund.

 

To be fair...they never said there was a legitimate reason to act in bad faith. I look forward to my first VV cruise and potentially future cruises (their quick resolve outweighs the hasty boneheaded decision in my book..(I'm sure there's an intern to blame lol))

 

So in the end, there were some characters in this thread who showed their over-the-top loyalty in this litmus test sort of situation and I am glad to know who's advice to take with less than a grain of salt moving forward. Imagine the audacity of suggesting that if a cruise line turned their entire itinerary to sea days, we should be happy with it...because...we signed up for that possibility.  

 

Cheers to everyone who is now getting what the product that was advertised, in good faith

Totally agree!!  If I had to hear about that stupid contract one more time.....  This was a very bad decision on Virgins part, and glad they realized their mistake.  This is one of the reasons I am not a cruiser!  But looking forward to my June 30th cruise! 

[DCGuy64]

4 minutes ago, BrianB1964 said:

Totally agree!!  If I had to hear about that stupid contract one more time.....  This was a very bad decision on Virgins part, and glad they realized their mistake.  This is one of the reasons I am not a cruiser!  But looking forward to my June 30th cruise! 

Earlier you mentioned this would be your last one. Hopefully after this one you might change your mind?

[Svea817]

The contract language protects the cruise line if/when they have to change an itinerary.  Again, in good faith.  
 

Anyway, Virgin fixed it.  I read that there have been other lines taking ports in France off the list.  Not sure if they did it to booked cruisers, but if they did, hopefully VVs decision yesterday helps those cruisers enjoy a speedy remedy as well.

[BrianB1964]

5 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Earlier you mentioned this would be your last one. Hopefully after this one you might change your mind?

We shall see once we take the cruise.  Glad the decision was changed.  This was a bit of a rollercoaster ride for us.  Thanks

 

[DCGuy64]

4 minutes ago, BrianB1964 said:

We shall see once we take the cruise.  Glad the decision was changed.  This was a bit of a rollercoaster ride for us.  Thanks

 

Yeah, I get that. We were really looking forward to our stops in Athens and Livorno last November when we sailed with Norwegian, but they were cancelled. Big bummer, but it didn't stop us enjoying our trip. Hope your trip goes swimmingly and there are no cancellations. But if there are, just try to roll with it and maintain a positive attitude. At least you know now that VV can make changes, so it's good lesson learned, right? Worst case, you're stuck on an amazing ship with great food, drinks, entertainment, etc. 😊