IMMEDIATE opinions needed on cancellation

[Nelsipete]

In Jan. we booked at GCT cruise to leave in 9 days, paid in full, were given a cabin number. I just received a call saying the cruise is overbooked and since we were the LAST to book, we are being bumped. They offer us instead the same cruise a month later (when it will be much colder) at a reduced price.

 

Can you believe we were the LAST to book, even though we were given a cabin number?

 

We have ONE HOUR to make a decision on this. All comments welcome.

[shedar]

Hi there.. i just read your thread... and if I were you I would take the bump in room... I am sure that you have had this trip planned for some time now... and I am sure that you have booked the time off etc..... I know its not what you booked... but it is still your cruise... I am sure that you would still have a great time,,., even if its not the room that you booked in the first place..... bite the bullet and go and have lots of fun.... I am leaving in 2 weeks for another cruise...and if they did that to me ... I would be upset... but I would still go...no doubt about it...I have waited too long for it....Good luck with your decision

[rivergirl]

If you booked in January and were the last to book, then they have known since January that the cruise was overbooked. Sounds fishy to me. We are booked for Danube Christmas Markets tour with GCT leaving Dec. 4. According to their website, there are still cabins available. I check the site frequently.

[cmthomas]

Sounds fishy to me too! After all, when the payment deadline passed they had to know how many were confirmed and that was 90 days out. Also, you should check to see if the reduced price that you have been offered for the later date is reduced from the price of THAT trip rather than the one you are being bumped from. They should be offering you AT LEAST 50% off of the published price for the later trip. This sounds like the typical complaint involving GCT. They have a great product once you get on board but their back office conduct is certainly suspect. We have traveled with them on two river cruises in Europe and could not have been happier with the service so it is a tough choice. Good luck!

Clarence:)

[BJS]

In Jan. we booked at GCT cruise to leave in 9 days, paid in full, were given a cabin number. I just received a call saying the cruise is overbooked and since we were the LAST to book, we are being bumped. They offer us instead the same cruise a month later (when it will be much colder) at a reduced price.

 

Can you believe we were the LAST to book, even though we were given a cabin number?

 

We have ONE HOUR to make a decision on this. All comments welcome.

Take your money back. You will never be happy knowing how you were treated. A later cruise might be wonderful but you will be looking for every little thing and not enjoying the cruise.

 

Rebook with another cruise line and enjoy the cruise to the fullest.

 

Did they send you your final documnets, airline tickets, and cruise tickets?

 

What other options did they give you?

 

 

.

[Nelsipete]

Having had a little more time to think about what must have happened in this situation, we've think we've figured it out.

 

In August the ship we were scheduled to take had an accident. The group at that time finished their tour in hotels rather than on board, and the ship went into dry dock for repairs.

 

It remained in dry dock for at least the length of one cruise.

 

It is our belief that GCT is trying to accommodate all the people booked for that missed cruise on the following cruise, bumping people down their schedule like dominoes.

 

We are being offered a substitute cruise almost a month later that does not even exist in their catalog. From the time frame it is easy to see that this cruise was added on to their regular schedule.

 

You are right that they should have known the day we booked last January if the cruise was overbooked or not, and obviously if it had been we would not have been accepted.

 

This is our first cruise, for our wedding anniversary, and we are mightily disappointed.

 

We feel GCT is being less than truthful with us about the reason they are cancelling us. My first impulse is to get a refund and rebook elsewhere, but if we can get a better deal from them than this cold November cruise they are suggesting, we may go with that. We have had friends who have been very happy with the GCT tours they have been on. They are now giving us until Monday to decide.

 

Thanks to all who've replied. I'll keep you posted.

[Coral]

I hear GCT has some great cruises .....but.... I have heard some horror stories about their customer service and problems in the booking process. I remember reading that some people reserved a cruise and then at final payment time, GCT increased their fare astronimically. They were treated unfairly and were given the choice "pay more or cancel". Most I read about cancelled because they were furious that GCT did not stand by their reservation amount. This wasn't a case of an extra amount in taxes, it was hundreds.

 

Not sure what to advise - again, I have heard their cruises are great but their Customer Service lacks.

[Michael J]

Nelispete:

 

What cruise were you scheduled to take? Let us know what you decide and how you make out.

 

Mike

[Nelsipete]

What cruise were you scheduled to take?

 

We were scheduled to take GCT's Rhone River cruise on Oct. 2, from Paris to Nice, on the Provence. Our name is on the passenger list, and we were given our cabin number when we paid in full last January.

 

We understand that GCT does overbook some cruises and will ask for "volunteers" to reschedule if they don't receive enough cancellations.

 

Our best advice: ALWAYS ask how many cabins are unreserved when you book, and NEVER accept one of the last few cabins. This would have been our first cruise -- we're learning the hard way.

[Benita]

I would refuse to let them bump you. They are supposed to look for volunteers. I have been called by cruise companies in the past looking to bump us and have always refused to allow it. From what I understand, they keep sweetening the offer until someone agrees.

[whogo]

I am guessing that the cruise contract (that you probably didn't see until after final payment) is written to GCT's advantage and you have little recourse.

[BJS]

Did they send you your final documnets, airline tickets, and cruise tickets?

 

What other options did they give you?

 

It is not just GCT's river cruises that they overbook. Friends are booked on a GCT land tour to Turkey in October and they got a call early in the month telling them their tour was overbooked and that they could take a later one.

 

They even state in their Terms and Conditions that they do over book

13. In certain circumstances, Grand Circle overbooks its trips to offset anticipated cancellations. If, up to seven days prior to departure, more passengers are booked than can be accommodated, Grand Circle will solicit volunteers to change their reservations. Customers affected by overbooking will receive compensation and will be offered an alternative departure date.

http://www.gct.com/gcc/general/default.aspx?oid=54148

 

When we read this we decided GCT was not for us. No way did we want to learn 7 days before a trip that we weren't going.

 

 

 

.

[Nelsipete]

:mad:

Did they send you your final documnets, airline tickets, and cruise tickets?

 

What other options did they give you?

 

We received airline vouchers to be redeemed at the airline counter, and we still had airline reservations after we received the call saying we were being bumped.

 

We received the passenger list and itinerary, contact information, and an advisory that there was a slight change in itinerary. We have not received cruise tickets.

 

They offered to give us the same cruise almost a month later (when it is much colder, and which would not allow us to spend our wedding anniversary in Paris) with a $1,000 rebate (which we assume might be in the form of a travel credit).

 

A second offer was a 2-for-1 deal usable any time within two years. They would refund all but one ticket price (in other words, the other ticket price plus all taxes, fees, and insurance), and we could schedule the same or a different cruise at a later time.

 

However, prices for the same cruise next year have increased by over $1,000 per person over the prices we paid. Doing the math, we'd only benefit by about $1,000 on this deal...the same as the original deal they offered.

 

And they would retain a sizeable amount of our money interest free. They've already had the use of our money for almost nine months interest free.

 

We have contacted some other passengers, some of whom were offered an opportunity to reschedule their cruise at a lower price, and SOME OF WHOM WERE NOT.

 

Should we be forced to "volunteer" to be bumped before EVERY other passenger has been given an opportunity to volunteer to reschedule?

[BJS]

:mad: We have contacted some other passengers, some of whom were offered an opportunity to reschedule their cruise at a lower price, and SOME OF WHOM WERE NOT.

 

Should we be forced to "volunteer" to be bumped before EVERY other passenger has been given an opportunity to volunteer to reschedule?

No, I would think that they would contact everyone before forcing you to cancel/reschedule.

 

What did they say they would do if you did not accept one of their offers?

 

Hopefully they will get enough volunteers that you will be able to take your anniversary cruise.

 

Keep us posted.

[katybird]

I am confused. Do you have a choice?

Sounds like you will be bumped if there are no volunteers. Is this correct?

Sure would make me think twice about GCT. We have taken one trip with them to Egypt and we sure would have been upset if we were told we couldn't go.

[Coral]

All cruise lines overbook....

 

I guess the question is were you asked to be bumped and given an incentive to rebook or were you told you had no choice and had to reschedule? A decent company would ask for volunteers first with good incentives to switch.

 

I really don't think it matters if you booked the last cabin on the ship or not - if you had a confirmed cabin, there was space for you when you booked. I will be curious how this all plays out.

[Carhut]

GCT called me last year shortly before our cruise and said they had overbooked and asked if we would be willing to take the trip on a later date and they would throw in a pre or post cruise package. I said no that I didn't want to change dates and that was that. I'm sure they found somebody else to do it.

[Nelsipete]

GCT called me last year shortly before our cruise and said they had overbooked and asked if we would be willing to take the trip on a later date and they would throw in a pre or post cruise package. I said no that I didn't want to change dates and that was that. I'm sure they found somebody else to do it.

 

In our case apparently they called some, BUT NOT ALL, the passengers and told them exactly what they told you, only what they were going to throw in was $800 rather than a pre or post package, according to one passenger. When none of the ones they called were willing to change, they called us and said, since they were overbooked and we were the last ones booked, they were bumping us. Period. They offered us a cruise several weeks later and $1,000 which may be in the form of a voucher for future travel...who knows?

 

When we booked, their representative gave us a cabin number, #8. If we were in fact the last to book, meaning he was overbooking at that very moment, then he KNEW that someone else was already booked into cabin #8.

 

I wonder how he sleeps at night.

[Michael J]

Nelsipete: I thought you said the problem was that they were trying to fit in passengers that were pushed back because of problems with the ship.

 

What did you decide to do?

[Nelsipete]

Nelsipete: I thought you said the problem was that they were trying to fit in passengers that were pushed back because of problems with the ship.

 

What did you decide to do?

 

I said it was our belief that they were trying to do that. I still believe this may be a factor.

 

There has been no resolution as of yet.

[nbevins]

We did 1 gct river cruise..They really messed up our air tickets--some erroirs we corrected before we left.1 error we did not discover(we needed a connecting flight) til on ship.We worked for 16days with agents on board(who originally said they had no responsibilty and would do nothing)We finally were informed ticket would be airport--they reserved ticket but did not pay for them(we already had paid for them) We ended up paying for them again and after working with GCT boston repeatedly were reimbursed..I asked for $ off on future cruise-we spent much time on the trip and after trying to straighten this out..We were informed no compensation-it was a successful trip.

 

Other wise it was a great trip

 

The BBB does not have them as satisfactory-they have many problems

[Nelsipete]

GCT has cancelled our booking for the cruise. They are supposed to reimburse us in full.

 

I will update you on when and whether we get reimbursed.

 

Thanks to all of you who have commented. This has been a trying few days for us.

[Michael J]

Nelispete: Did you have Trip Insurance? Are they giving you that money back as well?

[Nelsipete]

Nelispete: Did you have Trip Insurance? Are they giving you that money back as well?

 

Yes, we had trip insurance, through GCT. Next time we'll insure through Insure My Trip.

 

We don't know what they are giving us back. I'll update you when it happens.

[whogo]

It is not too early to start bugging them for reimbursement. It sounds like they have been in no hurry in the past. You will want to keep a paper trail of evidence.