Vantage Egypt Cruise - Problems

[azcaptainbob]

Is there anyone taking a Vantage Trip with a Lake Nasser Cruise and Nile

River Cruise on the following dates: October 15 & 22, or Nov. 5 & 12? I am booked for the Nov.5th trip and the problem is with the ships that are advertised. Since the ships are disembarking the Vantage tours that leave 3 days prior in ports hundreds of kilometers away I raised the question "how can these ships be in two different ports on the same day"? I went through corresponding with: over 5 customer service employees by phone - lies, 6 emails -no responses, and 3 supervisors and/or administrator over a period of 6 weeks. The only thing we all agree on now is that these ships CANNOT be in the ports that is posted in "My Trips" on the dates for the 4 aforementioned trips. I have been told that these trips will be altered but my air itinerary does not substantiate that! In a word, I still do not have anything in writing that is an accurate itinerary!

 

Checking with the Better Business Bureau of Boston, home city for Vantage, there were 43 complaints filed over the past 3 years and according to the Boston Attorney Generals office there have been 19 complaints filed since

2006. Needless to say both of these numbers have gone up by 1 now.

[coasters]

Is there anyone taking a Vantage Trip with a Lake Nasser Cruise and Nile

River Cruise on the following dates: October 15 & 22, or Nov. 5 & 12? I am booked for the Nov.5th trip and the problem is with the ships that are advertised. Since the ships are disembarking the Vantage tours that leave 3 days prior in ports hundreds of kilometers away I raised the question "how can these ships be in two different ports on the same day"? I went through corresponding with: over 5 customer service employees by phone - lies, 6 emails -no responses, and 3 supervisors and/or administrator over a period of 6 weeks. The only thing we all agree on now is that these ships CANNOT be in the ports that is posted in "My Trips" on the dates for the 4 aforementioned trips. I have been told that these trips will be altered but my air itinerary does not substantiate that! In a word, I still do not have anything in writing that is an accurate itinerary!

 

Checking with the Better Business Bureau of Boston, home city for Vantage, there were 43 complaints filed over the past 3 years and according to the Boston Attorney Generals office there have been 19 complaints filed since

2006. Needless to say both of these numbers have gone up by 1 now.

 

 

Below is my review posted on epinions...

 

glevitz's Full Review:

Vantage Deluxe World Travel

 

Booked with Vantage as recommended by a friend, we found the price, itinerary, included meals, air fare, excursions and accommodations to be very attractive.

Having just completed the trip, we can report that an experience of a lifetime, Egypt was everything we had hoped for and the package exceeded our expectations.

Our program manager (Maged) was excellent, his English perfect, his knowledge outstanding - the sites selected and tours booked for us were outstanding.

Transportation, attention to details and pace of the trip made visiting so many interesting sites a pleasure for the 44 of us.

Only surprise was that the 2 riverboats we cruised in did not meet the advertised ratings. In both of the 2 cases, the ships used were changed at the last minute and neither was what was as expected or described.

On the ms Tania, the ship was old, the cabin VERY small, and lacked much in the way of shelves or drawers. We had to keep most of our clothing in our suitcases, stored under the bed. (Lifting the bed whenever we needed to get to our stuff. On the other hand, the food, public areas and staff on the Tania were excellent.

On the ms Crown Jewel, we found the cabins much larger, however the staff was not nearly as accommodating as staff on the Tania, nor was the food as good. The accommodations on both vessels would rate no more than 2 stars in our opinion.

The Conrad hotel was the best, the Movenpick, Elephantine Island good but lacking in amenities, the LePassage at the airport, average, probably a 3 star.

We would travel again with Vantage, however, INSIST that any substitutions be advised early with an option to cancel (with refund in full) should such changes mean we would receive anything less than what was advertised.

 

 

 

===========

Hope this helps you to make a decision.

Jerry

[azcaptainbob]

Thanks for your review as it was reading your plight plus another with the same scenario that prompted me to find the web site for the ships http://www.Travcotel which delineates their ship's daily itinerary and the ports of call on a weekly basis. And since both ships are in different ports then would the substitutions be 5 star Deluxe was posed to Vantage through phone conversations to customer service employees, through emails, and through supervisors, heads of depts. and administrative asst. Actually I submitted your review to the Attorneys Generals Office to establish a pattern.

 

Unlike you I am addressing 4 tours "before the fact" and not reacting to "after the fact". With these tours there is NO EMERGENCY SUBSTITUTION and Vantage has Full Knowledge that they have advertised an itinerary on 2 ships for 6 nights which they CANNOT PROVIDE.

 

Why were your ships "substituted"? Do you know why? Did they offer you compensation or did you have to ask for it? My understanding that you were not apprissed until you got to Egypt. Is this correct?

[orchestrapal]

Look at previous Vantage postings and you will see our horror story. They are selling all of their best ships and canceling dates. We had a hard time getting our deposit returned after such cancellations. On would think they are in real trouble...:mad:

[coasters]

Thanks for your review as it was reading your plight plus another with the same scenario that prompted me to find the web site for the ships www.Travcotel which delineates their ship's daily itinerary and the ports of call on a weekly basis. And since both ships are in different ports then would the substitutions be 5 star Deluxe was posed to Vantage through phone conversations to customer service employees, through emails, and through supervisors, heads of depts. and administrative asst. Actually I submitted your review to the Attorneys Generals Office to establish a pattern.

 

Unlike you I am addressing 4 tours "before the fact" and not reacting to "after the fact". With these tours there is NO EMERGENCY SUBSTITUTION and Vantage has Full Knowledge that they have advertised an itinerary on 2 ships for 6 nights which they CANNOT PROVIDE.

 

Why were your ships "substituted"? Do you know why? Did they offer you compensation or did you have to ask for it? My understanding that you were not apprissed until you got to Egypt. Is this correct?

 

azcaptainbob,

 

The day (about 10 days before the trip), our travel documents arrived, included in the package was a check for 300.00.

The "reason for reimbursement" was blank. At first, we thought that it had to do with the insurance premium which had been a problem earlier, however reading thru the pages of the spiral bound booklet, buried on page 10, was a paragraph explaining that the new ship was not ready and the line "in consideration" ... "has arranged for a 4-star superior class MS Tania".

 

About the second vessel "substitution"... we learned the night before we were to board, told by the program manager that it was a "sister ship".

 

I have all of the documents should you need, as well as a detailed journal that I kept. I journal all of our cruises.

Hope this helps you.

 

Suggest you might want to read the 14 Vantage reviews on eopinions web site for more details.

 

Jerry

[npphotog]

We have been on three Vantage tours - this past May to Greece on the Parthanon yacht. Noticed this trip is not listed for 2009. Read the comments on Vantage in the messages in this post. Saw comments this summer re: Vantage selling off some of their river boats. Economy surely has a part in this. One way Vantage could reduce their costs would be to eliminate some of their mailings. These high color "brochures" are very expensive to print and mail. Wife and I had been thinking about doing the Egypt trip but at this point maybe we should check out other tour companys. I really hate that thougth as we have been very pleased with Vantage and have promoted them on this forum. Times change - Willard

[queenofdnile]

Thanks, I've been researching this trip for a long time.

[azcaptainbob]

Thanks for the info on the ships..have a response from the Boston A. G.'s office and they will be contacting us. Meanwhile, they will be contacting Vantage regarding arbitration. Since Vantage did offer to reimburse us and cancel the Egypt trip, I felt the ethical issue was more important. When the consumer purchases a trip and by "the luck of the draw" chose the wrong date then it is incumbent on the company, Vantage, to inform all the customers affected. Our traveling companions on this upcoming trip have taken 3 trips with Vantage and never had any problems so maybe this is a sign of the future!?

thanks

[azcaptainbob]

Vantage customers on my scheduled tour to Egypt owe you a very big THANK YOU to glevitz because if you had not posted your review I would have never figured out that the ships that we were scheduled on could not accommodate 4 separate tours as the ships were in different ports. I have no doubt that Vantage had contracted to put us on "downgraded" substitutes but now they have given us the "reversal of the 2009 tour". Letters were sent out and the MY Accounts has been updated, at least for my trip. I have yet to confirm if every trip affected was notified.

 

The issues raised with the BBB and Attorney General are still ongoing. If it were not for these message boards the consumer would be totally in the dark. Likewise, all of us utilizing these boards owe Cruise Critic and other similar boards a big "Thanks" as they provide a "venue" to not only share info. in planning but also are instrumental in effecting positive change for travelers who do not have access to this realm. The issue with Vantage is the consumers right to choose and purchase that which is advertised.

[coasters]

Vantage customers on my scheduled tour to Egypt owe you a very big THANK YOU to glevitz because if you had not posted your review I would have never figured out that the ships that we were scheduled on could not accommodate 4 separate tours as the ships were in different ports. I have no doubt that Vantage had contracted to put us on "downgraded" substitutes but now they have given us the "reversal of the 2009 tour". Letters were sent out and the MY Accounts has been updated, at least for my trip. I have yet to confirm if every trip affected was notified.

 

The issues raised with the BBB and Attorney General are still ongoing. If it were not for these message boards the consumer would be totally in the dark. Likewise, all of us utilizing these boards owe Cruise Critic and other similar boards a big "Thanks" as they provide a "venue" to not only share info. in planning but also are instrumental in effecting positive change for travelers who do not have access to this realm. The issue with Vantage is the consumers right to choose and purchase that which is advertised.

azcaptainbob,

Happy to help... Should you need, feel free to email me at: jerry(at)glevitz (dot)com

(substitute the at with @ and dot with.).

Jerry