Christi209

I lodged the dispute at the start of April and a temporary credit was given within a few days.  I got the letter stating it was final after about 4-5 weeks I think. 

After a complete lack of communication with Seadream about getting my deposit back after cancelling a Fall cruise in mid March I lodged a dispute with my credit card and received all of my deposit back .. people we were travelling with also had to do the same.  We were originally told 10-14 days in writing and then heard nothing until I contacted Seadream and they then said via email it would be 90 days and did not return any of my several calls. Since I had the contract which clearly stated a refund was due since we cancelled more than 120 days out, and I had a written email acknowledging that the refund would be posted within 10-14 days it was a pretty clear case.  But credit card companies overall say that 10-20 days for a refund is reasonable.  None of them think 90 days is ok. Too bad Seadream did not handle things better 

47 minutes ago, BeignetBoy said:

Good Points JES4845 and ExoticDestinations...

 

I am losing confidence in SD on a regular basis.  And I do feel for their loyal crew.  If they are not planning to resume cruising out of Rome in 11 days (as their web site states that they are still doing), why not just update their site?  This is a pretty simple task. 

 

I wonder what would happen if someone would contact them today and try to book the trip; would they accept the booking? 

 

Our final payment is coming up in a little over a month for our next cruise, and I am over 90% sure that we will cancel, and then get into the 90 day refund period for our deposit.  At this point, I hope they they can do it in 90 days, although I am worried.

Credit card companies do not feel 90 days is reasonable  . Sea dream told me 10-14 days when I cancelled my November cruise back in March .  After waiting 30 days with no communication from seadream I had my credit card company deal with it and received the refund of my deposit shortly thereafter .. their complete disregard for their clients and refusal to communicate made me unwilling to take a chance on them

The above ( complete lack of communication and refusal to speak with me plus nonsense reasons as to why they could not process my refund before 90 days despite putting in writing that it would be 10-14 days ) is why I let my credit card company deal with it. I now have my refund and will never deal with seadream again ( if they are around) in spite of the wonderful crew and experience we had on-board with them in November .  They were the only company that I had to deal with in this way 

8 hours ago, ExoticDestinations said:

Chatting with some of the skeleton and furloughed crew on FB, they confirm there are no plans to bring the rest of crew back in the next 2 months.  So they are as confused as the rest of us as to why the upcoming late May and June voyages haven't cancelled yet.  There is no way the yachts could staff up even if the ports were to open, and all  summer Med charters have already cancelled. They also confirmed there is no dry dock planned for the rest of the year.  Checking cruisemapper.com and sure enough both I and II are still both "wet docked" in Lisbon, so the above information would appear to be accurate.

 

Some other things she mentioned are that no refunds have been paid out since late February, that the entire global sales teams are gone and the club directors didn't get their Q1 payouts. The Miami office stopped paying rent and are locked out by landlord. And that the Owner's other businesses in Norway are getting what little cash flow they can scrape together. She even cited a news story (in Norwegian) that confirmed how grim their liquidity is. Also that there has been a huge spike in credit card companies refunding customers and charging back to SD. 

 

All these  certainly explain why SD won't pay refunds, instead making crazy offers on future voyages that will never happen. Anyone else confirm any of these or heard anything else?

 

 I had a booking that I cancelled in March, well before the 120 days. I was told my refund would arrive in 10-14 days but that never happened. There was no communication from seadream until I emailed them and even then they just sent me an impersonal email saying it would now take 90 days. After making multiple calls and being told someone would call me back, I never did get a return call.  I sent emails to seadream and cc'd some individuals from the executive team and the owner  ( interestingly some of those bounced back as undeliverable ) but never got a reply other than a cut-and-paste standard email from info@seadream.com empathizing and asking for patience but not addressing my specific concerns.  Finally, my credit card company solved the problem for me and I now have my deposit returned.  I know where it won’t be spent.  

Also, choosing to leave deposits with small local companies such as a camp or gym or dog walker so that they can stay financially afloat is not the same as leaving a deposit with a cruise company such as Seadream.  I am happy to help the former but it is not my responsibility to provide an interest free loan to a privately owned luxury yacht company.    If the company has financial issues then they should look to a bank for help- not to their passengers .  My contract with them states, as does their initial email, that I would receive a refund of my deposit upon cancellation as long as it was 120 days prior to the sail date ( and the email stated the refund would be posted within 14 days) .  I expect them to uphold The terms of the contract and not use my funds as a free loan

42 minutes ago, Reunionmama said:

JES -  thanks for posting that link, which I think captures the issue very well. Most of us who are on this forum, and fortunate enough to be able to afford a Seadream cruise, have effectively become “loan officers”. Our dog walker who lost 99% of her business and has no health insurance?  Check.  Our favorite local restaurant that is selling gift cards and has committed to 70% of the cash going to employees?  Check.  A vacation cottage supplementing the income of a retired couple?  Check. Our daughter’s wedding photographer (the wedding is postponed indefinitely) who now has zero bookings for peak season?  Check.

 

Had Seadream been more transparent about how this cash would be used to support its amazing crew, there might have been a Check.  But right now that cash is competing with the needs of many others, including of course food banks and homeless shelters.  Seadream has just not acknowledged that we are all facing choices.

I agree that we all need to help out where we can.  I am allowing tenants to continue to stay in a rental house I own rent-free as they have lost their jobs. It’s the right thing to do and I didn’t wait for them to have to ask for this. I also use small local businesses as they need the support. 
This doesn’t apply to the situation with Seadream however.  I cancelled a November cruise with them more than a month ago and well before final payment was due.  They sent me an email stating I would receive my deposit back within 14 days.  After a month I had heard nothing and sent them an email- in return I get a form letter email reply ( identical to the one our friends received) stating  refunds will now take 90 days since they are working at home, which is nonsense especially as I requested the refund before everything got shut down and other companies have managed to get things done promptly while also having employees work from home.  I also feel bad as I had encouraged friends to join us on this sailing since we had a great 1st experience last year and they are also now dealing with the same issues- needless to say their first experience of Seadream has not been a positive one.  What is most annoying is that I have reached out 3 times and been told someone would call me and no one has ever followed up ( again unlike other companies who garner good will just by speaking to their customers). I do not believe they are holding on to my money to treat their crew well either, based on other posts I have read.  They have been completely focussed on their bottom line from the start of this pandemic- sending out Instagram posts that were insensitive at best ( champagne and caviar in the surf after a pandemic has been declared!) and continuing to sail well beyond when they should have shut down ( and refusing refunds to passengers who did not want to sail at that time). Even now they are taking bookings for May which is ludicrous ( where I’m from we are still in lockdown at least through May ).  They just have not treated their passengers well and the refusal to communicate speaks volumes.  I will take my refund and spend it elsewhere 

Well I guess I now have a clear picture of how Seadream treats it’s customers.  After reaching out 3 times over almost 3 weeks and being told each time that a manager would get back to me within a day I have not had any contact from Seadream. Nothing.   Meanwhile, other companies such as an airline and a large villa rental agency who are equally if not more busy, have been able to reach out to me on the same day and also issue refunds ( and the villa refund was a very large amount- much larger than my Seadream deposit ).  I think this speaks volumes about Seadream.  They might provide a nice product and their crew are wonderful but when a company seemingly could care less about its customers in challenging times I do not think they deserve my dollars in good times.  I hope they are at least treating their crew better than they are treating their passengers

On 4/8/2020 at 3:05 AM, Scspartan76 said:

Why would you not take a future cruise credit? Or roll over your deposit? If everyone want a refunds all tourism companies will go out of business. 

 

And regarding 90 days, even big companies like NCL does 90 days or more for refunds. 

A hotel, cruiseline or airline does not just keep funds on file when people book. Funds in is a part of cash flow. 

I know SeaDream offered me to move my deposit and get a 20% saving on the new voyage when I asked to cancel, i felt that deal was to good to say no to. They even allow me to select a new sailing in 2022. 

 

If we all want to sail again, why not keep our funds?

 

 

I have been very unimpressed by how Seadream has acted during this pandemic and won’t sail with them again.  I also am concerned they won’t be around to honour a credit.  They were sending out tone deaf messages on Instagram about enjoying champagne in the surf even days after the pandemic was declared .  They are still booking passengers for May of this year even though it’s pretty clear that those sailings won’t happen.  They have not returned calls. Every other tour operator I have dealt with has behaved in a way that makes it clear they are thinking about the health and safety of their clients first .  And other companies have refunded me within days- I will rebook with them. Seadream seems to care more about their dollars than their passengers or staff. And I have a written email confirmation from them from mid March that they would refund my credit card within 14 days ( which IS their norm so clearly possible)- they did not issue the refund and did not follow up with me to offer any explanation. It was only when I sent an email asking about the credit that I received a form email back ( identical to one that our friends also received when they inquired) stating that it was suddenly 90 days.  None of that speaks to customer service or doing the right thing 

They did offer to apply my deposit to any future cruise so if that is what you want to do it is definitely an option.  .  I was not interested in that 

I emailed on Friday asking them to honour the 14 day timeline that they quoted me in an email and  have received no response which is very poor customer service.  I also spoke with someone last week who continued to insist that everything was fine and the only reason for the delay was because they are working at home which makes no sense.  When I asked to speak with someone higher up I was out on hold and then told there was no possibility of speaking to anyone .  I also said my concern was the company’s viability and was told their ships are fully paid for and the company has no liquidity issues.  They are handling this all extremely poorly.  Other travel companies have been able to do the right thing and provide refunds ( and they too are working from home). I know which companies I will be booking with in the future - the ones that treat their customers( and their employees)  with some respect in hard times 

We had a cruise booked for  November 2020 ( which we booked while on board last November).  Given the current situation with Covid 19 we decided  to cancel and did so 2 weeks ago.  We were told we would receive a refund to our credit card within 2 weeks.  That time has come and gone.  I wrote to Seadream and they now say it will be 90 days to get a refund and blamed the fact they are now working at home. This is very concerning.  I had multiple trips booked and now cancelled over the next year- every other travel provider has refunded me promptly.  Not sure what is going on with Seadream but this does not inspire any Confidence. If every other travel company can refund me promptly why are they reneging on their promise to refund me in 2 weeks. Why 90 days ? ( I have my suspicions).  They have lost a customer permanently 

8 minutes ago, Zimmy said:

I think that you might have opted for electronic documents rather than mailed documents. There was a time period some years ago,  when SD first began offering docs electronically, when there was a small cash incentive to go electronic, and for a period of time we did that. When that incentive disappeared, we switched back to mailed documents. You can do that on your next SD cruise. In the meantime, what you have received is quite sufficient to get you onboard, and that's what it is all about anyway. Bon voyage, and have a wonderful time!

Thanks for the information.  We booked through a travel agent so she might have made that choice for us. You are right- all that matters is that we have what we need to get onboard! Looking forward to it

Do they do this for every cruise? We leave for st maarten this Thursday and will board SDII on Saturday for our first cruise with them.  We have not received anything except an email with a ticket we have to print out and sign.  Maybe because we are in canada.?

Thanks .  I am trying to change the room. Don’t want to take a chance, especially for our first seadream experience 

Thanks for that.  I didn’t realize the crosshatch significance.  Will have to see if we can move rooms. But right now I think all the other rooms are booked

We have just booked Seadream II for a November 2019 Caribbean cruise. I booked a deck 2 cabin as I wanted to be on the lowest deck to minimize motion ( we have previously only sailed on larger ships but really want to experience a yacht vacation).  I booked cabin 210.  In reading through some of these posts I read about a “ removable wall” that some cabins have, allowing them to be converted to a suite.  How do I find out if my cabin is one of these? If it is how problematic will that be in terms of added noise?  I could not see any difference in the deck plan diagrams when booking but in a google search I found another website which  listed cabin 210  as a commodore suite so now I’m thinking it is one of the removable wall cabins.  Is there a different cabin I should request ( although it’s now showing deck 2 as waitlisted).  If someone can give me guidance about which cabins do not have a removable wall I would greatly appreciate it!

Sounds interesting !

Thanks.  Sounds like it’s busier than we would like ( we usually pick a small sailboat with only a handful of people but the times we are in port don’t fit with  any of the local excursions).  Will probably just stay on and enjoy the Seaside

1 hour ago, shukapaw said:

Two years ago we booked a private excursion in Nassau. We were very impressed with the company and the snorkel location.

Last year, while visiting on the Seaside, we wanted to do the same but the time we were in port didn't mesh nicely with the tour operator's schedule. As a result, we booked the MSC excursion. They took us to exactly the same place as the private excursion and the boat/crew/experience were almost identical.

I'd say go ahead and book it and have fun!

~Brian

 

How crowded was the excursion boat?  We are also thinking of doing the excursion with MSC because of the times we are in Nassau but a bit hesitant as we find the ship excursion snorkel trips are often packed and a bit of a “ party boat” atmosphere. What was your experience like ?

Thanks for this. How up to date is it? MSC told me the other day that Hilton Diamond matches to black. From what I've found, it looks like Diamond used to match to Gold, but MSC changed it

Just go ahead and send your Hilton Diamond status to MSC status match. That’s what I did and they changed my status. I was originally matched to silver with a cruise line status but then realized my hotel status would get me a higher level so I just submitted the hotel status and waited to see what happened. About a week later I got notice that my status was upgraded . I didn’t call to ask about it- I just went ahead and sent it in. Can’t hurt to try. All they can do is refuse to change it but it worked for me!

So I submitted my IHG Spire Ambassador status to MSC which I thought would be my highest status. Got me Gold Voyager Club. Apparently, from what I've read now, Hilton Diamond will match you to Black, which I also have.

 

I immediately emailed this back to MSC and they won't do anything because of the "one time" match. I've read of others getting their status corrected. What can I do?

I submitted a cruise ship status and was matched to MSC silver. I then realized a couple of months later that hotel status could also be used . I thought I was out of luck as I had read they would only match once but I went ahead and sent in my higher hotel status and got matched to gold with MSC. So maybe just try sending it in- can’t hurt and in my case it worked!

Hi Helen........we were supposed to go on a vegan holistic Divina cruise this past February 15, 2018. Our ship was 1/2 chartered by the group. Over 2,000 boarded from this group. We found out about this before final payment. Our research revealed that our cruise would be greatly impacted because of the SIZE OF THE GROUP. From reading posts from that specific sailing many not IN that group said they would never sail again with a group that TOOK OVER HALF THE SHIP and many venues were closed or only open for a few hours, etc.

 

If there are only a couple of hundred in the group on your sailing, in my opinion that won't impact your cruise at all. We have been on other theme cruises with just a few hundred people and it was never an issue. I think it totally depends on the amount of people in the group. We were even told we could no longer have first seating in the dining room (which we requested) because it was being reserved for the theme group guests......it was at that point we knew we needed to make a decision to stay or cancel. This is just my experience.

 

 

 

 

Is there any way to find out how large the ww group is prior to making final payment. The cruise is November 10 and final payment is not due until August. If it’s a few hundred that’s fine but if it’s more than half the ship it might not be ideal I think there is also a ww cruise in may so might get a feel for how it goes after that group returns

We had a WW contingent on our November 2017 Divina cruise and I assure you there were absolutely no restrictions or changes imposed on us in the Yacht Club. In fact, we met and ended up spending a great deal of our time with some of the WW group who had booked YC cabins. They were absolutely fun and made our cruise so much more enjoyable. Apparently, there was a section of the main dining room set aside for the WW group because they had a special menu. It turns out that WW groups are not so much different from other conferences I've attended: No matter how sincere your intentions, if you don't go to the opening session, you probably won't go to many of the others.

 

 

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Thank you! That’s very helpful

They will be no change for you.

Well thank you for that reassurance. Do you know this from experience or.....?