Didn’t read the Oceania contract? SUCKER!
Well, that’s us. For successful, educated world travelers, NOT understanding Oceania/NCLH’s legal obligations before committing $40,000 to this cruise vacation was stupid.
In a nutshell, Oceania/Regent/Norwegian can change the embarkation from, say, Istanbul, to anywhere else in the world. The same with debarkation. They can, at will, change the ports of call, and/or choose NOT to stop anywhere, at all. In essence, they can change our Holy Land and Middle East cruise to floating around the Bahamas for 22 days on any ship of their choosing. (See section 4 of the Ticket Contract.)
Want to sue? Oh no, you’ve limited yourself to binding arbitration and mediation in Miami. Regardless, you automatically signed away ALL YOUR RIGHTS when you PAID for this cruise. And if you bought trip insurance, they consider this situation “Acts of War or Political Unrest” so your claim will be denied. (Yet Oceania will sail a ship full of rich westerners down the Red Sea, past rocket launching crazies, to position their boat for its next cruise to Asia.)
I’d like to blame our underpaid travel agent, but she, in reality, works for the cruise companies and airlines who provide trips and spiffs to incentivize them. We were not warned that “Upon booking, (paying), you agree to be bound by all the terms and conditions…” That was a surprise, but we’re smart, successful people, right? SUCKER! Read the contract first.