shoreham01

Difficult situation but at the end of the day it is your money. If it was me I would wait till the end of next week and then give Amex a ring and explain the situation including the fact that you don’t want to penalise the TA.  Are you sure the TA are not in financial trouble, so many are going in to liquidation. 

13 minutes ago, beaujolais said:

Still no refund and it's now 10 weeks

Latest excuse was that when they pay my refund to the TA they wanted to pay by Credit Card, can you believe that. Of course this is of no interest to my TA as the TA would have to pay commission on the amount of the refund

I still have tried 'phoning but have on two occasions had the phone message

"Office closed due to unforeseen circumstances"

and on another occasion was told, a new excuse,

" as they were working from home unable to see my details"

This company is supposedly awaiting delivery of a new ship, how will they pay for that if they cannot pay money back to people that they owe money to

Will there be a end or will I loose all my money, a considerable amount

 

Did you pay with credit card?  Could they chase it for you if paid with card.  

Excellent, have managed to pay cheque in with app. Was really easy to do once camera worked.  Found placing it on black t-shirt did the trick and holding it further away.  

Extraordinary time for you both. Pleased to read you are fully recovered now and looking forward to your next cruise hopefully June. We all look forward to our holidays after years of working hard.  Really is Sod’s law that when we should be having fun we are stuck indoors with all this worrying. Let’s hope happier times are ahead and this Coronavirus is banished to history.  

Just tried to pay in cheque with bank app and no luck. I just couldn’t get the photo right, possibly because of large size of cheque. In the end it just completely confused camera and refused to take photo.  Now I am recharging it so that I can do hard reset to try and fix it. Otherwise will have to uninstall app and reinstall it which I really don’t want to do. 

3 hours ago, JMyrtle said:

Good news for me also, refund for second cruise received on Friday, balance to my credit card and deposit  to my bank account. 

 

Reason being that when I originally requested a refund Saga said that under the money laundering regulations all refunds must be made back to the source the money was paid from, sounds a bit odd but that was the excuse. 

 

I also probably need to explain why we have three cruises on the go! 

 

Well in June last year we were on  C&M cruise booked thru Saga which damaged the propellers and had to be  abandoned, Saga refunded the money which we used book another cruise this time with Saga for March of this year because we were waiting for me to have cataract surgery in the autumn and then C&M gave us a free cruise as well which we upgraded to go to Iceland this June,

 

We already had a booking in place thru Saga to go to Seville with Fred Olsen this April so that made three. 

 

We decided to travel as much as we could this year before turning seventy and the uncertainty about simple  future travel within the E U with or without an ERITAS  started to make travel difficult and expensive next year, well Corona has put paid to all that hasn't it? 😣

Oh dear, you have had some bad luck.  Sorry to hear about it.  Hope your cataract surgery goes well, friends of ours have had this operation and they are both really pleased with the results.  We will not be going abroad anymore which is why we took the refund.  I am 71 and my OH is 81 so insurance will be an expensive nightmare.  Even if Saga were to insure us inclusively for free it would not cover pandemics, so too much of a risk for us to take.  We have visited Sinah Warren Hotel in Hayling Island several times and love it there so when they re-open we will probably spend more time with them.  It is only an hours drive away from where we live.  We have loved our cruise holidays so much but now seems like the right time to holiday in UK.  Mind you, never say never!!!  We have been very impressed with the way Saga have dealt with this crisis and appreciate the swift return of our money.  

16 hours ago, wowzz said:

Strange - I've had refunds from both Premier Inn and TravelLodge.  Bookings made with old card, but refund sent through to new card. Given that millions of people get new cards every year, surely old and new cards must be linked, otherwise the refund system would collapse. 

I wonder if Saga are being a little economical with the truth.

Good news, the cheque came through door this morning.  Will pay it in tomorrow using the bank app.  Hope evryone else waiting receives theirs soon too. 

On 4/25/2020 at 11:56 PM, wowzz said:

Assuming you still have a CC from the same provider, a refund to your old card will automatically be assigned to your new card.

No, spoke to them and they said not possible as card no longer exists.  Would not even do bank transfer.  Didn't think anyone used cheques anymore to be quite honest.  We are still waiting for it to arrive.  Had a funny dream about it last night.  Dreamed they sent cheque for full amount of cruise even though they have already sent refund for all apart from deposit.  I was then in a terrible dilema as to if I should keep quiet and bank it or tell them.  It was so amusing as I was asking all different strangers and had decided to tell them.......then I woke up.  

We have had refund but still waiting for cheque for £400 which was deposit. It was paid for with credit card now out of date which is why we have to have cheque for that part of payment.  Unfortunately or fortunately whichever way you want to look at it, our finances only stretch to a mini cruise unlike those with three cruises booked. 

We are still waiting for refund agreed 26th March.  Our cruise was 19th April.  I think it may take longer than anticipated as the workload must be horrific.

Thanks for posting that information.  Looks like there are no more 4 night cruises.  

No one seems to have confirmed anything apart from saying ship safely docked where it should be today. This is on face book page for this specific ship. 

Someone on fb has just posted that she was so fed up and disappointed with the cruise due to noro and lack of entertainment etc that she has left the cruise and is on the way to airport.  

I would be nervous to say the least. The only thing is that they are bringing ship to Southampton a day early so they should be able to give it a bloody good fumigation. I would also want reassurance that all areas of the ship are open and all entertainment going ahead as it should. I have read reports that most facilities have been closed on the norovirus cruises which is not what we would expect for a expensive holiday even though I understand why they thought it the right thing to do. 

According to a very active f b site for specific ship all seems OK at the moment although postings are a bit scarce for this latest cruise.  Fingers crossed all will be OK now.  

Oh dear, or possibly ruder words.  We love the American Ships such as Princess and Celebrity but insurance and the size of the ships has made us unable to go with them again.  Some time ago tried a short cruise on P&O and found it dreadful,  thought never again.  The reason why we booked the Saga one is the fact that they include insurance.  What with health difficulties and age my OH would have had to pay a fortune for insurance, if he could get it at all.  Saga said yes even after he gave them all information about his condition.  For the past couple of years or more we have been visiting Warners Sinah Warren Hotel in Hayling Island which we have enjoyed very much.  No doubt we will be back there again later in the year as we live just over an hour away.  This may well be our last cruise if things have not improved by the time we sail.

Wonder if the cruise now is ok.  Feeling more and more apprehensive about our forthcoming cruise. My confidence in Saga is dropping by the minute. 

So sorry to read about your problems on ship. It does sound like they are nowhere near as experienced as other cruise lines in dealing with these situations. There is a yellow warning for tonight and tomorrow for high wind and rain which may be the reason for your early departure for Southampton.  Safe journey home, looking forward to your full review although with trepidation as we are going on her middle of April. 

That is very bad news.  Seems like they are not doing the deep cleanses efficiently like other ships we have sailed on.  Will take disinfectant with us and make sure all the surfaces and bathroom furniture in cabin is wiped down.  Must be careful to wash hands very regularly and use anti viral sprays.  The other thing is not to touch your face.  What with noro and now Corona the holiday we were so looking forward to is becoming less and less appealing.  

Just found this rather alarming review on Trip Advisor from someone who posted yesterday.   https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Cruise_Review-d15691846-Reviews-Spirit_Of_Discovery

I phoned Saga regarding formal nights.  I needed to know if there was a formal on the short 4 night cruise we are booked on.  Was informed that yes there would be one formal night.  Apparently they did not have the formal night on the previous short cruises and passengers complained.  

To be quite honest, I wear a pair of black velvet slippers (mules) with a very small wedge.  My feet swell up on a ship and no way could I wear a fancy shoe.  Sometimes I have to resort to wearing a pair of silver flip flops.  When I see people in agony wearing high heeled fancy sandals I give a sigh of relief that I do not have to wear those anymore.  Have been known to cry if my feet hurt. 

Train service is not reliable at any time. Weekdays crowded nowhere for luggage and you consider  yourself lucky to even get seat as you cannot reserve them. Weekends especially Sundays they tend to do engineering work on lines so services can be slow or cancelled. 

I have to say I have witnessed many women not washing hands after visiting bathroom.  I just don’t understand how they can be so ghastly.  Apparently you need to sing happy birthday to yourself whilst washing hands to ensure you wash thoroughly.  As for the hand gel, the one usually supplied on the ships hurts my hands so I always take my own and use it at appropriate times like outside restaurants and cafes. 

That is awful news.  They will be sailing right in to the awful storm due to arrive here tomorrow.  Imagine how dreadful to feel so ill with noro and sailing through extremely rough seas.  

Thanks, missed seeing that. We are only on a 4 night cruise so don’t want to waste time arranging something on board