Grand Circle Policy Change

[cmthomas]

The following letter was published in the February Edition of International Travel News. If you would like a free sample copy of this wonderful publication written by travelers for travelers just go to http://www.intltravelnews.com/ and click on the blue box.

 

We have been on two Grand Circle river cruises and enjoyed them immensely, however we decided not to use them again principly because of this policy. Now we will consider them among the many other providers when planning a trip. We would be more interested in them if they would offer more trips with an air allowance for those who wish to make their own arrangements! Clarence:)

 

Letter from Grand Circle

 

"I read International Travel News as soon as it arrives on my desk every month. Because of the open forum it offers its readers, ITN helps me stay tuned into what seasoned travelers want and expect from foreign travel and what they bring to the experience themselves.

 

ITN also offers us at Grand Circle another channel – in addition to our post-trip surveys, customer letters, emails and phone calls – for receiving customer feedback. We track closely all forms of travelers' feedback to determine what we're doing well and, more importantly, what we could do better.

 

From reading ITN's "Travelers' Intercom" and from speaking to our travelers over the past 10 months, we decided we needed to revise our policy regarding departure date changes. And, as of October 31, 2005, we did. Now, if Grand Circle must change a traveler's reserved date, we offer the traveler the option of choosing an alternate date or canceling his or her reservation for a full refund.

 

We do not take lightly upsetting our travelers' vacation plans, and we make every effort to avoid doing so. However, we believe our new policy will give our travelers more options and will lessen the impact of a travel date change.

 

I got into the business of international travel because I am a passionate traveler myself. I think what all travelers have in common – and what jumps off the pages of every ITN issue – is an ardent curiosity and a love of learning...about new places, new people, new ways of looking at the world. It is also true we can learn something new right here at home, and at Grand Circle we always try to do so every day from our travelers."

 

/s/ STEPHANIE NICHOLS

Manager, Public Relations

Grand Circle Corporation

[Carhut]

I don't understand what you are talking about Clarence. I just glanced through a GCT book, "Small Ship Travel" and it says repeatedly all through the book that if you book your own air, you can deduct up to $600. from posted price. Maybe I'm not getting your point.

Carole

[cmthomas]

Gosh, that is great news Carole. Since I removed myself from their mailing list I have not seen that. When I last looked there were a few river cruise itineraries that offered that but certainly far from all.

 

We prefer to arrive one day early to get adjusted to the time zone, eliminate the risks of last minute arrivals and, most importantly, to schedule our times and routing. In the past when I inquired of Grand Circle if they could send us a day early the answer was that we could book the pre-trip tour or go on the day of departure but no other variations.

 

Sounds like they are listening to their customers, doesn't it?

 

Clarence:)

[Carhut]

Well, Clarence, you know what they say. "The squeaky wheel gets greased". There's a lot of competition out there and if they want to compete, they'd better keep their customers happy.

Carole

[Venturagirl]

Thanks, Clarence, for posting this good news. Like you, I have avoided GCT for that very reason, and I would very much like to try one of their trips. My husband works full time and the time we have for travel is limited by his work schedule, so we don't have the luxury of accepting changes made by a travel provider.

 

Still, though, I notice that GCT has not changed their policy language in their 2006 brochures (at least not in the Small Ship brochure I just received) nor on their website. The website still says: Grand Circle reserves the right to change the departure date of any trip, as well as cancel any trip or extension that does not reach a minimal level of participation. If Grand Circle changes a departure date to another departure date that departs within 14 days from the original departure, cancellation penalties as described in this document still apply should you subsequently decide to cancel. If Grand Circle cancels any optional extension for which you are booked, cancellation penalties as described in this document still apply should you subsequently decide to cancel the base (main) portion of your trip.

 

As I am not traveling with them, I won't contact them to ask why the language hasn't been changed. But I would be interested to hear from any members of this board who do inquire!

[cmthomas]

Since this is a recent change I would suspect that their printed matter backlog with the old policy hasn't been exhausted. Since we now have a name at Grand Circle to refer to I doubt that there will be any problems.

Clarence:)

[cruiserchuck]

We are looking into taking a Grand Circle trip to Egypt. I checked on the website today, and the terms and conditions, as of January 20, 2006, still state that they have the right to change the date of your trip, and charge cancellation fees if you do not travel on the new date:

 

“Grand Circle reserves the right to change the departure date of any trip, as well as cancel any trip or extension that does not reach a minimal level of participation. If Grand Circle changes a departure date to another departure date that departs within 14 days from the original departure, cancellation penalties as described in this document still apply should you subsequently decide to cancel.”

 

Here is a link to the terms and conditions: http://www.gct.com/gcc/general/default.aspx?id=54148 - item_54153

[cmthomas]

If you have any doubts I would suggest that you telephone them to verify the change. I cannot believe that the letter that I posted was a hoax. I think it takes a while for changes like this to filter through all of the media in such a large operation.

 

This is good news as otherwise Grand Circle does have a first class operation at reasonable prices.

 

Clarence:)

[cruiserchuck]

I checked on GCT’s website today, and noticed that as of April 1, the terms and conditions were updated to reflect the new policy allowing for cancellation with full refund if the departure date is changed.

[Benita]

Periodically, I have emailed Oversea Adventure Travel (OAT) which is owned by Grand Circle. They had the same policy and tried to keep my deposit when they changed a tour date in 2002. This policy was not in the brochure at that time (they did not put it in writing until later that year) and I had to threaten legal action to get my money back. When I emailed them a couple of years later, they said they did not change the policy. When I asked again a few months ago, they said the policy was changed and you could get a full refund if OAT changed the date. I am sure that GCT follows the same policies, but make sure you get it in writing from them.