Marella Cancellations - Customer Service up to scratch?

[nancyneptune]

56 minutes ago, vwgolf said:

 

She did and received a very apologetic email back.

 

Best keep the conversation to TUI now before I'm arrested!

 

Now that's good customer service vwgolf.  Stay safe

[Jim The Scot]

Shops up our way are pretty good regards implementing social distances,sadly some customers dont seem to understand what it means or choose not to heed it.Social distancing in our street  is being flaunted regularly with family members visiting parents and the like

 

Well today was our day for checking in for our flight for our cruise on the 19th of this month 😭

 

Had no correspondence from TUI and one txt message from TA coming u for 4 weeks ago

Edited May 5, 2020 by Jim The Scot

[nancyneptune]

54 minutes ago, Jim The Scot said:

Shops up our way are pretty good regards implementing social distances,sadly some customers dont seem to understand what it means or choose not to heed it.Social distancing in our street  is being flaunted regularly with family members visiting parents and the like

 

Well today was our day for checking in for our flight for our cruise on the 19th of this month 😭

 

Had no correspondence from TUI and one txt message from TA coming u for 4 weeks ago

 

Very disappointing Jim about the lack of communication from Tui regarding your cancelled cruise.

 

My brother still heard nothing from them since they took his bank details on 18th March.

 

Had nothing from Tui about our cruise on Celebration later in the year.  Have heard some people have got through to the call centre on the phone after a long wait to be told to pay their balance as they are not aware the ship has been retired and the cruise is still going ahead.

 

You couldn't make it up !

 

 

[Jim The Scot]

 Nancy,

 

Yeah it is disappointing but we are booked through an independant TA.Having said that would still have thought TUI who have my contact details might  have been in touch with us.We have gleaned all our info from the interweb and on here

 

Outwith a txt messages from our TA with promised phone calls it would appear they are as equally hard to make contact with as TUI

 

 

 

We were looking to move our dates to next year as noted a very good price but with no contact having been made by TA and the way prices fluctuate by the time they make contact every chance the price might not be so good then we,d be looking down the  refund route

 

 

 

Seems to be no structure on how or who they deal with when it seems  some have been called by TUI offering a refund credit or a refund for cruises beyond our dates.Sure I read on here that someones already been refunded for a cancelled river cruise well into this year

 

Have been reading your plight with your brother Nancy and its bad crack

 

Regards your last paragraph,beyond belief

Edited May 5, 2020 by Jim The Scot

[Brummijam]

We had an email this morning from tui with a refund voucher/number and loads of bumph about booking holidays and how good a deal the 20% off is.
If we want our money repaid it looks like a phone call and wait in the queue to speak to a rep. The last contact TUI had with me was on the eleventh of March informing me that the cruise was cancelled and the money would be back in my account in fourteen days.
They really haven’t handled this well at all,  All that was required was a phone call or an email to keep the customers updated and onside.  We are fortunate that we are not desperate for our cash but I am determined to get it back into my account as soon as possible simply because of the way that the company has treated us.

Stay well people.

[Jim The Scot]

Thanks for update B

 

As you say all that was and still is required is an email/phone call to keep customers updated and onside.However on the flip side the fact the German arm of the company forced the furlough of the majority of uk personel hasnt helped matters

 

Like you,fortunate we are not desperate for our cash but again like you determined to get it back unless we move dates

[kyleshawney]

 

What also could to be considered in approaching handling any TUI re-booking option is that when travel is globally freely possible, there will be a wave of heavy mass discounting amongst holiday companies, airlines, hotels, tours, restaurants etc in a rush to try and get some sort of share of the obviously reduced amount of people travelling.

Amending a TUI booking NOW to one currently offered on their web site will I am sure lock in the holiday AND I understand, ITS PRICE! 

Better value may be possible to wait for the actual cash back, or book much much later (if TUI allows one to do so, and does not limit the validity of the re-booking & discount codes for only a few months but to something like the travel option date to October 2021), as one will have to obviously wait for both! 

 

 

[Jim The Scot]

Not so sure on this wave of heavy mass discounting when travel is globally free,whenever that is.Every possbility there will be less companies,airlines and hotels by that time and those that are left might try to recoup their money asap and raise prices

 

Pure guesswork on how this will pan out in my opinion

 

[kyleshawney]

 

Michael O'Leary of Ryan air said when interviewed on the BBC last week, that in their (Ryan Air's) opinion there would be large discounting across the board way into next year by the whole travel industry.

 

He further said it could take to the end of the year to complete the last of all the cash refunds.

 

However It is all speculation, but we will err on the side of caution.

 

[Pensioncruiser]

He also said that passengers over 70 would not be flying long haul. 

[vwgolf]

19 hours ago, kyleshawney said:

 

Michael O'Leary of Ryan air said when interviewed on the BBC last week, that in their (Ryan Air's) opinion there would be large discounting across the board way into next year by the whole travel industry.

 

He further said it could take to the end of the year to complete the last of all the cash refunds.

 

However It is all speculation, but we will err on the side of caution.

 

 

He's probably the most dislikeable man in the travel industry!

[Jayneykul]

Agreed VWGolf! The problem with booking now on Marella is they notoriously discount their cruises to nearly half the price a few weeks beforehand. Unless you want a specific cabin it really doesn’t pay to book in advance with them

[Margaret Rees]

This morning we received a full refund for our Tui  Danube River Cruise. This follows them phoning us 7 days ago and asking us what we wanted . We opted for refund and 7 days later its arrived ! We were due to go on Mon May 11 so refunded before date of travel ! We are happy and I think lucky . Hope others get what they want soon .

[Bertie Doe]

43 minutes ago, Margaret Rees said:

This morning we received a full refund for our Tui  Danube River Cruise. This follows them phoning us 7 days ago and asking us what we wanted . We opted for refund and 7 days later its arrived ! We were due to go on Mon May 11 so refunded before date of travel ! We are happy and I think lucky . Hope others get what they want soon .

 

That's good news Margaret. Can I ask if you booked direct via Marella website or through a travel agent of through a Marella Shop. I believe a TA will hold all monies on behalf of Marella but are legally obliged to return it to customer, in the event of cancellation. Thanks.

[Margaret Rees]

We booked via the TUI website ,on line. Last Friday we decided to try and call and ask what was going to happen . We failed to get through despite trying 200 + times on various lines we were given . Then later in afternoon we were sitting with paperwork in front of us and TUI called ! No argument over refund or attempt to pursuade us to do anything else and 7 days later money back on card !

The only thing we wondered is whether they detected our number calling 200+ times and decided to call us ? 

[Jim The Scot]

14 hours ago, Jayneykul said:

Agreed VWGolf! The problem with booking now on Marella is they notoriously discount their cruises to nearly half the price a few weeks beforehand. Unless you want a specific cabin it really doesn’t pay to book in advance with them

 

It pays us to book in advance to get a flight from Scotland not just a specific cabin.The discounted prices a few weeks beforehand in the main are flights from England.Only once have a seen a decent discounted cruise close to sailing that had flights from Scotland

[WeeCountyMan]

I thought it must April 1st when I spotted this on my travels.

 

Only TUI ...................................

 

[Colbrit]

4 hours ago, Margaret Rees said:

We booked via the TUI website ,on line. Last Friday we decided to try and call and ask what was going to happen . We failed to get through despite trying 200 + times on various lines we were given . Then later in afternoon we were sitting with paperwork in front of us and TUI called ! No argument over refund or attempt to pursuade us to do anything else and 7 days later money back on card !

The only thing we wondered is whether they detected our number calling 200+ times and decided to call us ? 

You must have been on a list to call - they can’t save numbers on the telephony system - your 200 calls would have been noted on their stats as calls waiting/received but that’s about it.

[Bertie Doe]

42 minutes ago, Colbrit said:

You must have been on a list to call - they can’t save numbers on the telephony system - your 200 calls would have been noted on their stats as calls waiting/received but that’s about it.

 

Good to know Margaret that  you got a full refund and that you'd booked with TUI direct and not thru' a TA. Although I think TAs are a tad quicker with the refund.

 

Things out there are taking a while to process and it's not just TUI. I booked a flight from Exeter to Newcastle, for 1st August EX 2 cruise, thru' Flybe via my Barclaycard. I claimed when the airline went bust, using Barclay's 0800 number. They used an overseas call centre. When the Rep picked up, he knew from his screen that I had been waiting 1 hr 15 mins and he apologized. So they do have the technology 🙂

[nancyneptune]

6 hours ago, Jim The Scot said:

 

It pays us to book in advance to get a flight from Scotland not just a specific cabin.The discounted prices a few weeks beforehand in the main are flights from England.Only once have a seen a decent discounted cruise close to sailing that had flights from Scotland

 

Very true Jim. 

 

We used to get a good deal now and again with Thomson.  The past few years it's been a lot more difficult to get a good price as Tui / Marella have reduced the number of cruises and flights from Scotland therefore reducing the choice and increasing the demand and keeping the prices high.

 

So annoying to look at a cruise from Glasgow and Edinburgh and see the same cruise almost half the price from Gatwick.

 

When I say Glasgow and Edinburgh I noticed lately that some cruises are now either Glasgow  OR  Edinburgh.

 

In winter the choice is the Canary Islands year after year.  Ok for a week but if you want two weeks the second week is almost the same as the first.

[Jim The Scot]

Yeah, winter Nancy, its Tenerife take it or leave it 😂

[Pensioncruiser]

After last year think I'll leave it.😒

[Jayneykul]

I hear what you say about flights from Scotland. I am lucky in that Manchester airport is very close so I have picked up some bargains from Marella. The last 1 booked (which I am still waiting for the refund for) was to the canaries, from what you say it doesnt sound as though I missed much? I hadnt been to any of the ports before and it was at the time extremely cheap. It was below £500 though if you could fly from the South. I hope that when things are back up and running they give you more options in Scotland

[Jayneykul]

I would also hope that they start to introduce a loyalty programme like every other line!

[Jayneykul]

I am happy to report that I have finally had my refund from TUI! 🤗