Vantage Deluxe World Travel - WARNING

[Shmoo here]

21 minutes ago, mimmer 2 said:

I think Vantage is going under. After reading many posts on this forum, it is obvious that there too many excuses to count for why flights are cancelled and ships aren’t sailing. I was told my ship was damaged.  Then there is a service outage due to construction next to their building. No response to calls, emails, no access to my portfolio. No contact from any Vantage personnel. They worked from home during Covid and conducted business and answered calls. They could be doing that now if it were true about the power outage. Next stop- Attorney General office!

I can't say whether your ship was damaged or not, but, according to cruisemapper.com she's been in the same port for at least 2 days now.

 

Also, I did some looking around online and it seems there is some construction/modifications going on around 90 Canal Street in Boston currently.  

 

https://www.commercialcafe.com/pdfs/93BEB5D1-57F7-4ED4-B05B-907DD9181935

[Roadlamp]

I've invested so much money on my next trip and this is going badly.  I loved previous trips with Vantage.  I'm losing faith.

[Shmoo here]

1 hour ago, Roadlamp said:

I've invested so much money on my next trip and this is going badly.  I loved previous trips with Vantage.  I'm losing faith.

I hear you.  We've really enjoyed our past Vantage trips.  Thankfully, we've only got our deposit paid at this point and not thousands.  

 

 

[Roadlamp]

We just made the final payment this month...

[Shmoo here]

I find it interesting that I'm still getting emails from Vantage, when I can't contact them.......

[Roadlamp]

I finally heard from them after I engaged my credit card company and emailed that I am cancelling because I believe they are out of business.  They replied in less than an hour and denied that they are out of business. I told them I cannot read the cancellation policy because the website is down.   They said they will send the cancellation policy when they are operational.  

[Shmoo here]

23 minutes ago, Roadlamp said:

I finally heard from them after I engaged my credit card company and emailed that I am cancelling because I believe they are out of business.  They replied in less than an hour and denied that they are out of business. I told them I cannot read the cancellation policy because the website is down.   They said they will send the cancellation policy when they are operational.  

Hopefully, it's before your trip.

 

 

[Gazelda]

DO NOT BOOK WITH VANTAGE TRAVEL!!!

 

1.  Last May 2022, we booked a cruise "AMAZON RIVER CRUISE:  Manaus to Nassau".  Two days before Christmas, on our "Portfolio" which we have to initiate as opposed to notifying us by email, Vantage states they are changing the cruise to "Passage to the Caribbean" totally removing the Amazon River.  We asked for a refund and were told there would be a 65% penalty!  They claimed that the dock in Manaus was unusable and our passengers would be unable to use the tenders.  A lie as other cruise ships continued to visit Manaus.

 

2.  We booked our air with Vantage; finally in January they posted our flights.  We were told they would be ticketed February 11.  They were not.  We called and were told February 25.  American cannot upgrade a flight until it has been ticketed; by the time our flights were ticketed, we were on a wait  list.

 

3.  The cruise was now from Belem, Brazil to Nassau with five (5) days at sea.  The Ocean Explorer is a small ship holding 160 passengers, 7400 GT.  Due to its small size (good for the Amazon!), it gets bounced around in the Atlantic.  The pool had a leak so was unusable.  Entertainment was a single piano player, a few lectures, a movie and a few trivia or bingo games.

 

4.  Our first stop was to be Devil's Island.  "Access to visitors is strictly forbidden on the now uninhabited territory. The currents are so strong that no ships are allowed to dock here; it is unsafe for visitors.Jun 6, 2019"  Instead they dropped us off at Isle Royale using Zodiacs (far more unstable than tenders!) and there was no tour.  Bait and Switch!

 

5.  The schedule had us stopping in Trinidad, which was NOT on our itinerary.  Vantage removed St. Lucia, which many had wanted to visit.  We learned that even the Captain did not know that 

St. Lucia had been removed from our schedule!

 

6.  Whenever we called Vantage, we could be on hold for over two (2) hours listening to the same few songs over and over.  When we did get through, the personnel either did not know the answer 

or gave an incorrect answer.  Or referred us to another department with the same results.

 

7.  We tried emailing Vantage; we received a response that they had received our correspondence but no other results or communications.  No explanations.

 

8.  The result:  we overpaid for a cruise we did not book but were forced to take or lose a lot of our money.  Most of the other passengers had similar stories and were very disgruntled.

DO NOT BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY AS YOU MAY NOT GET WHAT YOU PAID FOR. 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

2 hours ago, Roadlamp said:

I finally heard from them after I engaged my credit card company and emailed that I am cancelling because I believe they are out of business.  They replied in less than an hour and denied that they are out of business. I told them I cannot read the cancellation policy because the website is down.   They said they will send the cancellation policy when they are operational.  

So they are not 'out of business' but they are 'non-operational.'  Sounds like 'we didn't cancel your cruise, we suspended it'...

[Roadlamp]

I'm not sure what steps to take next.  I'm going to reach out to the Massachusetts AG and Allianz.  I bought a separate insurance policy NOT through Vantage.  This is so sad.

 

 

[Shmoo here]

7 minutes ago, Roadlamp said:

I'm not sure what steps to take next.  I'm going to reach out to the Massachusetts AG and Allianz.  I bought a separate insurance policy NOT through Vantage.  This is so sad.

 

 

Have you been in contact with your insurance provider?  

 

I find it interesting that SOMEONE is still sending out emails from Vantage, but there's no way to respond to them except via email.  How do they run their day to day business?

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, Shmoo here said:

Have you been in contact with your insurance provider?  

 

I find it interesting that SOMEONE is still sending out emails from Vantage, but there's no way to respond to them except via email.  How do they run their day to day business?

into the ground?

[Host Jazzbeau]

Reminder:  you can't name (or hint at) a Travel Agent/Agency in any context.

[GerryL13]

11 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Reminder:  you can't name (or hint at) a Travel Agent/Agency in any context.

Vantage Deluxe World Travel is both a cruise company and a travel agency. Are you saying that people cannot come here to recount their experiences with Vantage cruises?

[Host Jazzbeau]

13 minutes ago, GerryL13 said:

Vantage Deluxe World Travel is both a cruise company and a travel agency. Are you saying that people cannot come here to recount their experiences with Vantage cruises?

My reminder was not about Vantage.  You can't see posts that have been removed.  The problem reference was something else.

[fieldagent]

I checked my air reservations for my May 12th flight to Naples. They had been cancelled. Contact with United said that my travel agent cancelled them. I emailed Vantage no response yet. 

Checking with Allianz insurance they said if the tour operator cancelled I would have to collect from the tour  company. I downloaded the policy and under general Exclusions." This section describes the general exclusions applicable to all coverages under your policy.  # 22 states. Any travel supplier's complete cession of operation due to financial condition, with or without filing bankruptcy.. " If Vantage does close business the Allianz policy gives you no protection. If you purchased a different policy check it out. I think we all might be in trouble.  

[Roadlamp]

Fieldagent, let me get this correct, please.  Your air arrangements for May 12, 2023 have been cancelled?  What trip did you did you plan with Vantage?  My air arrangements are still showing up on the "my trips" part of the airline website for an August trip.  Ocean Odyssey and Ocean Explorer are still moving on cruisemapper.com

 

 

Jazzbeau, sorry about mentioning a specific company.  I didn't know that was not acceptable.

[Rrehfe4969@aol.com]

Our flights to Madrid on May 12th were also pulled and our return two weeks later from Lisbon have also been pulled from airline web site. Talked to vantage before their phones went down and was told they would re book by tomorrow. We shall see. I am still hoping that what they are saying thru their e mails are correct and true.
richard 

[Roadlamp]

P

7 minutes ago, Rrehfe4969@aol.com said:

Our flights to Madrid on May 12th were also pulled and our return two weeks later from Lisbon have also been pulled from airline web site. Talked to vantage before their phones went down and was told they would re book by tomorrow. We shall see. I am still hoping that what they are saying thru their e mails are correct and true.
richard 

Please be sure to post updates.  We are all waiting to hear.  Good luck with your trip.  I'm hoping it goes through.

[Rrehfe4969@aol.com]

As are we as the trip looks fabulous and really want to visit Madrid and sail down the Douro 

richard

[Roadlamp]

We thought about that trip but we are scheduled for Beauty of the British Isles.  We had it planned Pre-COVID.  It's been a long haul.

[Rrehfe4969@aol.com]

Yes it has. We had a total of five cruises cancelled during Covid and are finally catching back up with our credits. Used our last Viking credit to visit Egypt last month and used our last Oceania credit to visit South America and Antarctica in January and using our last silver seas credit on a cruise to Alaska next June. 
Richard

[Roadlamp]

It is weird that both flights to Naples and Madrid on May 12th were cancelled.  Please let us know if and when you hear anything.  Thanks

[Rrehfe4969@aol.com]

Will do.

[LynnS08]

Sorry to hear everyone is still having issues with Vantage.  I filed a complaint with the attorney general earlier this year and of course Vantage never responded to their letter. I find it very odd that they are having internet and phone issues for over 5 days.  So sad what they are doing to people.  Not sure what else we can do at this point.  I had my trip canceled/postponed since 2020.