A dementia moment

[Grandad]

We have never cruised, other than the Nile, and have said recently that perhaps we should reconsider our aversion to the thought of being trapped on a vessel with loads of people that we may or may not find agreeable, and no way of getting away, other than jumping over the side.

Fred Olsen Cruises does start some of their trips from Dover, less than half an hour from us. Last evening I did a search on their website for a short 'sampler' cruise to see how we liked it (or not ). A 3 night short break to Amsterdam was the only option that came up from Dover departing August 10th. That sounded ideal so I went through the whole booking process and selected a nice room with large picture window. Not worth the extra for a balcony for such a short trip. Opted for a table for 2 (if possible) at dinner, and the 6.15pm sitting, 8.30pm is too late to eat for us in the evening. All sorted and deposit paid. Great, we look forward to that....

Went to my mailbox and there were all the pdf's for everything about the trip. Looked at the first one, checked the booking reference, checked the date......Oh! No! 10 August 2017 Blast! I believe and hope that with online transactions there is a 7 day cooling off period so I hastilly sent a nice email to reservations explaining my oversight and I hope that tomorrow they will contact me to confirm that they WILL refund my deposit and not refer to some clause in their multi page T & C's that says deposits are forfiet in the evnt of cancellation

That will teach me to read all the small print....Grrrrr

[LovelyLadyLux]

Firstly I do hope you can get your $$ returned. I would not have thought it unusual for an Aug 2016 booking so I wouldn't have been searching that far into the future however I can say that cruises can be booked way into the future.

I think you'll quickly find that you'll either love cruising or not and there is great variance between ships, cruise lines, staff, protocols on the ship and on and on.

[Kiya]

Oh! Grandad....hope you get a quick reply & your deposit back

[Ruby Slippers]

That's a bit previous, Grandad! Usually, brochures for 2017 wouldn't be available until September 2016. Not your fault and I too hope you get your money back.

[Grandad]

Well they are adamant that there is no 'cooling off' period and if I cancel I will lose my deposit. They have offered to hold my money for three months to allow me to choose something sooner. There are no other short samplers available so I have decided to let my reservation stand. We will simply forget about it then have a pleasant surprise next August when we have a short cruise already arranged

To be honest we both have reservations about cruising. We like to have total freedom of choice when on holiday....

RS, with so many ships cruising the popular tourist destinations they have to book berths well in advance to ensure that they are able to fulfil their itineraries.

[Ruby Slippers]

I'm so sorry to hear this, Grandad! I do understand your reservations about cruising, because it's the thought of being surrounded by strangers, who may or may not be on your wavelength, and herded around like cattle at the various sites, that puts us off the idea! Not very good publicity for Fred Olsen, is it?

[LovelyLadyLux]

I think you're going to quite love a 3 night cruise. Three nights are not that long and such a short time you'll hardly have time to sample all the different restaurants and venues on the ship. I don't think it'll be bad at all and am also assuming the ship will be stopping in Ports so you'll get ample chance to be off and doing walk about or look about.

I've cruised some however if I had a choice of a land holiday or a cruise holiday I'd pick land. That being said though it would depend on how many stops the ship was making. If they're stopping daily that is fantastic. Almost like having your own chauffeur dropping you at the door.

The food on board has also always been excellent I've always opted for "open" dining which means I can go and eat whenever/wherever. Also means I'm wearing 'smart casual' (anything except a bathing suit is about how it is defined). Open gives you the option to go 24/7 to the Buffet and/or to any of the restaurants. You can walk up to the restaurants OR you can make a reservation to get into the more popular ones. I don't mind eating by myself but I also don't mind if they want to seat me at a bigger table with other couples (and they do seem to want to do that as it seems to bother them to have single people sitting at tables by themselves)

The evening on board shows are also pretty fantastic too and if they offer any lectures they're usually quite interesting. I even learned how to make an origami star on board too

[Grandad]

I'm so sorry to hear this, Grandad! I do understand your reservations about cruising, because it's the thought of being surrounded by strangers, who may or may not be on your wavelength, and herded around like cattle at the various sites, that puts us off the idea! Not very good publicity for Fred Olsen, is it?

Despite a succession of eamails and letters they refused to relent and refund my deposit. They would not come out from hiding behind THEIR T & C's. However, I did find, via Citizens Advice Bureau online, that the 'Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013' gives 7 days in which to cancel and receive a full refund.

One more letter yesterday, quoting the above, to Customer Relations at Head Office, resulted this morning in a phone call from that department with an apology for the unsympathetic way that I had been treated and an immediate refund of my deposit.

So the moral would seem to be 'If you have a bone, don't let go of it'

[LovelyLadyLux]

Good you were refunded! I was actually a bit surprised that they didn't immediately offer a refund as most cruise ships operate on being 'happy' places doing it all for you and, am sure, wouldn't want any adverse publicity.

Sometimes it is worth being that dog with a bone and not giving up. (I can be like that sometimes too)

Good it is resolved and it wasn't like you didn't respond to them right away too.....

[Grandad]

cruise ships operate on being 'happy' places doing it all for you and, am sure, wouldn't want any adverse publicity.

Exactly LLL, and the guy from Customer Relations made that very clear. Just a shame that those in Reservations could not have taken the same view 3 weeks ago....

[Jayway]

Grandad. How rude and ignorant, I hope you find another ship to book, not with that company again for sure. A friend tried a cruise from UK, to see the Northern lights and visit some towns, she loved it.

[LovelyLadyLux]

I think the key to a successful cruise is your ability to get off the ship. I love it when the ship stops daily at a new port and is essentially almost like a floating hotel. It is long days at sea that get tedious (to me).

[Grandad]

We are not into 'overdressing' for dinner in the evening and would prefer something like Freestyle Cruising. BUT! It would appear that that cruising style is only available with NCL and Princess cruises, there may be others but, they are all on those floating cities with anything up to 5000 guests and that would not be for us

[LovelyLadyLux]

I don't DRESS for dinner - course I don't go NUDE either and I did sail on both Princess and Norweigan Cruise Lines where there is open or FREESTYLE dining.

On Princess it was acceptable to totally dress up and some people did literally DRIP with diamonds, sequins and furs but MOST just wore nice slacks and shirts. Me too.