Ever had a dream holiday turn into a holiday nightmare?

It was a last minute holiday booked through a High Street travel agent with one of the well-known tour operators.

The only accommodation we could get was a 3* apartment allocated on arrival. It turned out to be a very noisy, zero star, really tatty one room that they would not change as there was no other accommodation available. At the time, we couldn’t afford to pay for another place to stay so had to put up with it.

We checked the tour operator brochure when we returned and it was not listed. We had looked at their 3* when booking and they looked acceptable.

But it was pre-internet.

Why blame Thomas Cook. I trust your brother in law reimbursed your £623.

I tend to think Thomas Cook have done no wrong and could probably have done no right in the circumstances. With hindsight one could say that leaving a booking unrevisited for many months could be a little risky as anything could have happened, even unintentionally. Perhaps Mr Cheetham didn’t have his brother-in-law’s authority to book the holidays in the first place. I guess there’s more to this tale than we are told. The lesson for travel agents should surely be that they check that the person commissioning the booking has the authority of the other members of the party [especially if giving different addresses]. That might have been one of the tick boxes on the form that should have received more attention in the Thomas Cook shop; in my experience airline websites require the customer to confirm that they have the consent of any other passenger for whom they are booking or changing the seating, but this is usually a perfunctory tick-box procedure that is more for the airline’s protection than the customer’s.

We have never yet had a problem with the tour operator failing to organise a timely pick-up from the hotel to get us to the departure airport in good time but it was a close-run thing at Venice one time as the roads were clogged, the airport was bursting, and the check-in staff were largely absent.

I also remember an occasion when we were idly dozing at an airport and we were suddenly summoned by loudspeaker to the gate for our flight which we thought would be at least an hour later. The flight had been listed on the departure screens but we thought it was a previous one and were waiting for our departure time to be listed. Unfortunately, Thomas Cook had not adjusted the documentation for what is a regular routine flight to allow for the clocks going forward. By running at the double we made it onto the end of the queue for the plane and we had booked seats so there were no problems, but now we always verify the departure times not only to ensure they are correct for Winter/Summer Time but also to check whether the departure times from foreign airports are expressed in local time or GMT or BST. I find BA cut it a bit fine at times on when they open the check-in/bag-drop positions; they were fairly disorganised when departing from Miami last year when some of the systems broke down, passengers were queuing in the wrong places, and the baggage conveyor decided to disengage from its traction motor. The unknowing staff turned up to do the check-ins and discovered that everything was a complete shambles; they got it sorted though and some manual labour was rapidly deployed, but not before some of the pasengers were either getting very stroppy or having palpitations about missed connections etc. That’s the good thing about holidays, there always something to talk about afterwards.

Yes, we were insured, but the company wanted lots of details of expenses, and ended up saying there was some kind of cap on what they could pay out. Still, they did cover clinic, flights, ambulance, etc., and we did get some cash as well. The main thing, though, is that my wife recovered after several months in a wheelchair and after extensive hydrotherapy. I was assured – and I believe it to be true – that such accidents are extremely rare.

According to their website, Thomson’s are still going to take you to Sevastopol and Yalta in Crimea on the way to Sochi!

Visiting Crimea would be in defiance of the UK government’s recommendation [as confirmed on the FCO website] and it is unlikely that would occur even if the geo-political situation reverted over the next few months which is virtually impossible now. Because the calls at the other ports have probably already been scheduled and committed with refuelling, stores replenishment, and excursion logistics lined up it seems you are going to miss two fascinating ports of call and spend an additional two days at sea which would be a very poor substitute. Thomson’s have two or three other cruises destined to call at Sevastopol between now and October with no mention of any alternative arrangements. It is quite incredible that the company has not made any announcements or informed their passengers directly. Even if they confirmed that calls at Sevastopol and Yalta were still going,ahead, many travellers would probably be unhappy in view of potential trouble and difficulties if they went ashore; the situation remains volatile, I think this is a major failure in customer care. I even tried posting a question [“What is the situation with cruises scheduled to call at Crimea (Sevastopol and Yalta)?”] on their website “Ask Us” facility. Useless. I would say this company is not fit to be running international cruises. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and annexation of the Crimea took place three months ago – long enough to plan an alternative itinerary or offer customers a free cancellation or an alternative cruise. This behaviour raises questions over the company’s commercial robustness.

Thank you for your reply which was very helpful. Just a follow up to the previous email to you. Today I called in at the local Thomson travel agent in Watford where I spoke to the Assistant Manager, Kelly, and explained the situation which she seemed totally unaware of as she said no-one had booked this particular cruise with them personally. She seemed more keen to pass the buck on to the original booking agent which was actually done on the phone with Thomsons in their Glasgow office.

I asked her as a representative of Thomsons if she might be able to ring them as they probably wouldn’t keep her on hold for 15 minutes like they did myself – they didn’t! She then explained that the itinerary hadn’t been changed because under the booking conditions they reserved the right not to publish the new itinerary until 2 months before the actual start date of the cruise in case the situation changed ie 6th August (the cruise start date is 6th September). Unfortunately, they want the balance of this cruise £2661 paid on 14th July, well before they are prepared to issue the new itinerary.

In effect we will be paying more than £3000 for a mystery cruise. I told her I was not happy with this but she assured me that once the new itinerary was issued in August, if we did not like it, she guaranteed we would get a refund of the total amount we had paid. However, if we cancelled before the new itinerary was issued we would lose our deposit on the basis we had cancelled before being made aware of the new itinerary. She made it very clear that if we were to cancel now we would lose our deposit.

I endeavoured to clarify with her that should we pay the balance and then not like the itinerary, she would be able to guarantee on behalf of Thomsons, a refund of our money. Her assured previous tone changed and she answered that it ‘was not set in stone’ that the money would be refunded.

We appeared to be going round in circles so I asked her to advise me of any changes to the itinerary should she hear and gave her my contact numbers. I had to ask her to do this, she did not offer.

I am not sure where to go next with this but it obviously affects approx 1000 people and not just us. I feel we are not being treated with respect or fairness and far from being treated as valued customers, we are being treated as a commodity.

PS: The ship was actually due to call at 3 ports in the Ukraine, Sevastopol, Yalta and Odessa so it made up a significant part of the itinerary.

When there is major destabilisation in a region which is bound to affect future holiday destinations and itineraries, companies like Thomson – that want to be taken as leading operators with a powerful presence in the UK market – have got to do better than this. I think you are entitled to a written assurance that a full refund will be given in the event of your cancelling following the issue of a revised itinerary; a refusal to give such an assurance would be very worrying and would not do Thomson’s reputation any good. Although they have up to 6 August to publish a new itinerary and still allow free cancellations, I would hope they would not leave it to the last minute as finding an alternative holiday in your chosen period will be difficult.

I realised that a port call at Odessa was also included and was thinking that might possibly still go ahead as the situation in western Ukraine was less problematic and, following the presidential election, the region was now a bit more settled. Nevertheless, UK government advice remains negative and going ashore could still be risky unless you were on a fully secured excursion [i.e. not wandering about by yourselves as you would be able to do normally]. If the Odessa call was also omitted, I think the cruise would be ruined and it would be so much different to what you ordered that there would be a fundamental breach of contract for which extra days at other ports would not be adequate or satisfactory compensation [there aren’t that many other places in and around the Black Sea that are suitable or desirable as cruise destinations].

I am left wondering how Thomson are dealing with their other Black Sea cruises with Crimea port calls; one of them sails next Monday! Holiday companies can be forgiven for bungling their responses to earthquakes and ash clouds which are unpredictable, but they could see this one coming a mile off and have kept you in the dark.

I notice that other cruise lines have altered and reduced their Black Sea offerings to avoid Ukrainian and Russian ports, but for many people thay were the main attraction in preference to Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey. I suppose Thomson are petrified by the possibility that most of their bookings will disappear and that, even if they actually cancel the cruises and redeploy personnel, they will be left with unproductive ships, empty seats on aircraft, port charges and compensation to various shore-side organisations; it’s unlikely that even surrendered deposits would cover much of that. The economics of cruises depend heavily on the profits from on-board consumption and services.

Best of luck, Brian – and keep us posted.

The Which? advice is very good and deals well with a one-destination resort holiday that is clearly rendered impossible by particular events. I think the question with a cruise will hinge on how much of the overall holiday experience is affected. With Brian’s fourteen-night Black Sea cruise there are ten ports of call and it is possible that three of them will be omitted. Thomson might be able to insert one alternative port call and/or prolong the stay at another one, but the loss of the three Ukrainian destinations makes a very significant difference to the desirability of the overall package and devalue it to the point that one would not have even considered booking it. Thomson’s would no doubt argue that passengers will still be able to enjoy N miles of cruising [with 75% of their port calls], sail around the Black Sea shores viewing the attractive landscape, be able to laze away more time on a sunbed in the sub-tropical climate, and enjoy all the on-board facilities with even more time for spa treatments and other indulgences.

It is certain that Thomson will have to make some changes to this cruise and I think they owe it to their customers to say immediately what their policy will be on cancellations in the event that, when the changes are announced, passengers dislike the new package. It would also be an act of goodwill if they postpone the final balance payment date until three working days after they make that announcement.

Judging by the amount of advertising and promotion going on right now, it looks to me as though the cruise market is in a fragile state and there is too much capacity chasing too few customers. Thomson, together with Fred. Olsen and Saga, appeal in particular to what I would describe as the respectable segment of the UK market that is very discerning and looking for a richer experience, especially with regard to the itinerary. Thomson would forsake this market at their peril in my opinion; their vessels are getting a little elderly for today’s expectations and lack the range of entertainment opportunities and space that passengers nowadays desire. Treating their, generally loyal, customers with disdain is a courageous move since there are currently plenty of alternative travel options.

Hi John and all at Which?
Here is a copy of an email I received today 5/6/214 13:55 from the Thomson Programme Change Team.

RE: Your holiday to Turkey (Dalaman).

Departure date 06/10/2014. Reference Numbe **********

Thank you for choosing to travel with Thomson Cruises. We’re writing to give you some important information about your cruise.

We’ve been monitoring the situation in the Ukraine closely since the Foreign and Commonwealth Office advised against all travel to Crimea due to the increased tensions in the region. As a result of this, we’ve had to make some changes to your schedule.

With your safety in mind, we’re changing all our visits to the Ukraine – Odessa, Sevastopol and Yalta – replacing them with calls to Constanta in Romania and Batumi in Georgia. We’ve also rejigged the order of your itinerary a bit, and added a day at sea, to better fit the new ports.

There’s plenty to look forward to in your new ports of call.

Constanta is your gateway to Bucharest, the Romanian capital. Once known as the Paris of the Balkans, this city is filled with palaces and tree-lined boulevards.

You can also visit the Danube Delta from Constanta. The Delta stretches across the mouth of the Danube, and is home to some of the best bird watching in Europe.

Batumi, meanwhile, is a port city where old and new get along famously. In the city itself, the chrome and glass of a 21st-century revamp sit alongside a lovingly restored old town of walnut trees and grapevine-draped balconies. It’s the ideal introduction to Georgia, a country that’s very much off the beaten tourist trail and packed with history – a real hidden treasure.

Your new itinerary and timings in port now look like this…

Day Port Country Arrive Depart

1 Marmaris Turkey 22:00

2 At Sea

3 Istanbul Turkey 08:00

4 Istanbul Turkey 15:00

5 Nessebar Bulgaria ]07:00 18:00

6 Constanta Romania 06:00 19:00

7 At sea

8 Trabzon Turkey 09:00 18:00

9 Sochi Russia 07:00 18:00

10 Batumi Georgia 06:00 18:00

11 Sinop Turkey 12:00 17:00

12 At sea

13 Mytilene Lesbos 08:00 18:00

14 Kusadasi Turkey 08:00 16:00

15 Marmaris Turkey 08:00

If you had any Ukrainian trips or tours booked, via our website, these will be cancelled automatically and refunded in full.

If you booked tours through your local Thomson shop, please take this letter to your Holiday Advisor who will be able to cancel your trips and take you through the options available to you Constanta and Batumi.

While the situation in the Ukraine is out of our control, we do appreciate that the Crimea was one of the many highlights of this cruise. With that in mind, we’d like to give you £75 of on-board spending money per adult by way of an apology.

We hope this doesn’t cause any undue problems, and that we’ve explained the change clearly, but if you’ve got any questions you can either visit your local travel shop, chat to us on Facebook by visiting http://www.facebook.com/thomsoncruises or give us a call on 0800 009 3870.

We hope you have a fantastic time on-board.

The Team at Thomson Cruises.

We will need to think about this new itinerary and the £75 pp on board credit – But it’s not the Crimea which is why we booked the cruise.
Regards

Hello Brian . . . . I have only just caught up with your latest post. It looks to me as though Thomson have made a fair effort to adjust to the situation in such a way that customers can’t complain too much but, as you say, the alternative port calls [and the extra day at sea] are not what you wanted. I think they should have confirmed officially in writing that, now you have seen the revised itinerary, you can cancel the cruise without penalty. As to the £75 on-board credit [each, presumably], if you did not already have an allowance then that’s as good as cash back – it’s difficut not to run up much more than that with excursions, drinks, photos, purchases, spa treatments, and laundry on a fourteen-night cruise. If I were you, I’d go for it and have as good a time as you can – it could be some time before the FCO lifts the restriction on Ukraine. Having said that, there are some good cruise deals available with other lines right now so it would pay to look around if you can get all of your money back from Thomson.

Hi just to keep you uptodate. I rang the Thomson helpline today (there was a 25 minute wait) to advise that we were not happy with the new itinerary as we had booked this holiday expressly with the Ukrainian ports in mind and Romania is indeed a poor alternative. Thomsons told us there was no alternative other than an offer to rebook another cruise before the balance of the holiday was due and transfer the deposit across. I pointed out that they had made a significant change to the itinerary and as such we should be offered the option to cancel with a full return of our deposit. They argued that the change of itinerary was, according to their legal team, not considered to be ‘significant’. If we didn’t like it we should take it further through the courts. They would not budge from this position.

Thank you John Ward for your comments. I think we will keep the booking but also keep an eye on the cruise price to see if its offered at a sale price before the balance is due and it may be worth cancelling and re-booking at the lower price.

I am not surprised by Thomson’s response. I can understand their legal team’s position and I think it probable that the Court would support them. You could not possibly have anticipated the present situation in Ukraine and made made visits to Ukraine, and specifically Crimea, a key part, indeed the essence, of the contract, and even if you had I don’t think that would have been much help in the current situation since Thomson could not have anticipated it either and what they have done in response would, to many people – including a judge, look very good. Logistically, it cannot have been easy to recast the itinerary and set up new port calls. I think your pragmatic approach is sensible; other available Thomson cruises are possibly of no greater interest to you than the revised Black Sea cruise but at least I expect the ship’s company will be doing their utmost to give passengers as good an experience as they possibly can. Cruise prices seem to go progressively upwards as the date approaches but then, a few weeks before departure, they often come down dramatically in order to fill the ship, so it is certainly worth keeping a eye on the prices. Alternatively, there might be a way in which you can still pay the same price but get an upgrade. Behind the scenes I bet there’s a fair bit of juggling going on, but Thomson’s have the advantage because they know, and you don’t, what other passengers are doing [putting up with it in most cases I suspect!]. Best of luck and have a happy holiday.

A further thought . . . in anybody’s book it is no longer honest to market this cruise under the title “Best of the Black Sea” since it cannot get you into Odessa, Sevastopol and Yalta and the substituted destinations are much less appealing.

To ‘S Patel’,

If I’m not mistaken, your best course of action at this stage would be to make contact with ABTA (the Association of British Travel Agents).

Their website is http://www.abta.com

On their site, you may also find this http://abta.com/resource-zone/faqs/search&category=103&&43 page of frequently asked questions of some use to yourself.

Also, they have a consumer helpline “open from 10.00-16.00 Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays”. This is reachable by calling 020 3117 0599 (so likely +44207 3117 0599 from abroad).

If at-all needed, ABTA’s postal address is “ABTA Ltd, 30 Park Street, London, SE1 9EQ”.

Finally, and if I’m understanding you correctly that you had paid in-advance (i.e.: before you left the UK) for the airport-to-hotel transfer(s), then there is some potential that as this was not provided as I assume you understood should have happened,f this may constitute a breach of contract. The Citizens Advice Bureau’s excellent* Consumer helpline – reachable on 03454 04 05 06 (+443454 04 05 06) or via the the relevant contact form link on this page http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/consumer_e/consumer_protection_for_the_consumer_e/consumer_citizens_advice_consumer_service_e/if_you_need_more_help.htm – ought to be able to advise you on this matter and what your next course of action should be.

I trust that this helps, and wish you the very best of luck.

Regards,
Tim.

* = I recommend it personally as I have used them myself previously and they’ve been very good and haven’t let me down yet – in-fact they have always given out the correct advice (often as I understood but wanted to confirm was indeed the case under the law) to me.