Aged care front line worker Melinda Manley wanted to push the boat out when her partner retired. And since he had never been out of the country, she booked their dream – a $60,000 European land and cruise tour.
But like so many travel dreams, it was dashed by COVID-19. Their Scenic holiday was cancelled by the line 42 days before their departure.
At the time, huge numbers of holiday plans lay in tatters, and travel companies were under enormous pressure as travellers demanded refunds. Ms Manley’s claim was among them.
At first, she was offered a cruise credit. But, as a front line health worker, she didn’t know when she could get time off work for an extended period again, so asked instead for a refund.
The luxury travel group was only prepared to refund the couple $9,429 while the remaining $59,877 was deemed a “total cancellation fee” according to Ms Manley and partner Michael Butler.
“Because I’m a frontline worker in the government sector, I don’t know when I will be eligible to take my long service leave,” said Ms Manley. “And what Scenic had offered is a future cruise credit which we could use for up to December 2022, but we might not be able to take the trip in that time.”
The couple had booked a panoramic suite on a 14-day Amsterdam to Budapest voyage, return business class airfares with Emirates as well as an 18-day land tour through England and Ireland. Everything was booked through Scenic.
The couple recently purchased a home in the Melbourne suburb of Eltham shortly after the trip was cancelled and were hoping to receive a full refund to put towards their new home.
But so far, talks with the line and their agent have not resolved the situation.
“We are worried we might not be able to choose our sailing date. As there are only two of those panoramic suites on those river ships, they may get booked out quickly.”
“But we are working with our travel agent who is working with Scenic to see if we can come to some sort of an arrangement. We have been asked to submit in a letter to Scenic from our travel agent so hopefully, we should have a result soon.
“There are no guarantees though, that we will get our money back.”
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission COVID-19 guidelines state it is expected consumers will receive a refund or other remedy such as a credit note or voucher when travel is cancelled.
Scenic are within those guidelines.
Cruise Passenger spoke to Scenic about the case. Though the line did not want to go on the record, it explained it had been forced to mount a huge operation to refund thousands of passengers, and most cases had been resolved.
Scenic is a well-known Australian river and ocean line which carries many thousands of Australians, British and Canadian passengers each year.
The line confirmed it is working with Ms Manley and Mr Butler, as well as the couple’s travel agent and third-party providers. But due to the complexities of the couple’s holiday, there are still some issues to work through.
Tens of thousands of Australians are still waiting on refunds from a number of travel companies including Flight Centre as well as cruise lines in what amounts to one of the biggest refund operations the world has ever seen.
We are still waiting from cruise first in Sydney for 21 weeks as p&0 gave them the refund in May they say we are short staffed but they are still advertising on the net,it’s amount of 8 thousand but better of in our bank not there’s.
I had two couples scheduled and pad in full on the Eclipse. One couple received their $20K+ refund over a month ago. The other couple is still waiting. I have hours and hours invested in getting these refunds processed. Scenic is not protecting my commission. Deplorable.
Never book a Scenic trip after what they are doing to this Aussie Couple
I thought Scenic was a great Australian company but if they treat there customers like that I will not be using them I would rather thravrl Australis and do my own bookings
Had a river cruise on the Mekong in Vietnam and Cambodia scheduled for 4 of us with Viking River Cruise and got a refund in 2 days upon cancellation due to Covid. Can’t say enough about how great the company is!
We booked a river cruise through APT. They were only willing to give us a third refund OR credit for another tour. We also wrote them a letter as advised from our travel agent but to no avail. We are in our seventies and my health is declining the only offer they gave us was to extend the credit to 2022. I think they are hoping we won’t be around to use the credit. We told them we won’t be travelling overseas
again. Their holidays in Australia are very expensive so we are in limbo like so many Australians as we don’t know how long this virus will hang around!!!!
Pity the ACCC is not on the consumer’s side, despite the law. Seems the ACCC have become a toothless tiger.
Point is that Scenic cancelled, not the consumer. I’ve read of people cancelling to avoid paying balances on cruises, only to have the cruise line cancel days after cruise lines have collected final payments. That stinks. You cancel and lose your money. They wait until you pay in full before cancelling and then keep you waiting for a promised refund.
Got a friend in Germany. He complained because one cruise line took 3 weeks to refund in full! Told him how lucky he was. Different consumer laws over there which are enforced.
So are Scenic saying they booked non-refundable services, paid in advance and can’t get the money back no matter what? Regardless, is that the customer’s problem?
Did Scenic in 2009 Canada / Alaska. Not cheap but excellent. Would not have expected this behaviour from them.
We have just been told by apt the same thing for the same river cruise that a credit will be given to use up to 2022 . We have paid for a package from Australia as well so I feel for you as we are now in the same boat
Another perfect example of an” honest form of racketeering” by those cash hungry cruises companies!. Don’t drop your case!
Will be booking a river cruise myself once we are out of Covid. Scenic was to be the provider. After reading that article APT are looking good.
I have always held Scenic in high esteem. They should do their best to keep their good reputation by giving refunds to customers if that’s what they request. I too have thought about booking a river cruise with them. Who knows when we will have the opportunity to travel OS again? Best of luck to everyone who is owed $$ from travel agents & companies
Wow – I had looked a Scenic for a possible future cruise option, but seeing how they are treating this couple there is absolutely no way I would now.
My travel agency has secured my refund for my overseas trip was was cancelled by the cruise company . The whole team has worked hard and tirelessly and I do appreciate all that they have done for me as well assisting other clients at the same time.
Get a lawyer now. Don’t wait any longer. Australian Consumer Protection Laws are clearly on your side. Write to Aussie lawyer Ben Hemsworth. He won the recent lawsuit (and appeal) against Scenic.
http://www.somervillelegal.com.au