When Mark and Vicki Serisier first saw pictures and brochures of the new Scenic Eclipse two years ago, they were bowled over.
“It looked like the trip of a lifetime. Normally, cruises are not something that appealed to us but this looked like it would be fabulous and luxurious,” said Vicki.
So Mark surprised Vicki by booking a 12-day trip to Antarctica, set to depart in November this year.
Now the Queensland couple are devastated, after learning from Cruise Passenger’s website and their travel agent that the ship’s launch has been delayed for six months.
They have already spent around $4,000 on a deposit for the cruise as well as extra costs for hotels, flights and side trips. And because they are committed to the flights, they are desperately trying to fill the 12-day hole left by the cruise cancellation.
The couple first learned of the cancellation through their travel agent and a Cruise Passenger article. They have still to be contacted by Scenic.
The company’s owner and CEO, Glen Moroney said in a statement last week that guests had been informed and the company would be giving them 25 per cent off future Scenic cruises.
“Despite the best efforts of our Scenic Eclipse Build Supervision Team to make up construction time, we are not prepared to compromise the quality of the vessel and potentially impact guest experiences to meet the original late August 2018 launch date.
“We have apologised to affected guests for the inconvenience caused and confirmed that Scenic will provide a full refund for the cost of their Scenic Eclipse cruise and consideration of any other reasonable associated costs incurred with their travel plans.”
But the Serisier’s have yet to been contacted – and are angered by what they see as a “lack of transparency”.
Vicki said: “We haven’t even been contacted by Scenic and it wasn’t till our travel agent contacted us, while she was on holiday, and told us the news. It’s an absolute lie that they have contacted their passengers and apologised.
“I had to jump online to find out more information on Cruise Passenger’s website – Scenic’s website didn’t have any extra information.”
Cruise Passenger could not find anything about the delay on the line’s website, scenic.com.au, when we searched on Thursday. The 2018/19 brochures for the Scenic Eclipse were still on offer.
The couple planned to spend $100,000 on their dream holiday, nearly half of it on the cruise to Antarctica. And they cannot get refunds for flights and hotels, so have to make the trips anyway.
“South America is a long haul so we had planned a massive trip around the Scenic Eclipse cruise. We can’t get out of our flights, tours and hotels booked and on top of that, we have a 12-day chunk in the middle of the trip, which was dedicated to the cruise,” said Mark.
“But you would expect, with guests spending a lot of money on this holiday, that Scenic would have informed their guests. It’s also just poor project management.
“We understand the ship is suppose to have her maiden sailings start next month, and the company would have known that they were behind schedule a long time ago.”
At this stage, the couple will go ahead with their South American trip as planned, but without the cruise aboard the Eclipse.
“It’s extremely disappointing and we are frustrated and annoyed. We took time off work. Around that time of year, we normally spend it with family. Now, we’ll have to fork out extra money next year to be able to go on the cruise,” said Vicki.
The $250 million Scenic Eclipse has the capacity for 228 passengers and has features onboard like specialty restaurants, a mini-submarine as well as two helicopters.
The Polar Class 6 ice rated ship was set to sail through the Russian Arctic, the Northwest Passage, Southern Greenland, Alaska and more.
Scenic is appealing a judgement made last year in which it was found the company failed to inform passengers about European river levels and the effect on sailings. More than 1,200 unhappy travellers took part in the legal action.
Cruise Passenger asked Scenic about the Serisier’s voyage. A spokesperson said, “We are contacting our client and their agents in order of departure date. If the guests are on a departure that has been cancelled then, yes, they will receive a full refund and a future travel credit. Other associated travel costs will be reviewed.”
The spokesperson said in response to the couple’s claim, “The delays are as a result of unforseeable issues at the shipyard.”
Do you know more? Contact us at cruisepassenger.com.au
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Also affected by Scenic Eclipse cancellation. Like the couple here we had a 6 week trip of a lifetime planned around our Antartica cruise on 6th January.
Because of the time of year we are departing EVERYTHING is non refundable – except our long haul international flights and because they are to South America the change penalties are more than the original cost!
We have managed to salvage our holiday by booking into a cruise around the same time which is not of the same standard as the eclipse, but due to the last minute nature of our booking costs just as much. We book d our cruise 2 years in advance and it was early bird pricing.
Those of you raving about travel insurance – it wouldn’t help you. Insurance will compensate you if you cancel your trip due to unforeseen circumstances or if there is a natural disaster which means you can’t go. It won’t compensate you if the service provider is at fault (rightly so) as they are here, because it is SCENIC’s responsibility to compensate people.
I’ve not heard from Scenic in almost 3 weeks. I’ve had to take this to the department of fair trading for them to sort out now.
Oh for you people saying “there’s worse things in the world” well yes that’s true, but it’s not about that. It’s about fairness. If we just dismiss it everytime a service provider rips people off they’ll keep doing it. Cruise was priced at $20k per person it’s not like it’s a small amount.
We booked the “Cuba in Depth” cruise,to sail on the 18th October,this we did with Scenic Team,directly, giving them the full payment the 9th June. They had to know that the ship was not going to be ready in time,yet still took our money!!!!!!! We are still waiting for our refund and hopefully “reasonable expenses”, have changed the dates of our flights, to Miami, for March,with a change penalty and will sail with Silversea, once again,our 6th cruise.
We had two cruises booked with Scenic…one was part of the inaugural cruise in September and the second three weeks later.
We were contacted by email and phone and received a full refund the following day.I am still awaiting news regarding the axtra travel arrangements we had made….however, extremely disappointed and angry at such a late cancellation.
We have rebooked the cruises now sailing in 2019 and 2020 but the 25% discount is on the cruise part of the trip and so the discount is not as generous as it sounds!!! We are also paying on the new cruise prices…we originally booked at 2017 prices…..words fail me.
I think Dorothy, holiday brats and real life need to have a little compassion.
clearly this poor couple have forked out thousands of dollars (that they have probably worked very hard for) and taken time off work to enjoy a trip, only to have a major part of it cancelled on them and Scenic haven’t even had the courtesy to let them know.
I’ve had similar experiences with holidays and you can’t always get the money back for flights and hotels.
I would be extremely disappointed, maybe even “devastated” if this happened to me.
I think this couple is entitled to be upset by it.
Have to agree about travel insurance as I was thinking same thing ,i thought paying up front for hotels was a thing of the past also unless you or your travel agent picked the non refundable deal and you can even take out insurance for flight changes or cancellations thats just common sense to me , i think these things should of been checked with your travel agent
Hello
My husband and I were also booked to travel in December to Antartica on the Eclipse. We booked directly through Scenic and were informed of the cancellation by email on 5th July. I phoned our Scenic contact directly and received our refund for the full amount of the cruise last Thursday (one week from notification). We have also been informed that Scenic will consider reasonable compensation.
Luckily I was able to find another cruise to Antartica travelling close to the same dates so have adapted our travel plans to suit. I cannot thank Scenic enough for their efficiency in looking after us and for the quick and full return of our money. I hope others are as fortunate as us with finding a solution and being looked after
Also affected by Eclipse cancellation – not the first cancellation with Scenic so now Azamara Club Cruises is our preferred cruise line as we have cruised with them 4 times and cannot fault them. Also had a cancelled cruise with them owing to ship being hit by debris and propeller damaged so they offered 50% off another cruise with 2 years to decide when to take it plus all refunds connected to the cruise including visas, flights etc. paid out almost immediately. I would recommend their Antarctic cruise in January, 2019 to Mark and Vicki as a replacement because the quality is there but not the exorbitant price.
While in that part of the world (the Americas) in November, we also had another cruise plus trips within America all being done and paid for to align with our final destination to meet up with Eclipse which fortunately was at the end of our holiday but now we are having problems finding a replacement so will probably come home. We would not have been doing any of this if we were not going on Eclipse considering we have family in the UK. While I appreciate Scenic giving a full refund, any associated costs connected with their sector and 25% discount towards another cruise, it is very disappointing that 5 months (end August, 2018 to January, 2019) had to be cancelled because in this day and age, they should have been more alert as to what was occurring with the building stages. We have been with Scenic on river cruises and land tours for 8 journeys and have always been pleased with their service!
Mind you, this is our 5th cancellation (car accident, pirates on previous cruise, ship not ready, ship damaged) of a cruise in 10 years and we still enjoy travelling.
What do you mean you can’t get our of you ‘flights, tours and hotel bookings’ – what rubbish. Even with Jetstar you can change dates on bookings unless you’ve booked the cheapest starter fares. Hotel bookings can generally be cancelled up to 2 days prior to the reserved date, without penalty. Etc Etc, and your bookings are for MONTHS away yet.
Bit too much whingeing going on here, methinks.
Surely this couple took out travel insurance as soon as they paid their deposit, if not, why not?
Yes Brain you are correct, as soon as you pay your money your up ship creek as far as scenic are concerned and they aren’t about to offer you a paddle.
Had a similar experience with Scenic and they wouldn’t even return communication, a river cruise which turned into a coach tour in broken down old coaches, broken toilets and no air conditioning not even close to what’s offered in their publicity.
Wouldn’t use them if they were the last tour company on the planet.
Sounds like you are both up ship creek ? Brian
“Devistated” by the change to their holiday plans !
Devistated is how you may feel after experiencing death and destruction.
Get a grip!
This couple need to grow up . stop complaining about ridiculous things. Take a look at what’s going on in the world and get some perspective.
Yes, definitely pays to have travel insurance..as soon as you book!
Good Afternoon,
I am also affected by the Scenic Eclipse problem and have not been contacted directly by Scenic. My information came through my travel agent.
The first cruise is not November but is in December 2018 which is what I was on.
While I feel sorry for the Serisiers and anyone affected, including myself in which I placed my deposit on this trip in November 2015, a 3 years dream down the toilet so to speak, I do not think that their travel agent is doing a very good job. My travel agent had tentatively booked me a suite on a Ponant cruise which is cruising at the same time and also the next availble spot on the Eclipse which unfortunately is not until November 2019. I have a trip to the Amazon before the Scenic cruise and it was up to me as to which way I wanted to go.
I agree that Scenic would have known earlier than 1 month prior to it’s first cruise but my travel agent has basically been in touch with Scenic several times in the past week and they are very apologetic and are working towards no passenger being out of pocket because of the delay.
Travel insurance?
Surely all costs are covered if the cruise is unable to go ahead.