A cruise passenger has expressed frustration due to being owed over $400 from an independent cruise agent, following a cancellation of their booked tour in Greenland.
Jill Reiter was booked on a Carnival cruise to Greenland and Canada on Carnival Legend in 2023 with her family, but the cruise line stated that it would not be arranging excursions in the Greenland ports.
So when Sandra O’Leary, of Sandra’s Cruise Tours, promoted her own excursions on Facebook to those going on the cruise, Reiter signed up, paying $424 for a day trip in Nanortalik for her family.
The itinerary was then shortened due to weather issues, with the Greenland ports cancelled, but Reiter stated that she was unable to get a refund for the excursion from O’Leary.
Not only that, but she claimed that O’Leary changed the terms of her website after the tours had been booked, stating that tours were not refundable.
Reiter tried to get a refund from O’Leary and even issued a chargeback through her bank, although Santander denied this due to the terms on the website stating no refunds were allowed.
O’Leary claimed that she was left out of pocket due to the operator of the tour in Greenland, which was delaying her from refunding passengers including Reiter.
She has since claimed that she will issue refunds minus her own expenses, though under pressure from the website Consumer Rescue she has refused to state what those expenses are.
O’Leary has also claimed that she offered a 50% refund immediately with the remaining refund to follow in at the start of the new year, but that anyone who went down the chargeback route would have to instead abide by the bank’s decision, stating that she would not be refunding Reiter for that reason.
She later claimed that she would refund Reiter in exchange for Reiter closing down a Facebook group regarding the situation.
Consumer Rescue is acting on Reiter’s behalf to get her money back but, as it stands, no refund has been issued.
The website has issued advice to anyone considering booking excursions through a third party:
- Always book refundable excursions
- Screenshot the information about the excursion at the time of booking
- Use online reviews to vet companies before booking your excursions
- Avoid unlicensed middlemen and use reliable companies instead
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- Finding Affordable Shore Excursions: Tips and Tricks
Jenni Fielding is the founder of Cruise Mummy. She has worked in the cruise industry since 2015 and has taken over 30 cruises. Now, she helps over 1 million people per month to plan their perfect cruise holidays.
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Jill and her family are not the only ones owed money there are many more people myself included who Sandra has refused to refund. Her reasoning makes no sense other than greed on her part. I’ve resigned myself to not getting my money back but I will warn every person I can about her shady business practices.