Covid-19 (coronavirus) Updates - Liveaboard Cancellation Policy

[Dan]

Wow - Seeing what many of you are going through it makes my issues with PADI Travel and Discovery Divers in Egypt/Red Sea seem trivial.

I was supposed to leave today to arrive in time for my sailing that leaves on May 23rd for two weeks (two back to back one week bookings) on the Red Sea. I live in Hawaii so it takes days to get to Egypt. Discovery Divers kept insisting that the trip was going. In fact, it still hasn't been (officially) cancelled even though there is a 14 day quarantine and all commercial flights are suspended within Egypt.

My original flights were cancelled. I booked new flights. They were cancelled. I told PADI Travel I couldn't get to Egypt and had to postpone my trip. I re-booked for August, which is the LOW season in Egypt. The booking is identical to the trips I had to cancel. I was immediately charged 400 Euros more because the cost of the trip has increased.

I e-mailed PADI Travel and explained that my original trip was in the height of the high season in Egypt while the new trip is in the low season. I also told them that a direct exchange seemed more reasonable since I had no control over flights being cancelled into the country. PADI Travel ignored my e-mail. After several days I wrote again and asked for a response. It was, essentially, like it or lump it - that's the policy. It costs more so you have to pay it.

Like others have expressed, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

That doesn’t sound right. I just got email from Liveaboard.com offering July 25 Red Sea 8D/7N trip with Tala for $777 (25% off)
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[P-Dog]

That doesn’t sound right. I just got email from Liveaboard.com offering July 25 Red Sea 8D/7N trip with Tala for $777 (25% off)
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Yes...other boats are offering sales. Mine isn't offering any sort of sale and is charging me a higher rate. 20% higher.

 

[Dan]

Yes...other boats are offering sales. Mine isn't offering any sort of sale and is charging me a higher rate. 20% higher.

Never heard or seen a liveaboard trip cost jump up by 20% from one year to the next in my 15 years of liveaboard diving. May be 5% increase.

My last trip there with Aggressor was only $1000.
BDE Trip Report, 21-28 December, 2019

 

[P-Dog]

Never heard or seen a liveaboard trip cost jump up by 20% from one year to the next in my 15 years of liveaboard diving. May be 5% increase.

My last trip there with Aggressor was only $1000.
BDE Trip Report, 21-28 December, 2019

20% seemed extreme to me, too. 5% seemed like it would be more reasonable as an annual rate change, but this is my first liveaboard, so I thought I could have been wrong.

I was doing two back to back bookings, so it's an extremely large increase amount, plus I paid extra for an upper deck cabin. Each week, originally, including the upper cabin fee was 1,075 Euros. Now it's 200 Euros more per week. It doesn't make any sense. They are falling back on the excuse that I booked it in (December) 2019, so I have to pay the difference now.

 

[P-Dog]

I call BS on it too..It's not a new booking. They aren't even able to run the trip as they had to cancel the sailing. It is essentially a reschedule. Please keep us posted.

So I've heard nothing. I sent an e-mail the other day to Discovery Divers and they told me to contact PADI Travel. So I called PADI Travel and the gal said she'd escalate it and I'd hear back in a day. That was a few days ago.

So today I sent a joint email to both Discovery Divers and PADI Travel saying that I was going to do a charge back on my credit card for the entire trip if this didn't get resolved. Discovery Divers cancelled the trip and are trying to charge me more for a re-schedule. I pointed out that they didn't meet the terms of the contract and are now trying to penalize me, that they created a new policy after the fact that wasn't in the contract, yada, yada, yada...

I told them I'd still like to go, so if they'd like to work with me, I'm happy to work with them.

 

[P-Dog]

So I've heard nothing. I sent an e-mail the other day to Discovery Divers and they told me to contact PADI Travel. So I called PADI Travel and the gal said she'd escalate it and I'd hear back in a day. That was a few days ago.

So today I sent a joint email to both Discovery Divers and PADI Travel saying that I was going to do a charge back on my credit card for the entire trip if this didn't get resolved. Discovery Divers cancelled the trip and are trying to charge me more for a re-schedule. I pointed out that they didn't meet the terms of the contract and are now trying to penalize me, that they created a new policy after the fact that wasn't in the contract, yada, yada, yada...

I told them I'd still like to go, so if they'd like to work with me, I'm happy to work with them.

Update - No reply from either PADI Travel or Discovery Divers. I never got a call back from PADI Travel after I spoke to them early last week and was told that it would be escalated to a team leader and I would be called back within a day. I filed a dispute with my credit card this morning. We'll see what happens.

 

[O-ring]

Update - No reply from either PADI Travel or Discovery Divers. I never got a call back from PADI Travel after I spoke to them early last week and was told that it would be escalated to a team leader and I would be called back within a day. I filed a dispute with my credit card this morning. We'll see what happens.

Definitely keep us updated. We were wondering if this would work given the stated terms and conditions on most of the LOB sites.

 

[P-Dog]

Definitely keep us updated. We were wondering if this would work given the stated terms and conditions on most of the LOB sites.

I will, for sure. I went with the stated terms on their contract/invoice which was only their cancellation policy. It was very clear that if *I* cancelled I wasn't due diddly squat. But in this case *they* cancelled (yes...extenuating circumstances, for sure). Then they created a re-booking policy after they cancelled.

I talked to the credit company and was very clear that they offered a re-booking but wanted more money for the identical trip. The guy told me that people have been losing against hotels and airlines who offered vouchers good for a year instead of cash refunds, but he hasn't seen the situation of charging more for the same trip before.

So, we'll see what happens.

 

[living4experiences]

Update - No reply from either PADI Travel or Discovery Divers. I never got a call back from PADI Travel after I spoke to them early last week and was told that it would be escalated to a team leader and I would be called back within a day. I filed a dispute with my credit card this morning. We'll see what happens.

I find all these schemes that these companies are coming up with are just creative ways to gouge us for more money or make up new policies to keep the money we've already paid. Good for you for filing a credit card dispute! Be prepared for a long wait for the investigation. I filed a dispute with my credit card company for what the live-aboard company did to me. That was in March and I'm still waiting for an answer.

 

[P-Dog]

I find all these schemes that these companies are coming up with are just creative ways to gouge us for more money or make up new policies to keep the money we've already paid. Good for you for filing a credit card dispute! Be prepared for a long wait for the investigation. I filed a dispute with my credit card company for what the live-aboard company did to me. That was in March and I'm still waiting for an answer.

In my case it was eight separate charges so it's eight separate disputes. Eight investigations and investigators. Three immediately found in my favor. Who knows about the other five? And, PADI travel has 60 days to contest it.