might not be the right thread but I'll put it here

[diverrick]

My wife and I have paid in FULL(in advance) for a week long, liveaboard diving trip to the Turks and Ciacos, with (deleted at my wife request, as she is currently working on working out a mutually agreeable deal), airfare and extra days at a local hotel included. All of this was done through a travel agent (also deleted for the moment).

We are two weeks out and they( the dive boat operator, not the travel agent) called today and cancelled the trip!! They said that we were the only ones to book the weeks trip. They said would go if they had a couple of more couples/persons, but seeing as we were the only ones to book, they are calling it off.

Does this sound right? Maybe there is something I should know, why no one wants to dive these two weeks?? They claim they are always booked and this is the first time this has ever occured. Peak hurricane season maybe??? or something more sinister?? Like they got a better deal, and are bumping us off??

We have paid for hotels afterwards, to stay and dive a bit more after we get off the boat due to the high airfares during the weekends. Now it is all off.

This what they are offering us...
Free Nitrox (150.00 PP cost X2 =300.00)
Difference in price, as new dive boat location is cheaper, they will refund us the difference.
Same price we paid for this years trip, for any future trip (one trip) anytime in the future.
Upgrade in room.
They will pay for all expenses related to airfare changes.

New dive boat will be St Kitts, St Martin, Saba, Satia (sp?)

At first glance it sounds good, but I was not intending to dive in St Kitts or those other places. I thought they were more for the beach/ sunbathers crowds.

How's the diving there? In comparision to Roatan, Belize, Cozumel GC, Etc? Places I am familiar with.

I just got in from work, and will look into this more this weekend. After all that work putting together a package, they throw in the towel. At least it's not last minute. And they have all of our money!!

All your inputs would be apprieciated as this is a very sudden change in plans I did not see coming.

 

[diverrick]

Maybe this could be moved over to the Carribean forums?

 

[WOODMAN]

Interesting. I know who you are talking about, as I am booked with them for mid October, and we have 6 divers so far and they said anything from 4 up is a go. (20 passenger vessel, and they will go with 4 divers! Amazing!) But you were the only ones, hunh? Man, I find that hard to believe. I thought we were the abberation with only 6 divers, but now I am starting to wonder. My last dive trip (with the Juliet) was only half full also. Hmmmmm. (Maybe I should try a new mouthwash?:11: )
Anyway, the deals they are offering you sound unusually fair, and a lot better than I have seen in similiar situations elsewhere. (Sorry, we cancelled. Have a nice day!:mooner: ) Is the replacement itinerary for the same time frame? If it is, then it is probably the best of a bad situation. I feel for you, as I have been here before. (but not with THAT replacement package!) I hope things work out for you. Keep us posted:blinking: Woody

 

[diverrick]

Same dates, just different location. I have a list of places I wanted to dive in the future, and St Martin, Satia, St Kitts was not on the list. But, like you said, maybe it's making the best out of a bum deal, considering the short time lne available to re-plan the whole thing with someone else, not to mention the lag between getting our money back, and paying out for a whole new trip. I think we are leaning towards going for it. At least at this hour. ;-)

 

[diversteve]

Saba's always been on my short list. Although I wouldn't want to stay there, I've read it's pretty basic. So a liveaboard might be a good alternative.

P.S. It's STatia. I think it's short for St. Eustatius.

 

[Damselfish]

They spend the most time at Saba which is on my short list too (it's not for the beach crowd - they don't have beaches.) A bit of diving in St Kitts and Statia seems like it could be interesting. St. Maarten is not known for great diving but I believe they don't bother with it it's just a port to them. Seems like a good place to play and pig out for a few days though.

It sounds like they're giving you a very good deal, basically a free cruise in the future and plenty of other considerations. I think I'd actually consider the whole thing a lucky break.

BTW, given the 2 locations it's pretty obvious which boats you're talking about. 2 weeks out? I was seriously considering that trip, I even thought about staying on the boat for 2 weeks with the deal they're offering. But I decided not to take my chances in the hurricane belt this year.

It is interesting that they are offering great deals for the Saba trip all of August plus their contest. For T&C they aren't offering any deals and the contest is only for the first week of August. So that would mean either T&C is filled, or they don't think they can fill both boats so they're trying to encourage all bookings on one.

 

[diverrick]

Well I had to sit and stew all weekend due to everyone being closed. Good timing, I guess, as it forced me to think about it all, and look at the options. I will be calling today to work out a few of the finer details.
I would really like to know the truth though. Were they TRULY unable to book anyone else for that week, heck I probably could have gotten someone to fill in, seeing as they will go with four persons. OR..... Did they get a better offer for that boat, for that week, and need to get rid of people like us to make room. The only true way to know, would be to be standing at the dock on departure day, and see if the boats leaves or not. Maybe it will all be better than the original trip. I guess we'll find out.

 

[WOODMAN]

But I decided not to take my chances in the hurricane belt this year.

I wonder if this is not the main problem with everybody. We got hammered so bad last year, (I was in Cozumel on the first commercial flight that went back in after the dust settled post Wilma, and yipes!:icon10: ) that maybe everyone is gunshy this year? I don't pretend to be an expert on global warming or weather forcasting, but everything I have been hearing is predicting more of the same for this year, and if so, this is gonna really put a damper on the tourism industries down in these areas. I am afraid that Israeli tourism is gonna do better than Caribbean travel this year, and that's going to hurt :shakehead . Maybe I'm wrong. I hope so, for all our sakes. But a well known and regarded liveaboard in a popular (and fairly local) destination who couldn't get more than 2 people to sign on (or so they say)? There has to be a reason. Anybody else know of any similiar monkeybusiness on the other liveaboards in the Caribbean? Or the land based operators? I know there are a fair number of these people who frequent this board, so let's hear from them. How is it looking this year?:icon5: Woody

 

[Damselfish]

I'm sure the whole hurricane thing last year and the predictions for this year are affecting them, I certainly thought about it. The odds of getting seriously whacked any particular week in any particular location seem tolerable to me and don't actually worry me too much. But there's definitely a much higher chance of getting really crappy weather from something half formed or even a distant storm, or things being all stirred up from last weeks storm, that sort of thing. I've run into that a couple times.

 

[Bbarnes]

If you can dive in Saba and Statia GO FOR IT!!!! We were there in June and the diving was unbelievable! Saba is famous for its deepwater pinnacles. Statia has a wonderful variety of muck diving, walls, shallow reef, smaller pinnacles etc. You can even hunt for "blue beads" that were used by slaves dating back to the 17th century)Both islands' reefs are absolutely pristine as there is so little traffic there. There are no cattle boats (Saba has 3 dive shops, I only know of one on Statia. )There is some beach on Statia and only a 'seasonal' beach on Saba. If you want relaxing, you can't beat these islands. Saba is only 5 sq. miles, Statia is just slightly larger. The people on both islands were friendly and helpful. Crime is virtually non existant on either island. Man, I wish someone would offer me a trip back there soon!!!!!