ATHENA a ship going nowhere

All packed and ready to depart this Friday to fly to Rome and join the ship Athena for the voyage back to Australia.

  Two days ago a friend in SA phoned and says he has heard my intended cruise ship has been seized in port a week ago and will be going nowhere

Frantic calls to the shipping company in Sydney...no replies

Further frantic calls to my travel agent in Brisbane and instructed to leave message. No reply

Emails remain unanswered from my travel company.

Finally trace the Athena on the web to find the company has gone into administrative receivership and yes the ship has been seized in a Meditteranean port. It is certainly going nowhere and it seems nor am I

Surely my travel agent has a responsible duty to have kept me informed, I could already be on my way to Rome and further travel debt as no doubt many other passengers due to board this ship in Rome in less than a week will be.

Contacted my travel insurance company and find that it does not cover me as the shipping company has gone into voluntary liquidation.

I know that it is not quite the end of the world, however being in my eighties it feels like it.

5 comments

Scallywag, did you happen to pay by credit card? If so, it might pay you to contact them, depending on how long ago you paid, they may be able to reverse the transaction on the basis of "goods/services not supplied"......worth a try in any case.

Ouch! What a nasty end to a holidy scallywag.

I think you have to get in touch with the appointed administrator and request your money back plus the additonal expenses that you incurred as a result of the non travel.

Unfortunately they only usually give back a proportion.

How very disappointing for you. I hope it does not sour your love of travelling and you go on an even better trip and also you get any money back you have paid.

..

I would have thought booking with a travel agent safe in all ways but watching some of the mistakes made and people turning up at airports with no seat after booking 6 months ahead  makes us think do it ourselves over the net (it is nto fair to have any worries) when looking forward to a holiday.

All the best and good luck.

 

I would double check on your holiday insurer through the ombudsmans dept in your state.

They often change their minds after a bit of arm twisting and bad publicity.

That is good advice from Davey, scalliwag.  Unfortunately legal costs make a lot of these things uneconomically,  BUT, I wonder if you could not tackle the Travel Agent through the state Dept. of Fair Trading under the State laws on warranty?  I have never heard of it in the past, but it would be worth looking at.  Best of luck.  The argument would be a very debatable question as to whether you purchased goods or services.  I would argue goods which is covered by State Laws.

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