Unhappy with Flight Centre / CruiseAbout
I telephoned CruiseAbout/Flight Centre on 31st December 2019 with the view to booking a honeymoon cruise for my wife and myself in February 2020. I spoke to Michielle Bendetti who immediately advised that she had a wonderful deal for me and that I would have make immediate payment to secure the booking which I did, this included flights and a shuttle from the airport to the harbour and back to the airport when we arrived back. She also advised that this would be a wonderful cruise on the MSC Orchestra. After the money had left my bank the communication went dead and I battled to reach her by telephone or e-mail. The cruise was an absolute nightmare, it was overcrowded and all in all very unpleasant (details will be provided in the attachment). When my wife phoned Michielle after the cruise she advised that she had never received feedback of this nature and that we need to send an e-mail, which I did. The flight back was also booked for 5 hours later than we arrived at the airport, i.e. we disimbarked at 06h00 and arrived at the airport at 07h00 and our flight back was at 14h05. I tried to change this for an earlier flight at a cost of approximately R1,500.00 but I was unable to do so as it was booked by a travel agent so we sat at the airport. I posted my experience on social media and got to deal with the Customer Experience Expert team, after Michielle's refusal to take any responsibility after the fact (also detailed in the same attached communication). MSC requested a copy of the e-mail via a social media platform which I sent them. They opened a case for me personally as well a case for Flight Centre. On my personal case they came back with an offer of R1,480.00 on the next cruise will all types of restrictions as well as on a non-disclosure basis. After this experience we will never go on a cruise again and the offer from MSC is quite frankly insulting and will be declined. Flight Centre then came back with the same communication from MSC accepting no liability whatsoever. I believe that Michielle should have transparent and open and advised me of the dynamic on the ship as I told her I had a problem with overcrowding, this is now denied however, when I collected our package from her I discussed a trip to Bali and as she was aware of the overcrowding issue she recommended quieter places to visit, I have that brochure with her recommendations. I do not believe that Michielle was unaware of the deals that equated to around R3,000.00pp for 4 people sharing a cabin which would create this dynamic, neither do I believe that there have not been other complaints, I have taken screenshots of other patrons complaints in line with the complaints that we raised. I find the stance that flight centre have taken grossly unfair and unethical.
The screenshots and other attachments referred to are not printing clearly but I would be happy to send these via e-mail. 