04 Sep 2023
FYI WE DID NOT SAIL with this company bc they canceled it when we would not bypass the platform we booked it with.
Beware if this company contacts you directly asking you to bypass the reservation platform you booked with to book directly with them to "save money" because of "recently raised fees".
If you refuse they may cancel your booking completely!
This happened to us, therefore we had to scramble to book something else.
After they asked us to cancel w airbnb where we had booked it and rebook directly with them I said we'd think about it. We had a very busy week and I was not able to get back to him immediately. I then did a little research and I saw a few reviews (including on TA) from people saying they were having a hard time getting their refund so I was uneasy being dishonest and bypassing the platform and then having to chase after our refund if the trip were canceled for any reason (ie weather).
I also saw a review from a year ago of someone saying the same thing happened to them - that they were contacted and asked to cancel and rebook without the 3rd party platform "because of recently raised fees" - so this was not a new tactic.
I did not cancel our reservation via airbnb. We felt we should keep it as we had already paid in full. 36 hours later I got a message that our trip was canceled by them.
Unreal.
If they do not want to lose money on 3rd party commission fees then they should not work with any 3rd party booking agencies like Trip Advisor (where there are 3 negative reviews about this) or Airbnb. We are more comfortable using recognized platforms where we know we can obtain a refund when appropriate.
The integrity of this company is questionable in our opinion.
I am sure people have had nice excursions with them - we weren't given the chance as we wanted to keep our booking via airbnb.
I have a full text exchange showing that they asked us to cancel with airbnb and rebook with them to bypass the fees. When I did not do this they canceled our reservation. Period.
Nothing here is fabricated despite the angry response from the owner on Trustpilot. I already stated that we did not sail with them.
I have nothing against people trying to save money, or have better profits for their business but to force someone to cancel and rebook "or else" is unacceptable.
So this is just a heads up to my fellow TA travelers.