So there you are, thinking of a cruise to someplace exotic, perhaps romantic.  Wherever it is and whatever it is, it is not where you are now.

You’re looking for a getaway, something that will let you leave your cares behind.  No worries, no details, just leave everything to someone else.  Stop the mail, kennel the dog, have the neighbors watch the house, and just go.

So you contact a travel agent for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and tell them of your dream.  The agent says not to worry.  We have just the package for you, a wonderful cruise around South America.  Thirteen carefree days of pure relaxation, sumptuous meals, wonderful entertainment, sightseeing in welcoming foreign ports, and we will take care of everything.  We will pamper you. 

The agent goes on:  We will take care of your lodging, arrange your meals, handle your bags, and we’ll even tell you how much to tip the staff that will cater to your every whim.

Yes, it is truly a dream.  You can almost hear the angels singing.

They are going to take care of it all and you will be in good, caring hands.

………………..

Well, maybe,
but then again,
maybe not.

As a friend relates, the devil is always in the details, and sometimes a warning of exactly what those wonderful dream cruise people are not going to do might be in order.

Hi,

Well, I’m back and it is a long story about what started out as a joyous occasion ended up as a very big disappointment.

We were going on this 13 day cruise around South America and caught our flight out of Houston right on time – had great seats and enjoyed an uneventful flight to Buenos Aires.

We were to board the ship in Buenos Aires, Argentina, cruise to San Paulo, Brazil, and after docking in San Paulo, fly back to Houston.

We had a great hotel room reserved in Buenos Aires and enjoyed 4 days of sightseeing, had a great steak dinner, bought a leather belt and did a lot of observing the locals as they all went about their daily routines.

On Sunday, the 7th of December we checked out of our hotel, caught a cab to the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line  dock arriving about 1100 AM, checked our bags in, went to the paperwork check-in counter and handed over our passports.

The cruise line representative said, “You do not have a visa for Brazil.”

My reply was that Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines did not inform me that it was necessary. 

His reply was, “It is your responsibility to check every place we are going and see if a visa is necessary.”  

My reply was, “You are the travel agent and as such should inform the person that visas are necessary in the following countries”!

His reply was, “No it is not.”

There were several other people grouped around and talking and he said we could wait over there with the others. They did not have visas either.  

We all had checked our bags in so I immediately ran to the baggage area and found a sympathetic young woman and she helped me find my bags (very fortunately).  I was able to get them before they were taken to the ship. The others in the group were not so lucky.

The cruise line gave us an alternate plan to join the cruise later, stating that we could go to the Brazilian embassy on Tuesday (Monday was a holiday), apply for a visa, wait the maybe 3 days to receive it, then catch a flight to a port that the cruise ship was going to stop at and rejoin the cruise at that port.

To do that, we would:

1) Lose the first 5 days of the 13-day cruise
2) Have to spend 4 nights in a hotel (very expensive)
3) Pay @ $140 for the visa
4) Pay for the flight to whatever port we needed to get to
5) Get to the port and rejoin the cruise line

I mentally added up the time and cost and told them that I have had enough of their cruise hospitality.

We went back to the hotel we had stayed at for the last 4 days and they treated us wonderfully. 

They were sympathetic and one young woman at the reception desk took our airline itinerary, called Centennial Airlines and got them to cancel our flight out of San Paulo, Brazil on the 20th.  She got us on a flight that was leaving at 1150 PM that day (Sunday), and even got us very good seats.  She also told us that if we wanted to shower that we could use the facilities in the gym, we could put our bags in the baggage room that had a security person standing guard, and if we needed anything else to let her know and she would try to help.  All I could think at that time was “THANK YOU GOD” for without Him, we would have been in deep do-do.

We made a couple more passes around town, sat around and read a book and squirmed a lot and finally caught a cab to the airport at 7:00 PM, made it through all the security places and got on the aircraft and had a good flight home. 

We have wondered how the others made out because they said they were going to try to catch up with the cruise ship as their luggage was already on board.  I really hope they do (did) make out OK but I could not have gone through the ordeal that was suggested to us as I believe it was the fault of the cruise line that caused the problem in the first place.

On Monday (yesterday) I called Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and told them that we did take out the insurance program they have.  I was told that any taxes that we paid would be refunded ($453) and after they looked over our claim form, if we qualified to only be charged a penalty for not taking the cruise, then they would refund 75% of what the cruise cost us.

They will not refund any of the airfare going or coming back as we DID use the airline tickets.  Those tickets were the most expensive part of the whole trip; the cruise part of this deal was only $1500, so we may be refunded 75% of that.

That is better than nothing, buttttt, it will be in a ”voucher” as “credit” on our next Cruise with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.   

I guess we will have to take one more cruise with them but it will probably be a short cruise just to use up the refund and not let them get away with keeping that also.

So, that has been my BIG ADVENTURE for this year and I hope I don’t have any more even similar to it next year.

So, I’ve never been on a cruise and have no idea of the myriad of details there must be to planning one.  But on the other hand, I kind of thought those details were a matter for the cruise line to handle.  I mean it’s my dream vacation, right?  Aren’t they supposed to be making all the arrangements and guiding me along the way toward preparing those things I must do myself?  They will suggest what clothing I should pack, but they won’t tell me of required legal documents?  What else are they going to leave out?   

I think I’ll stay closer to land,
where Plan B is easier to execute,
and if I do venture to sea, I’m betting
it won’t be with
Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.