Would-be travelers out thousands of dollars after last-minute cancellations. What to do

Settled in the Delta Sky Lounge at Tampa International Airport in late March, Lynne Schrum and her husband, David Hall, were ready to head out on their two-and-a-half-week vacation to Western Europe.

This wasn’t the original trip the couple had booked as first-time customers of Boston-based cruise company Vantage Deluxe World Travel. In January 2021, the St. Petersburg couple had reserved an Aegean Sea cruise that was set to sail 15 months later. But that cruise was subsequently postponed to October 2022, which did not work for them.

Vantage instead gave the couple the option to go on their “tulips” cruise, which would take them to Brussels for a few days before an eight-day cruise in the Netherlands, with an excursion to Paris to round out their time abroad.

“We’re sitting there, congratulating ourselves, getting excited,” Schrum said. “Then the phone rang.”

It was a representative from Vantage, warning them not to get on the plane and to collect their baggage. Their trip had been canceled.

More: Dropped by your property insurance provider? A premium spike? Here’s what you can do.

Your home or car is flooded: Here's what to do now.

High electricity bill? I tried to lower mine with these energy efficient habits

“My husband is sitting there, watching my face. He was pretty sure someone in our family had died,” she said.

She tried to reason with the man on the other line. She thought about all the things they had booked, the tickets they had to the opera and a trip to Giverny to see Monet’s gardens, and figured they could still go, even if they wouldn’t be going on the cruise. But five minutes later, she said, their seats on the plane were canceled.

“At first, we were just shocked. Now we’re angry,” said Schrum, who had paid $33,000 for the trip. “It’s all of the people who are so distressed about it.”

Schrum said she was told a refund would take 14 business days. Now it’s been more than 40.

“They’ve had this money for a very, very, very long time. We’re retired. We are not young,” said Schrum, who is 76. “It’s inconceivable that this amount of money would be gone from our savings.”

The couple's plight is due to issues with Vantage, but everyday travelers and vacationers run into problems with vacation bookings for any number of reasons.

In the weeks following the couple’s cancelled cruise, Vantage faced a ransomware attack that left customers without a way to contact the company for at least a week. It had also canceled at least five other cruises.

So what can consumers do to avoid a frustrating and costly situation with a trip? What should they do if they find themselves in a similar position? The Palm Beach Post asked travel experts for their advice.

Pay with a credit card when you make that initial travel booking

Vantage Travel offered customers discounts for paying with an eCheck or directly through their checking account. Both couples who spoke with The Post had paid by check. But travel experts say there’s no level of protection by doing this, and consumers should instead book travel with a credit card.

“The credit card company is going to give you protection against financial insolvency,” said Dan Meister, who owns Boca-Raton based Top Group Travel.

At least when paying via credit card, you can try to dispute a charge if you paid for a service that did not come to fruition and attempts to get a reimbursement directly from the company have been exhausted.

“As soon as they cancel, they’re good at getting the money back,” said Laurence Gore, a Fort Lauderdale attorney who specializes in travel and tourism law.

Research a company before you agree to be their customer

Before putting down that credit card, though, do your research.

“If you’re thinking of booking through a tour company, see the cancellations or comments,” Gore said. But be wary of the timing of those complaints. “If you find problems during the pandemic, that doesn’t necessarily mean the company has a problem now.”

Look up reviews on search engines and social media or through the Better Business Bureau.

You can also consider booking with travel companies that have certain certifications or proven financial stability, such as members of the U.S. Tour Operators Associations who put up $1 million in collateral in the event something happens, or suppliers listed with Trusted FIT Services, said Jeffrey Ment, a travel industry lawyer from Hartford, Conn. These companies can give travelers some extra peace of mind.

Consider a travel agency. It may be old school, but they can vet travel companies for you.

With Airbnb and direct-to-consumer companies like Vantage being the more popular way to travel, consumers these days tend to handle their own travel plans. But licensed, bonded and insured travel agencies, albeit old school, can offer customers options with vetted companies or tell you if a company has caused issues in the past. Additionally, agents can provide support to customers if a cancellation occurs.

“We can elevate (an issue) within our network where they have more leverage with these suppliers,” said Kurt Crowl, president of Travel Leaders of the Palm Beaches. “If you don’t book with a travel agent, you don’t have that leverage.”

Added consultant Phyllis Horodner: “Without a travel agent, you’re on your own.”

Keep good records of travel plans and communications with companies you are working with

You should always keep a paper trail of your travel plans. That means making sure you have a record of expenditures and receipts, tickets and correspondence with the company. On the company’s end, customer service calls are typically recorded and kept on file. It’s not a bad idea after such a phone call to write down what was discussed and email it to the company to confirm as another form of records.

Get travel insurance (but read the terms and conditions closely)

Getting travel insurance can help in the event you get sick or have an accident, but depending on the policy, it could also help if the company files for bankruptcy or is otherwise “not able to meet their obligations,” Meister said. The travel company will offer their own insurance, but it’s possible to get insurance through a travel agent or other provider. Meister said it’s better to get a policy around the time of your first deposit for the trip, but it can also be purchased right up until the start of the trip.

It’s important to read the fine print, both of the travel insurance as well as the company’s refund and cancellation policies.

Think carefully about your options once a problem has surfaced

Experts suggest sending letters to the attorneys general of your home state and that where the company operates, submitting comments to the Better Business Bureau and filing a complaint with the Federal Maritime Commission.

If all else fails, you might want to consider the legal route and hire an attorney who knows travel law, such as one with the International Forum of Tourism and Travel Advocates, experts said. Even if you win in small claims court, because of the limitations you may not get back all your money.

Unclear how many people's travel plans disrupted by Vantage, but the company cited reasons for canceling trips

It's unclear precisely how many people were impacted by these cancellations. The Post sent inquiries to one of the company's executive vice presidents as well as the former outside communications firm, but did not receive a response at the time of publication. A month-old Facebook group dedicated to those who had been spurned has almost 300 members. Nevertheless, some Vantage customers are waiting on reimbursements in the tens of thousands of dollars.

The reasons trips were thwarted are varied, as Vantage's founder and chairman Henry Lewis wrote in two letters to consumers published to the website. On April 28, Lewis said four trips to the Netherlands had been canceled “due to the ship’s readiness,” and two trips to Egypt were canceled over safety concerns.

“With the recent U.S. State Department Sudan travel advisory, given the proximity, we are closely monitoring our trips to Egypt until further notice for the safety of our guests,” the letter from Lewis reads.

Furthermore, the message says that a ransomware attack discovered on April 20 affected Vantage’s call center, website, email and “other internal systems” for at least eight days, but none of the trips had been affected specifically by this incident.

Dozens of complaints have been filed with the Better Business Bureau. And those who are trying to get their money back say they’re getting unclear timelines from the company.

One couple canceled by Vantage said they will now look elsewhere for booking travel

Charles and Lea Moskowitz, both 75 of Daytona Beach, are also waiting for a refund of more than $20,000 after their “tulips” trip was canceled. The couple had traveled with Vantage for more than two decades, visiting all seven continents over 28 incident-free trips.

The couple’s first trip in the summer of 2000 took them to Scandinavia, the Baltics and part of Russia. This past April, they were looking forward to their 29th trip to the “Stans,” as Charles called it, traveling through Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan for the first time.

Two weeks prior to the voyage, Vantage notified them the trip had been rescheduled for later that year, he said. That wasn’t going to work with their schedule, so the couple opted to go on a cruise they had done before, but didn’t mind.

Then, a voicemail message popped up on their answering machine. “There’s some bad news,” the Vantage representative said, according to the recording shared with The Post. The ship was not ready, the representative said, who then asked to call an 800 number to review their options.

“We’ve never had an issue like this before,” Charles Moskowitz said.

Despite the company's previously blemish-free track record with Moskowitz and his wife, he'll book future travel elsewhere.

Hannah Morse covers consumer issues for The Palm Beach Post. Drop a line at hmorse@pbpost.com, call 561-820-4833 or follow her on Twitter @mannahhorse.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Vantage Travel cruisers await money back after cancellations. What to do