Iglu Cruise (Planet cruise)

randaw007

I have just found out that like myself, many other people are being fobbed off by iglu cruise who are not refunding customers many thousands of pounds for cancellation of their cruise. It seems that they are deliberately sending the same promises of payment on a certain date and then failing to complete the refund. 
I would imagine that this is a massive issue and hundreds of thousands of pounds are not being paid, and this needs to be investigated. 
I have also read on the Internet that Richard Downs, founder and CEO of Iglu is also on the board of directors with ABTA.
Surely with knowledge of all things  in the travel agency world  Mr Downs should be explaining his company's failure in this matter.

Westin

Do you know if the cruise line has issued a refund to Iglu?

NoodleDoodleMan

Westin said:

Do you know if the cruise line has issued a refund to Iglu?

Yes, that would be the first question to resolve.

Sotts

I was refunded through ABTA but they said Iglu is responsible for the additions package i purchased.
Iglu said that's not the case and has started legal action against ABTA 

dx052

We had issues with getting our refund from Planet Cruise (same company) eventually I went down the credit card route, it took a while and a bit of admin but we got our money back anyway. We have in the past book quite a few cruises via them but that was the last time we will ever go back to them. 

stoneman

 I am on a lot of cruise forums I can tell you that almost all cruise lines are withholding refunds, mine was with MSC and used cruise 1st as the agent. I gave the agent 30 days to refund when the cancelation was announced (because that is who your contract is with) then did a chargeback through Santander bank. Money was back in my account in 5 days.
 

cruisetheworld

It maybe a little unfair to blame Travel Agents for failure to refund monies in a prompt manner.  
We had a cruise booked with MSC through Vivavoyage.co.uk and were faced with the same problem. No Refund.
Vivavoyage did all they could but MSC refused to give refund back to the Travel Agents. In the end I did a Section 75 claim with my credit card and it took about 10 weeks for my cc to refund me.  Over six months later MSC refunded  the money to the TA who promptly returned it to me.  I then repaid the credit company back.

I would highly recommend Vivavoyage but would NEVER EVER cruise MSC again, they are totally untrustworthy.

bowlesbargain

MSC cancelled a cruise this year. I told Iglu on the 1st of April I did not want to re-book and would like a refund ASAP. They then told me I would have to wait 90 days. The 90 days is up today I rang them and they now say it could be 120 days. To add insult to Injury they now say they will with hold £25 as a non refundable deposit. MSC cancelled the cruise not me are Iglu allowed to do this anyone else had this amount withheld. ( Iglu say its in the terms and conditions)I am still waiting the refund

Caz3121

it is common for third parties to charge fees for work they need to do on your behalf, £25 is certainly at the lower end. Whilst you didn't cancel the cruise, neither did they and they need to work with the cruise company to get your funds back.
It might be worth having a look at Cruisecritic to see what timelines recent cancellations are working to, there were posts from earlier in the year where people had been waiting over 9 months!...hopefully better by now. Iglu will be waiting on the funds from MSC before they can refund you (again common for third parties)

bowlesbargain

Caz3121 said:

it is common for third parties to charge fees for work they need to do on your behalf, £25 is certainly at the lower end. Whilst you didn't cancel the cruise, neither did they and they need to work with the cruise company to get your funds back.
It might be worth having a look at Cruisecritic to see what timelines recent cancellations are working to, there were posts from earlier in the year where people had been waiting over 9 months!...hopefully better by now. Iglu will be waiting on the funds from MSC before they can refund you (again common for third parties)

I did read that the cruise company did not claw back commission they had paid out as a good will gesture to the travel agent had you heard of this happening. I only ask as I can understand the £25 being kept but if they had the commission and the £25 than that's taking the Mickey 

MATTR5

Hi randaw007

They shouldn't be able to withhold the £25 fee in my view - we certainly don't at the Coop - see this article for more info

https://www.which.co.uk/news/2020/05/travel-agents-charging-to-process-coronavirus-flight-refunds/

Though they could argue the Cruise isn't a package but it is :-

What is a package holiday?

The Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 define a 'package holiday' as follows:

• The holiday must cover a period of at least 24 hours or involve overnight accommodation.
  
• The holiday must consist of a combination of at least two of the following components:
  

• Transport (for example, flights, trains, coaches and ferries - free transfers from the airport to a hotel would not be included)
  
• Accommodation (this should be significant - it would include a berth on a cruise ship but not on a cross-channel ferry)
  
• Other tourist services that form a significant proportion of the package (for example, car hire).
  
• The holiday must be sold at an inclusive price.”

I will add that Cruise companies have made it difficult to get refunds but the situation has improved recently - eg for the recent MSC Virtuosa cancellations they say - 

Refund Process

                For any guests who choose to have a refund, we will automatically start to process on 28th June – You do not need to contact us to let us know.

                For any guests who have not decided to re-book by deadline of 25th June 2021, this will automatically become a refund.

                We will process the refund within 14 days, please allow up to 21 days on statement.

Now with most agents on monthly statement that means you could have to wait up to about 50 days if you missed the last statement by one day or as quickly as 21 days - we usually state we refund in 5-7 weeks to cover this 

As above i would look into a chargeback 

ps I don't personally sell Cruise so can't give more specific advice sorry

I am a Travel Agent

My company’s ABTA/ATOL numbers are G9172/6053. MSE doesn't check my status as a Travel Agent, so you need to take my word for it. You can check my ATOL with the CAA. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Travel Agent Code of Conduct.

Mattr5