Fred Olsen Cruises, www.fredolsencruises.com

I have just received, as I at my husband’s deathbed, a irritable, defensive letter saying they don’t have to (and won’t) refund us a penny.

We booked a cruise in March for July. This was then moved to September (leaving on 28 August). Had the cruise gone as scheduled, I expect we would have had a lovely time. As it was, my husband’s cancer suddenly started to impact on what he could do, and we had to cancel. So, not for a trivial, exaggerated or spurious reason. We did debate risking it and going, since the cruise was wholly UK destinations, but decided it was a selfish thing to do, given that it could impact on our fellow passengers and the crew, should he need sudden emergency treatment. As it was, he did indeed need to go to hospital for a few days that fortnight.

As a “gesture of goodwill” and as something they “do not have to do”, they offered us £150. For a cruise that cost a little under £12,000.

My cruise in march wth fred olsen was cancelled due to the corona virus infection. After giving out totally contradictory statements about how the matter would be resolved, on March 26th Fred Olsen finally agreed to a full refund. ( This only after a plethora of phone calls to both fred olsen and Igloo cruise the cruise agency that I booked through).

On 26th March, the fred olsen operator stated that it would take 2 Weeks. Four days later, Igloo cruise changed that to 3WEEKS. Requests for comfirmation in writing of the agreed Refund fell on deaf ears, until I threatened Igloo with the involvement of ABTA--- When an email materialised from Igloo confirming the aforementioned refund being processed.

The three week timescale had now become 3 MONTHS. Apart from the difficulties achieving getting to this point, do Fred Olsen and Igloo Cruise not realise THAT THE LAW IS VERY CLEAR IN THIS RESPECT---THAT ALL TRIPS CANCELLED BY THE TOUR OPERATOR MUST BE REPAID WITHIN 2 WEEKS IF THIS IS WHAT THE CUSTOMER ASKS FOR. So the only conclusion that one can draw is that Fred Olsen and its agents do not have any respect for the law.

No doubt they will hang on to my money for as long as they possibly can before giving it back to me. What Fred Olsen and its agents should remember is that customers who are treated unfairly by tour operators and / or their agents have very long memories, and these sort of experiences will dictate which companies to do business with when this crisis has passed, and the world returns to some sort of normality.