Wallecan, have a wonderful time and a safe journey, and that goes for Explorer too!

Dizzy, do I sense a little disbelief regarding what I posted about the DVD players? Did you send for one too?

It looks to me as if all of those people who complained to the Press Complaints Commission, Kent Council Trading Standars, The Institute of Sales Promotion and the ASA may well be lucky. According to the report all complainants will be contacted by our travel agent. Does anyone know where the TSA stand in all of this?

We have another cruiser today, Gary Dodge on Armonia 17th April. Gosh, we are having a good week, that's 4 now!

There are a couple of things about Rise's reply which puzzle me . One is to do with the hurricanes in the Caribbean. Their original story was that lots of sailings had been cancelled because of the bad weather . Now they seem to have changed their tune. To quote :-

They said participants who were concerned about the hurricanes in the Caribbean in August and September jammed the telephone helplines with requests to re-arrange their cruises and they had to re-allocate participants to alternative cruises at their own expense; they lost their original allocations, which had been negotiated at competitive rates, and had to try to re-negotiate competitive rates. .

So now it seems as though it was not the weather or cruise lines that had caused the cancellations but people "jamming the switchboard". Very strange!

The second point was the statement that twice as many people had applied than was anticipated. If this was the case why did the Express mount a very expensive advertising campaign (complete with Judith Chalmers) if they did not want to attract too many participants? If they did not want this big a take-up they should have not have shelled out all that money. That particular piece of logic defies me.

Hi Alpal
I am one of those on the 11 June cruise to Libya except that I have now been given another cruise, but R*** have not yet told me the 11 June is cancelled, so keep at them for a replacement, or join our virtual cruise on 11 June, there were enough from this site to make it interesting.

I know that this is off topic but Wallecan mentioned about complaining to the Daily Mail. Well they have just been in trouble with the ASA over one of their token collecting offers. This was to do with a so called "personalised horoscope" by Johnathen Cainer, if you collected 35 tokens. It turned out it wasn't personalised at all, but was actually generated by a computer.

So the Express and MKM have been told to perform better in the future...............or what?? And what about sorting out this current mess?

Sort it out or................Mr. Flibble will get very cross? Or we will tell you off again? Ummmmm!

I bet they wet themselves laughing at the ASA toothless tiger.

God, this country makes me sick.......the lack of enforceable legislation leaved it wide open for conmen............but if the honest individual steps out of line then look out. Fines, imprisonment or whatever.

Rant over.

Alapal

Having had a Louis cruise cancelled, I contacted the DE using the number freely available onthe back of the paper.

Andy's Kay

I found details of my booking on the BA website. However, on my confirmation from R, it does say confirmed seats. I typed in the PNR number which is on the itinerary.

Maureen H

It's a pity that the ASA cannot fine offenders the same way that Ofcom can for broadcasters that transgress. In one famous case last year they stung AuctionWorld for half a million pounds. Mind you they then went bust owing £14,000,000.

I agree with Trisantona that the MKM answer re-the Carribean Cruises is puzzling. Did anyone actually hear that they had been allocated a cruise to anywhere before the end of September?

Maureen H

happy cruising to our 2 friends off on next weeks adventure.i hope you have a memorable time and plenty to tell us.It seems as the report was all wallpaper.so just a little tap on the hand.Isaw all those dvd players i wonder if one is ear marked for me i would then beable to play all the lovely promotional dvd,s of cruises..i hope to get a glossy brochure of the garden cruise...cant wait..4 extra confirmed cruisers things are looking up.how many on this thread are still waiting?it forecast rain but its lovely and sunny.carol..

ASA toothless tiger.

I'm with you Tony! What will happen to the Express for not replying? Does anyone know?

Is anyone interested?

Are we annoyed for the people who didn't get cruises? I certainly am!

Magsy,

Absolutely furious.............I have a cruise confirmed, but I am just a lucky minority.

Put me down for a march on Parliament or something when enough people are angry to do something about it. If watchdog, another newspaper or the Ttading Standards are not willing to do something, then options are limited to obtain satisfaction for the majority.

The priciple of these people getting away with making wild claims to excuse themselves for, at the very least, ineptitude is outrageous.

Hello,
happy cruising to wallecan and explorer. I hope you both have a cheap cruise of a lifetime.
i wish the people who are waiting for a cruise would bombard the ex***** and R*** with calls. It is so depressing waiting for news of new confirmed cruises to come through.It really makes my day when i hear of a success.
i will be right with you if you decide to march ETC.(ats long as it s not when im cruising of course) Do we get a taxi to the start tony?
annj

I have been a bit quiet of late, but it should be clear to all by now that big players can get away litteraly with murder while the wee guys get hammered, in answer to Tony, if you had money you could take legal action, and more than likely win, but the cost would be thousands, and if your honest, would it be worth the money ??
We have been treated badly I am sure all would agree, every course of action sugested has been tried and lets face it we are no further foreward today than before Christmas( okay I accept we have a trickle of cruisers )
However the majority of people still dont have cruises, I class myself as lucky, at this time I have a cruise, I am still angry at the way I and others have been treated.
Everything that has been tried has had limited success, this forum has helped considerably, of that there is no doubt, and when certain parties felt the heat, they wheeled in their big guns and silenced our voices, by threatening the hard work of the forum administrators, and their site.
The only question left is where do people without cruises go from here ?
We appear to be in a no win situation regardless of the courses of action we take either as individuals or as a group, the big players keep knocking us for 6 ?
Sorry for the negativity, but it's wrong what has happend and no one seems to want to sort it out ?
Dave

Wel I watched most of Watchdog tonight (missed the first 5 minutes or so) and I didn`t hear anything about the ASA ruling on MKM/DE.

Unless it was right at the beginning, they missed a perfect opportunity to follow-up their "investigation", for what it was worth.

For those people that havent cruised before there is a small bit on the roll call for melody 09/05 sailing by cunardqueen (me) read it and when you stop laughing!! thats how a cruise is !!
our embarkation day is a little over 4 weeks away!!!!
cheers
Myles

its always the same. little man cannot afford to fight big man.
the only way some of us lucky ones have got a cruise is we found this site and by clubbing together - a much louder voice- but i still cannot under stand how some ht members have not got theirs
OK most of us have had to pay more than the £10
Could it be their computors work out the customers profile (as they keep quoting) who will be willing to take a partner or take an upgrade .
this was something i definately felt when i booked .
so anyone still not got a cruise -please keep on at them, we are together and a loud voice , and if we all keep together an even louder voice.
and if R... still read this site especially the last few pages they should know they are now dealing with nutters ...so. R... be affaid be very affraid
kate

Just to confirm, there was no mention of the ASA report or the DE cruise offer on Watchdog tonight.

Hi All

Add another to the list of cruisers
My son was phoned today offered MS Lirica 18/06/05 , Flying Ryanair from Stanstead. Paid £10 + £30 insurance. This is SHARING, but hes happy. Hes even more happy as its cost him a lot less them us and a better ship

Will await the paper work, before I post in the confirmed cruise thread.
May (mb85) you're not alone any more!

Everybody they are still booking cruises
Peter

Hi Peter,
That's great news, I bet he is happier now! and a good deal to boot! Well done!