Hi Aslemma I have replied to Magsy explaining where I am - the Bermuda triangle would be a step forward - and the reasons I haven't posted on here. It won't allow me to send you a pm so maybe Magsy - would you be kind enough to forward my reply on to Aslemma?

Nice to hear from you Flora. I certainly wasn't having a dig at you personally and realise there are sometimes reasons why posters don't come back on the forum, but we do take an interest in people's problems and experiences and it can be frustrating when we don't know the outcome.

No problems Flora, I will forward your comments to Aslemma and I am sure she will be with me when I say it was sad to hear about your problems but good that you have come out the other side and can now devote time to your claim. Like Aslemma says, we just want to help if we can although I am absolutely sure you could 'go it alone' but perhaps we can make your passage a little easier!

Just to let everyone know if you have STILL not received a cruise (like me), and the DE are continueing to ignore you then time is running out to make a claim through the 'Small Claims' Court. It's really easy if you have the original letters.

Power to the people !

Do you mean you are taking the DE to the small claims court or have done so already?

oh its great to know that even after all this time there is still some people taking the DE to the small claims court,just post here to let everyone know how it goes,there must still be thousands put there who dont know that this site exists and that they could win through so even at this late stage its refreshing to hear from them,i just wish that we could somehow let other latecomers know that there is still a good fighting chance.
Bao-lou....a late "winner"
PS here is another helpful tip for those that may get one of those pesky parking charge notices or PCN's..just IGNORE them they are not worth the paper they are written on,but please be aware that there is a different set of rules if you get a ticket via a traffic warden,(there is also a lot of help/info for these on MSE)if you have any doubt then go to ...moneysavingexpert.com look up PCN's forum and read through and i think you may find it helpful..remember a PCN is an invoice and NOT i repeat NOT a fine.
You could also look them up on u-tube,on there you should find the "watchdog" clip that gives you an idea of what to do with them...soooperb
Just spreadin good news to those who may get one...good luck and a belated happy new year

It is shameful that people still have not been able to get their cruises through no fault of their own. Shameful. I have not bought a copy of the Daily Express since this debacle.

Yes truly shameful,and still they manage to get away with it and like you i and i suppose a great many others have not bought thier nasty little paper since

Wow, can it really be 6 years since we were all spitting feathers at the silly offers being made to us by Rise Travel on behalf of the Express! We were the very very lucky ones who found Holiday Truths and our war was waged and luckily for a lot of us, we got our cruises, you know the one that people laughed at us for collecting the tokens because it was too good to be true. My biggest disappointment has been that thousands more didn't find this website because I genuinely believe we would have had no success without it and perhaps newspapers would have had another very sharp lesson about not making impossible promises (remember the Hoover saga!) I believe personally that a lot of false promises are still being made but none caught my eye like the "Cruise for £10" did! In a disappointing way though, we know that over 40000 people applied and at a fairly generous estimation only about 1000 people got satisfaction (just my estimation you understand!) Imagine the problem 40000 more people as determined as we were all making their claims! What a task that would have been for them but alas many gave up before really starting the fight!

In 2005, Elaine and I (not together unfortunately!) got our cruises on MSC Armonia and I personally have sailed with MSC a few times more and am even hoping for another cruise with them in the very near future but of course I will never have a bargain like that again, but still, £750 for an 11 night cruise to the Canaries in a balcony cabin with no single supplement isn't bad! The only hold up to my booking is that the cruise is on one of their new and very much larger ships and personally I prefer something smaller!

Hear, Hear Magsy, you are so right. Without this site and the useful information posted and encouragement from other HT members, I certainly would not have been successful in getting my cruise on MSC Opera.

oops .. .. Well done you, on what looks to be a good cruise in the offing. I have been looking at one today but for November.

Hi peeps
Is it really 6 years Magsy? Well do I remember spending hours on here moderating all the posts and then having to fend off PM's and emails from a certain company threatening legal action against the site.

But we won in the end and I think all those who persevered eventually got their cruise.

Nice to see you guys again. Have a look round the site as there may be other sections which interest you, not just this one.

luci

Hi Magsy and Luci. Happy memories of a battle bravely fought and a great cruise in excellent company, even though I have to admit that a cruise wouldn't be my first choice of holiday (sacrilege on here I know). Hope you are both well. I'm still on HT but mainly on the Tunisia forum - I'll be back in Sousse again next month.

Hi Luci,
I hope you are keeping well and still cruising when work permits!!! Personally I do pop in occasionally but I promise I will get back into the swing of things and give the site some support by way of a thank you, and a well deserved thank you!

By jingo we all had to walk on eggs way back then because there was indeed a real threat of someone actually pulling the site off the web completely! Shows you that we made an impact which truly put the wind up certain parties! From memory the £10 Cruise was the thread which had the most 'hits' in the history of HT! I know that I personally spent many many hours on line and it paid off in more ways than one. Obviously getting my cruise was very major but I also made many friends with whom I am still in contact today, although somewhat sporadically, but nevertheless still in touch and I know that Aslemma for example has a multitude of friends from her involvement on the Tunisia forums. How good it is to be able to contact people with direct experience who can give friendly advice which often helps people avoid holiday pitfalls. That sums up the purpose of the forum really and you certainly deserve my thanks!. Incidentally, who did start the site? I thought it was Van but I now get the notion from somewhere that Mark was actually responsible! Of course they may be one and the same person!!! Has anyone had any contact from the lovely but naughty Phil? He was truly a nights entertainment in himself with his stories of the Coven! I would love to hear that he is doing well! Elaine, of course you were on Opera, memory breakdown there, something which happens more frequently these days! I will give you a call soon! I have seen that autumn cruise too and am considering booking it as well! Amazing value although of course the drink on MSC is very expensive, as it is indeed on many cruise lines now and so many lines are adding on 15% service charge. Gratuities are still causing a lot of argument of course!
One of the saddest things about our thread is that our poor long suffering moderator didn't actually get a cruise! I know you didn't apply Luci but you deserved to join us!

Magsy wrote:

Hi Luci,
By jingo we all had to walk on eggs way back then because there was indeed a real threat of someone actually pulling the site off the web completely! Shows you that we made an impact which truly put the wind up certain parties! From memory the £10 Cruise was the thread which had the most 'hits' in the history of HT!

We certainly did have the most hits. And remember, I pulled 2 topics before this one. I can't remember, but I think they were about 400 pages long.

Magsy wrote:

Incidentally, who did start the site? I thought it was Van but I now get the notion from somewhere that Mark was actually responsible! Of course they may be one and the same person!!!

Yes you were correct the first time, it was Van. Mark joined later and is responsible for some of the coding and technical wizardry on the site.

Magsy wrote:

One of the saddest things about our thread is that our poor long suffering moderator didn't actually get a cruise! I know you didn't apply Luci but you deserved to join us!

When I saw the momentum that this built up I really wished I had applied for it and joined you all! I did get a cruise, just not with you lot.

luci

Hi Luci and fellow '£10 cruisers'!
You deserve some sort of treat for putting up with us, Luci!
So, if two 400 page threads were taken down, we passed the 1,000 page mark some time ago! Admittedly they were often off-topic, in my case.
People on this forum helped me collect the vouchers back in 2004, then helped me through the long year's negotiations till my cruise.
I'd never imagined that I'd go on a cruise, but forum members made this possible for me. It was wonderful meeting so many friendly people on here, then on the ship.
Since then I've got 'the cruise bug' and had a few more trips, but I've never laughed as much as with my gang of Holiday-Truth travellers.
Happy days.

It's lovely to see familiar names cropping up on here and all the memories come flooding back. I've no idea of what has happened to Phil and the coven - perhaps they've got him under control at last, though I seriously doubt it. I've been meanng to give you a ring for ages Magsy and will do so soon.

wow, 6 years - so much has happened. Sorry this is off topic, Luci, but without HT, I would never have had the courage to go on holiday on my own. I now think nothing of searching the web, booking my flights, putting my holiday together and jumping on a plane.
Besides all the holiday / travel information, HT helped me considerably with pc skills etc. I am truly grateful
Yes Magsy, very tempted with that November cruise........

Aw thanks Elaine. Great to know that the site gave you so much benefit.

Don't worry about being off topic. As the original reason for this topic has long since been resolved I have no problem with any off topic chit chat in here. In fact it would be good to see some of the original gang posting.

luci

Well here's one back! It's been so long since I visited here I don't have a clue what I called myself back then! 6 years eh. I was on the Melody in October 2005 thanks to this site. My missus was due to go on the Libya one in that summer, cancelled due to hurricanes (yeah right). It wasn't until January 2008 that I suddenly realised she'd never heard any more. I whacked in a claim online and 6 weeks later got a nice fat 4 figure cheque (! was banned from discussing it with anyone at the time). It was all so easy - they even coughed up the £80 court fee. Had a great holiday in Alicante with it. I wonder what the time limit on this is? Maybe I was lucky, there was simply no contest. Hope it's not to late for others reading this to have a crack. I do owe a debt of gratitude to many on here for securing my place on the Melody. Certainly was a great week and met some lovely people to boot. Here's to the next promotion!!