“Went with cruise 1st on a package cruise with Norwegian to Sth Africa got stuck with this cova19 Singapore closed its airport, so we were left to find our own way home. cruise1st absolutely useless, would not help us, and so far no communication and no refunds. DONT use this company they are NO good”
“I recived a call from Stewart who said I had emailed them 3 times I said yes because you are not responding. Which to me is rude. I too have a part payment because 1 of the cruises have not paid them back yet.
He took my long card number of my bank I have spoken to my bank and they have told me it could take up to 10 days to refund they are doing it the longest way possible
He said you have a credit note until March 2021 so the remaining may be paid next week or the week after or up to March next year. Not happy as I have worked and saved hard never and may have to wait another 6 months.”
“Has anyone had only been offered a part refund should have been going on a cruise 26th of August cannot get a full refund only been offered a part refund and told cannot have refund until they've got all the money in and they don't know when that will be”
“Don't waste your time contacting these people for your cancellation refund, once the 14 day refund window has expired just request a 'charge back' from your card provider, that way Cruise 1st is debited by the bank and refunds you whether or not they want to!
I ended up taking this course of action after my April cruise was cancelled by them and they clearly had no intention of repaying me my money. It was quite a simple procedure saving me a great deal of further stress.
This is a greedy, grasping and inept company who care nothing for their previously loyal customers.
Give your future custom to a more reputable company, most of whom will negotiate to match prices anyway and will be more contactable when things go amiss.
If any cruise company goes 'bust' in the near future I hope it will be these 'rip off merchants'.”
“We have used cruise 1st on many occasions, and have always thought they were great...until now. After flying to Santiago Chile, a 14-5 hour flight, we discoverd when we checked into the hotel, that our cruise the next day was cancelled. March 2020. I phoned cruise 1st, and they reckoned they didn't know. In fairness they did get us on a flight home, after 5 days. However...since returning, they have been useless. They have cut off their phones, and don't reply to emails. I phoned NCL and they have confirmed refund has been paid to Cruise 1st. Then lo and behold... I got an email, but this one was to tell me my balance for next cruise is due., I paid as no option to talk to anyone, and a payment receipt arrived immediately. Email auto reply says reply within 14days. Now our next cruise is cancelled, so goodness knows when that will be sorted. Both trips are ATOL protected, but still no refunds. I am beyond disgusted, at their lack of communication. I will never use them again. I am now considering speaking to my M.P. as ATOL is govt. backed, and having to wait months for refund is ridiculous. As a p.s. They said if we can stay in hotel in Chile, at no extra cost to us, until they could get us a flight home,Actually meant, the cost of hotel and flight will come off our refund... I just know they are going to rip us off.”
“I had my cruise cancelled due to corona virus ,I was offered either a refund or a credit note to the value of 125% I asked for a refund I was then given an ABTA credit note told cruise 1st I wanted my money back not a credit note told I had to take it and have been fighting to get my money back since ,their phone lines are shut they hardly respond to emails I have been told when they get their money back I can have mine ,I have told them I am legally entitled to a refund 14 days after cancellation ,I have sent 18 emails and got a response to 7 of them
I will never book with this company again the only phone calls to them is if you book a holiday with them,my advice is DONT
The CEO of this company needs to hold his head in shame turning phones off because they know what they are doing is wrong and the reply back to an email if you lucky to get one can be anything up to 7 days
Cruise 1st pay back the money you owe people I am not the only one getting the run around from this company”
“We are trying to cancel our trip for March 2021 and paid $1250 pp total of $2500 and told we only get back $250.
This is stealing money who charges this to the elderly people who are in there 70’s .. it’s disgusting .”
“Booked our USA Golden Triangle stay and cruise last year. Have tried and tried to add an extra stay to the back end and change hotels. Spend hours waiting on the phone just to be told they cant do anything. Have sent so many emails, none ever replied to. We are spending a lot of money on this holiday, and it's so annoying that you just can't get through to them. I will never book another cruise with them again. Get more staff to man your phones. They answer the phone straight away if you are booking a new holiday. Once they have your money they ignore you. Terrible company, shame on you. Take my advice, DO NOT USE THEM.”
“Very poor service, talked the talk on two separate occasions but never came back with prices. I finally came across Cruise Circle who promptly responded to my enquiry which resulted in booking a Caribbean cruise for 4 people the following day.”
“Still waiting for my refund from a cruise cancelled in April 2020. It is impossible to contact the company as there telephones are not available unless you want to book a cruise. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. They are owned by Royal Caribbean so I cannot understand why such a big company is so poor in refunding money. If you are trying to get a refund contact your credit card company and use them as Cruise 1st will not pay out.”
“Has any one ells been offered only part of there refund was meant to be going to San Francisco and Alaska 10-day Cruise on 27th of August still no refund cancelled in April paid balance on the Thursday and they cancelled it Friday morning at 7. Then one offered me £1,000 refund spoke to another lady who then offered me 3900 of a6500 holiday and said I would have to wait until I got the rest of the money in as anyone else at this offer to them as anyone had a refund in full would not ever use this company again”
“Failed to answer emails regarding balance due for a cruise. All i want to know is this.....Is the cruise planned going ahead or not???
If not refund me or credit me!”
“Booked a cruise for October . Try phone them can’t get through .Received a email requesting balance . Phone line have been turn off . Had no choice but to pay balance .Then decided to MSC cruise to find out about cruise I booked only to be told cruise has been cancelled . Lady on phone said they should Be taking phone calls from customers. I am so angry they took balance when They knew trip been cancelled .”
“Please do not use. Been trying since february to get the refund owed to us for a cancelled cruise. Emailed numerous times, Keep asking now for the money to be paid back onto my card but they keep delaying it. They have the money from Princess cruises. Say they are going to call then dont. Nightmare please do not use this company.”
“They are totally unhelpful I was supposed to cruise last Saturday still have not heard from cruise 1st I have called several times no one calls back or emails they are rude and unhelpful do not use this company because if there is a problem they will not help”
“Just had a email from celebrity cruises that over 70s woul not be allowed on the cruise ship we booked, phoned for hours on end and sent lots of emails to cruise 1st they have not answered 1 so far we paid cruise1st 6700 pounds for this cruise to the Pacific islands I finally got through to cruise 1st and they were terrible no refund just a future cruise credit no money back we don’t want a future cruise, they kept saying I cancelling the cruise but I’m not it’s the cruise ship that’s not allowing me to go , when I booked they did not tell me if I was over 70 I could not go they just keep saying I will have to cancel as I said it’s not me that’s cancelling it’s the cruise line stay very clear of cruise 1st they just want your money and don’t care a dam after be warned people”
“Cruise1st, Never again
I am not the one to complain. But Cruise1st do not deserve any credit. We booked the “Walls and Warriors Tour of China and 12 days cruise to Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam etc. Cruise1st did not notify us of the changes Royal Caribbean made at the last minute. They did not send us anything by post. We had to download everything from their site which was very poor. Also it is National Holiday in China from 1st October lasting more then 2 weeks. There were thousands of people at every site seeing area. One hundred thousand people at the Terracotta Warriors army and there was hardly any security. People were just being pushed and pulled. (Do Not Go To CHINA in October)
When we got to china the tour guide told us that we all had to pay the “Tips” upfront and the total tips each person will pay is £40 for 5 days (£80 per couple). As far as I am concerned the tips are Gratuity and every person has a right to pay with what they are comfortable with. Upfront Payment means it’s a service charge and we should get a receipt for this. The problem was Cruise1st sent some people a letter informing them that they will be expected to pay the tips on the second day. I did not receive this letter. Cruise1st will book one good hotel and another not so good. You will not have your meals in the hotels. They take you to a very cheap restaurants and the food is rubbish. None of the hotels had good wifi so you cannot communicate with your family back home.
I WILL NEVER BOOK ANY HOLIDAYS WITH THEM.”
“DON’T BOOK WITH THEM BE WARNED!!!
Just returned from a trip to Rome staying in hotel then boarding cruise ship for 11 days. All three transfers were booked and paid for through Cruise1st with a firm called Hoppa Transfers who didn’t turn up at the appointed times and I am now 320 Euro out of pocket. I rang Hoppa who said car had broken down and said they would definitely turn up at next for next two transfers, but we’re nowhere to be seen. I rang Cruise1st who were no help. I was told to report this to their Aftertravel dept and I am still waiting for their response. The agent I booked the cruise (Patricia Bradley) said that she had forwarded the complaint onto her manager (no response to date) and said “sorry there is nothing more that I can do”. Terrible service, when anything goes wrong they leave you high and dry. I will never book with this company again, this is the second time they have let me down and there is no way they will give you a refund, they don’t even respond to complaints.”
