Hornblower Cruises and Events

On July 4, 2020, I had a reservation for a party of four on the Hornblower Cruise and I paid $969.11. The cruise was cancelled due to COVID19 on July 4,2020. At that time I was advised it would take three weeks for a refund of my money as the company was based out of California. I called on 7/24/2020 and spoke to a customer service rep who had said that the money was issued but it was sitting in que. I called back on 7/31 and was told the same. I also spoke to to a rep online and was told that she would expedite it and to this hour I have no refund of my money. The reservation # was ***. How hard is it to get a refund? I'm asking for help please?

The business offered and emailed stating a full refund would be made for a cruise that had been cancelled due to the pandemic. We had the option to reschedule but we have since moved out of the area so that was not an option. I received a confirming email on 4/18/2020. I was told at the time it would take 2-3 weeks to process the refund. I've called approximately 3 times once it was past that date to inquire when my funds would be deposited. On each occasion I was told the pandemic has cut back on their staffing so it was difficult for them to handle these refunds. On the most recent phone call in the early part of July I was told they in fact had refunded reservations from March and would be working on April "soon". It's now been 3 1/2 months and they still haven't returned the funds. I believe their excuses to be false and misleading as issuing a refund should not be a highly complex task and it absolutely doesn't take months to sort out.

On 9/3/2019 I booked a 50th Reunion Cruise for Lexington MA class of 1970, guaranteeing 100 people. Cost was $91.56 pp. 47 people had signed up by March, when COVID lockdowns and hysteria began. Since March NO ONE has signed up, and NO ONE is planning to under the threat of COVID. Hornblower is refusing to cancel our contract and refund our money despite mask and spacing requirements, senior citizen health concerns (cancer, heart, lupus, etc), and Gov Baker’s 14 day quarantine. Most of us are RETIRED and living OUT OF STATE now. They told us as long as they were "operational" they wouldn't issue refunds, and to “wait & see” until 9/1. But that is when the balance is due. Plus, no one is going to risk their health, spend hundreds for flights and hotels to not actually SEE anyone, so we feel it is not possible to hold an event under these conditions. This is totally unprecedented, and we feel the Force Majeure clause applies under these circumstances that are obviously “beyond our control”. We are so discouraged at the heartless response we have received from Odyssey/Hornblower. Plus, since I booked the cruise on my personal card, I will be billed $4,853.58 for the 53 people who won't sign up if we cannot CANCEL this contract. We do NOT want to book with this company for next year - or ever - because of the way we have been treated.

I purchased 2 tickets for a cruise for August 11, 2019. The company sent an email to say the cruise was canceled due to a problem with the ship. I requested a refund as opposed to credit toward a future outing with the company. When the company failed to send a refund, I emailed
September 6 and again October 8 asking about the refund. I have not received a response nor a refund. I called the company November 20 but reached a recording stating voicemail had not been set up.

This is the correspondence sent to Entertainment Cruises SVP Paul *** CC: Dan *** RVP - Midwest/Chicago.

Help - Horrible Experience w/ Odyssey

Good morning,

Background: I purchased the below package in Feb 2019. (Reservation: ***)

We came to the pier yesterday to find you had cancelled my reservation end of April with no notice to me. Turns out someone “bought out” the boat per the nice woman at the ticket counter. She then informed me I had cancelled my reservation. I can assure you sir no cancellation by me was ever made. I asked to show me a record of the communication. Or the refund to me for that matter. They said sorry but nothing we could do. I had a 2&4yr old balling their eyes out. And my wife now crying on her 40th Birthday. Go figure. It’s her 40th Birthday, this is the big surprise, and as we later found out, you forgot” to tell me they cancelled us.

After 30 min of pleading with them. They got us on spirit of Chicago at 2 different tables. And of course I couldn’t sit with my wife on her birthday. Smaller boat, no window seat we had confirmed months prior, lower class of ship, I can keep going but I think you can understand the frustration. I can’t dispute my credit card. As I planned this/fully paid for it with great expense to my family in Feb 2019. And now have no recourse.

What I found out post event this evening is yes. Your team really dropped the ball. It turns out that in fact they did have the reservation. It was cancelled when you decided to kick us off for a group that wanted to buy out the entire boat. You normally send an email and call. And place a record of communication in the file but after confirming with your management team you never made any outreach, it never happened.

Now in a million years can you ever imagine a cruise line cancelling a family and never telling them. Only to find out when they get there and not let them on the boat.

We had a party of 18 book the Odyssey cruise for an engagement event. MY fiancé's mom is a frequent customer and had recommended the place. We had two guests who could not make it. We talked to the Rep at ticket counter and she told us to save the tickets and call customer service. She said that the customer service will honor the tickets on a later date and we just needed to call them and get a secondary reservation at a later date. When we called the customer service "Kelly ***" - they asked for the tickets and once we provided them they sent us emails about policy without a clear statement saying that "Hey, we think our employee gave you wrong info." I kept calling them during the week and multiple reps would keep giving me a run around instead of saying a clear yes or a clear no. One rep even said that we could book with a penalty of specific dollars - which I refused. Eventually I managed to get a hold of one of the supervisors who would not put it in writing why the employee would tell us something different than the 'official' policy but essentially told us that we could not get comped for the ticket because of accounting having denied it. This seems like a duplicious prevalent practice with entertainment cruise employees where no one wants to tell the truth about a tough policy and keep shifting customers from one point to another with different stories. If the employees had been upfront and forthright with us - we would not have had to engage wit them and waste precious hours trying resolve a matter that they did want to resolve anyways because of policy. Why give someone a runaround and make customers have a worse experience to avoid telling bad news.

Very disappointed at Entertainment Cruises having no care for customer experience once they have gotten my money and a culture of avoidance and not being upfront about their policy so they do not have to tell customer bad news.

I initiated dinner cruise reservation celebrating my wife’s birthday on *** for May 4, 2019. Ten people in our group including myself were present for birthday celebration and ready to board ***. Upon arrival, we were informed we should have received email stating the *** was using older replacement vessel which was not operational due to engine problem, they could not leave dock but insisted to proceed forward with dinner session. I informed them I never received that email only reservation confirmation emails. We were given two separate vouchers (*** & ***) for our party to return another day on *** free of charge and were told to board replacement vessel for dinner session while dockside. Once aboard vessel, guests grew frustrated as the night went on. Replacement vessel was older and not well maintained. Lighting was sporadic, many lighting fixtures not working creating dark areas throughout. Vessel was dirty and in grave disrepair. Men’s bathroom had one working stall, the other was out-of-order overall appearing dirty and unsanitary. Odor on-board vessel was musty and air conditioner not working creating uncomfortable environment. After staff seated us, we were told to wait until we received instruction to dinner buffet station. We were given beverages and we did not see wait staff again for 1 hour. I searched for waitress asking if we could eat, she apologized she forgot to tell us to head to buffet table. The food practically gone, and what remained was cold, staff started cleaning up. No vibrant atmosphere, entertainment, games as advertised on website, just one guitar player and could barely hear him, no dance floor or lights as the buffet tables and empty food trays remained in center of floor in front of guitarist. Wait staff virtually non-existent or mingling with each other, an unpleasant disappointing experience paying *** Steakhouse prices for 3rd world service.

This company advertises "Buffet" and "Service" and "Gourmet Food" and charges a fee for these items. Once aboard we were not allowed to eat the Buffet until all other tables were allowed to rummage and pick through the food leaving less for our table. Items were not offered for children, my child did not get a full meal. Service was not included as the server failed to serve. No information was offered on the itinerary. My special event was not recognized. Food was removed from our table before we even ate.

On a 2/24/2018 cruise I received a bill for 84.75 and tipped 20.00 for a total of 104.75.

They charged me for $189.50. It seems to have been an honest mistake, the server entered the total amount for tip amount; however, I notified them of the mistake on March 5th and it still has not been refunded. They keep emailing saying it takes 5-7 business days, but it has been far longer than that at this point.

On 7/17/17, I called the Spirit of Boston ( a subsidiary of Entertainment Cruises) , explaining to them that I wanted to be sure of availability for four people on a specific dinner cruise prior to purchasing *** which I intended to use. They confirmed availability and gave me a reservation number (***). That same day, I purchased the four *** which totaled $276.00. On or about 8/13/17, I received a call from the Spirit of Boston telling me that the cruise had been cancelled because they had rented out the ship to a single customer for that evening. I felt this was a despicable way to treat customers. I contacted *** asking for a refund which was denied because their policy states you must cancel within three days. I want to reiterate that I did not cancel. Spirit of Boston is the one who cancelled despite giving me a reservation number . They will not refund money because I paid it to *** yet they are the cause of my inability to get my money back.

I purchased 5 tickets for an event in Chicago for August 12th, 2017 to board a Blue after dark Midnight Cruise, we were coming to Chicago from St. Louis, Mo for a 50th birthday celebration for my friend. First of all the cruise did not board on time, we were still sitting to board at 12:30am. Secondly the website clearly states:
Blue After Dark Moonlight Cruises
- DO: Attire should meet standards of nightclub dress: Clean, fun and stylish clothes.
- DON'T: Sportswear, gym shoes, work boots, jerseys, baggy clothes and ball caps

All Other Cruises
These cruises are more relaxed and casual attire is fine.

There were passengers in tennis shoes, sagging pants, ripped jeans, joggers, converse, Timberlands, white t-shirts, tank tops, ball caps & anything else you could imagine. Passengers were boarding the ship with outside liquor, smoking cigarettes & several passengers reeking of marijuana. The so called complimentary hors d'oeuvres was more like a child's buffet, the guests were picking the food by hand, reaching over and grabbing whatever they wanted because it was not supervised nor organized. I paid $70.00 for 4 wines that was served in basically a urine specimen cup. I wont even get started about the $24 we paid for a shot. Passengers were trying to leave with there expensive drinks, security asked them to discard of them, and the guest shared with them that they weren't throwing anything away, he could be quiet or else. Scared the daylights out of me, violence in Chicago & St. Louis these days are on the rise so I was afraid. Someone thought that it would be nice to place ketchup in a row of seats ruining our clothes for the remainder of the cruise. I have never been so disappointed in what was advertised as "the place to be". I am extremely disappointed. I have spoken to 3 or 4 supervisors about my experience & the only correspondence is via email about visiting again, I want a refund of $213.92.