S.S. Antoinette Review
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Don't ever book a cruise with Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection unless you want to be held hostage on a bus tour instead of being on a 5 star ship. We were told 2 days into our 8 day river cruise that we would be getting on buses to finish our cruise with NO option of cancelling. And there was no chance of getting a refund of any kind on our HUGE bill. The company allowed us to get on a ship knowing full well that they would be doing this to all of the passengers.
The buses Uniworld uses are meant to take passengers on excursions not take them for 7 hour drives. Uniworld's CEO, Ellen Bettridge, should be forced to sit on one of Uniworld's uncomfortable buses for a 7 hour trip. She should have to pay over $1000 for a night's stay in a $100 a night hotel with enough money to buy 2 average meals to see how she feels about her own company's policies.
As compensation the company offered us a coupon for our next cruise. What a JOKE! Why on earth would I go through this nightmare again?
We knew going on a river cruise was a risk due to weather conditions. If the water level is too low or too high it can effect your trip. What we didn't expect however, was a luxury cruise line to treat it's high paying customers so poorly. When we got the news that we were going to be put on buses and put up in the Marriott (nice, but definitely not a luxury hotel) and be given pocket change for meals that we had to arrange for ourselves (in contrast to the 4 course gourmet dinners served by tuxedo clad staff members aboard the ship) we opted out. We were beyond stunned when we were told we would not even be given the same money for meals that the other 158 passengers were given. NOT A PENNY of our over $7,000 was refunded!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was unbelievable that the passengers were not given a choice in how they wanted to proceed. Uniwolrd took in an estimated half a million dollars on this cruise and spent approximately $1200 per couple for hotel stays and food.
When you pay for a luxury product like a Mercedes-Benz and are allowed to drive it for a few days then overnight it's swapped out with a modest sedan, you would demand your money back and you would get it! How these cruise companies can get away with holding onto their passenger's money in these situations is beyond me!