Family Spends Vaction At Home After Cancelled Cruise Slowly Refunds Money
By: Meredith Hillgartner
Updated: February 21, 2013
"We were pretty disappointed that we both were going to be on vacation and have no money to go anywhere," Robert Garcia said.
Robert and Stacy Garcia should be playing in the ocean with their kids, instead they are sitting on their couch-renting movies-their kids back in school.
"Had we been given that refund in a quicker manner we could have quickly planned a trip," Garcia said. "Maybe taking the kids to San Antonio or something, but without that refund we just couldn't afford it."
The Garcia's took the week off work to take a cruise
on the Carnival Triumph, but just days before their trip the ship caught fire,
stranding more than 3,000 people on board and cancelling all upcoming cruises.
"We received an email from Carnival stating our cruise had been cancelled and that was the terminology that was used was that it was cancelled not postponed," Garcia said.
The Garcia's were refunded the money they paid Carnival for their day excursions, but they used a travel agency to book the rest of their trip-a decision they are now regretting.
"The response from National Travel was it would take two to four weeks, no four to six weeks for us to get a refund for our actual cruise package that we paid which was the majority of our investment," Garcia said. "[If we] had we just went through Carnival we probably would already have our money."
The travel agency told the Garcia's they could switch to another cruise but they couldn't afford it.
"We couldn't just switch to a cruise to Miami and jump on a plane," Garcia said. "Five of us to get plane tickets that's just out of the question."
Stacy and Robert said the changes have been the hardest on their kids, who were not only looking forward to their first family vacation, but seeing the ocean for the first time.
"We had spent the previous weekend shopping buying new swimsuits and summer clothes to take on the trip so we were already like suit cases packed and ready to go," Garcia said. "So the kids had to unpack and they have been really disappointed. It's been harder for them."
