Ultimate Guides for Consumers

Consumer Rescue publishes a variety of guides to help our readers navigate common situations. These guides are based on some of the most frequently asked questions our team receives and cover travel and non-travel-related topics.

You can cruise without a passport, but you shouldn't. This is what can happen if you miss your cruise and don't have a passport with you.

This is what happens when you miss your cruise without a passport

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Maybe you’ve taken an international cruise without a passport and it was smooth sailing all the way. But you might want to consider Earl Wentzel’s troubling tale before booking your next maritime adventure.

Earl’s case should serve as an eye-opener to anyone considering taking a cruise without a passport. When you cruise with no passport, you’re putting yourself in a precarious position that could cause you to miss your vacation completely — no refund included. Or worse. You could even find yourself stranded in a foreign country.

This is everything you need to know about getting a refund from a bankrupt cruise line.

How to get a refund from a bankrupt cruise line

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If a cruise line goes bankrupt while holding a customer’s cash, does the money just go down with the ship? That’s what many customers of Crystal Cruises have been asking since the cruise line went belly up earlier this year.

But the fear of bankruptcy and sudden shutdowns is not limited to this particular cruise line. Throughout the pandemic, our team has received a steady stream of concerned messages from cruise ship passengers. These travelers all have large sums of money tied up in various cruise lines via deposits and future credits.

Nicole Walsh is one of those would-be passengers who has been in a battle to retrieve nearly $4,000 from Crystal Cruises since last winter. The cruise line made repeated promises that her refund was on the way – right up until it announced its bankruptcy.

Now that Crystal Cruises has ceased to operate and its parent company is bankrupt, her cash is in no-man’s land.

With her travel agent unable to extract the refund from the bankrupt cruise line, Nicole hopes Consumer Rescue can help. 

This is what American Airlines owes you if it cancels your flight.

What does American Airlines really owe you if it cancels your flight?

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If American Airlines delays or cancels your flight home from vacation, what does it really owe you?

That’s what Mikayla Shade wants to know after finding herself in this unfortunate situation. She says an American Airlines agent told her that when the airline cancels a flight, the passenger will receive a full refund. Mikayla used that guidance to determine her budget for a new flight home. It wasn’t until American Airlines processed her “full refund” that she discovered she’d relied on incorrect guidance from the agent.

Now Mikayla wants our team to ask American Airlines to provide what its representative promised her.

7 Simple ways to get excellent customer service and fix your consumer problem.

7 simple ways to get excellent customer service and fix any problem!

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It isn’t just wishful thinking to say that every consumer can get excellent customer service. But it does take some effort and strategy.

During my many years as a consumer advocate, I’ve tackled some of the most shocking customer service failures imaginable. I’ve retrieved hundreds of thousands of dollars from companies for consumers who were on the verge of giving up.