Shock at the dock: Brazil visa rule leaves nearly 100 cruise passengers denied boarding
Attention travelers: If your cruise ship is docking in Brazil, get a tourist visa or get denied boarding.
DENIED BOARDING
This is what happens when troubled travelers get denied boarding their flights and cruises. Each denied boarding fiasco ends with a helpful fix from the Consumer Rescue experts.
Cruise ship passengers beware: No, you don’t have an Enhanced ID!
Carnival Cruise Line passengers John Harrison and his family of eleven recently learned a harsh lesson about Enhanced ID. They showed up at the cruise port in Galveston, Texas, expecting to quickly “get to the fun.” But the fun never happened for Harrison and his elderly parents. They were denied boarding Carnival Dream after presenting what they presumed to be EDLs.
Carnival employees told the surprised would-be passengers that their driver’s licenses were insufficient to take the cruise. The stunned trio was soon left behind as Dream sailed away with their other eight passport-carrying family members on board.
Celebrity Cruises denied boarding to a pregnant would-be cruise passenger. Here’s why
First-time cruise passengers Marisa Vacca, her husband, and toddler couldn’t wait to board Celebrity Cruises Reflection last December. The family arrived in Ft. Lauderdale the night before embarkation and excitedly settled into their hotel.
But then a heavily pregnant Marisa began skimming the Celebrity Cruises pre-boarding instructions, and her heart sank.
My child wasn’t an unaccompanied minor. Why was he denied boarding?
If you send your child on an international journey, you better ensure they are old enough to fly alone on all parts of the trip. One mom thought her son was finally old enough to fly as a solo young adult instead of an unaccompanied minor. Turns out she was only half right.
Swiss Air denied boarding to me by mistake. Who will pay for this?
Stepping up to the Swiss Air check-in counter at Newark International, Zivia Berkowitz didn’t expect any problems. She was excitedly on her way to join an expedition team to hike to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro.
At least, that was the plan. But that isn’t what happened. Swiss Air denied boarding to Berkowitz – she says by mistake. So, instead of flying to Africa, she spent the night in an airport hotel scrambling to find last-minute replacement flights.
I forgot my ID and missed my $2,402 Carnival cruise! Will I get a refund?
Gabriele Fehr and her husband planned to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary in the Caribbean aboard Carnival Cruise Line’s Spirit. But in the end, they missed that special Carnival cruise and only their luggage took the $2,402 voyage.
Planning a cruise this year? Here’s how to avoid common mistakes
Over the years, I’ve mediated hundreds of requests for help from distressed cruise line passengers. Many of these cruise fiascos were the result of passenger mistakes and could have been avoided by following some simple guidelines. With wave season just beginning, now is the perfect time to review Consumer Rescue’s ultimate guide to planning a cruise.
Here’s all the information you need to know about planning and taking a cruise.
Norwegian Cruise Line didn’t tell us we needed visas! Who is responsible here?
Sherry Ramhit says a Norwegian Cruise Line consultant made a mistake that cost her family over $12,000 — and ruined a dream vacation. She insists the agent assured her that visas were optional for their Alaska cruise aboard NCL’s Encore last August. Unfortunately, they definitely were not optional.
How two little mistakes can end in tears at the cruise terminal
Two mistakes – and one delayed flight – led Tom Watson to arrive at the Miami cruise terminal without his passport. With just minutes to look for the document, time ran out. He and his wife were denied boarding the cruise, and the ship sailed without them.
Watson places the blame on Viking for their missed cruise, and wants a full refund. But who is really responsible here?
This tale highlights the danger of flying on the same day as your cruise is set to begin. Although it may seem convenient to fly into your embarkation city and transfer straight to the ship, even a slight flight delay can have devastating consequences.
Middle name on your passport? Don’t make this airline ticket mistake
What happens when your middle name is on your passport and airline ticket, but your last name is missing? Eleanor Rasmussen can tell you because it happened to her.
If your middle name is on your passport, you probably always try to add it to your airline ticket. But many airlines and booking agencies don’t give you that option.
The reason for this omission? Travelers aren’t required to include a middle name on their airline ticket – even if one is displayed on their passport.
In Rasmussen’s case, the online booking agent her friend used to book their airline tickets didn’t have a specific field to add a middle name. That led to a travel fiasco that left her with an unusable ticket to Tokyo with only her first and middle name.
Now, with her middle name on her ticket where her last name should be, Rasmussen is asking for our help. She’s hoping Consumer Rescue can convince Singapore Airlines to correctly rewrite her ticket.
But will the third-party booking agent cooperate
