[size=medium]ATTENTION CRUISERS: Saw this in our local paper and wondered if you all were aware of it. Another good reason to book DIRECT with the cruise lines to avoid getting scammed.
Buzz up!
One of the nation's largest online cruise retailers -- owned by a Michigan firm -- folded this week, leaving financial problems for customers.
Cruise Value Center of East Brunswick, N.J., never paid $2 million to $3 million in cruise fares to the cruise lines, so people who booked with it may not actually have confirmed reservations on sailings, according to industry journal Cruise Week. The company may have not bought cruise insurance on behalf of some customers.
Cruise Value Center was acquired in 2007 by Travel Holding Entity of Bloomfield Hills, which merged it with its own company, Cruises of Distinction. One of its offices was on Woodward in Bloomfield Hills.
On Thursday, calls went unanswered both at the Michigan office and the national toll-free number. Its registered agent with the state, Ronald Smith, could not be reached.
The company had been on track to do $100 million in sales in 2008, according to industry journal Travel Weekly.
On Thursday, the Michigan Attorney General's Office reported four complaints had been filed against Cruises of Distinction, the last one in 2007 and all resolved, said spokesman Matt Frendewey.
Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor of Cruise Critic.com, recommended that those who booked through Cruise Value Center confirm their reservations with the cruise line directly. Those who paid with a credit card should be protected, but others may lose money.
[size=large]Cruise Value Center of East Brunswick, N.J., never paid $2 million to $3 million in cruise fares to the cruise lines, so people who booked with it may NOT actually have confirmed reservations on sailings, according to industry journal Cruise Week. The company may have not bought cruise insurance on behaf of some customers.[/size]
WOW.........talk about ripping people off big-time. Just thought I'd give you folks a heads up even though most of you don't use
this company.
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