A greedy river cruise company to avoid
We originally signed up for a Vietnam river cruise in 2020 and paid a reservation fee. Then the pandemic and the company went bankrupt. It revived in 2022 and honored our reservation and we planned the trip for December 2022. We paid the balance for a total of $14,000. Two weeks before departure my wife fell down and dislocated a hip and we had to cancel. We requested either a credit for a later trip or a refund. Both were denied citing their policy of no cancellation 30 days prior to departure. I had purchased trip insurance for $500 through Tripmate. Tri[mate denied our claim except for the airline cancellation fee of $500 on fully refundable tickets. I read the policy carefully and there is nothing in it that says it is not a valid claim since it was a medical emergency. The cruise line refusing to grant credit or refund under these circumstances is outrageous and so far it appears we have no recourse - they are located in England making it difficult or impossible to sue and attorneys fees makes it infeasible in any case. But better avoid both these disreputable companies like the plague. Tripmate has nearly 50% of reviews one star and one wonders how they stay in business. I haven't seen a lot of Pandaw reviews but in our case it's a hearty minus number. We are retired and can ill afford wasting hard earned savings of $14,000 on a long looked forward to trip.