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Contiki are total bastards

By sven (Thu Jan 29, 2004 at 11:36:24 AM EST) (all tags)

My fiancée and I booked a short Contiki tour of Madrid, Barcelona and Paris as part of our larger holiday in Europe. This morning this email from my travel agent was waiting for me:

Your tour Madrid To Paris has been cancelled for the 10 th april -19th Apirl. They are offering the 3rd April and 17th April as alternatives .
Unfortunate I know . Please let me know which alternative to go with

Contiki are bastards.

Total fucking bastards. I mean, it's not like people travelling half way around the world might have made other travel plans to fit in with their tour. Other plans like non-refundable airline tickets, booked and paid for accommodation, and that sort of thing.

Nice to see that it's all covered in their terms and conditions to completely absolve themselves from any responsibility:

3.1 Contiki reserves the right to change or cancel your booking in accordance with operating requirements or circumstances beyond its control.
3.2 Should change or cancellation prove necessary we will give you reasonable notice thereof, in the circumstances, and where available, offer you a comparable alternative.
3.3 If an alternative is not available or acceptable you will be entitled to either a full refund of monies paid by you to us or transfer to another Contiki vacation without payment of any transfer fee.

Looks like we'll just have to take the full refund option and organise the whole fucking thing ourselves. I'm sure booking accommodation in Spain over the Easter long weekend will be great fun.

So never trust Contiki. Contiki are bastards.

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sven from Hulver's site - All good news today

Short diary this evening. I'm going out in a few...

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Contiki are total bastards | 6 comments (6 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

Tiki's by cam (6.00 / 1) #1 Thu Jan 29, 2004 at 01:33:59 PM EST

When I was growing up I had a wooden maori tiki with emerald eyes. I used to rub the emerald eyes for luck. When one of my friends went to New Zealand she got a tiki with emerald eyes for my wife. My wife keeps it in her purse and rubs the eyes for good luck too.

I have had flights to Sydney cancelled on me at San Francisco and LAX. I reckon it is because they dont have enough people on the flight to make it economically viable and it is cheaper for them to inconvenience me for 36 hours than to fly a 747 across the Pacific. Like they agreed to do when I bought the ticket. Bastards.

cam
Freedom, liberty, equity and an Australian Republic

Cancelled flights by sven (3.00 / 0) #4 Thu Jan 29, 2004 at 08:39:35 PM EST

I have had flights to Sydney cancelled on me at San Francisco and LAX.

That's shocking. You can understand that occasionally they have mechanical problems, but cancelling for these mysterious "operational reasons" is nasty. They don't even tell you the real reason. As you say, you've already paid them to provide a service. How long before the flight did they tell you?

--
harshbutfair // you know it makes sense
[ Parent ]

: Notification by cam (3.00 / 0) #6 Sat Jan 31, 2004 at 08:57:27 AM EST

How long before the flight did they tell you?
When you land in California. We had one at Dulles where they kept us waiting for several hours, then cancelled and said you have five minutes to catch another one, btw it is 800 yards down that corridor. About 50 folks (the US-to-Au-folks) ran it and just made it.
cam
Freedom, liberty, equity and an Australian Republic
[ Parent ]

Just Stay at the by creo (5.00 / 1) #2 Thu Jan 29, 2004 at 07:55:32 PM EST

Y M C A

Do they have those in Spain - I have been lot's of places, but have not made Spain yet, unfortunately.

I'm sure that there are backpackers and other places to stay - I wouldn't stress.

The bus and train system in Europe (well the places I have been in) is generally pretty neato. Get a Europass, a set of backpacks and you're set.

Wish I'd done it before the CU's :-( - mind you we have done the weekend backpack thing in Moscow and Leningrad with 2 kids, so a smart young thing like you should have no trouble in Spain.

Remember - Dos cervaza, por favor. It's all the Spanish you need...

Cheers - and Good Luck.
Creo.

"I shall do what I believe to be right and honourable" - Guderian

: I'm not too stressed by sven (3.00 / 0) #3 Thu Jan 29, 2004 at 08:35:11 PM EST

We're doing Britain and Ireland on our own before going to Spain, and we're doing Italy on our own afterwards so I'm sure we'll manage. Especially with your helpful language tips. :) It's more an inconvenience than anything else.
I'd love to go to Moscow. When were you there? It's part of my long-term travel plan of doing northern Europe at some stage. It could be many years before I get there, but one day I will.

--
harshbutfair // you know it makes sense
[ Parent ]

Moscow by creo (5.00 / 1) #5 Thu Jan 29, 2004 at 10:52:07 PM EST

Went there last year - I'm in Helsinki right now, so we took the Tolstoi to Moscow.

All I can say is that if you get the chance, take it. It's just an amazing place. If you are into Museums and culture, it's just, well, words fail. The Kremlin and Armoury are a must see. The armoury is not what it sounds like, although it does have arms and armour. It has some of the gifts brought to the tsars over the years. It makes the British crown jewels look like trinkets.

St. Petersberg is just as incredible - we took the train there as well. The Hermitage is just world class, and I'm not an art freak, but it was incredible.

If you do enjoy art, the Tretaykov (sp) is just mind blowing.

As the ad says, just do it !

Cheers
Creo.

PS: If you do go, Russian does not appear to be a hard language to get the basics, but make sure you can read cyrillic script, otherwise you are in trouble :-).

"I shall do what I believe to be right and honourable" - Guderian

Contiki are total bastards | 6 comments (6 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback