EXCLUSIVE: Couple’s once-in-a-lifetime £3,500 cruise turns into trip from hell as flights are cancelled, they miss connections, thunderstorms strike and then they catch Covid
- Phil and Norah Lavin, both 66, are demanding a full refund from MSC Cruises
- The luxury Sinfonia Aurea Experience went around the Mediterranean
- The seven-day cruise set sail from Venice on September 10
- The couple insist that their holiday was just ‘one disaster after another’
A retired couple on a luxury Mediterranean cruise endured a ‘cruise from hell’ with multiple cancelled flights, repeated delays, massive thunderstorms, missed connections, damaged luggage – and then caught Covid.
Phil and Norah Lavin paid £3,500 for a ‘once in a lifetime’ seven-day cruise around the Mediterranean on the luxury Sinfonia Aurea Experience, which was setting sail from Venice on September 10.
But the couple, both 66, are now demanding a full refund insisting that their holiday was just ‘one disaster after another’ which has left them physically and mentally shattered – and ill.
Mr Lavin fumed: ‘If you had to write the worst holiday, this would be it. This was our first ever cruise and I promise you, it will be our last. The whole thing was disastrous – it was like a “Carry On” movie, but it wasn’t funny.’
After arriving in Dubrovnik, Mr and Mrs Lavin (left and centre) were met by a driver who, they insist, was in a car that was ‘not fit for purpose’. Mr Lavin fumed, ‘My wife and I literally had to share one seat at the back and one of our suitcases was on her lap throughout the whole journey. It was hot and sweaty and extremely uncomfortable. The air conditioning in the car didn’t work, there were no seat belts, and we had no water’
The couple’s nightmare started before they even managed to set foot on the lavish 980 cabin liner booked with MSC Cruises after they arrived at Heathrow Airport for their flight to Venice only to be told that they could not board because it was overbooked.
They were then placed on standby for a later flight to the Italian city only to be informed at the gate that they could not get on that either because it was full.
After contacting MSC officials, they were then told that, because there was no possibility of joining the ship at Venice, they would be put up in a hotel close to Heathrow. But Mr and Mrs Lavin were forced to spend more than nine hours in the airport before they could go there after bungling BA staff lost one of their suitcases.
As they waited for it to be found, MSC officials made new travel arrangements for the beleaguered couple, which involved flying to Dubrovnik the following morning on September 11.
From there a taxi was arranged to take them on a three-hour drive across Croatia to the port town of Kotor in Montenegro where they would be able to join their cruise ship.
After being told by staff that it would take 48 hours for his clothes to be taken away for drying, Mr and Mrs Lavin decided to turn their cabin into a temporary laundry by scattering his clothes around it so that they could dry
Mr Lavin, a retired Siemens executive from Solihull, West Midlands told MailOnline: ‘Things got off to a bad start at Heathrow and went downhill from there.
‘First we were given the run around at the airport and then our luggage went missing. We then had to wake up at 3am to get the flight to Dubrovnik and that’s when things got even worse.’
After arriving in Dubrovnik, where temperatures had reached around 28C, Mr and Mrs Lavin were met by a driver who, they insist, was in a car that was ‘not fit for purpose’.
Mr Lavin fumed: ‘There were two other passengers already inside who were also being taken to join the cruise. There was hardly any room for our luggage, never mind us and the driver kicked and pushed our suitcases into the boot.
‘My wife and I literally had to share one seat at the back and one of our suitcases was on her lap throughout the whole journey. It was hot and sweaty and extremely uncomfortable. The air conditioning in the car didn’t work, there were no seat belts, and we had no water.’
He added: ‘The car was a health and safety risk and no checks were carried out to ensure that it was fit to carry passengers. It was more than 20 years old and wasn’t suitable.’
After arriving in Kotor, Mr and Mrs Lavin handed over their luggage to MSC staff as they waited for the ship to dock only for a torrential storm to delay its arrival.
Then, soon after boarding, Mr Lavin realised that not only was his suitcase damaged but all the clothes inside it were wet.
After arriving in Dubrovnik, Mr and Mrs Lavin were met by a driver who, they insist, was in a car that was ‘not fit for purpose’. Mr Lavin fumed, ‘There was hardly any room for our luggage, never mind us’
After being told by staff that it would take 48 hours for his clothes to be taken away for drying, Mr and Mrs Lavin decided to turn their cabin into a temporary laundry by scattering his clothes around it so that they could dry.
Mrs Lavin said: ‘This cruise was meant to be a relaxing break with some friends. One of them was celebrating her 65th birthday and we wanted to surprise her by joining them on it.
‘But we hadn’t even set sail and it was anything but relaxing – it was one of the most stressful events in my life.’
Despite missing the first two days of the cruise, once on board and united with their friends, the couple insist that they attempted to make the most of their trip, even though Mr Lavin started feeling unwell soon after.
He said: ‘I had a rib, and it was a bit undercooked. I had an upset stomach and felt poorly, but I thought it was just mild food poisoning. It wasn’t great being on the ship, but we were with our friends and tried to have the best time we could.’
But just as the couple thought they had put the worst of their holiday behind them, there was more to come.
On the final day of the cruise, when their ship was supposed to return to Venice from where it had set sail, it docked instead at a port an hour away because of another storm.
As Mr and Mrs Lavin and their fellow passengers made their way on a coach to Venice airport, they discovered that their BA flight back to Heathrow had been cancelled and that there were no further flights to London that day.
Phil and Norah Lavin (left and right) paid £3,500 for a ‘once in a lifetime’ seven-day cruise around the Mediterranean
Mr Lavin said: ‘I couldn’t believe it. I just thought what more could possibly go wrong? From the moment we set off, it was just one disaster after another.’
MSC staff then arranged for the couple to stay the night in an airport hotel and the following morning they travelled with Lufthansa back to Heathrow via Munich.
After landing in London on September 18, they drove to their Solihull home and, because he was still feeling poorly, Mr Lavin did a Covid test moments after arriving, which was positive.
Mr Lavin cried: ‘That was the icing on the cake, the final kick in the teeth. Things just went from bad to worse during the holiday and to round it all off, I got Covid. The more I think about it, the more I think that you couldn’t script a worse holiday than this.’
After complaining to MSC and demanding compensation, Mr and Mrs Lavin were initially offered just over £400 that was later upped to £679.55, which they have rejected.
He also insisted that the holiday experience has left him in extreme physical pain after having to rush around for flights and sitting in a cramped taxi less than a year after he had a hip replacement operation.
Mr Lavin fumed: ‘I would like a full refund and acknowledgment of the pain and suffering we have endured, both physical and mental. To this day, not a senior official from MSC has contacted me. What they are offering me is a joke, an insult.
The luxury Sinfonia Aurea Experience set sail from Venice on September 10
‘It’s a derisory offer that does not take into account the pain and dismay we have suffered. We want a full refund, that is the least this company can do, and apologise.’
In a letter sent to Mr Lavin last week, the company said that it had ‘regret that certain aspects of your holiday marred the enjoyment of your cruise.’
Regarding Mr Lavin’s complaint over the car that took him and his wife from Dubrovnik to Kotor it said that this was done by an ‘outsourcer’.
It added: ‘We regret that this wasn’t as smooth as we would have liked.’
The company apologised that the couple’s luggage was stored ‘outside during the storm’ but insisted that it could not take responsibility for cancelled flights as this was an airline issue.
After offering a refund of £679.55 and a 20 per cent discount on any future MSC cruise, it added: ‘We would like to thank you for travelling with MSC and hope that despite the aforementioned issue, you nonetheless had a memorable and successful cruise.’
Mr Lavin said: ‘It was memorable for all the wrong reasons. There has been a lack of empathy from MSC and I would just like a full refund.’
Mrs Lavin added: ‘I can’t believe that this holiday was such a disaster. Whatever happens, we’re never going to go on a cruise again.’
A company spokesperson said: ‘At MSC Cruises, we always do everything we can to exceed the expectations of our guests and we regret that on this occasion one of our customers experienced difficulties outside of our control that impacted their cruise holiday with us.
‘To make up for the inconvenience caused, we have offered Mr Lavin a refund for the days when his travel was disrupted due to a cancelled flight, along with a 20 per cent reduction on a future MSC Cruise.
‘Unfortunately, we have no control over delays or cancellations made by our airline partners, however we always do everything we can to assist guests who experience this.
‘We deeply apologise to Mr Lavin that his final day excursion was cancelled. Unfortunately, shore excursions can only be performed if the minimum participation is reached as per our booking terms.’
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