EnglishGirl
(Member) (Topic Starter)
I have booked a cruise with Voyages of Discovery which was advertised by Just You. However since booking there has been no mention of Just You. Has anyone else booked this cruise?

I received my cruise pack last week, but again there is no mention of Just You, whether a Just You Rep will meet us at the airport in Barbados, or which hotel we will be staying in on the first night - is anyone else any the wiser please?

Julia
  • (Member)
(Member)
Hi EnglishGirl,

Can you confirm which cruise you have booked on to?

Kindest regards,

Julia

EnglishGirl
(Member) (Topic Starter)
Hi Julia

The cruise reference is 1067072, Caribbean, Cape Verde and The Canaries

Regards

Sue

Julia
  • (Member)
(Member)
Hi Sue,

There are 152 Just You travellers booked on this trip, so you certainly won't be the only single traveller on board.

This is operated by our sister company, Voyages of Discovery, rather than Just You, so I need to speak to some of our cruise team to get details on the representative and logistics. As it's Christmas, there is a rather depleted team so this may take a little longer than usual, but leave it with me and I will get some more details for you.

Kindest regards,

Julia

gulliver
(Member)
No pun intended but I find myself in the same boat as the original poster. Back in October I came across the Voyages of Discovery web site and saw they were part of All Leisure Group which included Just You. They were advertising places on their Flavours of the Caribbean and Cuba cruise on 11th April 2016 at a very attractive price but were directed at couples. There was a rider that Single occupancy was available but to ring them for further details. Out of curiosity I telephoned them and was told they had special arrangements for single travellers on the cruise which was are managed by Just You and there would be a JY rep on board the ship. The booking would be transferred to JY who would deal with all the paperwork etc. Having read their intinerary and being unable to book the JY trip to Cuba, as it was sold out, this seemed like an ideal replacement. I was told that as this was a special offer I would have to pay the full amount there and then as places were 'selling fast'. There was no refund available once the booking had been made., I therefore paid the full amount and explained that I live outside the UK and asked that all correspondence be e mailed to me as I would not be back in the UK just before the outbound flight to join the cruise. I was told an invoice would be e mailed to me which never arrived. I telephoned 'VOD' and was informed that one had never been sent and they would send me one. When it arrived it became obvious that I had been given completely misleading information to book the holiday. There is no JY involvement and the outbound flight is by a Portuguese Charter Airline which according to reviews contains the words 'Dangerous' unsafe' dirty planes' and 'poor service. Hardly what you want at the start of a holiday. I wrote a letter to VOD again stating that I live overseas and again requesting correspondence be e mail to me. I have never received any acknowledgement of this letter. The cruise information pack has never arrived and to say I am disappointed would be a complete understatement. I cant afford just to write the holiday off. If there was some chance of a refund I would take it. As I said before the sole reason for booking the holiday was because I was told it was a JY trip, I would appear to have been conned by a salesperson who was more concerned about.getting her commission. I would caution any JY travelers about using VOD in the future. In the meantime I shall be composing letters to ABTA and all the other controlling bodies in the travel industry
EnglishGirl
(Member) (Topic Starter)
BGray
  • (Member)
(Member)
Hi Julia, that's an amazing response! I hope VOD continue to offer special deals to JY customers as I certainly wouldn't rule it out further down the road. My only request is that as I have to book hols well in advance due to work commitments that the special offers be advertised as early as possible?!

Best wishes,

Bob

katy1717
(Member)
Sue, hope you enjoy the trip. Please can you write a review of it when you return? Would love to hear how it all worked out, I've not done a cruise and am a bit ambivalent about doing them, but if they call at lots of destinations I'm interested in, I may rethink it. Am amazed that there are 152 JY travellers on this trip.

Katy

LyndaSue
(Member)
'EnglishGirl' wrote:

I have booked a cruise with Voyages of Discovery which was advertised by Just You. However since booking there has been no mention of Just You. Has anyone else booked this cruise?

I received my cruise pack last week, but again there is no mention of Just You, whether a Just You Rep will meet us at the airport in Barbados, or which hotel we will be staying in on the first night - is anyone else any the wiser please?

Hello, I'm also going on that cruise and really looking forwRd to it. I logged onto the Community site to ask the same question! Anyway, I'm pleased that you've done it already. Where are you flying from? I'm flying from Manchester. I'm looking forward to meeting you and the other 150 JY cruisers.

LyndaSue
(Member)
Hello everyone

I'm going on this cruise. It's a real adventure for me as I haven't done a cruise before. Nothing ventured etc. I'm flying from Manchester - is anyone else doing that?

Happy new year to you all

Lynda

Moderator
(Member)
Hi Gulliver,

Sorry to hear about that. I have passed this over to our customer service team who will be in contact with you shortly.

Kindest regards,

Monty

Swkmcf
(Member)
Hi

I am another of the 152 going on this holiday! Whilst I have been on a couple of Just You holidays last year this is my first cruise and I am a little apprehensive if this is my "cup of Tea". However both my previous holidays with Just Yo were very enjoyable with good planning and good company still I'm sure that it will work out ok. I am travelling via Gatwick but am getting connecting flight from Belfast.

Presently trying to decide which trips to take. Too many choices!

Any word yet on flight details for the return flight from Gran Canaria as I will need to book connecting flight from Gatwick?

Ken

EnglishGirl
(Member) (Topic Starter)
Hi Lynda

I am also flying from Manchester - so I will look out for your luggage label!

I have never been on a cruise before either, so a new experience for me too!

Only query I have is whether you take the local currency for each port of call, or will US dollars be OK for the Carribean?

Look forward to meeting you

Only 16 weeks to go!!:thumbup:

LyndaSue
(Member)
'EnglishGirl' wrote:

Hi Lynda

I am also flying from Manchester - so I will look out for your luggage label!

I have never been on a cruise before either, so a new experience for me too!

Only query I have is whether you take the local currency for each port of call, or will US dollars be OK for the Carribean?

Look forward to meeting you

Only 16 weeks to go!!:thumbup:

I'm looking forward to meeting you too! According to the leaflet that came thru in the travel pack, there is a list of the different currencies, so from that I took it that we needed different currency for each port. Also from the pack, I think we are transported straight to the ship. Do you know differently?

It's very exciting isn't it. I just can't wait.

Keep in touch

Lynda 😉

SusieB
(Member)
Hi Lynda

I don't know much about the currency in places you will be visiting but may I suggest you get yourself a Pre-Paid Currency card. That way you don't have to worry about getting different currencies before you go as you can simply withdraw cash in the required currency as you go to each place.

There are a number of these cards, I personally have used Caxton for several years in quite a few different countries and found them to be first class!

Have a great holiday and let us all know about it when you return.

Best wishes Sue

LyndaSue
(Member)
'SusieB' wrote:

Hi Lynda

I don't know much about the currency in places you will be visiting but may I suggest you get yourself a Pre-Paid Currency card. That way you don't have to worry about getting different currencies before you go as you can simply withdraw cash in the required currency as you go to each place.

There are a number of these cards, I personally have used Caxton for several years in quite a few different countries and found them to be first class!

Have a great holiday and let us all know about it when you return.

Best wishes Sue

Thanks Sue, I had thought about this, and I've used a Virgin cash card when I visited California. I'll check out the feasibility of doing this when in port for short period of time, unless there's some way on board of getting the cash. I'm sure it will all become clear!

Best wishes

Lynda

smithtique
(Member)
Hi, I’m on this cruise too, flying from Gatwick on a Virgin flight. I’m also staying at the Holiday Inn the night before. When I originally enquired with VoD I was told there may be more than one JY rep with the cruise, there were 70-ish people booked then. Now that this number has doubled it’s a lot of holidaymakers for one or even 2 reps to manage. I have been on one JY holiday before in 2014, wasn’t impressed and thought I would never use them again. This cruise tempted me, seems good value for money, with ports of call that I want to visit. So, I decided to give JY another go. I’m used to travelling on my own but I do think that a good rep/tour manager can enhance the experience.

Looking forward to meeting you all in Barbados.

Sue

RAW
  • (Member)
(Member)
Hi

Is anybody staying in Barbados for the 3 day extension to the Voyager cruise in April? Thought I'd add this to the holiday when it was offered as this is my first cruise holiday and I wanted at least part of it to be land based. The pre-cruise stay is at the Hilton starting 22 April. I am flying from Gatwick (staying at the Hampton in the North Terminal the night before) but have been advised that the Just You Reps don't arrive until the start of the cruise so I will have to make my own entertainment. If anyone wants to join up for drinks on this pre stay I would love to hear from them. Through the day I might take advantage of the free use of kayaks or snorkelling gear at the hotel.

Ruth

LyndaSue
(Member)
'RAW' wrote:

Hi

Is anybody staying in Barbados for the 3 day extension to the Voyager cruise in April? Thought I'd add this to the holiday when it was offered as this is my first cruise holiday and I wanted at least part of it to be land based. The pre-cruise stay is at the Hilton starting 22 April. I am flying from Gatwick (staying at the Hampton in the North Terminal the night before) but have been advised that the Just You Reps don't arrive until the start of the cruise so I will have to make my own entertainment. If anyone wants to join up for drinks on this pre stay I would love to hear from them. Through the day I might take advantage of the free use of kayaks or snorkelling gear at the hotel.

Ruth

Hi Ruth, I didn't know there was a pre cruise stay. How did you find out about it?

Lynda

RAW
  • (Member)
(Member)
'LyndaSue' wrote:

'RAW' wrote:

Hi

Is anybody staying in Barbados for the 3 day extension to the Voyager cruise in April? Thought I'd add this to the holiday when it was offered as this is my first cruise holiday and I wanted at least part of it to be land based. The pre-cruise stay is at the Hilton starting 22 April. I am flying from Gatwick (staying at the Hampton in the North Terminal the night before) but have been advised that the Just You Reps don't arrive until the start of the cruise so I will have to make my own entertainment. If anyone wants to join up for drinks on this pre stay I would love to hear from them. Through the day I might take advantage of the free use of kayaks or snorkelling gear at the hotel.

Ruth

Hi Ruth, I didn't know there was a pre cruise stay. How did you find out about it?

Lynda

Hi Lynda

The cruise company offered it to me and I think I remember seeing it mentoned on their website. I fly out on the 22 Apr with BA from Gatwick and stay at the Hilton Hotel by Bridgetown for 3 nights. It is not the cheapest at £649 for 3nts b&b but I just fancied a stay on shore before the cruise as I am flying down from Scotland; this will be my first experience of a cruise liner. Should be good fun and relaxing as the Just You crowd I experienced last year were good fun. I also added the all inc. drinks package for the cruise (£300) as I thought £20 per day for any drinks outside meal times might add up. I.e. cocktails and or Prosecco etc. especially during the evenings. Not that I am an alcoholic but if you are with a group of people then bar bills and the odd extra non alcoholic drinks through the day can be expensive. I have also asked about WiFi access on board as I am not sure whether you have to pay to use their hub and whether or not it is worth taking my iPad. Some cruises, apparently, can be expensive with any extras.

Look forward to meeting everybody.