People Spent Thousands To Go On
A Cruise With Glenn Beck. Now
They Can’t Get Their Money Back.
BuzzFeed News,
by
Rosie Gray
Original Article
Posted By: Pluperfect,
6/27/2020 5:02:57 AM
Last June, Jeff and Jennifer Welliver heard about a cruise around the Mediterranean to be hosted by conservative radio host Glenn Beck and featuring other right-wing luminaries like Bill O’Reilly. Jeff, 68, a retired pharmacist, and Jennifer, 66, had never been on a cruise before. But they’re conservatives, and “this was Glenn Beck– and Bill O'Reilly–sponsored. And we thought it would be nice to be around like-minded people and not have to worry about political conversation or any innuendos.”
“This was going to be our big fling,” Jeff said. “And then it turned out to be a nightmare.”
The Wellivers are among the roughly 2,000 people who registered
Reply 1 - Posted by:
chumley 6/27/2020 5:39:25 AM (No. 458717)
Just another money making scheme by Beck. I wouldn't trust that charlatan any farther than I could throw his cruise ship. Every day its a new scam, to be dropped the next day and yet another scam invented. The goal is always the same. Send him your money.
32 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
4Justice 6/27/2020 6:26:19 AM (No. 458747)
Well, as much as I don't trust Beck, I fail to see how this is his fault. The cruise line is responsible. They are the ones who took the money and allegedly "spent it" on vendors and concessions that have yet to be provided.
46 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
lakerman1 6/27/2020 6:47:27 AM (No. 458763)
We seem to have a lot of judges who like to rewrite statutes. six of them are on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Perhaps one or more of those judges will rule that a postponement beyond X months is a cancellation.
anyone stupid enough to sign up for the cruise probably was stupid enough to fail to purchase trip interruption insurance.
19 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Daisymay 6/27/2020 7:17:00 AM (No. 458785)
We had two cruises canceled by the cruise company and we received a complete refund, plus a credit for a free cruise good until 2022. When people book a cruise, they do so sometimes a year in advance. A lot can happen in that year, so you need to be confident that your Cruise Line has a good policy on cancellations. I had to cancel one due to illness (only a week before sailing). I had a doctor's note, called my Travel Agent who got the Ball rolling and in four weeks we had a full refund. I would think all of the passengers on the Beck/Reilly trip would sue the Cruise Line. Beck and O Reilly have nothing to do with giving refunds, they were hired by the Cruise Line to be the Entertainment.
32 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
BarryNo 6/27/2020 7:33:02 AM (No. 458798)
From what I've read, it is not Beck's or O'Reilly's fault. It is the cruise lines and travel agency's.
I doubt all the information is available, either.
It's a pain. But not surprising. And you have to wonder, to what degree politics is involved. Are they being mistreated by who controls the money (possibly a bank, somewhere) who wants to give conservatives a black eye.
Do some research people.
17 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
PostAway 6/27/2020 7:45:43 AM (No. 458811)
I heartily agree with above posters. My husband and I were booked on a train trip for May and it was cancelled. The train company has kept everyone’s money for a trip up until 2022. Travel insurance didn’t do any good. I’m not angry or bitter as I learned a long time ago that in the travel industry a lot can go wrong and you can wind up losing all the money you invested in a trip. Being on a trip with a celebrity doesn’t protect you in any way.
8 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Urgent Fury 6/27/2020 7:48:01 AM (No. 458816)
This is the one Buzzfeed focused on, because right wing.
10 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
NancyD 6/27/2020 7:56:31 AM (No. 458824)
I was in the travel industry, and It goes like this... A group approaches someone like Beck, says they will coordinate a cruise with people interested in going. They shop all cruise lines with decent itineraries, get quotes for various types of cabins (suites, deluxe, balcony etc) and see which line is able to provide "extras" to the customers. Passengers reserve space, there are "Conditions and Cancellation Policy" given to each customer along with rules, restriction and cancellation penalty. They are all offered cancellation insurance. The customer IS responsible if they don't purchase the dang insurance, its offered from an independent company on behalf the of cruise line.
We were booked on a cruise going to Russia, it was cancelled, we had insurance. Done.
The client has to sign or make a statement(which is recorded) that they were offered insurance.
This is not Becks fault, it's not O'Reilly's fault, it's not the cruise lines fault. The cruise was cancelled because of something out of THEIR control. People love to point fingers without facts and that's what the left does...
35 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
LadyHen 6/27/2020 8:41:51 AM (No. 458875)
ABSOLUTELY NOT, the cruise line is legally NOT responsible for funds for cancelled charters. The travel agent is and in this case that is Cruisebuilders. The money for CHARTER cruises is collected and controlled by the organization or individual who organized it or the travel agent. They book the talent who are on contract to them and not the cruiseline. There are some travel agencies that even specialize in booking charter cruises. All the cruise company provides is the ship and normal staff for the ship. If it is a full charter, the whole ship is booked, they group can even choose the itinerary.
Cruise companies do not book these people as entertainers. Can you imagine the unroar if they did? These public figures and celebrities gauge the popularity of the idea amongst their fans, contact the cruise line, book either the whole ship or a block of cabins, create a set up that the cruiseline is presented and makes accommodation for setting up space and making accommodation on the ship for communal dining and organized activities, and the organizer collects all funds on their own and delivers them per contract to the cruise company. No cruise company ever takes funds for a charter or partial charter from individual passengers, period.
Many people lost out on charters this year. I know Prairie Home Companion was under the gun for this same thing, and that is a very popular yearly full ship charter.
Buy cancel for any reason travel insurance (CFAR) and read your contracts people!!
And fyi, we too had a cruise cancelled (not a charter) and the cruise company has already processed our refund and our funds were returned.
5 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
joew9 6/27/2020 9:09:16 AM (No. 458909)
#10 isparticus
I subscribe to Blaze TV.
I watch most everything except Beck.
1 person likes this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Strike3 6/27/2020 9:17:52 AM (No. 458916)
After four years in the Navy I have not been able to work up enough interest to board another ship but these people are getting screwed. You can listen to Beck or O'Reilly any time if you find them interesting. My idea of a vacation is to travel somewhere alone or with a friend and play out every day on your own schedule. I wonder how much of the fee was for expenses and how much was commission for the hosts?
4 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
earlybird 6/27/2020 9:22:35 AM (No. 458921)
This wackobird hustler still has his fans. You can see him quoted on forum threads from time to time. When it comes to those who still fall for him, “There’s one born every minute.” But I hope not.
4 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
bigfatslob 6/27/2020 10:01:18 AM (No. 458965)
Two people I wouldn't want to be confined on a cruise ship with. I use to turn O'Reilly off when he was on Fox, Beck is just stone black helicopter crazy. I know I wouldn't have spent 'thousands' for that cruise I'm enjoying my 'social distancing' a bit too much now.
3 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Kate318 6/27/2020 10:22:47 AM (No. 458996)
C’mon, folks, it’s BuzzFeed. Posters who didn’t read the article made their judgement about its content, solely on the headline...which, of course, was the intent of the author. Personal feelings about either Glenn Beck or Bill O’Reilly aside, this article is a long, long, long-winded hit piece that ends up with a “staunch conservative” now rethinking his position because Glenn Beck has not personally given him his money back, instantly. I have been on trips that have gotten cancelled, with insurance, and the amount of time and hoops you have to jump through to get your money back is ridiculous. Way, way, way down in the article you find that the issue is between the cruise line and the travel agency, and that Beck has urged both to refund the customers their money.
7 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
ussjimmycarter 6/27/2020 10:31:41 AM (No. 459008)
There has been something wrong with Beck emotionally for years! He's right on the razors edge...
4 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
DVC 6/27/2020 11:09:04 AM (No. 459054)
Vacation insurance is looking like more of a good deal. I hope they get a refund, but in some cases a big lug of the money involved gets spent whether the event happens or not, hard to refund money already spent. The rescheduling is probably the best that can be hoped for. If you "don't want to risk it"......whose fault is that? Sometimes "stuff happens" and you have to do the best you can, but sometimes you lose.
We had a two week vacation in England and Scotland all planned for June, paid for airline tickets, all hotels reserved and some prepaid, very expensive tickets to a racing car event, track driving and car rented. All taken care of in January and February.
Then the Chinese flu hit the fan. Within a few weeks the racing car event was postponed, which was the primary reason to travel. OK, then trying to unravel the rest of the stuff. A month later the event was cancelled for this year. Airline tickets were one of the big costs, we have a credit, no refund on that.
The racing car event tickets were refunded. We'll probably wind up gifting about 1/3 of the substantial, multi-day racing event ticket cost to the organizing organization, they are not well off, run by a Duke on his private estate, and with the literally confiscatory British taxes, the annual event was part of how he manages to keep his head above water financially. Since I'd like the historic racing events (two are held each year) to continue, I'll probably let the organization keep a portion of the ticket money, knowing that they have huge 'sunk costs' that don't go away if the event is cancelled. Keep half or more of your expenses - lose all of your income - a brutal thing for a relatively small, mostly volunteer historic racing organization. We have a credit on airlines, and refunds on most other things, generally are OK on most of it.
I suspect that the cruise organizers are in a similar situation, probably had non-refundable agreements on the ship and other sunk costs. And I imagine a 2 year old cruise company in a small town in Utah may not have 'deep pockets' to fund refunds if the ship company and hotels won't refund to them. Everybody was hurt financially by this and all are desperate to only delay and get at least SOME income for the year. I'm sure that the cost of a ship sitting idle isn't zero, and they can't refund money already spent.
Thinking more about vacation insurance in the future, I wonder if it will have exclusions for Wuhan flu type events after this?
2 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
kono 6/27/2020 11:28:44 AM (No. 459084)
"conservative radio host Glenn Beck"
Last I remember hearing about him was that he flipped to the Left in support of Hillary. You mean he flipped back? Good grief. I think I'll stay on the sidelines to have a better view the next time he flips.
The cruise refund issue is probably on Costa Cruises (or the tour agency who coordinated the cruise), though; unless they paid O'Reilly and Beck for the cancelled cruise while keeping the customers' money.
1 person likes this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
Right Time 6/27/2020 11:37:51 AM (No. 459107)
While I do feel sorry for their loss, I have to shake my head. What would possess someone to pay $10,000 or $20,000 to go on a cruise with the idiot Glenn Beck?
3 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
Ashley Brenton 6/27/2020 1:30:10 PM (No. 459203)
Why are you listening to Beck from 9 to noon when you can listen via internet to Chris Plante on WMAL.
Plante didn't get the 2016 election and subsequent Trump presidency all wrong. Beck did.
1 person likes this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
NYbob 6/27/2020 5:49:24 PM (No. 459394)
Just when I think there is some light up ahead I read a thread on an article from BUZZFEED where people who think of themselves as normal, rational, thinkers, AGREEING with the neocommunists as Buzzcreep. Maybe read the comments from other posters after taking a hit of propaganda from Buzzfreaks. Otherwise you will find yourself citing some lie from AP as a fact.
1 person likes this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
JHHolliday 6/27/2020 7:26:08 PM (No. 459446)
Another item to consider besides trip cancellation is travel health insurance, They provide health coverage in addition to extras like shipping your remains back to the US if the worst happens. The premiums are very reasonable and well worth the cost.
1 person likes this.
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