“They’ve had my money all this time and I haven’t received any services,” Nurse Jennifer Perkins said.
The cruise scheduled for spring 2020 was named NurseCon at Sea. It was presented as the definitive nursing conference and was organized by Nurse Blake, a famous social media influencer. However, the inaugural cruise never set sail due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Perkins, along with three other friends, paid in full for the cruise, so they were disappointed when it was delayed and wanted to reimburse them. “I have a lot of accounts. I’m the only source of income for a family of four, so it’s undeniable that it would be useful right now,” Perkins said.
There’s also money, Raleigh’s emergency nurse, Julie Walker. “For me, they have my money since 2019 and without any service rendered,” Walker said.
Instead of returns, the cruise was rescheduled for the spring of 2021. However, now the 2021 NurseCon cruise has been delayed again due to the pandemic and launched in April 2022.
“Many of us had asked for returns, and we’ve been told no. There are no returns we can navigate to in 2022,” Walker said.
In addition to the frustrations of these nurses, the cruise line offers refunds to its customers who book directly through them. But these front-line workers booked through the third-party NurseCon site and not directly with the cruise line, and NurseCon’s policy is non-refundable.
“The most discouraging part is that Nurse Blake is a nurse,” Perkins said. “2020 was the year of the nurse and one of ours refuses to acknowledge that this is a pandemic. We don’t know when it will end and we will continue to keep our money without providing any kind of service.”
More than 63 complaints related to cancellations have been filed in the Florida Attorney General’s office.
NurseCon said in part, “NurseCon at Sea is a small company created by a registered nurse, to bring nurses together and celebrate our profession as front-line health workers. Like so many small businesses, ours has been tremendously impacted by the effects without precedents and unforeseen events of this global pandemic “.
They added that their event is directly related to the ability to navigate the cruise line; unfortunately, they had no choice but to reschedule the conference. The company also added: “It is important to know that our return policies have always been clearly explained on our website and during the registration process and that they require confirmation from the participant at the time of purchase. Participants who do not wish sailing next year can apply for full credit and we have also waived the share of participants who want to transfer the registration to another person.As nurses and small businesses, we are like everyone else, we are just trying to survive this global crisis We are still grateful for the support we continue to receive from our nursing colleagues. “
These are options that neither Walker nor Perkins believe are fair.
“I really just want to get my money back because we don’t know,” Perkins said. “There’s just no way to say,‘ Okay, we’ll go in April 2022. ’Well that was the plan for this year and the cases started to go down and now we’re in the middle of another wave, so that whoever says, even with the vaccine, that there will be no other rise. It is so unpredictable. “
Takeaway troubleshooting:
It’s a good reminder if you’re booking any kind of trip in the future, read the fine print. If you use a third-party company, as opposed to booking directly with your cruise line, airline, or hotel, please note that the cancellation and refund policy is sometimes different. It is also a good idea to look for travel insurance and make sure it covers the COVID-19 pandemic.
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