“They had my money all this time and I did not receive any service at all,” said Jennifer Perkins, nurse.
The cruise planned for the spring of 2020 has been named NurseCon at Sea. It was described as the ultimate nursing conference and was hosted by Nurse Blake, a celebrity influencing social media. However, the introductory voyage never sailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Perkins, along with three other friends, paid in full for the voyage, and they were disappointed when it was delayed and wanted to repay. “I have a lot of bills. I’m the only source of income for a family of four, so it’s undeniable that it’s going to be useful at the moment,” Perkins said.
Raleigh emergency nurse Julie Walker also has no money. “For me, they have been providing me with money since 2019, and without services,” Walker said.
Instead of repayments, the cruise was rescheduled for the spring of 2021. However, the NurseCon cruise in 2021 was again delayed due to the pandemic and postponed until April 2022.
“A lot of us have asked for refunds, and we have been told absolutely not. There are no refunds we can make in 2022,” Walker said.
Due to the frustrations of these nurses, the cruise line offers refunds to its customers who have booked directly through them. But these frontline employees booked through the third party NurseCon website and not directly at the cruise line, and NurseCon’s policy is no refund.
“The most disappointing thing is that nurse Blake is a nurse,” Perkins said. ‘2020 was the year of the nurse and one of our own refuses to acknowledge that it is a pandemic.
More than 63 cancellation complaints have been filed with the Florida Attorney General’s Office.
NurseCon said in part: “NurseCon at Sea is a small business created by a registered nurse, to bring nurses together and celebrate our profession as health professionals at the forefront. Like so many small businesses, ours is ours. greatly affected by the unprecedented and unforeseen consequences of this global pandemic. ‘
They added that their event was directly linked to the cruise’s ability to sail; unfortunately, they had no choice but to reschedule the conference. The company also added: ‘It is important to know that our refund policy is always clearly stated on our website and during the registration process, and that it must be confirmed by the participant at the time of purchase. Participants who do not want to sail next year we can apply for a full credit, and we also waived the fee for participants who want to transfer their registration to someone else. As nurses and small businesses, we are like everyone else; we are just trying to survive this global health crisis. remain grateful for the support we continue to receive from our nursing colleagues. ‘
These are options that neither Walker nor Perkins think is fair.
“I really just want my money back because we do not know,” Perkins said. “There’s just no way to say, ‘Okay, we’re going in April of 2022.’ Well, that was the plan this year and things started to slow down and now we’m in the middle of another boom, so who has to say even with the vaccine that there will not be another boom. It’s just as unpredictable. “
Debuggers:
This is a good reminder if you want to book any trip in the future, read the fine print. If you are using a third party business, as opposed to booking directly with the cruise line, airlines or hotel, you should know that the refund and cancellation policies are sometimes different. It is also a good idea to look into travel insurance and make sure it covers the COVID-19 pandemic.
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