The motto of the United States Tour association is
"Integrity in travel, and in my "truth" theme based blogspot
posts for this month, the principle of "truth" matters, moreover according
to Google, "In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty
and truthfulness or earnestness of one's actions."
Let me remind you, when you take a tour, you are dependent on the integrity of the tour operator. The company that operates the tour is responsible for the reliability of their local contractors, but if they aren't a member of USTOA, there is no bond that guarantees the down payment of your tour deposit or at least partial payment for your tour if you fail to receive what you paid for with a debit card. When credit card users pay for a tour they can dispute the charge for services not received and the credit card laws back them up.
Let me remind you, when you take a tour, you are dependent on the integrity of the tour operator. The company that operates the tour is responsible for the reliability of their local contractors, but if they aren't a member of USTOA, there is no bond that guarantees the down payment of your tour deposit or at least partial payment for your tour if you fail to receive what you paid for with a debit card. When credit card users pay for a tour they can dispute the charge for services not received and the credit card laws back them up.
Although there is a CLIA, the cruise operators association,
sadly, there is no backup bond to guarantee your down payment or full payment
for cruise services not received if you pay with a debit card.
However, when you take a cruise, you are paying for other
amenities as well.
For example, you have booked a certain location for your
cabin and you may find that because the cruise was overbooked, you may not get
the cabin you expected, and CLIA has no bond to refund your over payment, plus
the cruise line may not be a US registered vessel, which is the case if you
book a cruise that takes place outside the USA, thus you will have to depend on
the cruise line's integrity to get your over payment.
Some years ago, I found out that Carnival Cruise lines DBA's
other cruise lines they took over when they merged, for example, the venerable
Cunard Line is a DBA of Carnival Cruise Lines, and to receive a refund for
services not delivered is a question of hoping your state's Attorney General
will investigate.
Also, for all other matters about refunds or claims for
luggage lost, you will have to determine whether the country of registry
adheres to the laws of the European Union, and even so, the return of your
money is a very complicated process that will eventually be a waste of your
time. A warning for cruise lovers,
beware, check out your cruise line, even if your travel agent has booked your
cruise, you cannot sue your travel agent in many states, like New York, where
the laws favor your travel agent.
Therefore, in travel, "truth" matters because your
money is involved, but regardless, I can still say, travel whichever way,
expect a memory building opportunity to connect with people you ordinarily would
never come in contact with, and at the same time you are collecting photos for
your photo album.
Happy traveling!
