Customers suspect issues with a fifth Vantage Travel cruise – The Boston Globe

However by Thursday morning, the ship was in Gloucester Harbor, the place it remained till as late as 7:45 p.m., in accordance with cruisemapper.com. The Boston to Montreal cruise doesn’t ordinarily cease in Gloucester, in accordance with an outline of the standard itinerary on-line.

Vantage, on its non permanent web site, lists three cruises, all set to start on dates starting from Thursday to Could 8, that “are anticipated to embark as scheduled.”

One particular person scheduled for the Could 8 Mediterranean cruise, mentioned Vantage referred to as her Thursday afternoon to verify her cruise and her flight to Italy.

The corporate has launched just about no data since Tuesday, when it arrange the non permanent web site. Firm officers have additionally remained unavailable for remark since then.

As of Thursday, the common web site had been down for greater than per week, and clients have been discovering it tough to retrieve the 1000’s of {dollars} that they had sunk into their holidays.

Vantage’s spokesman, George Regan of Regan Communications, on Thursday mentioned he not represents Vantage, which has been a Boston journey enterprise mainstay for 40 years.

In a Globe story revealed Wednesday, Regan was quoted as saying that he requested firm representatives for up to date data on behalf of the Globe however didn’t get a response.

Two days earlier, Regan had launched a press release on behalf of Vantage saying the corporate had employed a “main nationwide forensic agency” to research the information safety incident, which Regan described as a “attainable ransomware assault.”

“Be assured that Vantage Journey is dedicated to fixing this drawback shortly and successfully to make sure the safety and privateness of our valued clients and workers,” the assertion mentioned.

“We’ll present extra data as quickly because it turns into out there,” it mentioned.

In informing clients of last-minute cancellations of no less than 4 cruises, Vantage allegedly cited totally different causes, together with the information safety incident, the ship being in drydock for repairs, “some boat harm points,” and, within the case of a scheduled cruise on the Nile in Egypt, safety issues.

The reasons drew some skepticism from would-be vacationers.

“First the boat is damaged, now they’re hacked?” requested one jilted traveler.

“I’d wish to see extra proof that the ship was truly in drydock, and why that might occur two days earlier than a cruise,” one mentioned. “And extra proof they’re now being hacked.”

The corporate operates about 20 ships, a few of which it leases and a few it owns. Most are comparatively small, accommodating a whole lot or dozens of passengers, not 1000’s, in accordance with a web based profile.

Through the pandemic, Vantage got here beneath heavy criticism from vacationers for lengthy delays in receiving refunds for canceled journeys, in accordance with a 2021 Globe story.

The workplace of Legal professional Basic Andrea Campbell on Tuesday launched up to date information Tuesday on filed complaints in opposition to Vantage, saying it has obtained greater than 700 complaints, largely for refunds after cancellations because of the pandemic.

“Up to now, the workplace has secured refunds for greater than 80 shoppers” for a complete of greater than $1.2 million, for about $15,000 per criticism, in accordance with the workplace of legal professional basic.

Meaning there are about 620 pending complaints in opposition to Vantage, which might add as much as tens of millions of {dollars} in potential refunds.

“We encourage Massachusetts residents having hassle searching for refunds from Vantage to file a criticism with our workplace on-line,” Campbell’s workplace mentioned. “Out-of-state shoppers are inspired to file with their state legal professional basic.”

In late 2021, Vantage launched a brand new $70 million ship, Ocean Explorer, in Boston Harbor. That prompted the 2021 Globe story about two native {couples} who mentioned it irritated them that the corporate made a elaborate show of christening the ship with a bottle of champagne.

On the time, the 2 {couples} had been combating for about 18 months for $46,000 owed to them by Vantage for a canceled safari to Africa. After the Globe requested questions, Vantage refunded the {couples}’ cash.

Obtained an issue? Ship your shopper difficulty to sean.murphy@globe.com. Observe him on Twitter @spmurphyboston.