so two and a half weeks ago, we decided that a vacation was in order in celebration of our anniversary and hubby’s 70.3 completion.  i was super excited when i found a good deal on a cruise leaving out of the nearest port and going to new-to-us destinations.  i booked the cruise through a travel agency and have been bubbling over with excitement ever since.  yeh, we’ve cruised before but it’s been a while and i truly missed not doing one last year.  i was so looking forward to being unplugged and getting away from the stresses of work and having some quality time with my husband after so many months of training separation.  we need it, we really do. 

the day that i booked the cruise, i received my invoice from the travel agent and a cabin confirmation from the cruise line and then i didn’t think any more of it because, as far as i was concerned, it was all set and we had a lot going on still.  last week, i finally had the time to look into why i wasn’t having any luck getting into my booking on the cruise line’s website.  i emailed their support and they responded the next day saying that they couldn’t work with me because i booked through a travel agent.  i found this ludicrous since i had a confirmation from them and have done this before.  once i get that confirmation, i should be able to go to the cruise line’s website and get into my booking to check in, print docs, book excursions, and get my boarding passes.  appalled at the email support, i tried calling their support center where i got the same answer.  ridiculous.  so, i called the travel agent but got his voice mail so i followed up with an email explaining the situation and asking for some assistance.  he called me back a couple hours later but it was while we were out on the bridge running and by the time i got the message, it was too late to call him again.  i didn’t get to get back to him friday either because we were running around like crazy trying to get hubby ready for his half iron race and, frankly, i wasn’t that concerned because i figured it was just a typo in my name or DOB or reservation number or something like that and the agent would fix it and all would be fine. 

now that the race is over, i had every intention of getting it all settled today so that  i could commence my vacation shopping and preparations without stress.  i called my agent this morning and he called the cruise line to get it straightened out for me.  by the time i went to lunch, i still hadn’t heard back from him but i figured i’d follow up on it after lunch if i still hadn’t gotten anything.  while i was at lunch, i missed a call from another person at the agency, which i took to be a not good sign.  i called him back when i returned from lunch but got his voice mail.  he called back just a short while later and he had my agent on the phone as well… not good when they’re teaming up to call you.  he explained that he was my agent’s boss and that the two of them have been working exclusively on my situation since i first called this morning.  apparently, somehow or other, the cruise line never received my payment that agency says they sent and so they cancelled my cruise.  to make matters more frustrating, the cruise is now full so they can’t make me a new reservation.  this is the part where my eyes start welling up as the two of them try in earnest to explain how hard they’ve worked on this and that my only real option now was to sail another date.  it took everything i had to stay friendly (i work in support, i don’t like when people go off on me for something that’s not my fault and at this point, i honestly don’t know where the fault lies) as i tell them that my vacation time has been approved for next week, not another week and my anniversary isn’t another weekend.  i told them that i would have to discuss it with my husband and got off the phone as quickly as possible because the tears were coming. 

mistakes happen, i understand that, but nobody offered to make things right.  if you’re going to suggest other cruises, what are you going to do to make up for the price difference and the flight (expensive last minute airfare) to get there?  and mostly i’m just heartbroken.  i was ebullient about this trip and, just like that, it’s gone.  i already sent my boss an email saying that i’ll be working next week after all and i really just want to eat a bag of cheetos and cry some more to indulge my extreme disappointment.  hubby, being the much more diplomatic and less emotional one, has been trying his best to sort it all out but it doesn’t look like anyone is going to step up to claim responsibility and make it right.  my eyes keep welling up.