Belize Aggressor IV mooring breaks

[PamelaH]

I'm booked on the April 27th departure and was getting a little nervous so I contacted Aggressor today. I don't think I'm speaking out of school here, so......

I was told the ship is currently in dry dock in Roatan getting repairs. It was scheduled to be out of the water for upgrades during this time so it is getting said upgrades plus the obvious needed repairs from the incident. They indicated they expect it to be back in service in March (I didn't get the exact date of its first expected voyage since the incident) and that, from what they were being told about the progress of the repairs, they expect that timeframe to hold up. The person I spoke to said she was "very confident" that my April 27th departure would happen.

The cynic/skeptic in me has my guard up on this one, but I'm not a very cynical person so for now I'm taking their word at face value and hoping for the best. Hope this information is helpful to those out there with bookings on the BAIV. I suggest keeping an eye on things to see if it sets sail by the end of March. If April rolls around and it still isn't running trips I would get real concerned. For me, of course, it will probably be too late at that point to make alternate arrangements whereas I could book something else right now if they pulled the plug today, so really hoping what they told me is accurate.

Did they reach out to you? I haven’t heard anything from them since I called last week and was told what I reported above.

Are they offering refunds or rebooking? Sure hope they offer full refunds as I wouldn’t be able to do this again until same time next year. I’d much rather get my money back and just do something else but I know companies aren’t generally big fans of refunding people.

I got an email this AM. Yes they are offering a full refund and a $500 voucher for another trip to be used within a year, I think. It's very sad. If you have not heard from them you should call right away.

 

[AdivingBel]

Rates & Dates | Aggressor Adventures™

www.aggressor.com

This shows the sailing schedule and seems to be updated as they make adjustments. The next sailing is currently listed as 5/4.

The bookings.aggressor site shows availability...not the same thing.

 

[mtheiss]

Rates & Dates | Aggressor Adventures™

www.aggressor.com

This shows the sailing schedule and seems to be updated as they make adjustments. The next sailing is currently listed as 5/4.

The bookings.aggressor site shows availability...not the same thing.

I spoke to them this morning and they indeed cancelled all trips through April. It seems that for the time being that May 4th and future trips are still on but I would keep a close eye on this if you're booked on a trip in May or June (or really anytime until you have confirmation this thing is back in the water running trips).

At the end of the day I am disappointed but grateful that they are cancelling now and offering a full refund, rather than jerking me around waiting until the last minute to pull the plug and/or pointing to some fine print that says they don't need to refund my money. I think good customer service isn't always based on if things go wrong, but how they are handled when they do. In this case I am very happy that they are giving full refunds and offering future travel vouchers.

Thanks to everyone for updating things here, I definitely wouldn't have been as on top of this if it weren't for this group.

Mike

 

[rlh739]

I wouldn't doubt that repairs to the BA IV are both extensive and expensive, and would account for bookings being cancelled so far in the future.

While we were bugging out, several of the crew came up from the lower deck. They looked rather worried. One young woman who was berthed on the lower deck had her room filled with so much water that access was difficult, with the floating bed blocking the door. Story is that much of her stuff was ruined, so we could safely say that the boat took on a LOT of water.

That doesn't seem like an easy fix.

 

[AdivingBel]

For those who've had sailings cancelled, it would be good to hear how the refund process is going. I've enjoyed the BAIV in the past and I'm currently booked on a June sailing. Thanks.

 

[mtheiss]

For those who've had sailings cancelled, it would be good to hear how the refund process is going. I've enjoyed the BAIV in the past and I'm currently booked on a June sailing. Thanks.

I haven’t gotten mine yet but in fairness I told them on February 29th that I am choosing the refund option so I didn’t expect it to process in under a week. Happy to report back when it comes through. I’ll start making some noise if it hasn’t hit by end of next week but I’m not too worried about it at the moment. I booked through liveaboard.com, not sure if that will slow things down.

In addition to full refund and $500 voucher for future trip, as has been mentioned above, they offered some amount of comp for airline cancellation or change fees. I was able to just change my flight on United to Grand Cayman, where I’m pivoting to a land based trip, and wasn’t charged any fees so not taking them up on that. I mention it because they do seem to be doing right by those of us affected (in my opinion). Now hoping that refund comes through in the next week, I can repost when it does so people know about timing.

 

[ReefHound]

Please do. Some companies are great about promising compensation but not actually providing compensation.

 

[PamelaH]

For those who've had sailings cancelled, it would be good to hear how the refund process is going. I've enjoyed the BAIV in the past and I'm currently booked on a June sailing. Thanks.

We found that the Roatan Aggressor was going out for the same dates so we switched to that which was already on sale plus they applied the $500 voucher plus they are refunding the difference. I had to cancel my flight to Belize and re-book to RTB but I have not asked them to pay for the difference. I'm sure I could, though.

 

[mtheiss]

Please do. Some companies are great about promising compensation but not actually providing compensation.

I got my voucher earlier this past week and yesterday the refund posted to my credit card. So timing was: informing them February 29th that I was going with the refund option and March 15th having it hit my credit card.

Not too bad but I will say that I called two or three times to keep it moving. That’s not to say it wouldn’t have happened in that timeframe anyway, but I was fairly proactive throughout the entire process and would recommend doing the same if you think your week isn’t happening.

Thanks again to everyone here for all the information. This is where I first found out about the incident and that trips were getting cancelled. Who knows if I would have been able to salvage a trip out of that week if I hadn’t been so on top of this, which wouldn’t have happened without this group.

Mike

 

[chillyinCanada]

I'm baffled as to why the boat would be in Roatan for repairs rather than Belize City