Oman Aggressor Continues to Cancel Trips

We reported Erica Watson's disappointment and anger at discovering her trip on the MV Oman Aggressor was canceled just before she arrived in Oman and was preparing to board (Undercurrent March 2018), but it seems that the vessel is making a habit of canceling bookings.

Eric and Andrea Schindler (Tuscon, AZ) supplied us with a litany of emails from Aggressor Fleet that first confirmed that their booking for next August was definitely going ahead. They were concerned because they were the only two passengers on that trip and they were tying it in with a trip to Madagascar, and they had heard about Erica Watson's predicament. They didn't get a response from Darien Bacon of the Aggressor Fleet booking staff until more than a week later, on April 5, when he wrote:

"Since this is a new destination, I am not familiar with it and wanted to check with other staff first. This trip is definitely scheduled to run."

"The owner was in the process of making changes to the host hotel and where the yacht was docking, which have now been finalized." It wasn't until May 23, long after the Schindlers had booked the more complex part of their trip to Madagascar, that Bacon sent another email with the bad news that the trip on MV Oman Aggressor for the week they had booked was not running after all, adding, "We will be issuing both of you a $500.00 voucher for use on a future Aggressor reservation, and we will pay the cancellation/change fees for your airline tickets and cancellation fees for the hotel reservations also."

Clearly upset, and rightfully so, the Schindlers have sent Aggressor the details of changed flights, hotels and cancellation in the hope that they will be reimbursed. It's a long way to go from the U.S. to be stiffed after organizing such a complex trip, and it may indeed be impossible to reconstruct another itinerary that fits the time period and budget.

It certainly looks like the MV Oman Aggressor has problems, and we recommend against anyone booking this boat.

However, what do you think about the Schindlers' case? Cast your vote:

Is the Aggressor's offer of a $500 voucher, flight and hotel cancellation fees an adequate response for canceling this trip three months before departure? What do you think? Vote Yes or No by going to: www.undercurrent.org/UCnow/OmanAggressor