A PERTHSHIRE woman has criticised the cruise company which cancelled her dream holiday with just hours to spare and then offered her a fraction of the cost as a refund.

Christy Anderson of Abernethy was among a party of six set to sail on the Island Star cruise on September 29. It was called off for essential engine repairs.

Despite writing several times to organisers Island Cruises, it wasn’t until the end of last week that she received a compensation offer —£50, or 25% off another cruise.

The liner, which had been due to sail from Majorca, cut short its previous cruise because of related mechanical failure and had to be transferred to a nearby port for repairs.

A couple from Angus on their 35th wedding anniversary were also among the near-1500 holiday-makers left devastated. They told The Courier last week how they were given a week in Majorca instead of the cruise, qualifying them for only a 25% discount on a future trip.

Mrs Anderson is similarly unimpressed. She said, “We were a party of six. . . The first notification we had that the cruise was cancelled was on Friday morning at approximately 11.

“We were to depart Glasgow at 7am on Saturday, so we had less than 20 hours’ notice to find a replacement holiday for six people flying from Scotland on the first day of the October holidays, which was not an easy task.

“We had also booked our cars in airparks for the duration. Although we cancelled, as it was less than 24 hours we received no refund.”

She said, “I Emailed Island Cruises on September 29 to highlight our annoyance but have received no reply, although I have re-sent the Email and asked what their policy was for responding to customer complaints. . .

“The compensation offered was either £50 per passenger or 25% of another cruise, and arrived on October 24—so they have had the benefit of having approximately 1500 passengers for almost four weeks. You would wonder what the bank interest was on that,” she said.

Island Cruises say that they have satisfied the terms and conditions of the booking.