Small ship cruise line Elegant Cruises & Tours announces savings on all the Adriatic Sea "Venice and the Dalmatian Coast" cruises aboard the 62-passenger m/s Monet. 
For new bookings, Elegant Cruises is offering a 50 percent discount for your companion when sharing the same cabin. In addition, the single supplement has been reduced to 25 percent for category D-A and 50 percent for all Suites.
The Dalmatian Coast is one of Elegant Cruises most sought after itineraries, visiting the glorious walled cities and islands of the eastern Adriatic for 8-days/7-nights with overnights in Venice, Split, Korcula and Dubrovnik. Cruise only rates begin at $2,895 per person, second passenger at $1,448.
"Venice and the Dalmatian Coast" Cruise Details
Elegant Cruises & Tours also has announced an early booking discount of $500 USD per person for all 2010 cruises.
Venice (c) Linda Garrison
DO NOT BOOK ON ELEGANT CRUISES!
We were booked on their Venice-Adriatic Venice leaving on the 29 of April returning on the 6th of May. We were already in Venice on April 25th when we received a call from our travel agent that the cruise had been cancelled “as the Monet had run into a sandbank or something.”
We have not received a refund from Elegant Cruises and their CPA says they have no moeny. I posted this on Trip Advisor and got a reply from someone else whose cruise was also “cancelled” the previous month. She has not received a refund either. This is FRAUD.
We were not aware that they had cancelled any cruises and sent them money in August for a Nov 4-18 cruise. They must have known that they were not going to sail and accepted our money on false pretenses. No, we have not received any refund. Has anyone received any money. Should we try for a class action?
jerry.vetowich@invisoninc.com
October 18, 2010
Do NOT book with Elegant Cruises & Tours a.k.a. Luxury Cruises (rebooks through Small Ships Tours). Read on:
On October 25, 2008 my wife and I purchased from Elegant Cruises and Tours (24 Vanderventer Avenue, Port Washington, NY 11050, Phone: 516-767-9302 — Mato and Tatjana Stanovic, owners) a cruise of The Natural Wonders & Artistic Heritage of the Adriatic (Venice to Venice — we would provide our own flights). Scheduled cruise dates were from November 4 to November 18, 2009. We sent the balance of payment on July 25, 2009.
In early September 2009 we received a phone message that the cruise was canceled and a complete refund of $4,480.00 would be sent soon. Based upon that promise, we altered the insurance protection to cover the flight to/from a vacation in Venice for the same dates of the canceled cruise. Since no refund arrived, in October I initiated contacts with the agency via a series of e-mail messages and phone calls. The replies ranged from “we are ashamed to say we have no money to refund” to promises that a refund would be sent by the end of January 2010. When that deadline passed, I continued the communication. This time Captain Stanovic conveyed the message via a company agent that he would send a full refund by Friday, February 5, 2010. Since I did not receive the promised refund, I continued communication with the agent. He informed me that he had no idea what the captain did and the captain would not respond to his phone calls or e-mail either. I find this strange since the captain goes to the office from time to time. The company is still operating and booking cruises.*
I filed a complaint simultaneously with the Office of the Pennsylvania Attorney General and with the Office of the New York Attorney General. After a number of unsuccessful attempts to resolve the problem, the Pennsylvania Attorney General forwarded the case to the New York Attorney General, who so far has been equally unsuccessful in receiving any cooperation. Recently I also filed a complaint with the Criminal Division of the District Attorney. Nassau County, Long Island.
The Long Island Better Business Bureau is the latest entity to inform me that they also failed to receive any cooperation.
From the time the Pennsylvania Attorney General was not successful in resolving the problem, I tried several times in various ways to convince Captain Stanovic to live up to his promise — only to be met with failure. In fact, he had his law firm answer for him. Each time, the attorney responded that Elegant Cruises and Tours is not booking cruises and had no cash flow. And each time, I called the company and was told that they are booking tours under the name, Small Ships Cruises. The captain himself reports to the office regularly. Obviously someone is not being truthful.
Until recently, every time I telephoned someone answered as Elegant Cruises and Tours. Last evening a recorded message answered as Luxury Cruises. I called again today and verified that they changed the name to Luxury Cruises and are booking tours through Small Ships Cruises. The captain is still in charge. I will not be surprised if the company will not create multi-layered name changes to hide its true identity and escape refunding unsuspecting clients.
From the information I gathered, I learned that my wife and I are not the only ones to be duped or to have filed a complaint with the attorney general.
* Going from Elegant Cruises and Tours, to Small Ships Cruises, to Luxury Cruises… As the saying goes: “Something is rotten in Denmark.”