Grand Circle Cruise Line

Grand Circle Cruise Line has an enticing offer for consumers looking to make the most of their vacation. On its website, the travel company encourages consumers to “join the 60% of travelers who add a pre- or post-trip extension to their trip,” and by doing so, “maximize your discoveries and enhance your value by lowering per-day costs.”

But after a TINA.org reader purchased one of these post-trip extensions, he discovered that it didn’t enhance his trip as much as he thought it would. Instead of the advertised four extra nights, he told TINA.org he only got three.

Our reader booked Grand Circle’s Eastern Europe to the Black Sea river cruise. On the trip’s main itinerary page, the company claims to offer a four-night extension to Dracula’s hometown of Transylvania, Romania, for a nightly rate $65 cheaper than the daily rate of the main 14-day trip.

And if you click on “learn more” under the advertised extensions, Grand Circle reiterates that the extension adds four nights.

But despite this marketing, our reader reported that the extension only prolonged his trip by three nights:

On the trip, I was dismayed to find that the extension only added 3 nights. Grand Circle double-counts the last night of the main trip as the fourth night of the extension. This is deceptive and dishonest.

Indeed, hidden behind a closed tab on day 13 of the main trip’s 14-day itinerary, the cruise line notes (emphasis added):

If you have chosen the optional post-trip extension to Transylvania, Romania, you’ll break off from the main group in Bucharest after lunch and continue by motorcoach to the Transylvanian mountain resort of Sinaia—about a 3.5-hour trip. Then, after your three-night extension in Brasov, you will enjoy the last day of your main itinerary in Bucharest.

And this isn’t the only trip that has this issue.

The company’s listing for its Grand European Cruise also advertises the four-night extension to Transylvania but clarifies on day 28 of the 29-day itinerary (which, again, consumers have to click on to open and read) that the extension is actually only three nights.

When this issue was raised in a complaint with the BBB, the company responded by stating that it had “no immediate plans” to change its marketing, arguing it “clearly spell[s] out how the extension functions in our description of the trip.”

In response to a TINA.org request for comment, a Grand Circle spokesperson said the “structure” of the Transylvania extension is “reflected in the day-by-day activity notes, which is our standard across similar products.”

The bottom line

Consumers booking cruises online should always make sure to read the full itinerary to know exactly what they’re getting and what they’re paying for.

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