Cruise Causes Chaos in Friend Group After Some Are Refused Refund

A friend group on Reddit was torn apart by a cruise trip gone wrong when some members of the squad refused to refund others when they backed out of the vacation.

The poster explained that the group booked the “cheap” cruise in February 2024 because one of them, Jane, had a military discount.

“We were supposed to go in early November, but rescheduled for December because Jane found out she had a mandatory training,” the person explained in the post.

However, the change in dates meant that one friend, Mary, was unable to make the trip.

The person said that Mary is a friend of their friend Ashley, and they are only acquainted through her, making the duo sort of a package deal.

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“Mary and Ashley asked if we could keep our original cruise dates and go without Jane. Because Jane is the one who booked the cruise and she used a military discount, we couldn’t go without her,” they said.

As a solution, they decided to find a new person to take Mary’s spot and pay her back the money she spent on the ticket.

“One of the girls invited her boyfriend, and he said he’d pay for her spot,” they revealed.

However, that wasn’t the end of the cruise trip struggles.

“A month before the cruise, Ashley said she didn’t want to go anymore. We called the cruise line and tried to get a refund, but they said it was non-refundable. I told her she’d have to find someone to take her spot, or her and Mary could split the replacement boyfriend’s payment,” they shared.

But still, the plan spiraled even further.

“A few days later, both the boyfriend and the girl decided they didn’t want to go on the cruise anymore. The girl had only ever paid $45 of the $185 she owed Jane for the cruise, and her bf paid nothing. Jane was out $140, and we had no money to refund Mary or Ashley,” they wrote.

“Another girl dropped out of the cruise the next week because of a family emergency. She already paid Jane, and understood the trip was non-refundable,” they added.

The party was originally eight people and was now down to only four.

“I started receiving long messages from Mary and Ashley. They demanded that I refund each of them $185 for the cruise, for a total of $370. I explained that the replacement we found for Mary cancelled, and Jane already lost $140, so we couldn’t pay them back unless they found people to take their spots,” they shared.

“About two weeks before the cruise, my boyfriend asked if he could come. This may have been where I messed up. I told him we had room on the cruise if he paid Jane the $140 she lost. He paid Jane and we all went on the cruise,” they continued.

When the group arrived home from the cruise, Mary and Ashley began messaging Jane.

“[They said] that because my boyfriend came on the trip, we should pay them back their $185. Jane explained that he didn’t take either of their spots, he just paid her back the money she lost when our friend cancelled. They ranted about how awful Jane and I were, and then blocked her,” the person revealed.

The two girls also called them “heartless” and “cruel.”

Many Reddit commenters rallied behind Mary and Ashley.

“The plans changed after Mary had committed to them. She’s owed all of her money back,” one person wrote in the comments section.

“You took [Mary’s] money, changed the dates of the trip, and reassured her that she would be getting her money back. It is not her problem that the person you found to replace her flaked out,” another person agreed.

“Life lesson. Everyone pays up front or the tickets are not purchased. Terms are agreed to in advance. In writing. Including mandatory pay-by dates. If it’s non-refundable that’s the deal,” someone else wrote.