Marlin Travel

We went to see “Come From Away” in Toronto on Saturday May 11, 2019 with 2 bus loads out of Peterboro. We were told the bus would stop at Hot House Cafe for lunch in Toronto. When we arrived at Hot House Cafe we were given 3 choices for lunch with Vanilla Ice Cream (size of a golf ball) for dessert. Service was terrible Portions varied from Plate to Plate Dessert was an insult. Being arranged through Marlin Travel, they should have chosen a lunch that was displayed on the restaurants menu. Other agencies stopped at The Mandarin for a full meal..and charged similar price. Marlin took advantage of seniors by giving them a CHEAP lunch. We were trying to support the Marlin business in our community. This ruined our day !!!

The agent told us that on our cruise we could use American dollars but the cruise line Costa Magica was an Italian cruise ship that only took euros and the exchange was extremely high at $1.56. The agent said that the findings on the internet and websites indicated that the cruise and the French Carribean Islands took American money. I did not have any euros left from a previous trip and asked the question prior to leaving on the trip. It was extremely expensive to exchange money on the ship and all the excursions were priced in euros. If I wanted to visit a european country or be on a european cruise line, I would have booked one. I believe the agent did not fully due the duty of an agent and properly inform the customer on this matter. Secondly, the agent did not say that drinking water on the cruise was part of the gratutities package. When we arrived, we quickly realized that bottled water was part of the package. Cold water from a dispenser and hot water for tea, etc. was offered on the cruise ship but the cold dispenser indicated that cruise customers were not allowed to place their bottles to the rim of the dispenser to fill their water bottles but this was not upheld. I saw many cruise passngers put their bottle they placed on their mouth and touch the cold water dispenser to fill their bottles of water. I could not drink that water because just prior to taking the cruise I decided to check on my antibody status for hepatitis and it was low but the doctor reassured me that if I was on a cruise I would be fine but not to drink water or ice cubes off the ship, and it was too late to get a booster. I needed bottled water and I had to pay in euros for every bottle of water I drank instead of American money. Not only did I have an issue with water, I was told that since I was the third person to book with two other friends that I would either have a sofa bed or a murphy bed. My bed was not a mattress rather a very hard sofa with the pillows removed and I paid the same price as my friends did for the trip. It was never explained to me what Costa Magica”s murphy bed or sofa bed would be…usually a sofa bed is a pullout and a murphy bed is pulled down from a wall. I basically got a hard orange sofa with pillows removed. It was also a room that passengers had smoked in previously. One friend had allergies. Apparently the staff cleaned the room but put some fragent pot purri in the room without asking whether anyone was allergic to anything. And another scare on this boat was that the cook cooking pork chops took the meat with his bare hand…no gloves, no spatula!!! The next day after I saw this happen at the grill, I saw it happen again with the French toast!!! I asked another employee if the cook should be wearing gloves and within five minutes the cook had plastic gloves on. There are laws regarding sanitation and food. This boat did not respect those laws. I will never book with Marlin Travel again. I will never book with cruise ship. I would like a refund not because of my lack of enjoyment which is true but rather because of safety issues.