MV MYSTIQUE CRUISE - NOWHERE TO BE SEEN. Review on Blue Lagoon Cruises

We booked a 4 day cruise on the Mystique advertised as 5-star(see also the 4-day / 3 night - 5* entry in the table on the FAQ page of Blue Lagoon Cruise's website).

Trouble is, you never get to board or see the Mystique. Too few bookings and you are switched to the 4-star Fiji Princess.(Which they now falsely tell you is 5 star - see the video. Stars everywhere! This also contradicts their website.)

This catamaran takes 7 days to do the round trip, so after four days you are placed on a 5 hour ferry boat trip back to the mainland. Oh, and the Mystique is hired out on a private charter.

When you complain about the switch to a lesser ship, Blue Lagoon Cruises insists you are switched from a 4-star to a 4-star ship(I have it in writing - see the video). Obviously, they have trouble reading their own advertising, sticking to a standard, and working out that the Mystique's 17-18 square metre cabins being much bigger than the Fiji Princess' 11-12 square metre cabins(with no seats) are clearly one of the reasons why the Mystique is the ship you want to be on -  especially since you paid for it.

Now, the Fiji Princess is not a bad boat - it just isn't what you paid for. So you try to make the best of it. The crew is very friendly - but why are those two passengers over there in the corner not socialising? Well, they are angry because they too have paid through the nose like us, but they are NOT trying to make the best of it.

Did I mention you don't actually get to your destination? Well, you do if you paid for 7 days but you're off the cat after 4 days and have to endure that 5 hour ferryboat trip back to the mainland - in our case in a severe storm!  I seriously thought we were done for.(Incidentally, two weeks later a boat DID go down in this sea.)

It's a great pity, because Fiji is a lovely place. But if you are scammed, you feel unable to really relax. Sorry - but there are no refunds of the difference in price.

The rates page on the Blue Lagoon website shows that the 4 day cruise is approximately the same price as the 7-day cruise. I wonder why? Must be that the lovely boat that you booked -  but never saw - is a cut above the Fiji Princess, but wait! That would mean 5-star wouldn't it?

I might also add that Flight Centre Australia - the booking agent and onseller of the product - insisted to the Dept. of Fair Trading that there are no stars at all. Oh dear.(You'll remember this company, won't you? They have an online history of misleading customers. Google "Flight Centre scam".)

Flight Centre even tells you that the FAQ page on the Blue Lagoon Cruises' website is "not advertising" and therefore not false(I have it in writing!), and so no refund is due. Please draw your own conclusions about this Australian travel agency. Fortunately, there are honest alternatives.

They all have to learn to tell the truth before we can recommend it.