Fine Food and Wine Cruise finefoodandwinecruise.com, Jonothan Baltuch Collects large deposits for cruises, cancels cruise and is evasive about refunds Atlanta, Georgia

Mr. Baltuch and his company are using wineries with excellent reputations and loyal customers to book cruises for which they appear to have failed to pay the ship's owner/operator and therefore have cancelled the cruise without offering a refund of the deposits. My wife and I paid over $7,000 in deposits and were told simply to try and collect from the travel insurance operator. Of course, one of the general exclusions in the travel insurance is for failure to provide the bargained-for travel by the travel arranger (finefoodandwinecruise.com) or the cruise ship operator. The company does not answer its phones or respond to e-mails requesting information or a refund. Be warned, if you are contemplating a cruise with "fine food and wine" do not use this travel operator unless and until they make good on previous defaults and you see reports from satisfied customers.