u/Weekly_County_1262

Full-time program manager, and analysis/dashboards are the part of my job I’d happily do at 11pm. Excel/Sheets, SQL, and I build dashboards that non-technical leadership actually opens twice a week instead of once and never again. Recently rebuilt a churn analysis for ~$1.9M of lost revenue and turned it into a 12-slide story for investors, so I’m comfortable on both the data side and the “make the exec care” side.

What I’m stuck on is the client side, not the work side.

A few things I’d love honest answers on:

**1.**	Did your first clients come from Upwork/Fiverr, or from your own network? Every thread says “network,” but I’d like to hear from people whose network wasn’t already full of founders.  
**2.**	For a first paid project, do you scope by hour or fixed price? Fixed feels safer for the client and riskier for me until I’ve seen their data.  
**3.**	How do you handle the “can you just clean this file first” trap where 80% of the time goes into someone’s broken CRM export?  
**4.**	Is there a niche worth committing to? I keep hearing generalist analysts get commoditized while “Shopify revenue dashboards” or “clinic ops reporting” people get referrals.

Happy to trade - if you post a messy dataset problem in the comments I’ll talk through how I’d structure it.

I normally don’t write posts like this, but this experience has genuinely left me frustrated, and I feel people should know about it before they book a Cordelia cruise.

I had planned a Cordelia cruise to celebrate my wife’s birthday.

This wasn’t just another holiday for us. A cruise birthday celebration had been on her bucket list for a long time, and I was really looking forward to making it happen.

We planned everything around the cruise. Flights, hotel, leave from work, everything.

Then, around 27 days before the sailing, Cordelia cancelled the cruise.

The only reason given was “operational reasons.”

Okay, things happen. I understand that.

But what really shocked me was what happened afterwards.

I had already spent a significant amount on the cruise and around ₹30,000 on flights. Because of the cancellation, I lost around ₹15,000 on the flight cancellation alone.

I also lost around ₹12,000 on my hotel booking, which was booked specifically around the cruise dates.

So I was already out approximately ₹27,000 in flight and hotel cancellation losses, before even considering the disruption and everything else.

I contacted Cordelia and asked them a pretty straightforward question:

Since you cancelled the cruise, what are you going to do about the financial loss I have incurred because of your cancellation?

The answer was basically: nothing beyond their standard options.

They offered me a refund, rescheduling, or initially a 125% future cruise credit.

I kept escalating because I honestly couldn’t understand the logic.

If I had cancelled the cruise, I would have had to pay a pretty hefty cancellation charge. In my case, the cancellation calculation showed a liability of more than ₹55,000.

So when the customer cancels, there is a significant financial consequence.

But when Cordelia cancels, the customer’s flight, hotel and other losses are apparently the customer’s problem.

I asked them about this several times.

I also pointed out that my booking was made over a phone call. During the booking process, the cancellation charges applicable if I cancelled were explained to me.

Nobody explained to me that if Cordelia cancelled, I would be left to absorb the losses associated with flights and hotels.

That distinction became very important only after they cancelled the cruise.

I spent days calling and emailing them, trying to find a reasonable solution.

At one point, I was even told that my case needed more time. I asked what exactly was being reviewed and how much time they needed, but I couldn’t get a clear answer.

Eventually, after multiple escalations, they came back with a revised offer:

125% Future Cruise Credit, valid for 24 months, with no blackout dates, plus complimentary paid shows.

I appreciate that they improved the offer.

But honestly, I’m still not comfortable accepting it.

Why?

Because I didn’t cancel the trip.

I lost money because they cancelled the trip.

And now I’m being asked to put that money back into another future booking with the same company.

The birthday part makes this even more disappointing.

They offered a complimentary birthday cake and paid shows for the future cruise.

That’s a nice gesture, but the birthday we planned for has already passed.

A cruise birthday celebration was something my wife had wanted to experience for a long time. I was genuinely excited about ticking that off her bucket list.

For Cordelia, this may just be another booking.

For us, it was a highly awaited experience and a memory we were really looking forward to.

That’s what I think companies sometimes miss.

Customers don’t always buy a product. Sometimes they’re buying an experience they’ve been waiting for.

I’m not posting this because I want anything for free.

I’m asking for what I believe is a fair resolution for the financial loss caused by a cancellation that wasn’t my decision.

I’ve tried resolving this directly with Cordelia multiple times. They have now given me their position in writing.

So I’m sharing my experience publicly because I would have genuinely appreciated knowing about this side of their cancellation policy before I booked.

If you’re considering a Cordelia cruise, I’m not telling you what decision to make.

Just do your homework.

Ask them specifically:

“What happens to my flight and hotel expenses if YOU cancel my cruise?”

And get the answer in writing before you pay.

If anyone here has had their Cordelia sailing cancelled, I’d genuinely like to know what happened in your case and what resolution you received.

I’ll also update this post if Cordelia eventually resolves my case fairly.