Jilted customers of Vantage Travel, the luxury cruise line that went bankrupt in June and canceled trips worth thousands of dollars, will receive 100% reimbursement to put toward future travel thanks to new buyer Pacific Travel.

According to details of an agreement outlined in federal bankruptcy court Wednesday, customers will have until Nov. 30, 2028, to book travel with the new company, and caps will be imposed for how much value can be applied to individual services.

Oceangoing travel credits will be capped at 50% of the trip’s cost, while credits toward river cruises and land travel, like safaris, will be capped at 20%. Credits can be applied toward either a deposit or later payment but cannot be used toward airfare, according to the agreement.

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Credits are also transferrable to friends or family and be spread across multiple trips.

The news comes after Boston, Massachusetts-based Vantage Travel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy June 29, had agreed to be acquired by United Travel Pte. Ltd., an affiliate of Nordic Hamburg and Heritage Expeditions. Last week, however, Pacific Travel of Aurora Expeditions in Australia, placed a $2 million bid to assume Vantage’s assets, WFXT Boston 25 reported.

In the bankruptcy filing, Vantage admitted that customers lost $108 million for trips they had paid for, but never got to take.

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“Vantage has sought customary relief from the court to preserve the status quo pending completion of the sale,” the company wrote in a statement. “Vantage has sought approval to complete the sale promptly, subject to any higher and better offers that may be submitted through the court-supervised sale process.”

Boston 25 reported that the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office said it received more than 1,120 consumer complaints against Vantage since Jan. 1, 2020. 

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The customers complained that they did not receive any refund after their luxury cruise was unexpectedly canceled.

Vantage Travel did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

A final ruling on the purchase will take place Monday.

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A high-stakes inflation report due Thursday expects to show that price pressures within the economy heated in July for the first time in more than a year.

Economists expect the consumer price index, which measures a range of goods that includes gasoline, health care, groceries and rent, to show that monthly prices rose 3.3% in July, above the 3% increase recorded the previous month. It would mark the first annual increase in consumer prices since June 2022, when the gauge peaked at a rate 9.1%.

“It’s going to go up. I think everyone is pretty much agreed on that,” Robert Frick, corporate economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union, told FOX Business. “The problem is it’s going to stay up for a while, maybe through this year and into next year.”

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On a monthly basis, inflation is projected to have climbed 0.2%, the same as June. 

There is a “broad spectrum” of items and services keeping inflation uncomfortably high, including housing and rent, medical and auto insurance, gasoline and certain grocery items, according to Frick. 

“It’s going to be hard to bring down,” he said. “I just want to underscore that lower-income Americans are really feeling a lot of pressure right now. We cannot think that just because inflation has stalled out that things are better.”

The Federal Reserve is closely watching the report for evidence inflation is finally subsiding as policymakers try to cool the economy with a series of aggressive interest-rate hikes. Officials approved 11 rate increases in the span of just 16 months, lifting the benchmark federal funds rate from near-zero to the highest level since 2001.

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Parts of the report are expected to point to a slow retreat for inflation, a worrisome sign for the U.S. central bank. Core prices, which exclude the more volatile measurements of food and energy, are expected to climb 0.2%, or 4.7% annually, suggesting that underlying price pressures remain strong. The Fed’s target inflation rate is 2%. 

“The Fed’s decision-making is likely to get much more complicated with the release of tomorrow’s July inflation report, which is expected to show that the overall rate of inflation ticked up slightly last month,” said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS. 

Central bank officials are also taking into consideration other economic indicators, including job growth and consumer inflation expectations.

The July jobs report offered a mixed picture of the economy. Employers added a fewer-than-expected 187,000 jobs last month, but the unemployment rate ticked down to 3.5% and wage growth came in stronger than expected.

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Still, a majority of investors anticipate the Fed will hold rates steady during its Sept. 19-20 meeting. 

The probability of another rate hike is just 13.5%, according to data from the CME Group’s FedWatch tool, which tracks trading.

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A neighborhood group has successfully raised alarms about a suspected rat infestation at a Dollar Tree location in Queens, New York, leading to the store’s temporary closure.

Residents of Ozone Park, a neighborhood in the southwestern section of Queens, reported rat sightings to the Ozone Park Residents Block Association (OZPKRBA), a nonprofit organization that serves community interests.

OZPKRBA President Sam Esposito told FOX Business that residents began sending complaints about a possible rat infestation in June.

He visited the Dollar Tree store on Cross Bay Boulevard on Sunday, August 6, after a community member sent over photos of the alleged infestation and uploaded images to the OZPKRBA’s Facebook group – the Ozone Park Voice News Group

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“I decided to go and look myself,” Esposito wrote in an email. “I was appalled at what I saw and how infested this store was.”

In a recent interview with FOX 5 New York, Esposito said he saw opened bags of chips and pretzels at the Cross Bay Dollar Tree, which may have put local children at risk of contamination exposure.

Esposito shared photos he reportedly took during his site visit, which show torn bags of chips, pasta and jerky, as well as what appears to be rat droppings on store shelves.

FOX Business reached out to Dollar Tree for comment.

The New York City Health Department’s online rat information portal shows the address of 13720 Cross Bay Boulevard, where the Ozone Park Dollar Tree stands now, last passed its inspection in January 2022; the property hasn’t received a treatment from the city since 2015.

“The health and safety of New Yorkers is this administration’s top priority,” a spokesperson for the NYC Health Department wrote in an email to FOX Business.

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“These conditions were shared with the Health Department very recently, and we immediately launched an investigation,” the statement continued. 

“We will take all necessary action to protect the health of New Yorkers as a result of this investigation.”

Esposito told FOX 5 he brought up the issue with store management, but he reportedly received a verbal refusal to close the Dollar Tree.

The Cross Bay Dollar Tree is a block away from a local hotel that has been serving as a shelter, according to FOX 5.

Residents of that shelter have reportedly turned to the Cross Bay Dollar Tree for necessities because it accepts electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards.

“You’ve got 108 families with a couple hundred kids living there,” Esposito told FOX 5. “They use this all the time.”

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The OZPKRBA has issued three demands to Dollar Tree’s corporate office, which include the removal of perishable items, a thorough cleaning and the replacement of damaged or stained shelves, according to FOX 5.

In a statement provided to FOX 5, a spokesperson for Dollar Tree said the company expects to reopen the Cross Bay location next week. 

“The store, which was just remodeled last month, is putting extra measures in place to ensure all safety, sanitation and health standards are met and the community’s concerns are addressed,” the company told FOX 5. 

“We look forward to serving the community again soon.”

The OZPKRBA has notified community members of the Cross Bay Dollar Tree’s temporary closure on Facebook.

“As a block association, we will NOT back down, will not fear anyone, and will continue to hold everyone to the highest level of responsibility when it comes to our Ozone Park community,” the community watchdog posted on its dedicated Facebook group on Tuesday, August 8.

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Esposito and the OZPKRBA have received written thank-yous from community members on the social media website.

“You saved a bunch of people from getting sick and poisoned,” one community member wrote on Wednesday, Aug. 9.

“There’s no way this didn’t affect the surrounding businesses,” another Facebook user wrote. 

“I love Dollar Tree. I stopped going because the store was always in disarray,” another community member shared.

Last year, FOX Business reported on a Family Dollar distribution facility that was shuttered in Arkansas after health authorities discovered a rat infestation.

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Dollar Tree is a multi-price-point discount chain that operates more than 15,100 stores throughout the U.S. (except Alaska and Hawaii) and Canada. 

The company is headquartered in Chesapeake, Virginia.

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