When I received my confirmation email, it stated the room was for two adults and no children. In the meantime, I had also discovered that parking was not free, as the booking agent had said, but would cost another $50 per day. I have called Hotels.com multiple times to get my reservation corrected but no one was able to help me. One agent told me that I would have to pay an additional $400 per day per child. After many hours on the phone, I still have no resolution to my problem. I purchased Olympics tickets, as I’m sure many others did, on the assurance that I had a place to stay in Vancouver. Now I am not sure if we will be going, or what to do with the Games tickets I bought. Can you help me?

— Lisa Richmond, Seattle

Answer: Richmond’s Olympics accommodation snafu was quickly eclipsed by a much larger issue. Ten days after she booked—and little more than a week before the Games’ opening—all Olympics bookings aboard the Norwegian Star were unceremoniously canceled.

The ship had been chartered from Norwegian Cruise Line by NewWest Special Projects, a satellite company of an Edmonton, Alberta-based travel agency. NewWest had initially planned pre-and post-Olympics cruises on the Norwegian Star, plus some coverage of the events while in the Vancouver harbor, but sluggish sales led to a new marketing strategy in August of last year. The Norwegian Star charter was then pitched as a floating hotel during the Games, and while room sales did pick up on the 1,108 available staterooms, in part thanks to slashed prices, it wasn’t enough to salvage the operation.

NewWest pulled the plug on February 2, leaving 1,642 people scrambling for last-minute places to stay. Another 4,000 travelers booked for the pre- and post-Olympics cruises from and to Los Angeles were given refunds.

There were no provisions in NewWest’s booking terms and conditions about its obligations to clients in the event of a cancellation. Tourism BC set up a task force and worked with the company to find accommodations for as many guests as possible, according to NewWest spokesperson Tamara Castellano.

Other Olympics-goers like Richmond turned to their travel agencies for help. I initially sent Richmond’s complaint to Hotels.com over the problem with her childrens’ booking, but after the Norwegian Star charter went under, I asked Hotels.com what it was doing for its displaced customers.

“We are reaching out to each one of our customers who booked accommodations on the Norwegian Star and re-booking them elsewhere,” says Hotels.com representative Vic Walia. “This is a mess which we are trying to resolve for our customers.”

Hotels.com still had inventory in Vancouver, so finding rooms was not an issue, he said. The company had 147 other guests who were in the same boat, although 80 of them opted to simply cancel for a full refund.

Incidentally, the extra charge per child on Richmond’s original booking would have been $100 per night, because accommodation on the Norwegian Star included meals, onboard entertainment, port fees, and shuttles, according to Castellano. Hotels.com did not mark up those rates, says Walia. It’s unclear why Richmond was quoted $400 per child by a telephone agent. As for the erroneous free parking info, Hotels.com was simply passing along info it had received from NewWest, according to Walia.

Hotels.com rebooked Richmond’s family in a one-bedroom suite plus an adjoining room for the kids. Accommodation included free valet parking. Because her original reservation included meals, Hotels.com refunded Richmond $150. It also issued her a $200 future stay voucher due to all hassles over her original reservation.

How can you avoid trouble?

• Ask about the terms and conditions of your charter. Charters are business ventures, so if the company isn’t going to make money, your trip may not happen. Find out how close to departure the charter can be canceled due to poor sales, and what, if anything, the company will do for you in that case.

• Consider travel insurance, which may also cover your incidental costs.

• Work with a travel agent, who may be able to find alternate accommodations or transportation should you be left high and dry by your charter.

Read previous columns

Linda Burbank first began troubleshooting travelers’ complaints for the Consumer Reports Travel Letter. She now writes regularly for Consumers Union publications and is a contributing editor forNational Geographic Traveler. E-mail her at travel@usatoday.com. Your question may be used in a future column.

The official says that in the two months since a Nigerian man tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airplane, the government’s list of suspected terrorists banned from flying grew from about 3,400 to 6,000.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security issues.

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Reviewing and updating the no-fly list were among President Obama’s immediate responses to the Dec. 25 attack.