Every so often a business idea comes along that sounds so good you almost can’t believe nobody thought of it sooner. A cruise ship just for dogs and their owners, puppy massages included, sailing right out of Tampa. That was the pitch from a company called Cruise Tales back in 2024, and it worked. People magazine covered it. USA Today covered it. Dog lovers across the country started booking cabins for a trip that promised to treat their pets like royalty for a week straight.
One of those dog lovers was a Tampa man named Jerry, whose dog Sprinkles apparently holds a spot in the family that most of us reserve for actual relatives. Jerry booked the cruise and paid roughly $7,000 for the privilege. He wasn’t alone. The trip was originally scheduled to sail in November of 2025, meaning some folks had been sitting on this booking, and their money, for the better part of a year.
Then came the excuses. Cruise Tales told passengers there were “issues with the cruise ship” and pushed the sailing date back to 2026. Some people asked for their money back right then and got it. Others, including Jerry and his wife, decided to be patient and wait it out. That patience did not pay off. A few months later, Cruise Tales canceled the whole thing and, according to the customers who spoke with Scripps News, kept the money anyway…