Dreams Unlimited vs. Small World Vacation

[NHKristy76]

I used DU to book my upcoming multi family trip. Perhaps it is just my TA but I have HATED the experience. I will NEVER use them again because she is that bad.

In fact, if I could change now I would... I can't decide if I want to cry or scream!

[sham10299]

@NHKristy76- I was wondering who your TA is. We are using dreamsunlimited.com for our upcoming cruise. So far the service has been great, but now I'm worried.

[Bonniec]

Originally Posted by NHKristy76

I used DU to book my upcoming multi family trip. Perhaps it is just my TA but I have HATED the experience. I will NEVER use them again because she is that bad.

In fact, if I could change now I would... I can't decide if I want to cry or scream!

You should contact them. They own these boards and I can't remember who the head honcho is but whenever someone has a bad experience he seems to go out of his way to make it right. Do a few searches from Dreams Unlimited and send him a message in case he doesn't read this. Or I'm sure someone here can let you know who to contact. They take their customer service very seriously.



OP, I will give you my two cents since I looked into both. Neither company can give you cheaper rates (or any other TA). Both give very similar on board credits. Both have great reputations. So they are both pretty equal in comparison. If you know someone at Small World or a friend who went throught them, then go with them. If not, I would go with DU. This is their message board, it's free to use, and the boards are extremely helpful (at least to me they are). I have nothing against Small World at all, in fact, I use their web site at times too. But I use the Dis more so I figured I might as well give them the business. My experience with Beth has been wonderful

[paults]

I'm using DU now for our May cruise and everything is working great. Somebody said it's only by e-mail but I'm in contact with my agent by phone too. Tammy has been great and very quick with answers to my questions. This is our first cruise and I hope to have many more.

[Ashleyfaz]

I'm also using DU and they have been great. I've booked both a cruise for march and WDW for November and my TA has been very helpful. I'm so indecisive and she has put up with me making all kinds of changes over the past few days until I booked yesterday. She's been very helpful and great! Responds to my emails very quickly.

[Ashleyfaz]

Originally Posted by eemaxx

We have used Dreams Unlimited many, many times and our agent, Merrie Thomas, is the best! She answers emails at night and on weekends and finds things out for you if she doesn't know off hand (silly things- like "is the hair dryer on the wall in the bathroom or in a drawer?") Also, we've gotten OBC both times we've booked cruises with them and even a complimentary bottle of champagne on our first cruise. Also fabulous for WDW trips. If a lower room-only rate is released, they will credit your reservation.

Merrie is my TA and she has been awesome!

[LV Disney Fan(atic)]

Originally Posted by Bonniec

OP, I will give you my two cents since I looked into both. Neither company can give you cheaper rates (or any other TA). Both give very similar on board credits. Both have great reputations. So they are both pretty equal in comparison. If you know someone at Small World or a friend who went throught them, then go with them. If not, I would go with DU. This is their message board, it's free to use, and the boards are extremely helpful (at least to me they are). I have nothing against Small World at all, in fact, I use their web site at times too. But I use the Dis more so I figured I might as well give them the business. My experience with Beth has been wonderful

This is exactly how I feel. I booked our first DCL cruise with Small World and had absolutely no problems with them. Then I found the DIS boards and thought I'd try DU since they got good reviews and they sponsor the forums. Kelsie has been our TA for the last 4 cruises and she's been awesome! I feel like with the amount of time I spend on this board and all the great information I get for free, the least I can do is give them our business. I also appreciate that they let us even mention other TAs on this board - that sure doesn't happen over on Cruise Critic. I would switch if I felt the service was lacking, but I have no complaints (thanks, Kelsie!), and the OBC is great.

[geffric]

Originally Posted by ohanaMAMA

I have experience with Lisa Reese at www.pixieandpiratedestinatons.com

she is absolutely amazing. She assisted us with every small detail and was constantly available to us. LOVE her.

\
I met Lisa on our Hawaii trip, she is great person. I recommend her too.

[ekatiel]

Have you tried www.cruisecompete.com? They will send you quotes from about 5 different agencies, then you can compare and choose. The prices will be the same (unless an agency is unaware of a particular discount like Kids Sail Free), but the OBC usually differs. --Katie

[Bear3412]

fwiw DU delivers gift baskets to cabins for PC sailings.

[tweis]

Another vote for DU! Beth is my agent and we love her! I saw where a PP said you could only contact them via email but you can also contact them by phone. I have only contacted Beth via email so far and she always answers them VERY quickly even nights and weekends. I decided I wanted to change my room and she took care of it no problem. We booked with a local TA for our last cruise and was offered no OBC and most of my communication with her was email also. Both agencies have great reputations on the dis so you probably can't go wrong with either.

[Meghatron]

We chose http://smallworldvacations.com because of (1) MouseSavers recommendation and (2) the numbers of posts I see here regarding problems with DU. Yes, those posts are handled by top brass to solve the problem... but IMHO the problems should not have occurred in the first place with that level of frequency, especially when it comes to the amount of money involved to take a Disney cruise. OTOH, DU stands by their service confidently enough to allow other travel agencies to be named on their board, which is impressive and they should be acknowledged for that... But our choices and opportunities for sailing are so limited, it's not enough to sway me over there on the off chance we get them on a good day. We don't sail out of PC so the gift baskets are irrelevant.

Our Small World Agent has handled numerous changes, multiple rooms, and varied requests promptly and without issue. If something I've said is even remotely unclear, she always clarifies before making changes that could cost us money. I've gotten responses from her not only outside her posted office hours but also while she was on vacation with her family (when the Fantasy MV date change happened). We are very happy with the service offered!

[ccemtperic]

I have used Dreams Unlimited twice and my agent Kristi Bennett has been wonderful each time. No problems at all and she is responds via email very quick and I have talked to them by phone also.

[remlap]

I'm a vacation do it yourselfer, but used DU on my last cruise with no complaints. Marla is our agent and is always very quick to reply and has been very helpful. We rebooked in 2012 and gave her name and DU again for our upcoming cruise (that won't be until 2015)

While still would prefer the ability to just pick up phone and call Disney, honestly speaking, I'm really not sure what I would ask DCL if I called them. If DU wants to give me an OBC for booking through them, I'm in.

Yes, this winter when Disney releases 2015 cruises, I will stress for about a day about moving the cruise. However, I also know I'll probably have an email waiting for me confirming it's done before I wake up (west coast time here) and they are paying me on top of doing the work for me.

When you read most of the complaints about DU on the board, most of them generally follow "I tried to call Disney and they wouldn't talk to me and i didn't have a number to call anyone at Dreams....." Honestly, you're using an internet agency for the OBC. Disney isn't going to talk to you no matter who your TA is, and yes, you have to email DU, but you knew that going in. If you're that much of a control freak that you can't handle a one day email lag time. (BTW, Marla generally always replys ASAP) perhaps you should book direct or use a local travel agent, if they still exist.

Lastly, there is a number to call for DU as I have used it to give them my credit card number when we changed our Mexico cruise to an Alaska cruise and our deposit increased by under two dollars and I was driving and not near a computer. (Yes, Disney would not let that two bucks slide)

[Silverfox97]

Beth Fejer with DU - she's amazing!!!

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