Dreams Unlimited vs. Small World Vacation

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!
 
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. :thumbsup2 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.
 
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
 


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. ;)
 
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!
 


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.
 
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)
 
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 Fr:confused3ee), but the OBC usually differs. --Katie

:thumbsup2

This is a GREAT FREE SITE! Set up an account. Pick your cruise (ship and date), # of people going and ages, what type on room you want (be specific and use category room names (eg. Use cat4a vs. balcony). Put in your past pax#. Fil in anything you want in the comment field. Quotes will come in and they are to include your "all in" price (taxes,fees, etc. However, your price will NOT include insurance or transfers). They will also list your incentives they are able to offer (eg, OBC, free gratuities, free excursions, etc).

Just used this to book a cruise (not Disney) & saved 1100$ over current brochure rate. With Disney, your bang for your buck will be with the incentives.
 
We used to use DU but no longer .. We use a company who are apparently not allowed to be named on this board. Have used them almost since the day they set up due to the bad behaviour from DU.

We have personally met our TA and she understands what we want ..we don't need to remind her of dinner seating nor about transfers, insurance or the like.

We are getting married in 2015 and she is not only handling all of the bookings, but she is invited too!!!

Each person will have a different view on each agency, but I think it's wise to ask them all for a quote and although you can ignore the price, it's what the customer service is like for me, then the onboard credit.

It seems that all are equal but some are more equal than others. Such a shame that suspensions are given to those who name their agency.
 
I have used DU for several cruises. They are fabulous. I have had 2 TA's. Both were great. I have Kelsie now and she is wonderful. Especially as I have switched things a million times (rooms, dates, etc). So patient with me.

I have not had the new room gift baskets yet from DU. I hear they are wonderful. I thought the past ones were wonderful!

I also like that the Dis Welcome Center is at Port Canaveral. I feel that if I had a last minute crisis, I could just show up there and ask for help. Or maybe I could call them from the terminal and they could come down the street.

I haven't tested that one out, thank goodness, but it's in the back of my mind as a nice security blanket! :rolleyes1

btw DU is more than email. There is a phone number on your client service page if you needed to talk to someone right away. I have used it before as I tend to pay with Disney Gift Cards and pay last minute. Mostly I email.
 
Tracy Desjardin at Small World Vacation. She is the best. In the last week I have changed my cruise 4 times, and she did all the work. She got us a better deal then our onboard credit, so she pushed that resi to next yr, and then booked us our new cruise. She is amazing to work with! Also Small world puts a gift in your stateroom on return. So if you book with them this time, your next cruise, even if you book and transfer to them, you get their gift on that cruise! Mouse Saver also recommends Small World!
 
I always wonder this: why are certain travel agents not allowed to be posted about on this site (they are blocked with *** when mentioned)? Because obviously DU allows competition since there SOME that are allowed.
 
I used Anne Cook for my cruise in April 2012 and loved her!! She answered all my questions even if I asked the same one more than once (I was really concerned about whether or not we needed passports)!! I would recommend her to anyone. I will actually be using her to book my next cruise for next spring.
 
Hi there- we are looking to get the best rate possible on our cruise, and have considered quotes through Dreams Unlimited, Small World Vacations and Costco. What experience do you have with any of these agencies? All quotes are relatively the exact same with the same offerings, so I'm wondering how to choose on (literally two of them have the exact same quote & OBC offerings). Is OBC negotiable? Will TAs add on upgrades or extra OBC for booking with them over another one to secure business? I typically do my own bookings, but was considering a travel agent this time around.

Thanks for any info you can offer!

I got a quote from Dreams Unlimited once and they were horrible! Slow to respond and tough to deal with. I'm sticking with my AAA TA.

Mike
 
MND said:
I got a quote from Dreams Unlimited once and they were horrible! Slow to respond and tough to deal with. I'm sticking with my AAA TA.

Mike

That's interesting. I did the opposite. After a disaster when booking one of our trips to WDW with our local AAA TA, I chose DU for our cruise. The AAA TA, was extremely rude and incompetent. I made out better booking myself on previous trips and seemed to know more about the process than she did. I only used AAA during the Disney month for the perks which I found out were the same perks I previously got from Disney, except the AAA logo was added to them. I wrote an email to complain about a month before our trip, and the main office called me as I was getting off Splash Mt. and wanted to discuss the matter. Their fix was to send me a free photo album and a $50 coupon for another booking with their agency that expired in 6 months. So in other words, I had to give them more money and time to "save" $50. I vowed never to use AAA again. So far, DU has been wonderful! Fingers crossed.
 

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