Feeling neglected by my travel agent

[SCPixie]

If it makes you feel any better, it's not just DU. First two cruises I used the same TA because she offered the best OBC. She took forever to answer emails and never gave me information about upcoming booking dates. When I wanted to book our Magic cruise, I told her ahead of time what type cabins I wanted and to book them for me as soon as it opened. Two days later she gets back to me that that wasn't available. Well it was when booking opened! I called her and told her my second choice and she told me that wasn't possible even though I was looking at the computer and could see it was. She talked me into booking the Walt Suite. 24 hours later I found a new TA that gave me a better OBC for a regular suite then the first TA gave me for the Walt!. I cancelled that Walt Suite and bid her adieu. I can't understand, in a day and age where you can just as easily book travel yourself, why TAs aren't more educated and not falling over themselves for our business.

That actually does make me feel better!
I used DU for the OBC, there is no denying that. Otherwise, I would have just booked everything myself. However, I'm truly doing that anyway it seems!

 

[SCPixie]

I contacted John per his post above. Please reach out to him if you have an upcoming trip with DU. He was helpful and made me feel much better!

 

[2-pointdoe]

We taking our 2nd cruise and it's the first one using a TA through DU. I have had no issues and prompt responses. I also don't need or want a lot of hand holding.

 

[MeeskaMooska13]

I contacted John per his post above. Please reach out to him if you have an upcoming trip with DU. He was helpful and made me feel much better!

He was extremely helpful and responsive to me as well.

 

[AquaDame]

I had tried two other companies before DU as well, and I really like the TA the system assigned me. She has sent out little newsletters every few months or so about her own trips and stuff going on in and around the parks and ships since we booked (I got her most recent one just today in fact) and has been really fast when I have had questions. She has been on 21 DCL cruises so is definitely an experienced cruiser! If a company doesn't know you aren't happy they can't make it better so thank you to those of you who have for talking with John about your issues. I'm glad to hear he has helped - I found him super friendly and informative the one time we exchanged emails as well.

 

[kcbonnies]

I have been very happy with Dreams as they assist in our families first cruise in April. I send a lot of email questions and I get quick responses. I am not disappointed at all and I will toast the team with the large on board credit somewhere in the ocean.

 

[cgolf]

I have to say that we have had good luck with our first Dreams TA and incredible luck with our second so far. We had to switch because we were debating between RCCL and Celebrity after all of our DCL trips you can imagine the confusion, especially with the sales on the 2 lines. After answering many of our questions, felt like a newbie, we got a new RCCL cruise booked in about 3 days. She was super responsive and helpful the whole time.

 

[old feller]

Curious to hear from D.U.

 

[KingRichard]

Curious to hear from D.U.

John who is one of the owners has posted a few times here and it seems he has resolved some of the problems based on the responses.

 

[Disneybridewifemama]

I didn't love mine either. Always took so long to get back to me, never personable, very short. When I booked my second cruise, I tried to get someone else and somehow got re-routed back to her again. So bummed. Honestly, I'd rather lose the credit and book myself next time.

 

[sparklinducky]

Has anyone used small world vacations? We are looking to book the 2017 panama cruise when it is released. We have decided to use a travel agent or not previously I have done everything through Disney directly.

 

[WebmasterJohn]

Curious to hear from D.U.

I am the President and one of the owners of Dreams Unlimited Travel.

I have posted several times to this thread and worked with several folks in email (thank you again to everyone who has taken the time to write to me).

If there is an outstanding issue please feel free to write to me at John@DreamsUnlimitedTravel.com

 

[andrencau]

I currently have a cruise booked through Dreams Unlimited. My main reason for not doing it myself is the OBC. Free money. I guess I am confused, especially on here. What kind of support are you needing from your TA? If you can not get a question answered on here, I say you can not get it answered. My TA has communicated efficiently (the 2 times I needed to do something). I am not really sure the issue here, free money or DIY. I take free money any day.

 

[MeeskaMooska13]

I used Small World for my first cruise and they were just "meh". I guess it all depends on the agent you get.

 

[Stasia5]

I have used the same TA at Small World Vacations for all of my DCL cruises, my fifth is coming up. She was ok on my first, but got better over the others and was really helpful. I don't require much hand holding either, but she's always responded quickly and answered whatever questions I had, until now. I told her I wouldn't be rebooking on my next sailing due to the prices, but was open to something if any discounts appeared or if the prices for future dates were better. Never heard back.

 

[WebmasterJohn]

I have used the same TA at Small World Vacations for all of my DCL cruises, my fifth is coming up. She was ok on my first, but got better over the others and was really helpful. I don't require much hand holding either, but she's always responded quickly and answered whatever questions I had, until now. I told her I wouldn't be rebooking on my next sailing due to the prices, but was open to something if any discounts appeared or if the prices for future dates were better. Never heard back.

I know the owner of Small World Vacations and she is a great person who is just as dedicated to providing high quality customer service to her clients as we are to ours.

I would strongly recommend contacting her to see if there is anything she can do to assist you.

 

[TestingH2O]

Has anyone used small world vacations? We are looking to book the 2017 panama cruise when it is released. We have decided to use a travel agent or not previously I have done everything through Disney directly.

We are using them now and have been pleased.

 

[bumbershoot]

then as soon as I paid in full was like "go to DCL website and book yourself for anything else you need".

FWIW, that's probably the best answer. After you've paid, there's nothing much a TA can do for you that you can't (or are supposed to) do for yourself.

I've just been using the board to get my info instead.

Best place! Here or cruisecritic.

Many times I post on the boards when there is a problem and ask people to contact me but I never get an email. I'm not sure if it's because people don't want to get their agent in trouble, or what the reason is, but if you don't fill me in on the specific issues I can't work to fix them.

FWIW, and it's something I'm sure you know but need to make sure you get through to your agents...for some of us, if we aren't taken care of as quickly as, say, amazon will help us, we're done. We're gone. We *don't care* about your retraining needs. We won't use your service even if you've retrained them all.

Odd story to tell, but related. My son has sensitivities to certain ingredients. We are careful with ingredients; we used to be far more careful when the ingredients caused violence in him. (now he can control the violence so he does get a say in if he wants to feel awful by eating something) We went to a local gourmet cupcake shop who talked a good game about their ingredients and their care blah blah blah. A year after stopping there regularly they had something with caramel. I don't trust caramel ever, and asked to see the ingredient list. They brought out the cheapest bucket-o-caramel you can get at the local discount store. And it had the bad ingredient in it. Done. Finished. I did send an email in, explaining, and we heard back from the chef and owner, who was all apologies. I didn't care. We haven't been there since. I don't care if they fixed the problem and have purchased the most expensive and pure ingredients ever since...I'm never going back there.

It's important, for many of us, that the company gets it right the first time. I've shared this before here, and nope, never wrote in to you...I tried to book through your company once, didn't ever hear back from a TA. Not even after I sent my "nevermind" email. I prefer a TA site where you can ACTUALLY book, anyway, not get a quote. Quotes irritate the heck out of me.

If I ever book a trip to Khazakstan I'll probably use a TA, though maybe not. After all, DH has been to Novosibirsk which is right above it LOL. Every simple place, though, I'm using a TA for what it gets me, not for info.

I guess I am confused, especially on here. What kind of support are you needing from your TA? If you can not get a question answered on here, I say you can not get it answered.

This is SO true. DU, even though I don't use them as a TA, has helped to create a place where *all the questions* are answered. And that's a good thing.

 

[ctnurse]

We use DU mostly for the OBC, but I will email her and always get an answer within several hours. I really like our TA and I am very happy with the services.

 

[WebmasterJohn]

We're gone. We *don't care* about your retraining needs. We won't use your service even if you've retrained them all.

I completely understand what you're saying and respect your opinion.

I would like to present a scenario to you. What if one day you were fired from your job. No reason given, no explanation, no notice. Then a few months later you find out from a co-worker you were fired because you weren't doing what was expected of you even though you thought you were doing a great job. Wouldn't you expect at least a 'warning' that something wasn't right so you could correct it? Wouldn't you have liked an opportunity to improve?

By not telling someone when you are unhappy with the service provided by a TA (or any company) and not using them going forward you are basically firing them without warning or a chance to improve.

Travel Agents earn their money on the commission paid after you travel. If you are not happy with their service and just not rebook with them you are 'firing' them from future work.

When there is an issue or a problem on a Disney Cruise Line Ship people will go to guest services and/or ask to speak to a manager. The expectation is once a problem or issue is presented then it can be corrected and improved upon.

All I'm saying is that if there is a problem or an issue the travel agent (or company) should be given the opportunity to try to correct it. If the problem persists or no correction is made to your satisfaction then it makes sense not to use them again.

Based on the feedback and the number of repeat clients we have I, as the business owner, think that all of my agents are doing an great job. However if there are any clients that aren't happy with our service I want to improve.