How can I get my Dreams travel agent to do anything????

[DonaldDunk]

Did you email John? Did he provide helpful assistance?

I emailed John this morning, I wanted to wait until I had the time to send him a proper email explaining everything. I will update on here once he responds.

 

[DonaldDunk]

I was able to add transfers in both directions and suggested tips right from the start (way before PIF). I like to know the full price ahead of time.

Did you use a Dreams agent?

 

[DonaldDunk]

I will say that my experience with a DU TA has been great. She's always been super responsive and helpful when we have questions.

I got an email from her last week that she'd applied the placeholder discount to our upcoming Wish cruise and saved us nearly $800. She did all of that before I even got the email from DCL that discount was available!

Are you allowed to give her name on here?

 

[RedHead0186]

Are you allowed to give her name on here?

I think so? It's Merrie Thomas.

 

[Grandmatoone]

Years ago I could not get my agent to apply the final payment. I was at the final due date and my agent was not responding. I posted this on the Disboards and John replied within an hour.

But due to that frustrating and stressful experience I never booked through them again. Now I book through Disney (I have platinum status) and then transfer the booking to Costco travel. I receive a Costco gift card for booking through them. The value far exceeds what DU onboard credit is.

 

[Tay N Evie's Mom]

I think so? It's Merrie Thomas.

She’s my TA as well. She’s awesome!! Just booked 2 DCL with her in the last 2 days. Always responds within an hour or so.

 

[gatechfan99]

I will just add that I am also a big planner and never thought there would be a benefit to using a TA for a cruise for me. Then, a couple of years ago, we were doing a European Disney cruise so I decided to use a DU agent for the first time since I thought there might be some questions he could help with. He was easy to work with, added transfers and insurance easily when I requested later, but the best thing is that on board credit. I believe for that cruise it was about $1000 that just gets added into our bill so it knocks off that much off the balance you spent on excursions, tips, food, etc.

Since then, I've used them every time. Super easy, I basically email him with the cruise and room I want, he has it booked that day, and we get the onboard credit added in every time for different amounts. I also used DU for a Royal Caribbean cruise for this summer. With RC, you pay for the excursions in advance when you book them, and the OBC showed up months in advance, so I basically booked one excursion completely for free. I'm definitely a believer in using them at this point, especially with Dreams Unlimited.

 

[Girl of the South]

To DonaldDunk!

When I had the gratuities and DCL shuttles added to my reservation, I was NOT using a DU agent. Maybe they are limited somehow in what they can do?

(Just PIF today. No turning back now!!)

 

[Dug720]

To DonaldDunk!

When I had the gratuities and DCL shuttles added to my reservation, I was NOT using a DU agent. Maybe they are limited somehow in what they can do?

(Just PIF today. No turning back now!!)

I'd be shocked if DU was restricted from doing those things. I use a different agency and there are zero problems adding transfers and pre-paid gratuities.

 

[DonaldDunk]

Thank you ALL for your insight with this. John did respond to my email and gave me different options to fix the situation. I am waiting to hear back from him after my response. We will see what happens, but I am feeling better about things already!

 

[JoeFromSeoul]

Sorry about your negative experience. We have been very fortunate with our DU TA. I am half a world away in Korea, but she is always responsive. Nights, days, weekends…I don’t think I have ever gone more than four hours without an email response. Luck of the draw I guess.

 

[dreamer17555]

Something to keep in mind to set expectations is that onboard credit comes out of the agent’s commission. So dreams agents are not making as much as you might think on a booking, especially after the agency takes their cut.

I agree that adding transportation and gratuity should be something that they do. I’ve had a dream agent do it for me without a problem, but it’s also a good idea to keep in mind that that onboard credit comes from somewhere.

 

[Girl of the South]

I had to cancel a cruise VERY last minute, like hours before midnight on the last day possible. Had to call my travel agent, at home, on a Sunday night to ask her to please cancel. Thankfully she did answer the phone and she did manage to cancel.

I felt really badly about it (she was an older lady trying to keep her hand in the industry) so I sent her the commission she would have earned. If I remember correctly it was about $450. Doubt she would normally get all of it - agency must take a percentage?

Last time I used a TA. Not that she wasn’t helpful, but if I had booked directly with DCL, I could have done it myself. Yup. Control freak.

 

[ManxMama]

We have just returned from an ABD (Barcelona Escape) and DCL Med cruise (Barcelona to Rome), which was booked through Dreams Unlimited Travel. When booking our placeholder while onboard the Fantasy last week we specifically asked that the new booking NOT be re-assigned to Dreams Unlimited Travel (DUT).

We will never be using DUT again.

As experienced travellers we are well able to plan and book on our own. When we use a travel agent it is only for the booking perks they offer, since we have already researched and decided on what we want. This should be a win/win situation since the agency gets the commission on an easy booking and we get the perks (OBC or other booking credit). In our recent experience with DUT involving 2 different agents (Elaine Edwards and Karen Adamakis-Doyle), the small $ credits we received in no way justified the hassle and stress of giving up control of our travel to DUT, especially since there is no way to communicate with them other than email!

Here’s a summary of what happened:

On Aug 2/24 we contacted DUT to ask for a quote on the May 31/25 Med sailing, 2 connecting rooms. (We already knew the pricing and availability and were ready to book). We requested agent Elaine Edwards, since we knew DUT had featured her on a number of vlogs and in Q and A sessions we assumed they must consider her a good representative of the agency.
Aug 13/24 (11 days later) no quote from Elaine. Ghosted. We sent her a reminder email.
Aug14/24 finally received quote, but rooms offerred are not connecting and are on opposite ends of the ship. We ask for modification to available connecting rooms. Elaine writes: “ Yes. I did see your note that you wanted connecting rooms. The rooms I have on hold for you ARE connecting. I just re-checked them to verify.” Ummm, no, Elaine, rooms #9668 and #9566 do not connect and are not even close.
Aug 15/24. Sent Elaine screenshot of deck plan with arrows to “prove” that despite her verifcation, the rooms do not connect. Gave her actual connecting room #s which we could see were available. She finally sent quote on correct rooms, we paid deposit.

Oct 20/24 Emailed Elaine to ask for a quote for 4 adults ABD Barcelona Escape pre-cruise.
Oct 31/24 (11 days later) Nothing from Elaine (fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me). Ghosted again. Emailed John Magi to advise him of our situation and asked for a different agent. He responded very quickly and assigned us to Karen Adamakis-Doyle. We hoped that in the interest of client retention he would have connected us to an agent who would provide a better DUT experience.

Because this is getting rather long, I’ll summarize what happened with Karen, which led to our NOT booking the ABD with DUT at all, but instead having an extremely pleasant, informative and positive experience booking directly with an ABD Vacasionista.
Karen sent many, many emails, most of which were pressuring us to book immediately and telling us that we had to provide our CC # and authorize payment in full even though she did not give us any booking number or accurate pricing. She also kept saying that she needed us to take action NOW because ABD was clsoed on the weekends. Yes, they are, but they will gladly put your reservation on hold for 3 business days, so no need to rush us. When we pointed this out, she responded: “The ABD hold is only 24 hours. I’m not sure why ABD DID NOT PROVIDE YOU WITH the CORRECT INFORMATION.” Ummm, Karen, YOU did not provide the correct information. You are pressuring us unnecessarily on a $13K purchase when there is no rush at all.
We gave up after we received this puzzling directive from Karen:
“Normally we MUST have payment at time of booking.
Because you are within final payment ABD won’t accept payment until you return the travel agreement.
You can’t receive a travel agreement until we are able to book something”.
WHAT????
Of course, this was incorrect as we learned when we proceeded with a direct booking with ABD with no issues whatsoever.

Bottom line-we will never use Dreams Unlimited Travel again.