TRAVEL CITY DIRECT. Lots of help please.

[DisneyAli]

Here goes.

Have just got off the phone to TCD and they have quoted £1,832.00 for 2 adults Jan 2004. This is with upgrade to sunshine first and a 3 bed villa.

Is this a good price, similar with virgin £2470.00?

She said all car charges, included only pay for petrol, is this so ?

Have you used TCD and how do you rate them?

Have you travelled Sunshine first, whats it like? Do you get on and off first?

They only use four villa park locations, any info on these? She reeled them off but for the life of me cannot recall them.

Have you experienced any problems with this company?

Its 9 years since we last flew into Sanford, is it still as easy to get through immigration?

Also on their site, its says something about front of queue checkin, is this like virgin premium economy, where you have a separate checkin desk?

Any other information you would like to give would be very greatly appreciated.

Thanks alison

 

[SimonV]

Alison, all the feedback I get from TCD is very positive, especially about Sunshine First, which gets you through check-in and disembarkation SO quickly. Sanford is still very convenient to get out of, and they are up-grading a lot of their departure facilities this year, so that side of things should be better too (check out their Guest House facility - just brilliant). otherwise, that sounds like a pretty decent quote to me, providing the car hire IS fully inclusive of CDW and SLI.

 

[mkingdon]

Alison,

I've travelled with TCD many times, and have just sent then a large cheque for the balanace of our august trip.

Never had any problems to date.

I think I know some the villa locations:

Clear Creek
Southern Dunes
and one I wrote down as B/Water X...that was last July when we booked so I can't remember what that is meant to be,

We requested Clear Creek as the location IMHO is the best. So fingers crossed we get that as promised.

TCD always seem to be very competitive, and I've not heard any horror stories.

Hope that helps

Cheers

Craig

 

[DisneyAli]

Thanks for answering.

I have just checked with TCD and all insurances includding SLI and CDW (they call it something else) all local taxes etc are included all that is left to pay is petrol.

Villa locations, hampton lakes, wyndam something, were two i remember being mentioned, forgot to ask when i was asking for information on car and travel insurance!

 

[JANNYANS]

and one I wrote down as B/Water X.......
possibly Bridgewtaer Crossing?

HamptonLakes is about 2 miles down the 27 south
Southern Dunes is near Haines city a lot further down the 27 but close to the I-4 junction and Cleer Creek is about 1.5 miles up the 27 n.

 

[Hilary]

The only vaguely negative thing I've heard recently about TCD is the amount they charge for their car insurances. Now that you've confirmed this is included in your quote, it sounds pretty competitive

 

[Ratticus]

HI ,

We have just returned from Florida and have to say, for the most part had a fantastic time. We booked through TCD choosing not to fly on their chartered 747 but on the Tomas Cook airbus in their premium class, booked through TCD for only £20 more per adult , normally £150 in the brochure. I have to say that in the past Sanford airport has been efficient if not a little Spartan, but on arrival it took us about 2 hours to get through immigration and out of the airport. Our villa was sup post to have been in Clear Creek, which is on the US27 at the end of the 192, but on arrival at the management office to pick up the keys we where informed that our villa was some 15 minute drive down the other side of the us27...Hmm.. making the total travel time to disney about 30 mins with your foot down!..not very good TCD....a rude letter is on the way as we paid extra to get named accommodation..... The villa itself was of the usual standard only being let down when the owner phoned complaining that he had not been paid any money from said management company, quite an interesting conversation ensued , but thats another story.
I have to say that TCD for us where the cheapest by far, but would I recommend them? Well that depends on their reply to my letter......would I go back to Florida...? YOU BET I WOULD......

 

[JANNYANS]

As an owner who has been in the situation where travel companies use your home I should imagine your owner, Ratticus, will be lucky to see his money within 6 weeks and only a portion of what you paid as wel.l

 

[mkingdon]

Ratticus,

I was going to post a new thread for this but it sounds like you will know the answer.

I too have requested Clear Creek, but I'm concerned I might get posted somewhere else. I'm going to call TCD to see what they say.

But the real question I have is, where is the management company you picked the keys up from? I guess it's likely they use several, but I'm not sure, maybe it is just the one.

I'd just be interested to know where it was so I can consult a map beforehand

Cheers

Craig

 

[Ratticus]

mkingdon ,

If the villa is in clear creek then the management company is on site. TCD will give clear instructions on how to find this office or any other. There are some good maps on the internet that give locations of the villas around the Kissimmee area, which I found usefull when choosing the location we wanted to stay in.


JANNYANS,
I have to say that having spoken to the owner of the villa and hearing about his problems with management company, and indeed outlay every month, it has put me off buying one .

 

[JANNYANS]

You're right Ratticus ,buying a home in Florida is something that should not be entered into lightly the overheads can be high and if you have the wrong management company for you then it can be a disaster.The way I have found it works for me is not to rely on management bookings and to get my own -you get the same home and I get a better return on you staying there but not a huge profit by any means.Probably enough to pay for a trip for my family andd a bit spare for the needed upgrades.Stick to renting-it's far less hassle.

 

[Veronica]

We're all booked with TCD for August 9th - have heard a lot about the Sunshine First and would love to upgrade, but I think it might just be too expensive for us - 2 adults, 3 children [15,14,13]. Anyone know how much it would be and how we would go about adding it our booking [if we could possibly afford it, that is]. Grateful for advice.

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

I think the Sunshine First upgrade is £250 per person.

Regards

Rob

 

[Disney owl]

We've booked TCD for our trip in August, they were the cheapest for direct flights

Even though their quote for the whole package was a good price we decided to use them just for flights.


We've booked our villa & car hire through a small idependandt firm who were recommended to us. We know exactly which villa we are renting & have a photo brochure with address. The villa is very new & we had very personal attention from the company.
www.kingdomstatevillas.com

in fact when I phoned with a query during the Easter hols I was put through to the guys mobile. He apologised at not being able to talk to me as he was in a traffic jam in Belgium!!!!!! and handed me over to his wife.

we do not have to go to pick up keys when we arrive as the newer villas have a combination pad, lock & we will be sent the number before we go. This will make the end of a long trip a little easier.

We'd have loved to fly Sunshine First but as there's 6 of us travilling, DH & I & 4 kids it was beyond our budget. Perhaps when there's on ly 2 of us.

 

[DisneyAli]

RE the insurance for the car, this is what i got from travel city about the package included in the cost of quoted holiday:-


COMPREHENSIVE COVER
Cover includes BASIC THIRD PARTY INSURANCE, Loss Damage Waiver, Supplementary Liability Insurance,
LOCAL STATE CHARGES + UMP
(Does not include additional drivers and fuel).


THE MINIMUM INSURANCE WE RECOMMEND

Is this about standard or is anything else required?

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

That looks standard, although it does not include levels of cover for SLI and CDW but I'm sure this will be fine.

Regards

Rob

 

[matty624]

We went with TCD last year and paid extra for Wyndham Park? 3 bed villa. Got there (after the obligatory trip to the management company, out of hours lock box!) only to find that it wasn't a villa as promised, but an apartment on the third floor. Brilliant with two toddlers!
It took 2 days of our holiday before we were finally located at Westridge (quite a way down Hwy27) in quite a nice villa with 4 beds. The management company tried to make out they were doing us a favour giving us this villa, which wasn't anywhere near where we wanted to be...
TCD were unfortunately totally useless whilst we were there, and no better once we returned. Suffice to say, we've done it competely independently this year, and booked direct with villa owners, at least that way we know for certain exactly where the villa is going to be, and know that it's actually a villa and not just anything the management company happen to have left!!!
Fortunately, after reading this thread, we seem to be in the minority?
Ian

 

[Dopey's Friend]

I have a villa on Clear Creek which my management company let out to Travel City Direct. The management company is on site in Clear Creek so if you're lucky to get a villa there, they are very close if you have any problems. (not that you will because the villas are excellent).
It is my first year of owning a villa and when I go out in July, I'll be putting information in the villa so guests can book direct with me in the future, which will work out cheaper for them and at least they know they will get the villa they want.

 

[JANNYANS]

Hi Dopey's friend -
Don't be surprised if any info you leave behind disappears MC'S have a habit of making it vanish!

 

[Dopey's Friend]

We have a good relationship with the MC. They encourage us to get bookings ourselves and actually suggested leaving info around when we bought the villa in January and signed on with them. I know some MCs are difficult but we'll just have to wait and see.