I am writing to any individual who feels compelled to take this vacation. I unfortunately booked this on 9-10-2002 and extended it for two years thinking it was a great deal for me and my family.
Luckily i found this site before things got more ugly than they already are. I keep seeing people paid $698.00 for their vacation for two people and i have also seen where people have paid $698.00 up front then $698.00 upon booking per person. I was sold package for $598.00 up front for two people then $598.00 upon booking with a $99.00 per child fee. I was in good spirits about this AMAZING deal until i recieved my confirmation itinerary today in the mail.
I found out that my car upgrade is from a 2 door sub-compact to a 4-door compact car for $40.00 more and that my hotels i will be staying in are not a Ramada plaza resort or anthing close to it!I placed a call immediately to customer service and was greeted by the we are recording call info.
After being as nice as I could to the rep who was very rude and kept cutting me off in mid sentace i asked to speak to the supervisor. After the fourth request i was informed he was busy and it would be 20 mins before he called me back. I was called back 10 mins later by another rep who was not the supervisor and was told he would call me back because he was not aware i was waiting for the supervisor to call.
I called back after waiting for 40 mins and was put on hold listening to how my stay in the ramada plaza resort would be a magical experience.(my confirmation had me booked at a holiday inn in ft.Lauderdale and a wellesley inn in Orlando)My paperwork said i would be staying in a Ramada plaza resort! After 5 minutes of being put on hold I was convienantly hung up on.
I called a different number from my original paperwork and was finally transferred to a different deptartment supposedly(I asked every rep i talked to who their supervisor was and his name was Phillip in every dept. even though i was told i had to be transferred to a different dept. to get answers). Finally Phillip called and was as rude as the reps I talked with. He basically told me I should of read the fine print in the travel brochure before booking vacation because they reserve the right to change any and all reservations made without notice.
I asked him what page that was on and he knew immediately. That was the fastest response i got from any person talked too! I finally got to tell him my concerns about being misled on the vacation and he said the resort was booked solid so I had to stay somewhere else. I informed him I called the plaza resort and their was rooms available but he said they reserved only a block at a time and his hands were tied.
I checked out the holiday inn we are staying at and it is a 3 star out of 5 star hotel. The cruise line Regal Empress we are cruising on was built in 1953 and is operated by imperial majesty. It simply states this is ramada preferred cruise line and it is also a discount cruise line. I also upgraded to a outside cabin so i cant wait to see how bad it is. The reviews of the ship have all been poor except for the food.
The only thing Phillip did for me was tell me he put in a request for me to stay at a sheraton hotel because he had mixed feelings about the wellesley inn which is where we were booked to stay in orlando. I asked him how we would know if the request was met and he satated "It will be granted there is no waiting" Amazing again since I have been told by another rep that I had to make a request but it wasnt guarenteed it would happen.
I am already committed to this vacation because I have booked my flight and my kids are looking forward to it but i sincerely hope that others are not taken advantage of this scam by these crooks. I am sincerely looking into filing a report to my credit card company explaining the goods I paid for were not rendered and were presented under false and misleading representation.
There is a 6 month time frame for this so hopefully some person reading this can get their money back the same way. By the way i told Phillip the same thing about my credit company and how the charge made for for goods and services not recieved and product not as advertised he put me on hold then he told me about upgrading my hotel in orlando! How convienant. Also dont forget the extra port charges and car rental taxs they dont pay. It's cheaper to rent a car yourself and and hotel and pay for a two day cruise without these people being involved.
George
brownsburg, Indiana
U.S.A.
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