Smith Travel Inc

Reviews

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  I knew the cruise time & date; being nice, I thought I'd offer the deal to this travel agency. I deeply regret it. They asked for payment and I thought details would arise at charging time. Nope. Once this agency buys tickets, the vacation's THEIRS. We had an unexpected change, since they're closed nights, evenings, weekends, holidays, the 24/7 cruise liner couldn't make 48hr time frame changes. We are barred from ANY changes to OUR vacation, since the booking's in their name. Name change? $75, Cruise company=free. Promised onboard credits? Read the reviews. Not so much as a contract, agreement, preference list, penalties, policies. Just payment and offering their private insurance (she tried to deceive me saying we HAD to buy "optional insurance"). When we tried to make changes the cruise company offered, Barb first said we'd lose ALL our money, except tax. Only after quoting our cruise manager, was she willing to adjust. Each step of the way was like this. THey were NOT our advocates, but our barrier to anything that would interfere with their money. I offered a flat free so we could handle it all. Nope. This ship is known for unreasonable wait times for unscheduled dining (avg 6hr/cruise, line stretching half the ship length daily). When you buy, that's when you lock it. Did Barbara do this? Nope, she assumed all our options WITHOUT the decency of a call, message or contract, notice, etc. The 48hrs passed over the weekend when they were closed, so we've been had (the cruise company wanted to help, but booking is also locked by this agency, who refuses to lift it). We've spent the better part of a week, calling the cruise company, then this agency to ask them to make adjustments, or discuss options. With poor availability (you can never get them on the phone), you're playing phone and message tag while the cruise company is desperate to try to help you! Since time ticks by, critical periods passed while this agency was unavailable. It'll cost $1200 (cruise company=$300 to free if we had the lock lifted to adjust other things). I never imagined a travel agency becoming the primary barrier to vacation plans. In no way was this company an asset. Not a single way did they actually help us. We tried to cancel the whole trip, but we're also barred from our own changes, at the agencies mercy with whatever they choose to charge for any changes since we have NO agreements, contracts or plans. Nothing!!! I cannot say enough, in this day and age, you do NOT need to use an agency! They made things 300% more difficult and much more costly. We plan to take pictures of the long nightly dining lines and post pictures as a "thank you" to Smith Travel, when we return. I cannot express our avoidable nightmare, had we avoided Smith Travel. The dishonesty about losing all $ for ticket change and required insurance really bothered me; still does. They're supposed to get paid to HELP us. It's a helpless feeling when your money's out there with a company controlling everything, barring you from making changes to your own vacation, poor availability and everyone EXCEPT the travel agency is being honest, genuinely trying to help you!.
  By paul S., December 27, 2017

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