Never read this happening to anyone else.......

[Will Work for Tiramisu]

My experience with TA's is similar to that with Realtors:  Much discussion of their uber professionalism and expertise upfront, and (with rare and notable exceptions) sort of bare minimum in actual performance.  I'd love to have someone assisting with travel arrangements that would bring the same fanatic interest in things going smoothly on our oversea vacations (of which there may not be that many left) as my DW and I do!  (My apologies, btw, to any TA's and Realtors reading here.)  The maxim "Trust, but Verify!" applies.  If I get stranded on the tarmac, it will be cold comfort knowing the TA dropped the ball and I can yell at them when I finally get home.  I'd rather stay involved, and off the tarmac!  They also say "An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure"!  I be checkin' my flight arrangements (those made through RSS) early and often.  

[Boats07]

On 1/1/2020 at 1:05 PM, Boats07 said:

We are new to Regent and booked on our first cruise on the Splendor, April 16 to Venice.  We have been reading a lot of recommendations and cautions from the board here on Cruise Critic, which as been very helpful.  

We have not seen anything like what we discovered this past week.  Last Saturday I was reviewing our trip on Regent’s website.  I was looking at our flights that we had arranged through Regent’s deviation (if that is what it is called) and the flights had all changed.  The leg for my husband showed a flight from London to Phoenix but no flight from Venice to London, as previously booked.  My flight was on a different airline ending in Seattle, we fly to Phoenix.  The flights had been booked by Regent with British Airways, I went onto Brtitish Airways website and the flights were not even showing up.  I told my husband there was nothing that could be done till Monday. Meanwhile, I looked up flights to see what else would be available.  

 Patiently, I waited till Monday morning to call.  I was not surprised I was on hold for over 30 minutes but was very fortunate to speak to a very professional, kind and helpful representative.  She reviewed the flights and said “this is a mess, your husband doesn’t even have a flight to London, and you are going to Seattle”.  She apologized for having to put me back on hold and contacted the airline or whomever.  She found out British Airways canceled the flight from Venice to London.  She also told me there was only one flight with one stop so we would not have to be traveling all day.  It happened to be the same flight I had found.  She also let me know she grabbed the flight with only two seats next to each other in Business Class and the second leg of the flight as well.  I felt like I could not thank her enough.  

I felt like we truly witnessed the Regent Seven Seas experience.  Within the hour, we received the confirmations and everything was updated on Regent’s and the airline’s websites.

I did send an email to Regent’s CEO just to let him know what an amazing employee he has.  I do realize he may never read the email but at least I feel better knowing I had sent it.

We are truly even more excited for our cruise and looking forward to more bookings with Regent Seven Seas.

Just wanted to let everyone know, as I mentioned in the above post, I had emailed Jason Montague complimenting the representative that assisted us the mixup on our return flights.  I truly never thought he would read the email let alone respond.

I did receive an email back from Jason Montague with such kind words and appreciation.  Jason did give me the representatives full name and I will definitely put it one the survey once we are on the ship.

Another reason we are sold on Regent even before we sail.

[UUNetBill]

On 1/6/2020 at 10:13 PM, Will Work for Tiramisu said:

My experience with TA's is similar to that with Realtors:  Much discussion of their uber professionalism and expertise upfront, and (with rare and notable exceptions) sort of bare minimum in actual performance.  I'd love to have someone assisting with travel arrangements that would bring the same fanatic interest in things going smoothly on our oversea vacations (of which there may not be that many left) as my DW and I do!  (My apologies, btw, to any TA's and Realtors reading here.)  The maxim "Trust, but Verify!" applies.  If I get stranded on the tarmac, it will be cold comfort knowing the TA dropped the ball and I can yell at them when I finally get home.  I'd rather stay involved, and off the tarmac!  They also say "An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure"!  I be checkin' my flight arrangements (those made through RSS) early and often.  

I agree that it would be great if someone was able to proactively take care of our vacations, but I also believe that we, as travelers, have a certain responsibility to make sure everything is properly taken care of.  Like you said, "I be checkin' my flight arrangements" too.  And hotel.  And transfers.  And everything else I can think of.

 

Yes, a good TA is a valuable asset and they can give you good information and also be there for you if and when things go south.  But at the end of the day, it's our responsibility to make sure things are in order.