Worldwide Travel PAT Tours

We did Wonders of Poland 15-day tour through Pat Tours. Amazing experience. Our group was small, just 24 people with a knowledgeable and very personable guide, Tom. He and the bus driver, Martin, mixed in with the group and made the trip a pleasurable experience. The tour package offered a good overview of historical places (Uprising Museum in Warsaw, Malbork Castle, Kupie Village, Gdansk Solidarity movement, Sopot seashore to name a few). The package included a mock Polish wedding, folk dancing dinner, tour of the oldest pottery factory in Poland. I would recommend Pat Tours hands down for anyone wishing to visit Poland.

Proper on-board credits were not awarded to six members who purchased a cruise with WorldWide Travel.A total of six family members booked a cruise with Liza Pappas from WorldWide Travel in May 2014. An additional six members of our family booked with Expedia. We booked with Liza because I thought she would be able to give us the same rate and the same on-board credits as Expedia. Expedia was offering $100 per person credit if paid with a MasterCard credit card (which I already have so that was not the issue). At that same time, Princess Cruise Lines was offering a $75 per person credit. I emailed and called her on the following dates:Email May 15,2014 11:25 AMEmail July 1, 2014 9:37 AMEmail July 11, 2014 3:42 PM Email July 14, 2014 8:35 AMVoicemail and Email July 21,2014 1:41 PMEmail July 24, 2014 4:59 PMOn July 11's email, I wrote that we had submitted all of our personal information and credit card information with Princess directly. I wanted to note that she did minimal follow-up work for the six of us. We left on July 26th for our travels. [redacted] finally emailed me on July 29, 2014 noting that they posted on-board credits of $25 per person, which is far less than we were anticipating. Also, we were already in Vancouver then because the ship sailed on July 30th, so I was not aware of her response. My complaint is two-fold. 1) The service she provided was unprofessional and caused unecessary anxiety. I'm not sure why she did not respond to my emails and voicemail. (I have copies of all emails that I would be happy to provide.) Princess Cruises were the ones who explained exactly what information we needed to submit before our trip. 2) We would not have booked our trip with WorldWide Travel if we had known that we would not be getting $100 per person on-board credit. We would have booked with Expedia, as the rest of our family did.Desired SettlementPlease change my resolution to $450 for our on-board credit. Thank you,[redacted]Business Response On March 29, Saturday, [redacted] came to our office and requested 2 triple cabinson an Alaskan cruise on the Island Princess, sailing on July 30, 2014 from Vancouver.[redacted] specifically requested balcony cabins on the Starboard side. She advised, our agent, [redacted] that Expedia was offering $100 per person on board credit if the cruise is paid by Master Card. [redacted] called Expedia in the presence of [redacted], and was advised that there was no availability of cabins with client's specifications. So [redacted] proceeded to book directly with Princess and found availability of 2 mini suites on Starboard side as no balcony cabins were available on Starboard side. [redacted] also offered other cabin choices and other dates but only the July 30 and a cabin on the Starboard side were acceptable. [redacted] accepted the price that Princess had available for a mini suite. No onboard credit was mentioned or offered on this category of a cabin. Liza made every effort until the time of departure,to obtain an upgrade or an onboard credit from Princess Cruises but no discounts were offered for the July 30 sailing and for the specific type of cabin category that [redacted] insisted on. Client paid in full on May 22, 2014 according to the confirmation.Also client mentioned in her complaint that the Princess Cruise lines was offering $75 per person credit. If there is such credit offered by the cruise lines, it is always offered per cabin and not per person, depending on the category booked and price availability.[redacted] refused to give us information needed to register the family for the cruise and preferred to do it herself and issue electronic documents. We then sent a $75 per cabin onboard credit as compliments of WorldWide Travel as our appreciation for booking with us. We had not been aware of any dissatisfaction by the client with our services until we received the complaint from BBS. Regards[redacted]President, Worldwide Travel Consumer Response (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)I'd like to reiterate that this was all of our FIRST time cruising. I was NOT advised by [redacted] that the $100 per person credit was not available for the type of cabin we purchased. Liza directed me to send her my first email on [redacted] 15th stating the MasterCard discount so that she could forward that to her regional sales representative. Again, I'd like to reiterate that I would NOT have booked the cruise with Liza if we were not going to receive the $100 per person on-board credits. Our other family members booked with Expedia!( And I'd like to note that [redacted] wanted to book the rest of my family members as well.) [redacted] gave me the impression that we would be able to receive the same or better deal, or I would not have booked the six of us with her. I'd like to also note that Princess was indeed offering $75 per person credit around March when we were researching various cruise lines and cruises. There were 12 of us who went on this family cruise and we were all researching simultaneously and had several conference calls together to communicate the best offers. Since Expedia was offering a better option between Princess and Expedia, the rest of my family booked with Expedia. I'd also like to note that I did not refuse to give [redacted] my registration information. If you could refer to my email to her on July 1st, I said in the email that I think I owe her some information. She never responded to me and then on July 11th, I emailed her again noting that I submitted my information with Princess directly. (I'm not sure if you are aware, but if one books a cruise with a travel agent, every question should be directed to the travel agent.) Well, when I was on the phone with Princess trying to gather more information on the cruise itself, the customer service agent booked the contact information for us because it was so late in the process. This was probably on July 10th. So the Princess agent actually did work that Liza was supposed to do for us, and had the opportunity to do for us between July 1st to July 11th. As I stated, my complaint is two-fold. Not only do I feel that [redacted] / Worldwide Travel owes us the difference in on-board credits for the six of us who booked with her, I feel that her lack of response during a stressful time is unacceptable. There was NO contact from her, except on July 11th at 6:42 pm (Friday night) asking for my uncle's information and I responded to her on July 14th, Monday morning. Then she did not reply until July 29th, after my three more attempts to reach her. July 29th was the day before we were to set sail AND we were already in Vancouver then. I feel that once she received full payment from us in [redacted], she no longer wanted to do any work for us and in reality she did not. All the information on the cruise was provided by Princess with my calling them again and again, and they booked our necessary information only because it was so late in the game. I'd like to reiterate again how stressful this time was for us. Revdex.com has all of my emails to [redacted] and I will provide any other documentation you need. Thank you for your assistance,[redacted]Final Consumer Response Expedia's promotion at the time of our booking was the $100 on-board credits if using a MasterCard, which I used to book with WorldWide Travel, there was no mention of types of rooms booked in their promotion. I would like to ask Liza Pappas why she did not reply to any of my emails during the month of July? Princess booked all of our contact information around July 10th becasue it was so late in the process. Why did [redacted] not contact me from July 1st to July 10th? I'd like to also reiterate that we would not have booked with Liza / WorldWide if we were not going to receive the same discounts, as the rest of my family booked with Expedia. I was directed by [redacted] to send her my email dated [redacted] 15th so that she could forward that email to her representative. I feel that her services are unprofessional and it was a very stressful month before our first cruise. Again, [redacted] had several opportunities to contact me - [redacted] 15th, July 1st, July 11th, Jyly 14th, July 21st (voicemail and email) and then finally on July 24th. Why did [redacted] NOT contact me after my several attempts to reach her? Is this right? If I had not contacted Princess Cruise over and over again, what would have happened when we were to board the ship on July 30th? Why did [redacted] not take care of the people she booked and received commission for? My full payment was made back in [redacted]. Is this a coincidence?As I have mentioned several times now, my complaint is two-fold. The services rendered to me and my family was unacceptable and we are due the on-board credits that were implied to us by Liza Pappas. Final Business Response Dear [redacted]We extended the maximum credit for you cruise.Princess cruise were not able to offer any discounts on that particular sailing which youwanted.Regards[redacted]