Issues with TA, need HM ideas: XP aug12 board

bmetz34 · January 2012

Long story short, our travel agent, who came highly reccomended, is really confusing me. We put the deposit down on our Sandals honeymoon in August. The prices came down once, and when I noticed that, it was honored. We are now trying to book airfare, and the price has already gone up once since we asked her to book it. Now on the invoice she sent to me to approve the airfare, there's a mysterious $250 "taxes/fees" charge. This doesn't appear on any other invoice we received, and she's saying it has. Also, taxes and fees were included in the price of the airfare we looked up, so it shouldn't be from that. I feel like we're getting nickled and dimed and it would just be cheaper to book this ourselves, except now the prices are $600 more expensive than when we booked!

So in the event that her "accounting person" doesn't come up with the right numbers tomorrow, anyone have any suggestions for honeymoons where we can do air/food/hotel etc for $3400 or under? I'm really bummed that our tropical vacation might not work out, but I really hate trusting someone else to do something, and then seeing it get all screwed up.

Whtara10 · January 2012

We are going to Cozumel for 8 nights and it cost us $2100. It's all inclusive and includes airfair. I used a TA as well. His name was Richard silva from fantasy vacations. If you wanna check him out email me TaraLeBlanc@rocketmail.com and I can get you his contact info. We checked out Aruba and a few other places through him and he seemed to get the best prices

herb0622 · January 2012

Have you looked into cruising? You can definintely get a 7 night cruise in the Caribbean plus airfare for less than $3400. Only thing that wouldn't be included would be alcohol. You'd probably have enough money left to stay at the port (Miami, Ft Lauderdale, Orlando) for a few days too.

Hope everything works out!

sarberrie · January 2012

If you decide to do everything yourself look into Travelzoo, groupon getaways and living social escapes. I've found that groupon getaways and living social escapes do not include airfare a lot of time (some trips do though), but Travelzoo has some really really good deals. The only downside is that there are restrictions on how long the deal is available for (for example, you probably won't find anything now that's good through the summer, those trips will start coming up within the next couple months though). It's a legitiment website, my aunt and uncle booked a 6 night 7 day trip to Rome last winter that included flight, hotels, and hotel transfers for $1600 total. You have to sign up to see their weekly Top 20 (comes out on wednesdays), but it's free and I never get spam from them, only the weekly email with their top trips, and emails that alert you to last minute deals on trips.

MoonlightSilver · January 2012

I found a number of different places in Mexico and Jamacia that were under $3000 by using cheapcaribbean.com and bookit.com.

Can you meet with your TA in person? Bring in the old invoices that don't have the $250 charge, and explain to her that you are extremely upset with how you are being treated, and that she is charging you more for something you asked for ages ago. Perhaps you can work something out?

Laurmi · January 2012

We've done two all inclusives this year to Mexico (Playa Del Carmen and Riviera Maya) and absolutely loved it. We consulted with our travel agent and both times we got a better deal through bookit.com. It's a great site! You can pay in 3 installments too, which is nice. I'd highly recommend Grand Sunset Princess in Playa Del Carmen. If you're looking for an adults only, super romantic place, Secrets Maroma and Valentin Imperial are incredible.

Good luck!!!

Laura

bmetz34 · January 2012

THanks guys! She emailed me this morning and said they found an error where a $250 discount wasn't transferred (how convenient), but I'll see what it looks like when I see the invoice in black and white. FI looked into cheapcarribean.com last night and talked to someone today on the phone that found a similair package at Couples Tower Isle. FI is against going to Mexico unfortunately bc there are some great deals there. We've done Carribean cruises before and wanted to do something a little different and a little bit of a splurge for our HM. The thing I liked about Sandals was how all inclusive it was. We'll see how this invoice turns out, otherwise, I'll keep an eye on TravelZoo. I booked an Ireland vacation through them a couple years ago and it was an awesome deal. Thanks again for all your input!!

[Deleted User] · January 2012

I'm sorry about your TA! If you don't want to book it yourself you should try our TA...she's been great to work with. Her name is Diane and she's from Sundial Travel 203 484-1190 www.sundialtravel.net.

Mandafly84 · January 2012

Why are you using a TA to book a Sandals vacation? FI and I went, we booked it ourselves through their website and got an excellent price. I don't see how you'd be saving any money using a TA because they need to get paid.. their fee is rolled in somewhere, KWIM?

bmetz34 · January 2012

I believe she gets her commission from Sandals. She got us a few extra perks by booking through her, I think it's because she's a Sandals specialist. She also gave us a credit toward airfare. Plus if something gets screwed up on the trip, it'll be nice to have a contact person in the US to fix it. Those are the only reasons I used a TA. She/Sandals bumped the Sandals credit up to $350 today so we're back to where we should be... I think we're going to cross our fingers on this one. I'll get the final invoice tomorrow to make sure all is where it should be.

Issues with TA, need HM ideas: XP aug12 board

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