Angua
02-08-2004, 21:06
Now this is a kind of third party report as it's about my friends who travelled to Orlando with Travel City Direct in July. I did ask them to join the Forum to post their experiences but they suggested that I did this on their behalf to help other travellers. I think they were feeling a bit battle weary about the whole experience and if you read on, you'll understand why.
My friends' were part of a group of 10 adults and children travelling from gatwick to Sanford with Travel City. They had booked a 6 bedroom Villa on Emerald Island. All went well with the booking and arrival of the tickets etc. After visiting the Community, I did suggest that they ask TCD for a Villa away from the worst of the construction, which they did.
Their first tip to you all is about booking park tickets through TCD. My friends bought their tickets from a seperate source which was cheaper and gave them actual park tickets but some of their family bought tickets, direct from TCD, which were vouchers. Unfortunately, the vouchers were in the name of my friend, because she had booked the holiday for them all. This meant that my friend had to go and collect the tickets from Orlando. Remember this when booking your tickets.
The flight over to Sanford in Sunshine Upper-deck was fine, although they did have to ask the check-in staff to open a priority check-in desk at Gatwick for them as all of the staff were working on the rather large Economy queue.
On arrival at Sanford, their luggage didn't come off first as it's supposed to but this is nothing unusual no matter what airline you're with. Once the luggage had arrived, they collected their hire cars with no problem and went on to the TCD desk to pick up the Villa details.
The lady on the TCD desk tried to give them a 6 bedroom Villa on Southern Dunes and my friends explained to them that they had made a mistake, that they had booked a villa on Emerald Island. TCD advised that there was a problem with their booked villa and that this was the alternative. Our friends and their family had specifically booked Emerald Island because of it's central location and stood their ground, asking to see a Supervisor. At this point, apparently, the staffmember became quite rude and said that the Supervisor knew all about it and there was no alternative, they would just have to stay on Southern Dunes.
After further arguments, the TCD staff said that they could do nothing about it all because it was all down to Florida Vacation Homes (a UK firm, they said) who arrange the Villas and that my friends would have to sort it out direct with them. More arguments ensued where my friends said that TCD should sort this out with Florida Vacation Villas on their behalf. The staff explained that they could do nothing at that time because of the time difference between the US & UK and they should go to the Villa in Southern Dunes and call Florida Vacation Villas in the morning. After much wrangling, my friends did manage to get a couple of call cards from the staff at the TCD desk so that they wouldn't have to pay for the call.
The Villa in Southern Dunes was lovely and they were all very impressed. However, a vote was taken in the morning and the general consensus was that they would rather move to Emerald Island because it mean't less driving. Now I've stayed at Ridgewood Lakes which is just up the road from Southern Dunes and we didn't notice the drive at all but there was only the two of us and we weren't in a convoy!
A phone call was made to Florida Vacation Villas in the morning and they were asked why they hadn't called before! Apparently, the Company are contactable at all times so the Travel City desk had lied. A chap at FVV explained that there had been a build-delay with the property they were to rent but that he could make other arrangements if they wished. All the calls from Florida Vacation Villas were prompt and very helpful. My friends went to view a brand new property at Emerald Island which had just had it's f
My friends' were part of a group of 10 adults and children travelling from gatwick to Sanford with Travel City. They had booked a 6 bedroom Villa on Emerald Island. All went well with the booking and arrival of the tickets etc. After visiting the Community, I did suggest that they ask TCD for a Villa away from the worst of the construction, which they did.
Their first tip to you all is about booking park tickets through TCD. My friends bought their tickets from a seperate source which was cheaper and gave them actual park tickets but some of their family bought tickets, direct from TCD, which were vouchers. Unfortunately, the vouchers were in the name of my friend, because she had booked the holiday for them all. This meant that my friend had to go and collect the tickets from Orlando. Remember this when booking your tickets.
The flight over to Sanford in Sunshine Upper-deck was fine, although they did have to ask the check-in staff to open a priority check-in desk at Gatwick for them as all of the staff were working on the rather large Economy queue.
On arrival at Sanford, their luggage didn't come off first as it's supposed to but this is nothing unusual no matter what airline you're with. Once the luggage had arrived, they collected their hire cars with no problem and went on to the TCD desk to pick up the Villa details.
The lady on the TCD desk tried to give them a 6 bedroom Villa on Southern Dunes and my friends explained to them that they had made a mistake, that they had booked a villa on Emerald Island. TCD advised that there was a problem with their booked villa and that this was the alternative. Our friends and their family had specifically booked Emerald Island because of it's central location and stood their ground, asking to see a Supervisor. At this point, apparently, the staffmember became quite rude and said that the Supervisor knew all about it and there was no alternative, they would just have to stay on Southern Dunes.
After further arguments, the TCD staff said that they could do nothing about it all because it was all down to Florida Vacation Homes (a UK firm, they said) who arrange the Villas and that my friends would have to sort it out direct with them. More arguments ensued where my friends said that TCD should sort this out with Florida Vacation Villas on their behalf. The staff explained that they could do nothing at that time because of the time difference between the US & UK and they should go to the Villa in Southern Dunes and call Florida Vacation Villas in the morning. After much wrangling, my friends did manage to get a couple of call cards from the staff at the TCD desk so that they wouldn't have to pay for the call.
The Villa in Southern Dunes was lovely and they were all very impressed. However, a vote was taken in the morning and the general consensus was that they would rather move to Emerald Island because it mean't less driving. Now I've stayed at Ridgewood Lakes which is just up the road from Southern Dunes and we didn't notice the drive at all but there was only the two of us and we weren't in a convoy!
A phone call was made to Florida Vacation Villas in the morning and they were asked why they hadn't called before! Apparently, the Company are contactable at all times so the Travel City desk had lied. A chap at FVV explained that there had been a build-delay with the property they were to rent but that he could make other arrangements if they wished. All the calls from Florida Vacation Villas were prompt and very helpful. My friends went to view a brand new property at Emerald Island which had just had it's f