Vacation Express

Traveled in August to GBI. Very reasonably priced and came through on what promised. We purchased two rooms, requesting adjoining (didn’t get that) but that was fault of hotel/​resort. No problems with flight and resort was fine. Long lines upon arrival to pre-​check-​in but rooms were ready when they promised. As Americans we are accustomed to typically being able to check in before check in times. This didn’t happen. Buffet food at resort was OK, restaurants were better. We spent less than two grand for a five day trip for four, all inclusive and we got it. Wasn’t as nice as pricier trips but all in all we were very satisfied.

DO NOT USE VACATION EXPRESS. I purchased a package to Punta Cana via groupon, using vacation express. While at the airport waiting for my flight someone had stolen my wallet. I called vacation express to see if i could get on another flight out the next day I told the customer service rep that It didn’t matter what city, Boston, Orlando, Atlanta, any city, i would just like to leave out the following day. I asked to but be put on the flight leaving the next day so at the very least I can get another bank card. Who leaves the country without money? They told me no. I would have to purchase another flight straight to Punta Cana even though my pkg included airfare and was paid for in full. So i then asked i could receive a credit, if not on the airfare then my hotel room. They again said no. They said that I should’ve read the fine print. That’s my responsibility, and i will not be able to get a refund or credit. That was $ 799.00 plus the extra ticket I purchased to Atlanta to get to the connecting flight to Punta Cana that they don’t tell you about. They were not accommodating or empathetic to say the least. Needless to say I paid for a service that i did not receive. I will not be using them again!!! If i could i would not not give them a single star. My circumstances were out of my control. Who chooses to be robbed prior to their island vacation? The customer service dept. acted like i asked for my things to be taken. It was very inconvenient and stressful circumstance that was made worse by their inability to work with their customers.

Found a deal offer on travelzoo for a 4 night all inclusive vacation in San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico and flights from LAX. Turned out that the deal was booked directly through vacation express.
We had good communication from the company, no extra fees than what we were originally quoted, and they emailed me to let me know there would be a missing amenity at the resort (main pool with swim up bar would be closed for maintenance). When I responded with serious disappointment (I was devastated at the thought of losing our swim up bar, they contacted the resort directly and secured us an upgraded room from the garden view we paid for to ocean view! (But, the resort was probably only 10% booked in off season, so I wouldn’t count on any extra upgrades in the future).
Loss of one star was due to not explaining that the extra round trip airport transfer we booked could have a different company name on it instead of vacation express. The e-​mail stated it would say «nexus» or vacation express and it said neither. Thankfully after waiting out in 95 degree and humid weather for 15 – 20 min a kind and honest taxi driver spoke to all the reps in Spanish for us to find out who had our name on their list!
If the price was right. I would use vacation express again.

DO NOT BOOK WITH VACATION EXPRESS. EVEN IF YOUR EXPECTATIONS (LIKE OURS) ARE VERY LOW — CHOOSE ANOTHER AGENCY. YOU DO NOT WANT TO HAVE TO PAY FOR THEIR MISTAKES.
I have traveled all over the world — several times with agencies. This is by far the WORST booking experience I have ever had. I bought two Groupons for 4 days each and booked back to back stays at an all-​inclusive in the Bahamas. First, even calling in to book the trip required several phone calls with long wait times. The representatives were completely uneducated and could not answer our questions (red flag #1).
This week, I had to CANCEL half my trip. They DOUBLE booked us for the same dates and the hotel is fully booked. I do not even understand how this is possible since it is a small charter flight. They offered a consolation: we could stay at another marina-​side (resort is oceanfront) hotel with ZERO food /​drink included (and vouchers were refused) or pay MORE for another hotel. Since when does the client pay for a business mistake ???
After issuing a complaint, it took them THREE days to return my call. A manager (Yvonne) was not available; I’m continuing to wait for a call back. The representative could not remember my name and kept implying «we tried to appease you» — by taking MORE of my money for YOUR error? There are no direct lines to anyone, either — so you get bounced around from unhelpful agent to unhelpful agent.

Lots of bad reviews on here but it seems they are all bad expereiences with hotels/​flights themselves. If you do your research and pick a good hotel you should have no issue. I booked with Vacation Express for my honeymoon in Cozumel, Mexico last week and we had a great time. No issue with the flight or checking into the hotel. I got everything you should be getting through a travel agent/​company. Will use again!

Looks like great deals. but apparently, what’s advertised isn’t always available. When you actually search for your dates is when you know for sure. So dumb, if it’s advertised, shouldn’t they give you that price? Take it off if it’s all sold out.

I got everything I paid for. Will definitely use them again. Travelled out of Newark with no issues. The all inclusive hotel was good, not great, but I got what I paid for with no complaints. The best meals was at breakfast but I’m a foodie, so I took advantage of all meals and gained 5lbs. Already looking to plan a fam vacation for next year with VE.

First time I called I waited 20 minutes on hold and they finally answered and up on me.
Second time I called the exact same thing happened. I waited on hold for about 20 or 30 minutes and they answered the phone and immediately hung up.
I decided to try to call a different line and I finally got someone on the phone. I told them that I wanted help finding a vacation — any vacation — that I could get for $ 2,000. It seems they couldn’t handle that, so they transferred me to the corporate office in Georgia.
I was put on hold for about 10 minutes and someone answered the phone but something was wrong with their receiver. I could hardly hear them at all. So they put me on hold. I waited another 10 minutes and in the end I determined that this company just can’t handle business.
I went there ready to spend $ 2,000 and probably could have been up sold to a $ 3,000 vacation package. I just had to go elsewhere.

As another reviewer said, most of the negative reviews are for bad hotel experiences or poor planning. We did not have that experience with this travel agency at all.
We did our research and found a great hotel for a 6 day trip to Cancun, Mexico. Everything went extremely smoothly, especially because we prepaid for our excursions (which gave us a nice discount on the excursions too!). The travel, amenities, and service was above and beyond what we expected for the trip.

This company is the nightmare for us travelers. We booked a trip through Groupon to the Bahamas last October and unfortunately got into their hands. My husband and I went to SFO to take the early morning flight to Miami but were told that the ticketing agent booked my trip that day and my husband’s the next day!!! Imagine our shock and outage. So I went to the Bahamas by myself and my husband had to take a taxi home then again made another trip to SFO the next day. We filed a complaint with the company. All they offered was a voucher of $ 50 with this company for future travel! Guess what, we will never come back.

I don’t get it. Most of the negative reviews on here are either about the hotel or not getting a refund when cancelling. If you stay at a crappy hotel, it’s not going to be any less crappy if you book through a travel agency. Do your homework. Don’t blame a travel agency for a bad hotel. They don’t own it.
Giving a negative review because you were too cheap to buy trip insurance and then not getting a refund when you cancelled your tip is just dumb.
We just returned from our second trip using Vacation Express and I have no complaints. Jet was on time, clean and served free liquor — it was a party in the air! They did a great job with our airport transportation and communication about our trip. Will book again!

Horrible experience with this company, their strategy is scamming and cheating people. We experienced first hand when we booked and paid extra to have Ocean front room only to find out that we had to pay extra again at the hotel. Royalton hotel staff pretended that they have no association with Vacation Express, which was also a lie because Sunwing group owns Vacation Express. This is one big scam operation, I advise to stay away from these so called deals!!! I will never use Vacation Express again and will dedicate my time to spread the word on the internet.

DO Not travel with this company!!! They are crooks!!! They are lying to the customers over the phone to make a sale and then when you get to the hotel you certainly don’t have the room you reserved!!! Horrible customer service, waiting 30 min on the phone each time you need to talk to somebody… It’s a big scam company and stay away from them if you want to have stress free vacation!!! I will make sure to spread the word so No one else goes through this!

Don’t do it. The Airlines won’t talk to you if it’s booked to this company. You’ll spend a half a day on the phone trying to get somebody who knows something about traveling. You can hang up talk to somebody else and get a different answer. I was flying from DFW to Dominican republic and have a 13 hour flight from Dallas DFW with 2 stops. Can’t check in online when you book through vacation express, you will be caught in the middle between vacation express the airlines. I ended up getting a cheaper one way flight to Dominican republic on a discount carrier cheap oh air and spirit airlines was $ 700 cheaper then vacation express. What a rip off

Have to add a few more stars because we did have a wonderful time. The hotel was amazing, we got our room quickly and it was not overbooked as we deared. As well, they had a crib for us and well. The resort was gteat and we had no issues with our trip. We even booked with Vacation Express again this year and are looking forward to another vaca this June.

This company is a crook!
The first time I booked a package through this site, I noticed information isn’t very transparent. Th price was good so I booked it. Here was the first trouble. I couldn’t check in online so I had to arrive at the airport early. Annoying but not a big deal. Then all the passengers had to wait for, I’m not kidding, 8 hours. Maybe more. Because everyone was being checked-​in with pen and papers (I had board pass that hand written all the information), it took hours to check-​in everyone. Then we waited for hours in the tiny plane for whatever the reason. Instead of arriving in the morning as scheduled and promised when I booked the package, my friend I arrived in the evening.
I never wanted to book any thing from this site again, but I recently bought a deal from GroupOn and it turned out Vacation Express package again. I gave it another try. My flight changed 3 times within 3 weeks. What I paid for was 9 AM flight going out and return at 9 PM. Now my outbound flight is departing at 6 AM and return trip departing at midnight, arriving at 4 AM.
Now I have to take cab instead of transit. I’m not even sure if I can get a taxi at 4 AM in my neighborhood unless it’s Limo service. If I can’t check-​in online like last time, I would need to leave even earlier! aghhh,
Don’t book from this site.

Booked a 2 person $ 449 Bahamas vacation through Groupon with Vaction Express (2 vouchers at $ 449 each. Called and booked without issue, the rep told me the reservation was set and I don’t owe anything else. I was told we would receive our confirmation in 48 hours. A few days later we received no confirmation, so I called Vacation Express. I was sent my invoice and find that I somehow still owe $ 662! I call back, wait 30 min, and finally speak to a customer service rep who seemed to know nothing. She told me the flights went up. And that there is some sort of mistake in their accounting dept. That we will in fact owe them the $ 662. I asked to speak to a manager and was promptly hung up on.
This is a SCAM! With awful customer service. No help at all. Now we are stuck with cancellation fees etc… Don’t waste your money and/​or excitement on Vacation Express. the worst business i ever felt with.
It has actually motivated me to write a bad review.

VACATION EXPRESS IS BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH
To whom it may concern,
We have just arrived back home in the US from our trip to Jamaica. In all, Vacation Express provided us with a good experience, up until today´s departure transfer to Montego Bay’s airport from the hotel where we were staying at in Negril.
Regarding the transfer, something happened which made the overall experience a great deal less pleasant that it could have been. First, the SHARED transport for which we paid, that should have picked us up at 10.20AM never showed up –the pre-​arranged time the tour-operator’s representative told us the day before. Instead, a PRIVATE transporter appeared close to an hour late yelling our names, which, apparently, had been given to him by some other third party, unknown to everybody else. The aforementioned third party could not be reached whatsoever, because the call had been received from a private number. Moreover, we did not have any number to call so, considering we were already running late for the departure flight, we decided to go with the guy who, at least, knew: i) our names; ii) that we wanted to go to the airport; and, iii) the pre-​arranged pick-​up time and that we were already late.
Things started to get a little (more) awkward when the private driver started to rally through the Negril-​Montego Bay road doubling the maximum allowed speed –even after passing by an accident in the outskirts of Lucea, with at least two fatal victims within sight.
Interestingly enough, at one point, the driver stopped the car in the middle of nowhere and waited for another car to stop by us at the side of the road. The other car´s driver and ours started chatting in Broken English to finally claim that they were cousins and that we should get in the other car in order to get to the airport since his cousin was also going to the airport to pick up someone else… We tried to ask them for an explanation about how we could have ended up in that situation, but they would not let us know. We decided that, as the former driver was the one knowing our names, we would stay with him and refused to swap cars, so after arguing a great deal and flirting with some panic attack moments, the original driver finally decided to resume his particular time trial and rally us to the airport in about half the time it should take according to Google and law enforcement agents –at least those in charge of traffic control and signs.
In all, the departure transfer was a very stressful, sketchy, awkward and life-​and-​death situation which I would not recommend to the worst of my enemies.
We have followed the advice from a representative from the tour-​operating company on arrival at the airport and we filed a complaint on arrival at the US, instead of there at Montego Bay, but please, we would like to share this experience so as to spare future customers this type of situation and let them know that we are trying to settle this as peacefully as possible for everyone, as we do not normally tend to do this type of things, but the situation lived today is way worth the effort.

I’ve had a terrible experience with vacation Express.
My bestfriend booked a vacation for her 30^th birthday which included: airfare and hotel to the Bahamas.
Yesterday (on a Wednseday), my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer. That same day, I called American Airlines to cancel my flights (within 24 hours). I called American Airlines and they indicated that they were providing Vacation Express with a full refund for the flight (my gfs were still going to the Bahamas and therefore their flights and the hotel remains unchanged). I called Vacation Express and indicated that per the terms and conditions (on THEIR website) I was eligible for a voucher which would then be subject to an change fee by AA. Here are their terms:
Published Air Cancellations & Changes: Airfares may carry advance purchase requirements and are subject to change until ticketed. There are no fees for airfare cancellations made within 24 hours of purchase. Regular cancellation penalties will apply to the land portion of published air bookings. Once published air tickets are issued, no changes are allowed. Published air tickets are non-​refundable. Rebooking published air if airline permits rebooking, with an airline imposed change fee, is possible if the reservation is cancelled with the airlines at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled departure time. If you elected the Reduced Deposit Plan your initial deposit and the RDP fee is non-​fundable. All airline cancel and change policies are subject to change without notice.
APPARENTLY, although not so apparent to me, my flights were not subject to the terms above because it was a «Chartered Package». Terms are:
Charter Air/​Charter Packages Cancellations: Outside 45 days, $ 50 per person penalty, 44 – 31 days, 50% of the package price, 30 days or less, 100% non-​refundable. If full payment is not received 45 days prior to departure, the Operator has the right to cancel your reservation and retain applicable penalties.
I get it, I didn’t book insurance, but to think that if I had only booked flights (which would not be to their benefit) I would be receiving a voucher right now. Instead, they are keeping $ 527 of the refund and have provided me absolutely NOTHING in return. I should ask American Airlines to rebook the flight so these cheap S-​O-​B-​S get nothing.

Don’t do it. My girlfriend and I paid these crooks 2200 dollars for a vacation package. After a series of unfortunate events we had to cancel the trip.
Cancelation policy: 45 days or more pay $ 100 per person, 100 percent refund. 44 – 30 days pay 50 percent penalty.
We called 45 days out and was told the trip was non-​refundable! Now since it’s 35 days they are trying to refund us $ 1050 in airline vouchers. Our tickets for the package were only $ 600! These people are crooks.
DONT DO IT!