First Choice Travel and Cruise

Very disappointed in the level of customer service received at First Choice Travel! We booked our honeymoon to Tahiti with Gayle and our itinerary had consistent mistakes. I had to go through it every time we got it back with a fine toothed comb to make sure all was correct. I thought that was the job of the travel agent… For example, we added excursions to our trip and indicated the day/​time we wanted and we’d get it back incorrectly with a different day or time. After pointing it out, Gayle said she’d fix it and sent it back, and the mistake was still on there! If you make a mistake, wouldn’t you check to make sure your mistake was actually corrected before sending it back to the customer? Also, our flights weren’t connected on the way back, so the airport in Tahiti couldn’t connect our bags and tickets all the way through, super annoying and cost us unnecessary baggage fees which Gayle had ensured would not happen. We also found that pre booking through them was sometimes significantly more expensive than booking onsite, which was frustrating. Claiming to be a Tahiti expert, I expected Gayle to be a bit more helpful and give us real tips and advice since this is the main reason we booked through her.
Really disappointed as I am from Wisconsin and trust that everyone there are good, honest, helpful people which is the reason we chose them to help with our honeymoon, but I sure was misled. I felt like Gayle was super great and talked a big game to get our business, but then once she had our deposit, she just stopped caring.
Booking our honeymoon through them ended up causing me a lot of unnecessary stress with all the mistakes that needed to be corrected, which I had hoped booking through a travel agent would allow me to be stress-​free. Especially on a $ 20,000 vacation, you would think you’d receive some actual customer service.
Surprisingly, I thought I’d give them one more chance on an upcoming trip. I reached out to Gayle for some advice on routes, where to stay, best time to go and at first she seemed happy to help. When I didn’t hear anything for over a week, I checked in and her reply was, «I’m out of the office for a few weeks, I can’t help you now.» So I asked if there was anyone else at the office who could help in the meantime or if I should just wait until she returned. The reply I received was, «just contact us when you’re ready to book something.» To that I responded that I was looking for some guidance and advice before being ready to book and asked if she could assist with that. Gayle never responded to me.
Maybe I’m the one that’s wrong, but I thought that was what travel agents did, helped plan vacations and give you options and advice, but apparently First Choice Travel only books vacations where you know exactly what you want and doesn’t want to help you at all.
Wow, such lack of customer service! Especially in an industry where the only advantage you have over booking travel online is customer service, you’d think First Choice Travel would want to provide some! I’m willing to spend a little extra money for the security of booking through a travel agent, but my money is now going elsewhere!