Cruise Deals www.cruisedeals.co.uk

Cannot give any stars. A friend booked this cruise with never having done a cruise before. I received a phone call requesting our deposit. I enquired the cost of upgrading to a balcony cabin I was informed I couldn't without the permission of the lead passenger. I stated he wasn't paying so why did I have to have his permission? I was informed that was the way they worked.

I noted after confirming/spelling our full names to them that on the confirmation they had spelt my middle name wrong. I phoned them and at first they stated I needed permission off my friend to change my name. What's that about??? Then when I complained I was told that there wasn't a problem as middle names are not on your passport. Well it's on mine and everyone I know and requested to speak to someone who knows what there doing. This person stated that MSC did not require middle names so would remove it. I enquired about the Airline and was told the same.

I then received a phone call enquiring about my middle name for the airline 3 weeks before departure. I complaint again that I have informed them of this previously.

Low and behold 2 Weeks before going my friend receives my airline tickets with the wrong name. I phoned them where they just said don't worry the airline would accept it. I know they won't.

I went on to the airline site and changed it myself.

My friend was never told he needed to complete an MSC online web check luckily I have cruised before so told him about it.

If I hadn't cruised before this holiday wouldn't of happened.

This company should be avoided at all costs.

My first cruise I was told step by step what was required by the agent and the friends I went with were also. The cruise was booked together but treated as individual bookings but linked.

Booked our cruise for next year with the person I dealt with. When i try to

ring her she is not available i e mail her and get no reply

this company employ people to sell you a cruise and take

your money and then your on your own no after sales

customer service i wish i had booked cruise with

Bolsover cruise company now. thay have great after sales

BookeD a 3 night cruise on Anthem of the seas, called to amend date and was told £75 per person admin but wouldn't take my money, told She would call back closer to cruise with new costing.

Didn't get a call, didn't get a letter, didn't get a message.

2 days after I should have arrived home from original cruise date I received a email asking if we had enjoyed the cruise, when I rang CRUISEDEALS to ask what was happening I was told I'd missed my cruise and lost my money.

I tried to explain I was expecting a call from Tracey they said someone had tried to call me once on 21st March but no reply so I should have chased them for documents.

I have a answer machine at home but no message was left, when my balance was due numerous letters were sent why not send me a letter??

I am not an idiot paying for a cruise then not going on it.

They don't return calls, they are rude, they got dob wrong but didn't amend them,

They try blaming the customer for there MISTAKES!!!!!!!!!

Promised to give a bottle of wine when booking. It didn't arrive so I questioned it and they denied ever offering it. Can't be trusted.

I booked my med cruise in October, I called a few days later to get the flight details - and they had no idea. I called again a few days after that and they said Im flying out of Heathrow. I receive a confirmation letter stating that I fly from Gatwick. I call again to find out what's going on and they said I fly from Heathrow - to save a long description of events, this basically went on, I called several times after that and everytime I had a different departure airport. To add to that, they could not clarify my cabin, the grading or services offered. The actual sell was amazing, but after sales was a complete shambles. I am due to fly out tomorrow morning and they only confirmed my flight details 6pm today! They don't care, don't take any responsibility for their services. I would advise anyone against booking through them, I wish I paid the extra £100 to save on all of this endless hassle. The experience with Cruise Deals is on par with what you can expect from Ryan Air service. Useless and a waste of time.

I booked through Cruise Deals in February. I initially rang and enquired about different cruises and on this call I made the mistake of giving the representative my telephone number. I did say I wanted to think about the cruise and research the ports of call before I made a decision. However Cruise Deals rang me every night at least 5 times for 5 nights (this amount of chasing should have sparked alarm bells) and then when I did eventually answer my phone I got the hard sell. But anyway by this point I had done my research and wanted to book, however I made it clear I would only book another cruise if I could get a balcony cabin. I was told "We do but there are only 4 left so you need to be quick in booking" So I booked. It was late at this point, about 9.30pm and the representative said I have your name from your credit card and because it's late I will just take initials and surnames of the other passengers and then get someone to call you back to reconfirm all the booking names. I did receive that call in April and here I corrected the spelling of my name, as my passport is different from my credit card and I remember the call because she made a joke about making it easier for my name to fit on the tickets. I then receive another letter a few weeks later with the wrong name. When I called I was told I would now have to pay £100 to get the names changed and they denied the 2nd call to check names had ever happened and said this was done on the initial call when I booked....not true. In all letters my cabin description was 1 x 8119 (cabin no) with private facilities - when I called about my name issue I also asked for them to reconfirm that this was a balcony cabin and was told yes....2nd lie! Tickets only arrived 10 days before departure and the MSC description of cabin was Ocean View. Not having been on many cruises I presumed (bear in mind I had checked with Cruise Deals) that this meant balcony.

Throughout my dealings with Cruise Deals I found them to be rude and I have had the phone put down on me on several occasions.

I was devastated when we boarded and realised it was a window cabin. Again I rang Cruise Deals and they weren’t interested. And surprise, they don’t record their phone calls!!!

I made the mistake of paying in full and most importantly trusting what I was told. Even if I had realised earlier I am still sure Cruise Deals would still not have refunded. I booked on the 22nd February and didn’t receive any correspondence for over 4 weeks, which I now feel was postponed purposely to hit you with cancellation charges which come into effect 63 days before the departure date.

Just book direct with the Cruise operator is my advice. You often also miss out on other deals when you use a travel agent.

We booked a cruise with them to go in Independence of the Seas to Cork which leaves today. We booked an inside cabin and a few weeks before leaving they reduced the price of outside cabins to the same as inside and balconies were reduced to only ten pound more than we paid for an inside cabin. We asked if we could be upgraded to an outside and they said no. We asked about paying the ten pounds extra for a balcony. Again the answer was no, so people booking later got better rooms for the same price. Other travel agents upgraded the existing customers then sold the rooms the previous ones had been in. This is a much fairer was and much better customer experience. It has spoilt our holiday knowing that they refused to let us upgrade or have any money back like other travel agents had offered. They could have upgraded us or let us pay the extra, and would still have had rooms to sell without annoying the customers who had booked early. We will not use them again.

Do not offer more than one credit/debit card when booking if the system refuses your first, get them to call you back.

Overall the Queen Mary 2 is an excellent ship and the best way to travel and holiday. Having cruised many times with other cruise lines and twice on QM2 we will be booking another cruise on QM2 for 2009. Excellent food, Entertainment Very Good, Accommodation first class service second to none.

Just registered with Cruisedeals looks really good. Planning on a cruise holiday in the next 18 months as a possible 'different type of holiday' for my family. The deals look good and reasonably priced although I have only just started looking. Will feed back in future what my experiences are and how they stand up to other sites and deals offered.