Grand Circle Travel [GCT]
Reviews and Complaints

We made reservations in early June, 2018 for the Romantic Blue Danube: Budapest departing on 6/7/2019., reservation confirmation #3688009. My husband's sister Joan Smith will be traveling with us. Her customer number is 2831128. This will be our ninth trip with GCT and we have never had a problem. This will be Joan's first trip to Europe and she has never changed planes on her own so we made arrangements for her to fly from Detroit toHouston IAH where we will meet her and leave for Frankfurt on Lufthansa Flt 441. She was also booked to fly to Frankfurt from Budapest at the end of our trip on 6/21. She was booked to depart from Frankfort to Detroit at 10:05. You will find these arrangements and flights in your records. Unfortunately when Joan received her flight itinerary in February, it had her on completely different flights, flying alone. We have both paid in full for our trips and have made multiples calls to resolve this problem.
On 2/19 we talked to Kelly. She found the original flights that Joan was booked on and said she would work to restore them. On 3/11 we talked
To Kaylyn who said she would turn this over to a supervisor. We got a call back from the supervisor who said she was working on it but it would take more time. She also said that the original arrangements would cost a additional $962. I explained that the flights were arranged, confirmed last June and we have paid the cost in full.
Today when we talked to The supervisor, we were told that they had submitted the request to the air arrangement department on Monday and were waiting for a response.
We are Very concerned that this situation isn't being given Priority treatment. We first notified you on February 19th and nothing has been resolved. I asked them to call the airline arrangements staff directly but was told they can not do that.
We selected specific seats for Joan based on research on seat guru and we are concerned that she is not gong to have those seats. She will not make this trip flying on her own outside of the U.S which we told the staff when we made the original arrangements.
Please assist us in resolving this problem as soon as possible.
Mary Elder [protected] and Jerry Elder [protected]

Have tried to reach by e-mail to Annemieke's Pluktuin HILLEGOM with no success . Bulbs were suppose to be delivered i n October and I am still waiting.

Receipt
Terminal: M2P7XQ
Merchant: [protected]
Periode: 814 Transactie: [protected]
Token: [protected]

I was charged on my Visa Card 53, 00 EUR
and US $64.90

Would like Grand Circle to contact them or refund my money of $64.90

I used GCT in the past, put stopped using them because of their ridiculous amount of stops going and coming. They lured me in again with offering single supplement. I booked two back to back trips with them for this Oct.2011. The first trip they cancelled because of lack of interest. They assured me if I wanted to add the first trip at the end of the 2nd trip the price for both would remain the same. Well, it didn't. They increased the cost of the 2nd trip because they said the air was more, then there were two $100.00 increases in the cost of each trip, and then the final straw came with the air itinery. I live near LAX, they were going to fly me on a 'commuter' jet to Dallas, with a four hour lay over before starting from Dallas to Germany, then another 2 hour delay before flying to Dubrovik, Croatia. The flight between Croatia and Sicily was two days after the tour finished and there was no tour guide to make sure that I had a ride to the airport and my flight was at 6:00 a.m. When I complained, everyone involved had 'lack of memory' a of prior conversations and they were not going to change the air arrangements. I cancelled the prepaid trips and and they charged me $300.00 per trip.
I complained again as the Sicily trip which they cancelled and I agreed to rebook is what caused all the additional charges and I felt that there should have only been one cancellation fee. Well, you know how that all went down. In additional, it has taken them over a month to return my money. I can assure all of you reading this, that I will never use them again and I would suggest that you don't either.

Incident
I just returned from a trip/cruise with GCT to Egypt. They put my friend and I in a room with "engine noise". We didn't know this until we got to the room but they did because when we returned home we had a letter from GCT stating that the room we were in had "engine noise/vibration issues". The engine noise was so loud it was deafening. We couldn't hear each other speak. We could not sleep in the room even with earplugs in our ears and pillows over our heads. The diesel fumes were nauseating. We couldn't breathe in that room. It was sickening. And, just to ice the cake it was so hot in there that we sweated any time we were in the room. The rest of the ship was cool and comfortable. In the end I got off the ship a day early.

I would have left sooner if I could have figured out a way to do it. We paid $500 extra a piece to get a great room with a great view. Not only was there no better view, our friends on the first floor actually got to sleep and spend time in their room relaxing.

Damage Resulting
We couldn't use the room. We had to sleep in the lounge or on the top deck. My hearing has been damaged. There is no telling what the fumes did to us. I lived on coffee all week trying to stay awake during the day. When we complained about the room all we got in return was that it was too bad, there were no options. This is not acceptable. We have sent emails and made calls since we've returned and the only response we've had is that "they'll turn it over to the Quality Control department.

Beware if you are injured on a Grand Circle Trip and have Trip Mate Insurance. In the fall of 2009, my roommate broke her leg on the Scandinavian Capitols Trip. Holland America cruise line was fantastic and supplied all medical care while absorbing all of that cost during the cruise. We alerted Grand Circle, Trip Mate and On Call prior to disembarking in Amsterdam which entailed costs and hours of emailing since there are no collect calls from the ship. Let me note that there was no GCT representative on the cruise for 122 GC travelers. All companies ignored the ship’s physician’s orders for special transportation to the hotel, wheel chair, crutches and a physician to administer medication prior to flight home. The GC agent in Amsterdam was never told to expect an injured traveler and in fact, there was only one representative for 122 people for the land tour in Amsterdam. I had to spend 2 days plus $70 cab fare to arrange all the medical attention as prescribed by the ship’s doctor for my roommate. On Call did arrange special transportation to airport and an upgrade to business class for one flight back to United States.

If you are injured with Grand Circle, be prepared to handle all medical necessities and communication yourself including pushing a wheel chair. Even though GC advertises travel for mature adults- this is overwhelming in a foreign country. You must be very efficient at email with On Call. None of the agencies followed up with the traveler until we sent a certified letter later. The responses and financial reimbursement were far from satisfactory. Perhaps their performances would have been better if she had died!

Beware if you are injured on a Grand Circle Trip and have Trip Mate Insurance. In the fall of 2009, my roommate broke her leg on the Scandinavian Capitols Trip. Holland America cruise line was fantastic and supplied all medical care while absorbing all of that cost during the cruise. We alerted Grand Circle, Trip Mate and On Call prior to disembarking in Amsterdam which entailed costs and hours of emailing since there are no collect calls from the ship. Let me note that there was no GCT representative on the cruise for 122 GC travelers. All companies ignored the ship’s physician’s orders for special transportation to the hotel, wheel chair, crutches and a physician to administer medication prior to flight home. The GC agent in Amsterdam was never told to expect an injured traveler and in fact, there was only one representative for 122 people for the land tour in Amsterdam. I had to spend 2 days plus $70 cab fare to arrange all the medical attention as prescribed by the ship’s doctor for my roommate. On Call did arrange special transportation to airport and an upgrade to business class for one flight back to United States.

If you are injured with Grand Circle, be prepared to handle all medical necessities and communication yourself including pushing a wheel chair. Even though GC advertises travel for mature adults- this is overwhelming in a foreign country. You must be very efficient at email with On Call. None of the agencies followed up with the traveler until we sent a certified letter later. The responses and financial reimbursement were far from satisfactory. Perhaps their performances would have been better if she had died!

Please be aware of this travel agency. Their target passengers are retire and elderly travelers and this company use every technique to overcharge hidden fees from them. Their travel rules and policies are very sneaky too.

For your information, Grand Circle Travel and Oversea Adventure Travel are the same companies. They are the same people and location.
It seemed like Grand Circle Travel had too many complained from consumers all the time that GCT’s BBB (Better Business Bureau) Accredited Business was taken away few years ago.
Please check Better Business Bureau website to read their update information before decided to book your travel with them.
For more information, you can check in here.
http://www.bbb.org/boston/business-reviews/travel-agencies-and-bureaus/grand-circle-corporation-in-boston-ma-3848/

In brief, we (had) a trip planned to Mexico (in 34 days)with Grand Circle Travel, and am surpized to learn that even with all the warnings against travel to Mexico (because of swine flu) they are still preparing to go. I have talked to them and they don't feel the risk is great enough to warrant canceling travel. They must know something more than the CDC, WHO, Homeland Security, State Department and President Obama; they are all asking that non-essential travel to Mexico cease. At this time, there is a 65% penalty against our fee, and in a few days, will lose it all. Unfair. Irresponsible. Unethical. Take your pick.

I called Grand Circle Travel (GCT), to book a trip, late Friday night (approximately 10pm California time) Aug. 15, 2008 by telephone. The purpose of booking the trip by telephone was to ensure that I could integrate the requested trip with a complex itinerary that required the specific date of April 16, 2009. The sales agent was well aware of this need.

The specific requested trip was to Brussels & Belgium. The sales operator knew I had to co-ordinate this booking with another independently planned itinerary. In fact, although I requested a Brussels to Amsterdam itinerary, I was informed that Brussels to Amsterdam was full but I could travel the reverse direction (Amsterdam to Brussels) on the same date of April 16, 2009. I agreed and proceeded to book the trip. Following completion of the booking, I proceeded to investigate non-refundable airline reservations of a complex itinerary that would place me in Amsterdam in time to commence the April 16 trip. There were only 4 seats available for what would in today’s market would be considered a reasonable fare.

Prior to booking this non-refundable airline ticket, I wanted to confirm my GCT itinerary. Upon checking my GCT reservation at their website on Saturday August 16, I saw that they had my itinerary listed as Brussels to Amsterdam. At that point I attempted to contact customer service by both e-mail and telephone to determine which itinerary I actually had since I needed to make a decision regarding the airline ticket. When they were not available I decided to cancel the GCT trip.

I called to cancel Saturday Aug. 16, 2008 around 3PM PST. Although sales for Grand Circle Travel are apparently open practically 24/7, customer service, which one is required to call for any changes, was closed for the week-end at 3PM EST, so an e-mail was sent.

I called again on Monday morning Aug. 18, 2008 when customer service was available to confirm the cancellation. I was informed at that time, that GCT did not accept e-mail cancellations and that there would be a $600.00 cancellation fee. At the time of the booking, I was never informed by the sales agent of a $300 per person cancellation fee as he took my credit card number for a $191 deposit, knowing the complex itinerary issues.

I wish to file a formal complaint regarding Grand Circle Travel. I know this policy violates CA law relating to 72 hour "buyer's remorse". I want them to either change this policy or to prohibit them from doing business in CA.

Thank you,
Joel E White