Well, where do I begin? My husband and I used CVC for our wedding cruise & our honeymoon cruise, having booked through them a few times in the past. We are Diamond members with Royal Caribbean.
We got several quotes for our wedding cruise, CVC's being the lowest. We met with Marilyn in person, and decided to go with her services. Then we quickly learned, as previous complaints have stated, once CVC gets your money- they could care less. Marilyn never returned my e-mails or phone calls. When I could get through to someone, I was transferred from person to person & no one could ever seem to help me.
One of my guests found a better price for our wedding cruise through a different TA. I tried calling Marilyn to inform her of this, as every guest already booked with CVC was threatening to switch agencies. After I finally got through to Marilyn, I was told she would present the numbers to her boss & get back to me within a few days with a resolution. This was early Nov. '07. By New Year's 2008, I not only hadn't heard back from her yet but she ignored every message & e-mail I had left her. I finally just had to show up at the agency, where I met with Roz, who took over my booking. After I was reduced to threatening to cancel my booking, along with all of my guests' bookings, Roz was able to provide each of my guests with onboard credit to make up for the price difference. In the meantime, awaiting Marilyn's response, three couples who cruised with us booked with a different agency.
When we originally booked with CVC, we were told RCCL provides a group leader credit for every 8 cabins booked. We were promised a group leader credit- and I know that this is RCCL policy & not a deal exclusive to CVC. Well it's been well over two months since our cruise completed and still no credit. First we were told CVC will give the credit, then we were told it comes directly from the cruise line and of course, the time frame in which to expect the credit changes each time we contact CVC.
CVC does not do anything above the minimum (who am I kidding? They barely do the minimum) required, making customers feel as if they are dispensable. I brought them a significant amount of business with my wedding cruise & also used them for my honeymoon cruise. They did nothing, and I mean NOTHING, for us as a group. I have spoke to other cruise brides who got a free cocktail party for their group and a bottle of wine each night in their room. We didn't even get a little note of congratulations or a bottle of champagne. We got absolutely nothing in our cabin on our honeymoon. On previous cruises, that were not even for a special occasion, travel agents have left strawberries in our room, a bottle of wine, some kind of token of appreciation for our business. The three couples on our cruise who booked with a different agency got a bottle of wine each night, onboard credit and strawberries in their room on the first night. My guests got nothing, aside from the onboard credit to make up the price difference.
CVC could care less about securing your business on an ongoing basis. And it's too bad, because my husband and I cruise on average three times a year- had they done the right thing by us we would've continued to use their services. Now, not only will we NEVER use CVC again, we will make sure everyone we know will never use CVC.