There are two kinds of travelers. Those who want to be taken care of and those who want to DIY and travel inexpensively. Can't have both. Travel agents have to get their commission somehow and it ain't by putting you in cheap hotels. This is a situation where I found that the service offered isn't a service I care to use BUT the service itself is really good! Debbie was a real champ (except for the one time she snapped at me when I complained that the hotels in London were expensive). She worked diligently to find us the best itinerary and nice places to stay. A personal crisis of hers took her out of the office right at the end of our planning, but she still made up a nice folio of documents and took the time to meticulously label and number everything. Someone else in the office explained all the documents to me in an easy and concise manner so that even when I was jet lagged as all get out, on the other side of the Atlantic and speaking a non-native language, I knew what I was doing. Every hotel they put us in was great. Something did go wrong with one booking and Crossroads fixed it, we didn't have to worry ourselves about it at all. Those were definitely perks! Use Crossroads Travel if: -You want to go on a trip, but aren't sure what your options are or what your plans should be. -You're uncomfortable booking a hotel in a foreign country where you don't speak the language. -You have special needs when traveling and want to make sure they'll be accommodated. -You want to make sure you have recourse if something goes wrong on your trip. -You don't have time to plan a trip and need someone else to do it for you. -You're uneasy about traveling or booking your own travel and want someone else to hold your hand a little or book it for you. The people at Crossroads were very professional and I felt they were capable. I don't think a travel agent is for me so I won't be back, but I definitely recommend them to anybody who feels a travel agent would be useful. read more

Called to ask about a trip I'm setting up, to look for local tours or a package deal. As Erin C. called it you have 2 types of travelers, 1 being they type to be taken care of, the 2nd being the DIY type. I'm the DIY type. One of the first 3 words out of the agents mouth was "commission" . Wow. You're in a sales business, a customer service industry, and I got neither of those from this person. (Mary Jo) I could have easily been swayed and put in a hotel and set up for a package deal, if I was treated right and discussed my options. I was given websites to go to, and pretty well told to "go away" by the apathetic attitude given by this person. The second star is because she was friendly. But please, stop talking about your commission ( because apparently you didn't want to make any off of me.), thats none of my concern - my trip is. read more

To be fair, we gave the travel agency two chances to get it right and the agency still failed; the agency's customer service and attention to detail is well below average! Approximately 3-weeks ago, we contacted the travel agency for assistance to plan a European vacation. The agent would not be in the office/available for the next 2-weeks. This should have been a red flag for us when the agency has only one agent who can book a trip to Europe. We waited for the agent to return and was expecting the agent to call us when they returned. We did not hear from the agent, so we made the call. After waiting approximately 3-weeks to speak to the agent, we were told the agent was too busy to help us and there was no one else who could help us. At this point we had to wonder - could the agent's response have anything to do with the fiasco from 2-years ago? The introduction (2-years earlier) - "The Caribbean Cruise Fiasco": After several conversations with the travel agent, discussing which islands we wanted to visit and the islands we had already been to, the agent ends up booking us on a cruise going to the islands we had already been to! It is still not clear as to why or how this happened because we had many conversations with the agent during which our expectations and requirements were clearly communicated; we wanted to travel to Caribbean islands that we have not already seen. The agent forwarded the travel itinerary for our review and this is when we spotted the mistake; the cruise was going to the islands we specifically stated we did not want to visit, the cruise was going to the islands we had traveled to in the past!. To correct the mistake, the agent had to cancel and re-book all tickets; cruise and airline. During the cancelling and re-booking process, the agent contacted us and requested more money! The new reservations would cost more (the agency did pay half of the additional cost but our out-of-pocket was approximately $600). The agent also mentioned, the side-by-side rooms we reserved on the first cruise ship, were not available on the new ship (this was the first cruise for our children and the side-by-side room setup was a "must have" on our list). All-in-all It took approximately 2-weeks to correct the mistake; it cost us more money, we could not reserve side-by-side rooms, 2-weeks of frustration and stress one month before our vacation. For us, two strikes and your out - we have learned our lesson and are not willing to give this agency a third chance! read more