... I’ve looked closely at excellent reviews of Virgin Holidays by fellow Ciao members going back to 2000. It is fair to say that some of what follows revisits/mirrors areas, experiences, and issues previously highlighted by others in some cases as long ago as 2000. I hope to complement all this ... Read review
A review by wanlan on Virgin Holidays July 24th, 2007
Author's product rating:
Value for Money
Excellent
Advantages:
Great Value
Disadvantages:
On this occasion booking/ticket admin stressful
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
I think its necessary to preface this review. I’ve looked closely at excellent reviews of Virgin Holidays by fellow Ciao members going back to 2000. It is fair to say that some of what follows revisits/mirrors areas, experiences, and issues previously highlighted by others in some cases as long ago as 2000. I hope to complement all this excellent material, and importantly provide something of an update based on our recent experience.
Why did we go for it? After all we had decided that we were not going to have another holiday for a while.... Then on Wednesday 2nd May the daily newspaper carried a ‘bargain’ ad from Virgin Holidays…. the ‘May Sale’ offer of 7 nights at a 3* named hotel in Barbados including Virgin-Atlantic flights from Manchester or Gatwick, all for the princely sum of £399 each. An opportunity too good to miss with family commitments dictating the first week in June as the time to go.
Coping with Virgin Holidays booking, invoicing, ticketing process required on this occasion, patience, fortitude, perseverance, persistence, through the initial stages, and a determination not to be fobbed off when things did not go smoothly through no fault of our own.
It was not possible to book online, which we would have preferred to do. Instead an 0871 number was given….and we all know what that can mean….. and so it was…the multitude of options 1 for this 2 for that (leading to other options…running to 5 choices at one particular stage), plenty of extremely agreeable background music (if you overcame the notion that you were paying for the privilege of listening to it), profuse recorded apologies for keeping us waiting, and the usual corporate reassurance that the call was very important to them.
The offer clearly generated a great deal of interest. On the first day despite several attempts running through the electronic system and waiting we spoke to no one. At the fourth attempt on the following afternoon we struck lucky… getting to speak to an extremely helpful young lady from the reservations team who took our booking over the course of the next 35 minutes or so ( remember 0871!) (accurately detailed, as we thought at the time, since she read back entries as she made them on her computer). Payment was made in full given the June departure. The price by then was £421 each as all the standard rooms had been taken earlier……still very much a bargain despite this initial hassle (in case you are interested the 0871 calls totalled a modest £15 !)
Over the next two and a half weeks no invoice was forthcoming either through email ( Virgin Holidays didn’t do email confirmations apparently) or the post. Indeed the paper tickets ( they don’t use E – tickets we discovered) landed before the invoice, in the week before we were due to travel. Checking them over we found that a section of my wife’s name was missing….incorrect name translates into no flight at check in.
Back into the 0871 jungle/maze. The first connection was to a singularly unhelpful lady who you sensed really didn’t want to work for Virgin Holidays or indeed anywhere where she might have to take calls from customers, who had a legitimate query, and who had indeed already parted with £842. She was adamant that we had had a good discount on brochure prices, and that an administration charge of £80 would have to be paid before new tickets could be issued. She was singularly unimpressed that we had no way of knowing that they had raised tickets on information that they had got wrong. This unproductive call was discontinued.
Ringing back again later the next customer relations lady was delightful, empathized with our position but could do nothing. There would be an £80 charge. Our request to speak to a manager led to consultation with a supervisor and an initial offer to split the difference on the administration charge, before- faced with obduracy on our part - finally it was conceded that there should be no charge at all in the circumstances, but only as ‘a goodwill gesture’.When the invoice landed (again after the new tickets) it showed ‘reissue ticket’ as an £80 debit item, this offset by a’ goodwill gesture’ credit item for the same amount. So that’s alright then.
Lest this piece seems unduly negative. let it be said that it is not intended as a rant. We got the distinct impression, rightly or wrongly, that the back office at Virgin Holidays was creaking, in need of some attention, and might well have been suffering from overload (a genuinely good offer, operating to short time scales, and generating lots of interest and bookings?). Issues highlighted by Ciao members a good while back are still evident. To safeguard its own reputation and to maintain the confidence of paying customers, simple measures like putting all their offers to online booking, confirmatory emails ,making sure that invoices precede ticket issue would be steps in the right direction.
For all Ciao’ers no doubt about it…go for the offers from Virgin Holidays but keep an eagle eye on the admin!(It was a brilliant holiday….but more of that later!)
Advantages: Get to see loads in a fairly short time Disadvantages: Tiring, living out of a suitcase some of the time
...not the 2004 one - Virgin honored the price quoted without hesitation. Pre-allocated seats were arranged on the aircraft and we were offered a number of excursions through the Virgin brochure. We decided to book the San Francisco City Tour and Alcatraz visit for the day after our arrival. This proved to be a good move as this tour is normally booked up. We took travel insurance through Thomas Cook (you can normally negotiate a discount on this if ... ...on time and all the Virgin staff are great. Food and drink was good quality but not particularly plentiful. However, if you ask you will get more without any bother. Legroom was OK, we booked right at the back in one of the rows with just 2 seats so we could sit as a couple, the in-flight entertainment was excellent on the way out (new aircraft) and only good on the way back (not so new) – overall the flights were very good. SAN FRANCISCO
Hire Car: ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: All inclusive is the best way on a gulet cruise Disadvantages: more niggles than disadvantages
...returned twice. We went with Virgin Sun in October 1999 which was their first year offering gulet cruises.
Gulets are traditional wooden boats with accommodation for up to 16 people. they sail around the exquisite coast of Turkey stopping in idyllic bays and occasionally in larger ports. A gulet holiday is special for several reasons: sailing is is the most relaxing way to travel, dress is very casual - shorts T-shirts, swimwear or nothing, shoes ... ...you about our experience with Virgin covering the flights, and reps and how the holiday compared with the brochure description and previous gulet cruises.
FLIGHTS
The flights both ways in the ‘big yellow banana’ were very good. There were no delays at all which made a refreshing change. I was very impressed with all aspects of the flight and the way Virgin made the flight actually part of the holiday. In fact I would go as far to say ...
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...holiday brochures, we settled on Virgin Sun as they appeared to offer us what we wanted (2 weeks in Mallorca, H/B and less than 1 hour from the airport), at the price we wanted (about £1000 budget), with the facilties we wanted (kids club, near the beach and resort, family oriented hotel).
The holiday started off with an argument - at check in at Manchester Airport, we were told that the changing bag for my baby daughter was not hand luggage and ... ...from the centre of the resort.
The return flight was just as good as the outbound.
All in all - an excellent holiday with an excellent tour operator. So much so, that as soon as we got back we were planning the 2001 jolly with Virgin Sun! ...
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Advantages: A variety of experiences Disadvantages: You get very tired
...at a reasonable price.
Virgin provided excellent service throughout and their reps were generally helpful, although as always they try to get you to go on their trips. There were a variety of hotel packages available as well as different combinations of resorts. We went for the cheapest. One final piece of advice take plenty to read. American television is just so bad, the most interesting channel was ‘the weather channel’. ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
...We had always known that Virgin Holidays had a very good reputation and never really saw any bad reviews about the company. We therefore decided that we would spoil ourselves and have a Virgin holiday and wedding combined. Rather than book through a travel agency, we thought we would book direct with Virgin Holidays. And that is where the trouble began. BOOKING A HOLIDAY THROUGH VIRGIN RESERVATIONS
=
... ...whole occasion. We telephoned Virgin Reservations and booked the holiday.
We requested:-
A booking for four adults, giving their full names etc; 2 centre self catering holiday; full holiday insurance; car hire; airport hotel
We received a few days later:-
=
An invoice from Virgin stating only my husband's name and confirming that the three remaining passengers' names were TBA. They had been given this information ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: a brilliant day out..see the natural flora and forna of Florida Disadvantages: none that I can think of
...For visitors to Orlando who have travelled with VirginHolidays there is one excursion which they should not miss it is the water safari..it is quite simply the best excursion I have ever been on..
a full day out on a small boat with your own Captain investigating the Rivers lakes and State park in Florida...seeing wild life from American Bald headed eagles, Black headed Vultures, snakes ( Mocassins, Brown River Snakes & Rattlers) raccoons, monkeys, fish, possibly a mannatee, gators, turtles, clear waters even stop for a swim..it is absolutley stunning,
Sorry folks if you are on a package holiday, this one is only being sold thro your VirginHolidays Rep and is not currently available thro any other tour company, you can either drive your self there in your hire car, or the owner (Ted Blauser) will drive down to Orlando and pick...
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...Mears Transportation in Orlando Florida has to be one of the worst experiences I've ever had, and as a former licensed International Bus & Coach Operator myself and a corporate Member of the Institute of transport Administration, I think I am more than qualified to write a professional opinion..
~~~o0o~~~
Mears are being used by VirginHolidays and are just about everywhere in and around Orlando, they do the Hotel Transfers to and from the airport, VirginHoliday excursions, plus transportation from the hotles to all the Theme parks, and in addition they also run a large taxi company, who serve all destinations withing the Orlando and Kissimee areas..
~~~o0o~~~
I have to say that with a couple of exceptions the drivers were at best non-communicative, rude and just darn ignorant, the Coaches were second rate and ALWAYS late I...
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Advantages: excellent service, good entertainment Disadvantages: incompetent staff initially (!), fault with the plane
...evening.
Thankfully the following day we boarded our flight with no problems (after recieving a 50% off voucher on our next VirginHoliday.) The on-board entertainment on the plane was excellent; each person gets a tv-headrest screen which includes a selection of films, programmes and games. The food wasnt too bad, as far as I remember you recieve a choice of 3 meals. The plane was very clean and the staff were in the end very friendly and welcoming!
Despite our bad start to our holiday, I would definitely fly with Virgin again; on returning to Florida this year we decided to spend a little less money on the flight and I must say it is not worth doing. For a pleasant flying experience and a clean environment (!) it is worth spending that little bit extra! Lets just hope our initial experience was a one off!...
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