Cumbria Cruises

[Mervyn and Trish]

For a number of years we booked with, and had excellent service from, Cumbria Cruises. Then they were taken over as part of a merger between Co-op Travel and Thomas Cook. We decided to stick with them to see how it went. We did continue to get the benefits we had before - Co-op Divi and no charge for credit cards.

However, we will soon be doing a river cruise and when the tickets had not arrived I rang and got a call centre somewhere, possibly in the Northern Hemisphere but beyond that I can't be certain. The operator told me when the tickets would be posted. That date had already passed, which he didn't seem to grasp, but they hadn't arrived. I gave it a bit longer and when they did come they had been posted and postmarked just the day before, several days after the operator claimed. From the issue date on the tickets it is clear that the cruise company had issued them some time previously, so it seems they've sat in a file somewhere, rather than being posted straight on. I wonder if they would have arrived at all without my prompting call.

So having given them the benefit of the doubt, the time has come to move on. For our next cruise I'm thinking of going to Cruise Direct, which is a division of Barrhead, who took on most of the former Cumbria Cruises staff when TC made them redundant. Has anyone had any experience of them? The alternative, of course, is to revert to booking directly with the cruise companies, which is just a bit of a pain when we've got used to someone doing the legwork for us.

[Suekersh]

Hi M & T,
We were with Cumbria cruises for many years and stayed with Thomas Cook to see how it went. We will be staying with them as we have had excellent service, equally as good if not better than Cumbria cruises. I never thought 15 months ago I would have posted that as a far as we were concerned Cubria Cruises were brilliant compared to our previous TA.

I think the difference now is that as we were Voyager club we have been allocated a personal cruise specialist and she is marvellous. She rings when she says she will. She got our first choice cabins on 3 cruises booked for next year and phoned us within 15 minutes of the lines opening to confirm. We still get our co op divi and our free credit card usage.

Sue

[Islander]

We too were far from happy with Cumbria Cruises after they merged with the Coop and T.Cook. We had many happy years and excellent service from them prior to the merger. We too had trouble getting tickets etc. and on one occasion it took three phone calls to make them sort something out. We then decided enough was enough and have not booked with them since. Being local to the old Cumbria Cruises knowing the staff were transferring to Cruise Direct/Barrhead we have booked with them ever since. We have always had everything on time,they are knowledgeable,helpful and pleasant. The Manager is from old Cumbria Cruises and is called Jamie.He's great and when he gets to know what you want and what cruises you prefer he'll get in touch and let you know what's going. We are very happy and confident booking with them. Give Jamie a ring and he'll be more than happy to help. Tell him you are old Cumbria Cruise clients and you will be very well looked after.

[Dancing Queen]

A friend recommended Cumbria CC to me and I booked with them, I was very happy with the service so when I was ready to book another cruise I used them again, excellent service again but then I had to cancel the cruise 3 days before we sailed and that is when the problems started, in fairness to them some of the fault was of my own doing as I had shredded the original invoice ( we live and learn )

Obviously for insurance purposes I needed this paperwork and was told no problem a copy would be posted to me, I was lied to, promised it was in the post ( several times ) I am still waiting 16 months later .. I did get the paperwork it was e-mailed to me eventually, I had previously been told this couldn't be done and to add insult to injury I never did get the Coop Divi.

I believe this happened as TC were taking over so maybe I was just unlucky

[lioness]

I don't stay loyal to any TA. Just recently, have been looking at Fred O from Southampton to Dubai. Main price was £2349.. Most of the TAs were giving that sema price, but two were not, they had prices that were much less. The first one - Iglu - had the best price, 700 less than the above. However, they couldn't give me details of the flight home, nor the hotel in Dubai, nor the cabin.

The second one, Readers offers, had all the information available and the fare was £500 less than the main offer. so we booked and then got another £50 off, also get Cruise Miles. how can the prices be so different and why would you stick with one agent. I checked all the main ones, Liverpool, Bolsover, Cruisekings - Go jane. All were quoting £2349. Don't understand it.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I think the difference now is that as we were Voyager club we have been allocated a personal cruise specialist and she is marvellous. She rings when she says she will. She got our first choice cabins on 3 cruises booked for next year and phoned us within 15 minutes of the lines opening to confirm. We still get our co op divi and our free credit card usage.

Sue

Hi Sue

We too are Voyager members, which means we still get the fee-free credit card payments. But we've not had the service you seem to get. We've not spoken to the same person twice (or even I suspect the same country!) On our river cruise booking the guy we talked to knew nothing about the company and we had to talk him through their website. He couldn't even spell the name of the ship correctly on the confirmation and failed to pass on our preference for a double bed. And this last episode, with lies about sending out tickets, has done for us.

[Suekersh]

Hi M & T,
If you decide to give them another chance I will pm you our cruise consultants contact details.

Sue

[Mervyn and Trish]

Thanks Sue. That would be helpful. After your positive comments on here I thought I'd give their customer service department a ring to see what assurance they might be able to offer. It seems the booking we are so dissatisifed with fell into an interim period between the end of the old Cumbria Cruises and the proper establishment of the TC version. They are a little vague about exactly how it worked, but were very reassuring that what we used to get we would now get again if we tried them again, so we may give it one more go. The Co-op "divi" we still get is better than anyone else can seem to offer since the days of big TA discounts ended.

[Suekersh]

Hi M & T,
Private message sent. Hope it works out for you.

Sue

[Annimay]

I have never had any co-op divi. so what is the point of it, I always give Cumbria Cruises my co-op number but never get anything and also I seem to speak to a different person every time which is not very helpful, so far I am sticking with Cumbria because of not having to pay the credit card charges or can anybody advise a better company?

[Ian Perth]

Used to book with Cumbria and Bolsover but found it was a lot easier with P&O direct and can get just as good deals, you should give them a try.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I have never had any co-op divi. so what is the point of it, I always give Cumbria Cruises my co-op number but never get anything and also I seem to speak to a different person every time which is not very helpful, so far I am sticking with Cumbria because of not having to pay the credit card charges or can anybody advise a better company?

There's been no divi for a while because the Co-op's been in trouble and not making a profit.

However as long term Cumbria fans before the Thomas Cook takeover we've now reverted to booking direct and paying by Debit Card. Since P&O ask for the money 4 weeks later than the TA's, who need it to go through their books before they hand it on, it makes little difference to the date it actually hits our account

[poole boy]

we to use Cumbria cruises and are voyager club members with them have never had any problems with them and was given a homeworkers name and telephone no as our point of contact and she has been brilliant we have always had our coop points and a 5% discount when booking and she really helped sorting things out with P&O for our cruise in july when the price dropped and she encouraged me to keep on to them to get an upgrade which they have now given us, and we have already booked 2 cruises with her for next year 2016

[Suekersh]

We always use Cumbria Cruises and like Poole boy we are Voyager members and have never had any problems with them. We have a designated cruise specialist and she is excellent. No complaints here at ell and in fact although we never had any issues with the old Cumbria cruises since they were taken over by Thomas Cook the service has improved.

Sue