Barrhaven Travel & Cruise Centre

Excellent service from Pamela.

I have dealt with Greg numerous times. He is so friendly and informative and has always given me lots of options!

First Sat we called to make sure they were open. Got there and they were closed with a handwritten sign “Closed due to illness” unfortunately they didn’t bother to update the voicemail. Second time, walked in and was ignored by the single agent talking to another couple. Waited about 5 mins, never acknowledged us. Finally I asked if there was anyone else in the store. He replied, “Just me on Saturday” and went back to ignoring us. Seriously lacking in service for an industry that prides itself on “Service”. Won’t go back.

I recently noted an exchange from a potential traveller who posted a negative review/comment on Barrhaven Travel's site and felt that it needed addressing. The team at Barrhaven Travel handled the situation correctly and I commend them for their stance. Travel fraud is a reality and as a member of Association of Travel Agencies (ACTA) Barrhaven is heeding the advise of ACTA and other travel industry experts in exercising caution in taking bookings from new clients - especially those who do not come into their offices to meet with their team face to face. In this situation, this potential new client is contacting them from out of the country, and Barrhaven Travel has taken the stance of not taking the risk on of an out of country client who they have not had customer experience with. Without question, travel agencies are eager to help a traveller with their plans, but I applaud Barrhaven Travel for sticking to their business policy and feel confident that should this traveller take the time to come into their office when they are next in the area, the team at Barrhaven Travel will do their utmost to provide exceptional travel planning - as they have done for 40+ years! Doreen Lynch, Director of Membership ACTA

My efforts to book a cruise with Barrhaven Travel came to naught. Not because the cruise professional assigned to me was ineffective - she was quite good in fact - but that the manager, a person named Greg, absolutely refused to allow me to book the cruise unless I physically showed up at the agency to sign a piece of paper. As an older Canadian who winters in the south, that was an impossibility. Greg absolutely refused to accept a non-refundable deposit on my Mastercard. Nor did he have the courtesy of contacting me by email as the agent promised he would to discuss whether or not there was a way to resolve this company policy in my favour. I was also told he would telephone me in the DR to discuss my concerns, but this did not happen either. To this strikes me as an agency that is mired in the past with unreasonable, restrictive, silly policies for first time clients. My largest concern is that this agency displays a dismal customer service attitude. There was a happy ending however. I booked the identical cruise with another Ottawa cruise line agency in a matter of four days from the DR without any sort of hassle such as I experienced at Barrhaven. Obviously, there are much better places to buy your next cruise. RESPONSE TO OWNER REPLY. The owner, Dave, kindly replied to my posting. However, as yet another small example of the ineptitude of this cruise line travel agency, he could not even begin his reply with my proper name! While going to some lengths to rationalize and justify his agency's policy not to sell a cruise to a client who was unable to present himself at their office due to alleged fears of fraud, he conveniently overlooked the abysmal customer service offered by "Greg", the office manager. As I noted in my first post, this person refused to contact me by email as I was promised he would. The owner also completely ignored the fact that Greg failed to act upon the promise made by his associate that he would telephone me in the DR to discuss their refusal to sell me a cruise ticket online secured by a non-refundable deposit on a premium credit card. This lengthy, self serving justification does nothing at all to reassure me that this agency would be a worthwhile place with which to do business. The assertion that Barrhaven Travel follows a strict policy of requiring new clients to present themselves at the office in order to counter "widespread fraud" is utter nonsense. As noted in my earlier post, a few emails and a couple of telephone calls between me and another local cruise line travel company and I had everything I needed to confirm and book my cruise. Job done. Neat and tidy. The reply from the owner does nothing to change my mind or to alter my belief that this agency and it's owner and the office manager, are simply not dedicated to providing a pleasant, efficient cruise line purchase experience. In 2018/19, ecommerce is the norm rather than the exception. (See Amazon.ca). Barrhaven Travel is sadly out of step. There are other cruise line agencies more in tune with the times. It would be better to deal with one of them. This one is not worth the hassle.

Very poor service. Tried using Pamela. Tried to work on three trips, fair bit of money involved. Took 2 days to hear from her. Then then got email that had wrong return flight. She also failed to contact the other couple involved in the flight, had to prompt her to do so. She followed up with a booking that had a four hour deadline but had wrong return flight again. Other couple had some questions, she failed to return calls to them. Spoke with her on the phone as deadline was approaching and we had not gotten requested information, she admitted she had failed to return calls. She did apologized that some one was sick at the office and they were very busy. I sympathize, but this is putting our travel in jeopardy. We gave up and are headed to another agency.

My husband and I have worked with Pam Clark from Barrhaven Travel & Cruise for 2 vacations; 1 Alaskan Cruise and 1 trip to Iceland. Both experiences have been great. Pam connects with her clients and is interested in you as a person first. Pam assisted us by making suggestions and sharing her own experiences. In addition to working for us; I recently asked her if she could help a relative who had been affected by the COVID-19 virus on a cruise ship. Though Pam did not do any of the bookings or receive any compensation, she offered help without hesitation. Fortunately my relative was able to manage the situation, but the fact that Pam was so willing to help, touched us deeply. She is a wonderful travel agent and person.