Do you Want to Save Money? Click Here for a Vacation Price Quote
Written: Dec 04 '03 (Updated May 16 '05)
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Shopping for travel and vacation bargains is one of my favorite ways to pass the time. If I’m sitting at the PC and I’ve exhausted all of my usual places to surf the web, searching for deals on travel is one of the methods I will use to waste time. A few months ago, I was searching for some travel deals in the late summer season and I came across a new web site. It’s America’s Vacation Center, a full- service on- line travel site headquartered in San Diego.
What Does This Site Have to Offer?:
Americastravelcenter.com is divided into the following areas:
Travel Central- This is the home page. Here, you can quickly click into links that will take you into “featured” areas, like “most popular cruise lines”, “most popular vacations”, “featured resorts”, “Cruise deals of the day”, and others. There is mention of other services on this page, but it is primarily dedicated to cruises.
Cruises- The same “Cruise Deals of the day” are quoted again on this page, along with a search function you can use to look for a cruise. You can search by destination or by cruise line.
Vacations- Here, you can build your own vacation package by selecting a world destination or by following one of the “featured” links. These featured links hook you up with well- known vacation companies, like Go Go Vacations, Apple, and others. They quickly let you see an approximation of what a vacation package will cost you.
Air/Car/Hotel- This is the place to turn if you need to search for airfare, car rentals, or lodging in the U.S or around the world. All the big names are here, including Delta Airlines, American Airlines, United Airlines, Hertz, Alamo, National, etc.
Cruise Reviews- Included here is a breakdown of the most popular cruise vacations and an overall rating of all the cruise lines, like Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Holland, Celebrity, Disney, Princess, Orient, and others. If you want to read more, you can click your mouse and read actual reviews that travelers have submitted.
Travel Resources- Destination guides, information on obtaining a birth certificate or passport, and general information on world countries are available in this area.
Customer Service:
With Americas Vacation Center, there is a very good chance that you will be contacting the customer service center at some point. The reason is because this site doesn’t always display prices up- front. Instead, you have to submit for a price quote electronically and then wait for a response, or call the toll- free customer service line, 800-788-0970. Remember that America’s Vacation Center has limited hours of service. They are open only from 6am to 7pm (Pacific Time), seven days per week. If you call after these hours, you will get voice mail.
Final Thoughts:
America’s Vacation Center is a full- service travel web site that has one unique feature that other web sites generally don’t utilize. As I alluded to above, this web site specializes in giving quotes for its vacation services. This isn’t true for everything purchased within the site. For instance, if you want to purchase airline tickets, you are not required to wait for a quote- you can go directly to the booking area, enter your personal information, and make the purchase. But with most other vacation purchases, like resort stays, cruises, etc., you cannot purchase directly. You have to request a quote and then wait for either an e-mail response or a direct call. America’s Vacation Center promises to beat the prices of the competition. If you have a quote from another web site, they claim they will give you a better price. I haven’t had a chance to test this offer, so I cannot comment any further on whether or not it is true.
Searching for a desired place to travel can sometimes require excessive clicking and an exercise in patience. Let’s say your looking for a vacation package with room and airfare. If you select a destination package, you will be presented with a listing of places to go and popular departure cities along with a price quote. If you don’t see your desired airport and/or date (and you probably won’t- this first page includes only popular places) in these custom packages, then you will have to build your own vacation, which can take time.
Another thing I don’t like is the search mechanism. When you search for, say, a flight, you are presented with a few choices in the beginning to narrow down your list, like preferred airline, class of flight you would like, etc. These are all pretty standard options. The bad thing is the results page. There is no easy way to change your dates, your airport departure city, or anything else. With some other sites, you can quickly make these minor adjustments and then search again. But with this site, you have to go back to the main page, enter your changes, and start the search over.
The search functions are a little lacking for the flights, but the hotel search is a little better. I like the fact that you can sort your search results by price, quality rating, best values, or alphabetically. The information page for each resort is good, too, showing what amenities are offered along with a few pictures. There is no 360- degree viewing option, but there are usually 3 to 5 pictures of the outside and inside of the resort, to let you know what it has to offer.
Travel Resources is a handy part of this web service, and it’s probably the area I visit most frequently. What I like best of all is the destination information section. In this area, you can select a country that you would like to visit and view a lengthy list of facts and helpful tips. The first page you see will show you a summary of the destination. Then, if you want to find out more, you can click on links to view things like “Eating, Drinking, and Nightlife”, “Arrival and Getting Around”, “Dive Centers and Tour Operators”(Where applicable), etc. There’s also a place to click called “Listings” that provides a long list of critical and helpful contacts, with phone numbers, some web sites, and some e- mail addresses. On this list are things like banks, pharmacies, hospitals, post offices, etc. This is a handy list to print out and take with you on your vacation.
Customer service is good at getting back with a quote. I sent a quote to them late at night- past the working hours of 6am to 10pm Pacific time. I got my call the next day, around 11am Eastern time. This was within the time frame I was promised, so I was happy with the response. I also liked the fact that the customer service rep on the phone gave me a quote along with alternatives to my vacation plans that offered better deals. She didn’t wait to see if I accepted the first one (which was higher priced). She immediately presented the alternatives.
Prices on flights and resorts are not very impressive in this web site. But some of the bargain cruise prices (listed on the main page) are very inexpensive and they would be difficult to beat with other web services. Keep in mind that, with most purchases in this web site, you will be charged a general service fee of $10. This isn’t much, but it can result in a greater overall price than you would pay elsewhere.
America’s Vacation Center is a typical, run of the mill vacation web service. The customer service reps are pleasant and helpful. But the prices (except for the bargain cruise prices) are not the best the web has to offer. Shop around if you choose to use this site. You could easily get burned financially with America’s Vacation Center.
Be Sure to Click the Links Below to Read More Reviews on Other Popular Travel Web Sites:
American Express Travel
Cheapairlines.com
Travelnow.com
Cheaptravel.com
Hotel Discount.com
Bestfares.com
Hotwire.com
Expedia.com Flights
Expedia.com Hotels
Expedia.com Cruises
Travelocity.com Flights
Travelocity.com Hotels
Priceline.com Flights
Priceline.com Hotels
Vacations To Go
Vacationspot.com
Flycheap.com
LowestFare.com
Mytravelco.com
Placestostay.com
Orbitz.com
Cheaptickets.com
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Resort Package
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