Marlin Travel
Reviews and Complaints

Wrong Resort

I booked a trip to Cancun, Mexico that was all inclusive from July 23 to July 31, 2023. I booked it with a Marlin travel agent. When I arrived at the resort front desk I realized that it was the wrong resort. Apparently there is more than one Hyatt Ziva. When I explained the situation to the travel agent he said once you are at your destination there is nothing we can do and took no responsibility for the grave error. He did not let me know that there was more than one Hyatt Ziva and did not confirm with me which Hyatt Ziva I wanted before booking. I had told the agent what I was looking for in a resort and this resort had none of these things. This ruined my vacation, waisted my money and caused me and my family a lot of stress. It was an awful experience knowing that the travel agent did not have our back.

I have a cruise book with Karen Rixrath for April 2022. I ask her to look for an hotel before and after the cruises first she gave me a few option and when I told her my preference and more details, she just completely ignore me, I been sending Email for over a week without even an acknowledgement receipt. This is very unprofessional and if they are too busy to provide good service maybe they should hire the other agent that was laid off

Hello, this is the email that I sent your employee travel agent to her email asking how our trip was. I am just forwarding you the same email.
Thank you
Our trip actually started off very bad. We were very disappointed in what we received from you and your company starting from before we even left with the mix ups when we booked, from having to come back and pay more for the park and the "Xcaret experience package"
When we had spoken you had informed me that we were getting an entrance to all the parks with food and beverage. You had even sat down with us and went through all the parks with us and gave us the print out of all the parks, and told us we were getting $1900 each of resort credits. We also paid for extra leg room for our flights which we didn't get on our way there, and he couldn't really stretch out his legs.
We also paid extra for a VIP welcome, which we did not receive upon arrival. We waited in line and then once we got to the front desk we were then informed we did NOT get access to all the parks but only the one park that was next door and that food and drinks there were not included.
Our travel papers from you also said that in the room there should be a set of slippers and robes for the both of us, a fruit platter and a bottle of tequila.
We had to call to get our robes and our slippers and the fruit platter was just 4 chocolate covered strawberries and we did not get our bottle of tequila until 4 days later after asking a numerous amount of times, to a number of different people.
Upon arrival as well all we wanted to do was have a nice shower and go have dinner, but when we turned on our tap the water was brown. It took about 3 days for a manager or someone to actually come and speak to us about this.
The paper also said we were entitled to one free hour a day of wifi, which barely worked half the time.
We had been looking forward to the parks and tourists attractions that you had told us were included in our package but because of the misinformation that you had given us we had to rent a car for 2 days and pay to go to some of the other attractions that we thought we were going to get to see. We must have spent another $600usd if not more just to see other attractions and the parks.
The first few days were extremely frustrating and it was not a nice way to start off our vacation which was supposed to be a celebration for our engagement and my birthday.
We were extremely dissatisfied and very disappointed by all this, but we tried to make the best of it as we had just spent $4200 on this trip already, and then even more on the extras that you had informed us were included but weren't.
We were definitely looking forward to this trip and even with the extra $225 that was supposed to include the all parks that we had to come back and pay for we still thought it was a pretty good deal, but for what we actually received we were not satisfied for what we paid for and how everything played out.
We were not satisfied with your service and because of this will probably never use marlin travel or air transat again.

I booked a trip with Wedad Bishara through the Bay Marlin Travel 604 684-3291 ex 1 to Costa Rica in feburary 2019 I was given a park and fly coupon voucher to park at airport on my arriving back to Vancouver when picking up the car the park and ride Clerk noticed the voucher was expired a few months prior to my trip. How embarrassing for me. The clerk didn't want to honor it. Then he decided he would do it this time. How many other people was she handing out these coupons too. I mentioned it to her but she just doesn't get it. Its not park and fly's fault she is trying to blame them. I gave her thousands of dollars for this holiday you would thing she would get it right. And we asked her before we went on our trip for a run down of events we could go to. Maybe a sightseeing tour or something like that never heard back from her. Not very good service. Very disappointed. Wasn't expecting this from her.

We went to see "Come From Away" in Toronto on Saturday May 11, 2019 with 2 bus loads out of Peterboro.
We were told the bus would stop at Hot House Cafe for lunch in Toronto.
When we arrived at Hot House Cafe we were given 3 choices for lunch with Vanilla Ice Cream (size of a golf ball) for dessert.
Service was terrible
Portions varied from Plate to Plate
Dessert was an insult.
Being arranged through Marlin Travel, they should have chosen a lunch that was displayed on the restaurants menu.
Other agencies stopped at The Mandarin for a full meal..and charged similar price.
Marlin took advantage of seniors by giving them a CHEAP lunch.
We were trying to support the Marlin business in our community.
This ruined our day !

I am somewhat disappointed with my recent experience with Marlin Travel. I booked a vacation through them over the phone in August 2018 for a vacation in February 2019. I had already done all my homework, and decided when I was going and where I was staying. The agent I spoke with told me about the ‘Service Fee', which I wasn't totally happy about, but figured they needed something out of it, besides the commission they would get from the tour operator. I proceeded with the booking, and at the end, after the agent obtained my credit card information, she indicated the charge had been put through and she would deal with the ‘Service Fee' separately. I asked what the amount of the deposit for the booking was she put on the credit card... she indicated she charged the WHOLE amount. I told her I only wanted to pay the deposit, and would pay the balance when it was due... she then needed to do extra work to get the WHOLE amount credited back to my credit card, and charge only the deposit amount. Why would most people want to pay the WHOLE amount right away, when only a deposit is required... and why would the agent not ask BEFORE putting the charge through. Then, after receiving my invoice by email, I noticed the ‘Service Fee' was more than I thought it should be (double). In verifying with the agent, the ‘Service Fee' is PER PERSON, not per booking. Good grief! It is now easy to see why travel agencies seem to be disappearing. It appears the commission they get from tour operators is not enough, but now need to collect from unsuspecting customers. Then, when I inquired about making the reservations for specific seats, the agent told me to do it myself online with the airline. Then, the agent that took my booking left the agency prior to the departure on this vacation. I was awaiting the final travel documents, or some sort of notification they were available. I needed to follow up with the agency - it would have been nice if the agency had contacted me after my original agent left, to provide me with a new person to contact. Not sure what the service fee was truly for, as I certainly don't feel like I was provided any real service! This will be the last time I book through Marlin Travel... or any other travel agency that charges a ‘Service Fee'... I will book direct with the tour operator.

I am truly disappointed with the service offered by Marlin Travel, Embrun, Ontario. I tried my best to deal with an issue we had with Tours Chanteclerc with them.

Marlin Travel totally mislead us. It is unfortunate that they took the lead on this file. We should not have an unfair treatment because Marlin Travel misdirected us.

Monique Sabourin
Monique.[protected]@gmail.com

In December 2018 we booked Sol Sirenas Coral Resort Varadero Cuba (booking# [protected]) through Marlin Travel located inside the Walmart in Concord Ontario. The travel professional through whom we bought the package was Gracelyn Lewis. We chose this resort from the Marlin Travel sun & fun 2018-2019 resort booklet. This resort package is listed on page 140 of said brochure booklet. We were extremely disappointed when we arrived to the Sol Coral resort and shown to our room (room # 1118). The room picture in the Marlin Travel brochure is false, the brochure picture depicts what the room will look like after renovations. Our room was old with broken furniture, broken tiles, bathroom fixtures missing and other broken equipment. This is clearly false advertising since your customers choose resorts based on the information you provide in your brochures. We have been loyal customers to Marlin Travel since August 2017 where we bought our first package through Marlin Travel, since then we have purchased four more resort packages through Marlin Travel, they are as follows: (1)-Aug 2017 Cuba, booking#[protected]. (2)-March 2018 Punta Cana, booking#[protected]. (3)-Aug 2018 Montego Bay, booking#[protected]. (4)-Dec 2018 Cuba, booking#[protected]. (5)-July 2019 Mexico, Reference# [protected].

Dear Sir/ Madam. This email was written to Viking cruise and is now shared with you

Recently I contacted a travel agency whose name is Marlin Travel, Broadmead, Victoria BC Canada and their primary agent Ms.Voula Christou to arrange a cruise. This cruise that she suggested was a holiday cruise aboard one of your ships. This ship is the "Viking Star". The cruise was out of Las Angeles through Panama and ending up in Miami. I have never seen the brochure advertising this cruise but have seen the reverse cruise of this same ship out of Miami to LA. These cruises are not entirely the same as to stops and excursions. In my first contact with this travel agent, I said that I did not wish to visit Cuba and I have a long history of disagreeing with the Communist government of this country along with their murders and prison terms carried out on their citizens. She said that that would not be a problem as I could stay aboard the ship for the day that the ship was in that country. I said fine. She then left on a 10 travel trip to the Mediterranian and my deposit was made in her absence. Later I found that the ship was to be in Cuba for three days not one as she promised.
Also, I asked to leave 2 days prior to the cruise and remain in Miami for 2 days after the cruise in Miami. Because of this I was charged $100 x2 and deigned ground transport to my hotel and then to the ship on the day of departure. I also refused your paid airfare for my return flight from Miami to Victoria and then was charged, I and my wife, another $100 x 2 for refusing to use your free flight.
Marlin Travel agency and the penalties charged to me because of airfare problems and ground transport denials are unfair and should be looked at by your company.
I have had many (17) cruises varying from 40 days to 7 over the years but never on Viking. I was looking forward to an upscale River Cruise Company that had recently taken to ocean cruises. The experience to date has not been as I would have expected. There is a fault here with my agent which I will deal with but there are also problems with Viking Cruises that I suggest you deal with.

Thank you for your attention. We leave Victoria for LA on December 11, 2018 at 07:00 and have been allocated cabin #3039

Regards

Michael Barry Lusk.

My wife and I booked an all inclusive to Cao Leventado, Dominican Republic a few months ago with Marlin Travel in Red Deer. We were going to book through Red Tag as we have done previously but thought because the process were similar and we would have additional customer service we would use Marlin. Approximately 3 weeks when we checked Red Tag we saw that the same package was advertised with Red Tag at approximately $400 less per person. We contacted Susan Peebles who was our agent but told nothing could be done for us in the way of re-imbursement. My daughter had a similar thing happen when she had booked a trip last year with Red tag and she was given a refund.

Last night again we seen the same package again advertised for $400-500 less each. We are extremely disappointed in the position of Marlin Travel on this and would hope that this matter could be reviewed by your Customer Service.

Myron & Cheryl Thompson
374 Marina Bay Close
Sylvan Lake, AB T4S 1E9
[protected]

I went in to your Lougheed Mall branch in Coquitlam to purchase a return ticket to London for my wife as a surprise. I had the flights I wanted booked on and proceeded to do so. I was unsure of my wife's passport name showing initials or full name. I chose initials, and was wrong. When I called to correct it I was told initially there would be a fee, and a fee for picking a seat . I have not done this before so relied on the office and have now spent most of the day trying to fix what was to be a surprise without hiccups. And then to top it off, when I checked prices online, they were cheaper. This was the last time I will use a travel agency. Sign me disappointed.

I began my contact with Mrs. Ziza Volker Marlin Travel Vernon BC on 24 April requesting her to make all the travel arrangements for a trip by myself and my grandson to Scotland covering the period 19 Aug -28 Aug 2017. As a customer, I explained to her that I would expect a high standard of customer service, responsiveness and ethical behaviour regarding detailed and thorough planning.
Initially she responded well but her behaviour and response gradually deteriorated into an uncooperative, argumentative attitude and an inability to respond without more adding more confusion and frustration to every situation. To date she has sent me over 35 emails with confusing redundant information.
Regrettably it has been a nightmare and I was obliged to advise her of my dissatisfaction and obnoxious attitude today 10 May.
There appears to be no responsible head office or hierarchy to handle complaints. I must continue with the arrangements to date however she must be apprised of this complaint and react in a cooperative attitude.

March 19/16 I contacted Marlin -Regina. The Saskatchewan government had purchased a ticket in my name for travel to Vancouver for my cancer treatment. I was told if I inquired to not be given the details. I explained the medical urgency and I would bring I.D. but did not get info. I am still being treated by doctors which is the cause for the delay in this report.

Transat, according to the Consumer Protection Act, committed numerous violations, (including misrepresentation), and I requested a full refund. Transat does not deny the claims I made, but according to their rules, and regulations, (which are not written on the back of their invoice as they claim), they cannot be held liable.
Copy of email from

February 24, 2017
Dear Mr. Shindler,
Thank you for contacting us. Unfortunately as stated before, the terms and conditions are clearly marked on the front of your invoice and your ticket is 100% non-refundable.
Best Regards,
Lisa Thompson
Supervisor Member Services
T [protected], 128681 Lisa.[protected]@transat.com
Transat Distribution Canada inc.
Voyages Transat | Transat Travel | Club Voyages Marlin Travel | Voyages en Liberté | TravelPlus

RE: Re:Details, mockery
Christine Calder
Tue 10-11, 3:25 PMYou;Kym Lessard ([protected]@hotmail.com);[protected]@hotmail.com

Hi all,

I hope everyone is well settled into the resort today after Saturday’s flight fiasco.

Air Canada changed the equipment (type of plane) relatively last minute, and their computer system re-accommodated automatically.

There was absolutely nothing that either I or AirCanada Vacations could do about it.

I am sorry that the staff at the airport did not move you to be together. Flight must have been very full?

(The seats for the group were part of their package, so they wont refund you anything at all.)

I think the issue with Kym/Mahdi was that they are on two different File Numbers with AirCanada, so the computer did not automatically put them together.

Mahdi was on the main group file. Kym got a new file number when we dropped her Ottawa connectors.

I called AirCanada Customer Support for clients in destination.

We have now split Mahdi off the main group block. His new file number (if you are checking in online) is LD7DM5. Kym;s is KCWIF5.

They have been put into 15-a/c – extra legroom seats.

Everyone else is more or less together, in a block. When checking in, guests can change where they are sitting. Ask for seats “further forward” or together elsewhere. The airline can move people to any seats that are not taken already. They cannot re-arrange people individually as it requires cancelling everyone’s seat selection and re-doing it. The risk is of getting even worse assignments, much further back, which is what is “left” at this time.

The wedding dress, the cabin stewards are supposed to hang it if there is a closet onboard, or it must go in the overhead bins, lay flat.

Rooms, the resort room categories are either with sea view, or without. If you see water, it is the Caribbean.

Did Kym and Mahdi get their upgrade?

Please let me know.

I hope the wedding is wonderful, and that everyone is having a good time today!

Chris
Christine Calder | SENIOR TRAVEL PROFESSIONAL
175 Richmond Rd, 2nd FLR, Ottawa, ON K1Z 6W3
Tel: [protected] Ext. 224 | Fax: [protected]
Website: www.marlintravel.ca/1167m
Office hours: Monday to Friday, 9AM – 5PM

From: wac 4u [mailto:[protected]@hotmail.com]
Sent: October-09-16 11:32 PM
To: Christine Calder
Subject: Re:Details, mockery

Hi Christine,
I'm not sure what happened however as I mentioned on my VM to you yesterday, we were all scattered throughout the aircraft, Kym and Mahdi were not even seated together Mahdi was in the teens while Kym was in the 30's, needless to say she got extremely upset and teary-eyed, the on board flight attendant was most unhelpful to her cause, even after mentioning the wedding aspect, I could go on and on how this trip didn't start off on a positive note, I believe Air Canada Vacation should refund Kym and Mahdi in full for the block seating promised, a service they offer and were supposed to be provided that was an epic fail, I am sure that there customer relations department will be flooded with email about this trip.Having secured the arrangements and all seats well over a more than reasonable amount of time as well as we respected their booking guidelines for payments. We expected a seamless trip.
As far as rooms go well that also is hit and miss, parents of the bride paid for a Oceanview we have a Bay view not what we paid for.
We are very displeased with all that's happened in the first 24hrs of our arrival. Hopefully you can help and do something as this is most disconcerting.

Travel Agents name
Christine Calder | SENIOR TRAVEL PROFESSIONAL

175 Richmond Rd, 2nd FLR, Ottawa, ON K1Z 6W3

her response to all this fiasco was:

I hope everyone is well settled into the resort today after Saturday’s flight fiasco.

Air Canada changed the equipment (type of plane) relatively last minute, and their computer system re-accommodated automatically.

There was absolutely nothing that either I or AirCanada Vacations could do about it.

I am sorry that the staff at the airport did not move you to be together. Flight must have been very full?

(The seats for the group were part of their package, so they wont refund you anything at all.)

I think the issue with Kym/Mahdi was that they are on two different File Numbers with AirCanada, so the computer did not automatically put them together.
Mahdi was on the main group file. Kym got a new file number when we dropped her Ottawa connectors.
I called AirCanada Customer Support for clients in destination.
We have now split Mahdi off the main group block. His new file number (if you are checking in online) is LD7DM5. Kym;s is KCWIF5.

They have been put into 15-a/c – extra legroom seats.

Everyone else is more or less together, in a block. When checking in, guests can change where they are sitting. Ask for seats “further forward” or together elsewhere. The airline can move people to any seats that are not taken already. They cannot re-arrange people individually as it requires cancelling everyone’s seat selection and re-doing it. The risk is of getting even worse assignments, much further back, which is what is “left” at this time.
The wedding dress, the cabin stewards are supposed to hang it if there is a closet onboard, or it must go in the overhead bins, lay flat.
Rooms, the resort room categories are either with sea view, or without. If you see water, it is the Caribbean.

Did Kym and Mahdi get their upgrade?

Please let me know.

I hope the wedding is wonderful, and that everyone is having a good time today!
Chris.

Sir or Madame!

As far as we are concerned maybe further coaching and training should be given to the Agents of all levels, including knowledge of aircraft fleets from different carriers should also be a factor during training, it would alleviate wrongful information and expectations, as I myself do arrange groups as I'm also in the travel transportation industry, a group file is a group file not several little files, their is no excuse for such a fiasco with so much preparedness, we have been made a mockery, if done properly the group file would have been flagged on the manifest had it been done properly, this would not have happened regardless of aircraft change.

Christine's response to my queries are unacceptable " if you see water in the Caribbean it considered ocean view" I have traveled for many many years never have I had such a none nonchalant answer.
We were traveling a large group for my daughters wedding the event went well.
However Marlin travel and the chain will never see any of our money again, to add insult to injury Christine had the audacity not too be available to us during our trip as she was on vacation.

I can't put into words our displeasure of the level of service and high fees we paid for, for no reason as the service was never delivered.
As mentioned sensitivity training should addressed.

Refunds should be applied for group seating to Kym and Mahdi, some kind of monetary complementary service should be given to our group.

Looking Forward to a resolution and rebuttal to this complaint.
Regards
Linda Poudrier

I have sent email, left numerous phone messages re-air miles points for our group trip (16 ) travel back in May. 5 months have passed still no response as to when we will received credit. This is the worst service we have ever encountered considering we travel all the time in large groups. On behalf of my group we will never be booking again with Marlin Travel - Bolton. The quality of service they conducted is very unprofessional. If they can assist us at least pass on the request to who can. Very disappointed consumer . Thank you Ana Mather

Recently booked second trip down south with Marlin Travel. Was to be a surprise for my gf's 40th birthday and emailed the agent and specifically told her to not include my gf in any communication. A few weeks after she sent out an email to the group including my gf about what excursions were available. I thanked here for ruining the surprise and reminded her with the old email that I had indeed asked her to remain discrete. She came back with an apology and asked if there was anything she could do to make things right. I took a day to calm down and thanked her for her apology and told her that if she was offering, maybe I could surprise my girlfriend with a room upgrade. She replied that was too much money but maybe she could pay for advanced seat selection on the way down! $50 to correct a spoiled 40th birthday surprise! I was more upset by the lack of 'give a s*#t' than the initial screw up. Never book with Marlin again and tell everyone I see.

City/Location Reviewed: Milton
Spectacularly poor service and downright rude. My girlfriend went in to follow-up on an email thread my dad had with Mike from Marlin to book nearly $10, 000 of flights to the Middle East and to see if there were any documents they could use in the meantime to help. She was met by a Terry Lynne and was told "I already told whoever it is (my father) in wherever it is (Abu Dhabi) that Mike isn't in until later." When we notified Mike he apologized and said he was sorry my "sister" had this experience. Clearly stated girlfriend. Would never work with. Ever. Zero attention to detail, now imagine when booking your trip.