World Wide Tours - Keswick, Ontario

Mary-Jo P.

If your thinking about using Karen for your travel needs think twice. You are better off booking direct with the airline especially if you are a group. Karen was helpful in finding a destination, in our case Tulum Mexico for New years but after we put our deposit down there was no customer service whatsoever. We had to ask for receipt for deposit multiple times and 2 people in the group never received any information, receipts etc even though we made a group email and all she had to do was "respond all" to keep everyone updated but she never did. She always seemed annoyed when someone asked a question about the trip. When we contacted Air Canada vacations for our e-tickets 2 weeks before our departure date they said we should have had our tickets as they were available but needed to go through the travel agent for legal purposes. they informed us that if the Air Canada coordinator assigned to us was unavailable, the travel agent (Karen) could ask any air Canada rep for them. When I sent the email to Karen she said that she hadn't heard from them yet. When questioned she told us she had other clients she was working on. Our group spent 48,000 on our trip and she was too busy to make sure we had all up to date info about our trip. If she was "too busy" for our group of 12, she should have said that from the beginning and we would have gone with somebody else. Anybody thinking about using this family owned company save yourself the hassle and book with somebody else!!!!!

Lori P.

Want to book a trip with ease of mind and comfort knowing your travel agent has all the details under control? THEN DON'T BOOK WITH KAREN! I tried to support a local business and did so with regret. We booked a family vacation (for a group of 12) for travel over New Year's, and while she was very quick to respond with multiple vacation options, as soon as our deposits were paid, it became very clear that all the things that World Wide Tours prides themselves on (personalized service, communication, responsibility and dependability) was in fact a lie. Karen was incapable of managing the information given her and didn't respond to the whole group through email threads (which we were constantly advising her to do and reminding her the importance of this as the people traveling were in different parts of Ontario and the US). She only reached out to 2 people from the moment we booked in June until our flight on December 27th. On the few occasions she reached out to us, we were reiterating information as she had things all mixed up and wrong. It definitely made us nervous that our trip was going to be a disaster. We also had a group member with mobility issues and while she did mention she can only request specific rooms from the hotel, when we arrived, she didn't have any requests/notes mentioning a room without stairs (so we had to deal with that upon arrival). With the amount of leg work we had to do on our own trying to find out information and reaching out to the airline, it's unfortunate to think she made commission off of a $43,000 trip for doing the bare minimum. She will take her time with responding to emails, be rude to you on the phone, and make it seem like you are a huge inconvenience when you have questions. You are better off booking a trip online or finding a different agent to if you want a smooth process!

Christine L.

We used World Wide Tours on 2 occasions. One for our trip to New York City and one for a cruise to Alaska. For the New York vacation, Karen did a wonderful job of getting us into the same hotel as my cousins who were visiting from the Netherlands. Karen coordinated sightseeing venues which matched dates and times with our European cousins so that we could visit with them the whole time. For our cruise to Alaska, Karen offered us several different options. She listened to our wishes and arranged the perfect Alaskan adventure for us. We were delighted also when we received flowers in our cruise room from Karen. Karen will always be our travel agent. Thank you Karen.

Jamie

Hi Karen,

Just wanted to let you know that I had an amazing time in Croatia. The highlight was Orebic for sure and kinda wished I'd spent the whole time there as it was sublime. The resort was awesome, great food, beautiful scenery and great snorkelling. The drive along the coast was amazing and all the drivers were super courteous and friendly. Thank you so much for all your efforts to make my trip a memorable and special experience. Here is a video I put together highlighting some of my photos and videos... Thanks,
You're appreciated, Jamie 🙂

Melissa G.

Karen helped booked a family trip to Panamá. Although she was pretty speedy and accurate with simple details n pricing. She did not go above and beyond at all for us as family of 5 spending a lot of money over the holidays for our special trip. We got no information about the resort and it being 90 % locals and how the cater to locals more than travellers or any information about the hotel at all. I would have been better off reading reviews to get an idea why we should have picked a different hotel and possibly different area.
I was told to book excursions on the Sunwing app and when I inquired about anything else she told me to ask Sunwing or call the hotel.

My mom called Karen to surprise us with champagne, chocolate , and fresh fruit for our room when we arrived and was simply told NO and that she should call
A local florist or hotel herself !

I have heard from others that there is a serious lack of interest and effort put in when booking with Karen.

My review of the hotel - Playa Blanca Beach Resort in Panamá :

This resort has 90 % locals, it is way over packed you have to fight lines and crowds. The people don’t give the best service and you are not treated as a guest but as a burden. You get no special treatment even when paying way more than the locals as they get discounted rate. We have met a few people that speak English so we were able to enjoy ourselves a bit talking with them. Our maid and a couple bar tenders was the only staff at the hotel who were nice to us and took time to speak to us and go above and beyond for us.

I feel like even though we tip better than the locals who most don’t tip at all , the people act entitled and leave a mess for the staff to clean up and still get better service. It is not a friendly resort as the locals are on their vacation and you’re in their way it feels like, they have no interest in being friendly. Most people speak Spanish so you need to use a translator to communicate. People don’t move out of the way or seem to pay any attention to others. It makes them feel important to act entitled and can be rude . I feel like I’m in downtown Toronto at wet and wild water park fighting crowds and unfriendly people.
The food is decent but is the same everyday.
There is a buffet, 1 restaurant only and a snack bar. Overall the experience was not bad but I prefer to vacation at a resort that has more tourism/ travellers visiting the resort..

Paul H.

Karen helped us with our travel plans on two occasions. She was very helpful, always looking for the best price, and making changes when required, always with a smile. You will be very happy you came to see Karen

Sasha V.

Wonderful

Loved having the attention to detail service that no online service could ever figure out how to provide.
Helped me reschedule my flight during an emergency abroad when I was without phone service. Ended up getting a cheaper flight and was able to get credit for future travel.

Beatrix M.

Karen is a very professional agent - always going the distance for her clients and finding the best deals possible. You are truly in good hands with this agency!