I am shocked and appalled by this whole thing...I own a host agency with over 50 agents that work from home. When any of their clients (or mine) pay with checks, they come to the agency, they clear, then I pay the supplier (usually by ACH or company card so it is immediate). It makes no difference when a reservation is actually due in respect to how it gets paid. It would be unethical for me to hold onto money simply because I can.
To not know that the reservation had to be paid in full before excursions could be booked is appalling. There are MANY MANY agents that should not be booking Disney...College of Knowledge does not make one an expert, just passable. I can't tell you how many times someone has paid me to plan their trips...and they already have another TA! Yes, a TA is sitting back collecting money from Disney, while I plan their dining and itineraries. Kind of makes you go, hmmm. I can't tell you how many times I've heard "my TA doesn't know what to do, help!" I require ALL of my agents to be trained thoroughly and supervised with their first several Disney bookings...I went as far and made training web pages specifically for WDW and
DCL. No one will book Disney through my agency and not know what they are doing. Vacations are precious...people work and save and dream for so long to make them possible, and my #1 priority is to make sure their dreams are met.
As far as shore excursions, that is another thing that is laughable...it should be a courtesy for any
travel agent to assist their clients in making them, whether commission is involved or not. Same thing with flights. We get paid for some things, we don't for others. What matters is that our clients don't have to deal with any of that! Why should they be concerned if we get paid for the little extras? The goal of any TA should be to make a client's vacation as stress free and magical as possible, PERIOD.
While I appreciate those saying they don't use TAs because they like to book themselves (I myself never used a TA before I became one, I liked CONTROL
) there are many people that TAs assist greatly. Just yesterday I got a "This is the easiest vacation I have ever booked!". That kind of statement makes my job worthwile. Some people should not work with TAs...I was one of them, ironically. Those that love to plan every detail, well, a TA isn't for you probably, and that is okay! For those of you that do use TAs though, I suggest asking for references...past clients perhaps that you can actually contact. Any legitimate TA will be happy to provide that.
To the OP, I hope your cruise was absolutely magical, and that this shady TA gets what he deserves.