Hi All
My name is Mohit and I planned my honeymoon tour with Antilog for Andaman and Havelock in December 2013. I made my mind to go with Antilog based on word of mouth recommendation from a friend and for the package cost which was lesser than Makemytrip or Cox & Kings.
I made my advance booking payment 3 months prior to the tour and incrementally paid all the money 1 week before the tour. I trusted them blindly, specially Ms.Aisha Chawala, who I was in contact with. They acted very caring and friendly on phone until my vacation started.
Major Lapses:
1.After making the final payment one week prior to the travel plan, I made several calls to them to provide me hotel and travel booking receipts. I told them that I have celebrations in my house and wont get time to get printout of the receipts. They send me the documents just 1 day before my tour even when they had received all the money.
2.When we landed Port Blair, there was no one to pick up us at airport. I made a call to the contact person, Shiva, who is local to Port Blair and was in-charge of local excursion. He told me that Antilog people have not informed him about our arrival. He told me since past two months, they have not updated him regarding our trip. He was also shocked. Anyways, he got a taxi and took us to hotel. Meanwhile I called Aisha and told her that this is a special trip for me, please, for the least, get the basic things right. I want this trip to make my wife happy. She promised me that this wont happen again.
3.The day we were to leave for Haveock in a "Private ferry", as deceivingly stated, our tickets were booked in privately owned big ferry. Our troubles raised when we got to know that our tickets were not adjacent. Is this the way Antilog plans tour for honeymooners? Embarrassed and angry I called Shiva again, who told me that he had to get the tickets at the last moment because Aisha never verified him that we are coming.
4.I reached the Havelock’s resort and again we had to argue for half hour at the reception that our booking for the lagoon facing villa must be there. But the resort people had no information about it. They contacted Antilog and then they arranged for the room. I called Aisha again, who acted as if she is surprised to know about the ferry tickets and room issues, and apologized like anything. I asked her to refund my money so that I can organize rest of the trip myself. She said "I promise that I will compensate for the troubles you have faced so far but please dont cancel the tour now". Based on her promise I agreed to go along. She never picked my call after that.
5.While In Havelock, the local in-charge, Ajis, was very consistent in persuading us to cancel Neil Island trip. He was giving rubbish reasons that sea is in high tide and all. But I later came to know that public ferries were still leaving for Neil island.
6.Finally after getting frustrated, I cancelled plan for Neil and asked Ajis, to take us directly to Port Blair, as we had our flight next to next day. He told me outright, that he can not do because he has not authority. I had to pay him Rs.1630 from my pocket. Though he promised to give it back to me via internet banking, he still have not, it has been 2 weeks since then.
6.Whenever I tried to call again Aisha, she never picked up the phone, and everytime she gives the phone to someone else who again make false promises and delivers nothing.
Good Things:
1.The flower decoration on the bed in hotel and complementary candle light dinner provided as part of package was memorable.
2.The drivers send for pickup or drop were patient and helpful.
3.The drivers arranged for the tickets for museums etc by themselves.
4.The Silver Sand Resort in Havelock was just wonderful.
Final words:
1.Do not go for an important trip with Antilog, definitely not honeymoons or family trip. Go only if you are a bachelor. Your money is hard earned, you must get services worth the money you paid. Antilog vacations will provide you sub-standard service. I can accept a few minor lapses, but this trip had many.
2.My personal opinion: For Andamans, dont take any packaged tour, from any travel agent. Just do online bookings for the resorts and hotels. After reaching there hire a taxi or get an Activa scooter or Avenger bike for exploring the beautiful islands. That will give you much pleasure and independence, and would save some money. They are available at very reasonable rates. Another best thing is that every body speaks Hindi and English on the islands. There is no issue of language. Go there, just book the hotels/resort online(check the ratings from tripadvisor.com for good hotels) and explore the beauty by yourself.
3.If you need any proof of my allegations, I am more than happy to share with you the receipts from Antilog, along with the pictures and phone recordings of false promises from Aisha and her colleagues.
4.A travel agent’s job is to provide the booking of travel, hotels and excursions and most important, execute them smoothly. So that the traveler does not waste time in these operational activities. A good travel agent should have a good network of local and hotel in-charges among whom the information about the traveler should be shared from time to time. Antilog vacations’ network is very bad. Their communication channels with local in-charge is very bad and sluggish.
5.My rating for Antilog is BELOW AVERAGE. Do not go with them for special trips. Pay a little more and put your trust in an established travel agent.