Me and my neighbor had a horrific experience with this tour agency - Seagate Holiday Homes, who deal with Lakshadweep cruises from Kochi. We booked for the Samdram Package on the best vessel INS Kavaratti, 6 months in advance . I had paid paying half the amount for trip of approx. Rs 100, 000/- starting on 27-12-2015. Mine was a 8 member party including my aged parents and in laws.
My friends family of 3 was accompanying us. I received my first exchange order(receipt for the Rs. 1lakh advance by mail on July 3rd 2015. Around September timeframe we started following up with them for making the rest of payment and final confirmation. Our attempts at talking to this tour operator were not easy as it was only after many attempts that we could reach them. Even when we reached them, we were mostly not getting any details as the main guy Abdul was never available and his assistants always replied that Abdul sir will call you back. We never received a call from Abdul.
Despite following up with them on a monthly basis on final confirmation, all we could end up getting was a statement over phone that everything was in order. They never send any mails confirming even this. We were uneasy with this, but had no other way rather than cope as we are from Trivandrum and some distance from Kochi, where this agency was. Somewhere in October , we found that the date of Samudram package was changed from 27th Dec to 26th Dec on their website. We called up to check whether there is an impact to us owing to the same and they confirmed that we will be moved to the 26th trip. Three days before the trip on 23rd , we were informed that they overbooked on Samudram package and instead they can accommodate us in the Minicoy island fest package from 25-12 to 28-12. The package cost was brought down from Rs 27k to Rs 18k. However the first class cabin was downgraded to bunker class. Also the vessel was a smaller one. To our dismay , when we boarded the ship we found that people had paid in the range of Rs 15K for the class we are travelling in. We approached the operator with our concern and they assured that they will refund. But it never materialized. More than the refund what pained us was the lack of professionalism in keeping customers informed and giving priority to early bookings. The tour experience was spoiled by this . The Travel agent in charge for this agency is one named Abdul. Advise all to stay away from this agency for your Lakshadweep cruise. Lakshadweep as a tourist destination is very good and the people are very helpful and warm. It is only the tour operators who are marring the whole experience.
Me and my fried work in Technopark Trivandrum and from IT field.