Gills Cruises

60 Comments

• Just to confirm that after one person complained about our P&O world cruise advert the ASA findings have been taken on board. This technicality has made all cruise lines re think their brochure pricing strategy. We will continue as we have always done over the last 50 years to offer quality customer service and advise, bringing to the market place some of the best cruisedeals available. Stephen Philippou Managing Director GIlls Cruise Centre
  stephen philippou wrote on 9th January 2009
• med cruise sept. fred olsen preferred fly cardiff or assisted to port of dep.
  mary james wrote on 1st May 2009
• I've booked with Gills quite a few times. I think their very good. I'm a widower, which makes me a single traveler. If their is empty cabin late on For the 104 nights Grand Voyage. Aurora. Or the Arcadia. £8799--£7969. If I can get it for this price....!! Please let me know. I will book it with pleasure. Hope I get lucky. Kind Regards. W Brooks.
  W Brooks wrote on 22nd October 2009
• I booked my Aurona 2010 cruise with Gills. Since then after numerous emails I have had nothing from them.Promissed phone calls are never returned. They are only interested in getting your money. After that, its only stress and questions unanswered.
  Geoff Molyneux wrote on 30th November 2009
• We have just returned from two cruises & a hotel stay (Nov/Dec 09) Trans. to Miami & a Bahamas cruise with Royal Caribbean arranged through Faye at Gill's Cruise centre. As the managing consultant of a customer service audit agency, I have an eye for detail & errors. I am pleased to say I was delighted by the service of both Faye & Gill's, as well as the ships & crew of Royal Caribbean. Well done! and I like you have a choice of who to book with. We've just booked again , speaks volumes for me.
  PAUL SEDGWICK wrote on 29th December 2009
• I have been with Gills for a long time and they always offer 1st class service,cant fault them.
  Matthew Freeman wrote on 10th February 2010
• Booked through Gills a few times now always had excellent service from enquiry to tickets received. Booked cruises with 4 other cruise companies and never had any problems,always gone with Princess Cruises. Recently booked another cruise for this year through Gills but they have now added £15per person booking fee. Due to a bereavement in our party we had to cancel a disabled cabin, therefore cancelled 1 cabin and upgraded another cabin.For our party of 8 adults it has cost an extra £195 in fees.I can accept a charge for changing but we gave up a disabled cabin to enable some one else to have this facility and that person went into the upgraded cabin and shared. No mention of the booking fee on any full page advert's but in small print at foot of page it says "Further terms and conditions apply". Maybe they are all trying stealth taxes now. Would like to hear Stephen Philippou's response.
  Geoff Weldon wrote on 12th February 2010
• booked with Gills in Nov for our RCI independence of the seas 2010 holiday and have received no confirmation, had lots of excuses-sent to wrong address, dealing with it=3x, put on priority pile, then on 11/2/10 told they're very busy! Must be with complaints! Always booked with Bolsover Cruise Club before and will next time.
  Mrs Golding wrote on 15th February 2010
• i have used gills cruises lots of times and have always had excellent service and at a very reasopnable price,will continue to use them
  t thomas wrote on 20th February 2010
• Just booked with Gill's and after a price was agreed and debit card details given, I then found out this did not include a so called 'Promotional Charge' of an extra £100. Found there was no charge with two other travel companies. So in future will go elsewhere.
  mel humphreys wrote on 16th March 2010
• Just booked with Gill’s and after a price was agreed and debit card details given, I then found out this did not include a so called ‘Promotional Charge’ of an extra £100.
  mel humphreys wrote on 16th March 2010
• My husband (unbeknown) to me booked an 18 day RCI cruise through Gill's to celebrate my BIG birthday next January. He paid a deposit after beinbg advised that the cruise couldn't be 'reserved'. Unfortunately, like a lot people these days, I will still have to work past retirement age, so will still be at work when we go. Unfortunately my company rules are that staff can't take 3 weeks holiday in one go. Within 3 hours of the booking being made we rang Gill's to cancel so we could discuss it and look for another cruise of shorter duration. We then e-mailed the cancellation and later that day sent a recorded letter (as per their T&C cancellation instructions). We got a voice mail message 3 days later advising that we couldn't cancel and when we re-booked, there would be a £90 per person re-booking fee; the cruise would have to be with the same shipping line and the value would have to be same or more than the original cruise. Furthermore we had to decide by October 2010 as further charges would be incurred. No explanation as to what those charges are!! I spoke to a customer service guy who implied that because I had followed Gill's own rules on cancellation he couldn't see why we couldn't cancel and receive our deposit back minus any admin charges. He said he would pass this on to his superiors and someone would call me back. That was 8 days ago!!! I'm not holding out any hope especially after reading some of the negative comments about Gills. I would appreciate Mr Philippou's comments on this matter.
  judith monro wrote on 22nd March 2010
• Myself and my husband have already cruised several times and have booked with many of the travel agents seen regularly on the internet, we always call around for the best prices, so when we decided to book our first world cruise we did the usual rounds. When I called Gills Cruise the gentleman I spoke to was efficient and knowledgeable about the ports, excursions, visas required etc I found I spent twice as long on the phone to him than any of the other agents. We booked our cruise with Gills 2 months ago and I have called back already several times with questions about documents amongst other things, luckily the gentleman I booked with was always happy to speak to me again and answered all my questions 82 nights at sea is as much daunting as it is exciting). I would not hesitate to recommend Gills Cruise to someone looking to book a cruise, but I will also tell them still to call round for prices to make sure they are getting the best deal.
  Jean Noble wrote on 1st April 2010
• Many thanks to all the above for commenting about Gills Cruise Centre. It is especially pleasing to hear some of the positive comments - the team at Gills Cruise Centre works very hard to offer the best possible customer service and cruising experience. We also take any complaints on booking issues very seriously. In the unlikely event of any problems occurring during the booking process we are quick to escalate concerns to the attention of our management, and aim to handle each incident with sensitivity and efficiency. Should anyone wish to discuss their booking or experience with Gills Cruise Centre, please feel free to call the team. Stephen Philippou Managing Director, Gills Cruise Centre
  Mr Stephen Philippou..l wrote on 10th April 2010
• This is an interesting article and what a lot of people do not understand is "Live Pricing." I do not know whether this was to blame but many times you put up a price only to find the cruise lines change it. When preparing for newspapers, they (the newspapers) often want the copy well before the print run and prices can change before it even goes to print. To Gills defence, it is hard to get it right all the time.
  Cruisegle wrote on 22nd April 2010
• Have a query with the booking I made but can get no answer from customer service. The only way through is if you go to new booking and they answer in seconds and then transfer you to a dead connection or say their admin team will phone you back, still waiting!
  Tim P wrote on 18th May 2010
• The telephone number on the paperwork (029207) works.
  Anon wrote on 22nd May 2010
• We received a letter from Gill's today that says they've moved their Client Service office to London- that might be why the 02920 numbers aren't working properly? I called them last week to add tips on to my booking and got through straight away on 0845 460 6094.
  Lesley Hughes wrote on 28th May 2010
• BOOKED A MONTH AGO AND STILL NO EMAIL OR LETTER CANT SEEM TOGET THROUGH ON PHONE GOES TO ANSWER MACHINE BIT WORRYING TO SAY THE LEAST
  hazel c wrote on 28th May 2010
• I have to comment that Gills have recently dealt with our concerns very efficiently; unfortunately my last cruise was affected by the airport closures due to the volcanic ash cloud. I spoke to them regularly and they were always able to give me updates and talk me through my options, in the end we changed our cruise with their help to a later date, fingers crossed everything runs smoothly this time.
  P King wrote on 31st May 2010
• Just completed a cruise booked through Gills with a special deal of $200 per cabin on board spend. We only received $100. I have been trying to get a refund from Gills for the $100 we didnt receive. Well its like pulling teeth. Despite numerous attempts to contact someone at Gills who could respond to our concerns we did, after many many emails, we finally got someone to acknowledge our complaint. It is down hill from here on in with all the usual excuses i.e we are investigating - can you send through the paper work (yet again) -its the cruise liners responsibility not ours, and so no. the latest is that they contacted our friends who traveled with us and told them they were amending the terms to $100. THIS IS 2 WEEKS AFTER WE HAD RETURNED FROM THE CRUISE.How can they legally do this. For the sake of a few pounds gills have now lost my and our friends future custom. Anyone considering booking a cruise through Gills be wary. They may offer a lot but wether you get it or not is another matter. I have copied below a response from Gillscruise director Stephen Phillipou on this very site # Mr Stephen Philippou..l says: April 10, 2010 Many thanks to all the above for commenting about Gills Cruise Centre. It is especially pleasing to hear some of the positive comments – the team at Gills Cruise Centre works very hard to offer the best possible customer service and cruising experience. We also take any complaints on booking issues very seriously. In the unlikely event of any problems occurring during the booking process we are quick to escalate concerns to the attention of our management, and aim to handle each incident with sensitivity and efficiency. Should anyone wish to discuss their booking or experience with Gills Cruise Centre, please feel free to call the team. Stephen Philippou Managing Director, Gills Cruise Centre This doesnt represent my treatment with this company.
  R Charman wrote on 23rd June 2010
• Ive booked with Gills and so far have been very pleased with them, Booked Sea Princess with $700 spending money when we get on board!!!, my confirmation has arrived and is all in order! I cant wait to spend it on board in the Spa (dont tell my husband)! Has anyone else been on Sea Princess?!!? Im so excited have been with P&O and RCI and both were lovely, this an extra holiday we booked as have had main one but we all need a bit of winter sun!!! Anyway yes very happy with Gills! It would be nice if they guarantee me the weather aswell!!!
  Lisa Edwards wrote on 4th July 2010
• AFTER NUMEROUS PHONE CALLS TO GILL CRUISES......WITH NO RESPONCE AT ALL....I WILL NOT BE MAKING MY FINAL PAYMENT DUE ON THE 2ND AUGUST....UNTILL SOME ONE AT GILLS RETURNS MY CALLS AND DEALS WITH MY REQUESTS .....WHAT A SHAMBLES OF CUSTOMER SERVICES..
  mandi williamson wrote on 21st July 2010
• Here at Gill’s Cruise Centre we are in the process of upgrading our IT and telephone systems for our client services department. Unfortunately a technical error has occurred resulting in some callers not being able to connect through to our dedicated client service team or having their calls cut short. We know how very frustrating this can be and would like to apologise to any clients who have experienced difficulties. Our teams are working hard to resolve any remaining issues as swiftly as possible. We would like to remind you of the best way to reach the team; e-mail admin @gillscruise.com phone 08454 606094 (option 3) post Gill’s Cruise Centre 83 Baker Street London W1U 6AG
  Sarah Irish - Head of Client Services wrote on 21st July 2010
• Please would you remove us from your mailing list with anything o do with with P and O cruises, on he 17th July we set sail sail for Norway from Southampton, on arrival in our cabin we had not checked hat we had an outside cabin with a balcony and spoke o reception asking if we could pay for an upgrade if it was possible, we were old that no-one was available until the sunday to deal with our request. how ridiculous was this that we had to unpack all of our luggage with maybe having to move on the sunday, however sunday came and went with not a single reference to our request, we were totally ignored, was our money not good enough and did P and O not have the decencey to make contact with us. May we add we had a good holiday but this situation has upset us both, so we would not travel again with P and O. We would be interested to hear why our request was ignored we were not asking for a free upgrade. So please Gills cruises remove us from P and O's mailing list. Many thanks. Carole Matthews and James Alexander. Our ship was the Ventura.
  arole Matthews and James Alexander wrote on 8th August 2010
• After booking 2 holidays with Gills ,i have nothing but praise for their efficiency, on both occasions the paperwork and confirmation where with me within 10 days. the service and generally being helpful were second to none,weldone Gills keep it up,...
  Bil Hardyl wrote on 28th August 2010
• Interesting to see some staff names or anon in the above comments...
  The Big GAZ wrote on 31st August 2010
• Fact is shipping companies and agents are not in the lease interested in complaints. Act dumb and they will go away is the norm. They know that in a growth market there is always someone else coming along on the next bus! Lip service ispaid to complaints andCustomer service simply does nt exhist. Cynic!
  Phil. Potter wrote on 31st August 2010
• whoever, this is the first time i have used gills to book my annual christmas holiday, and after the service i have recieved from their team i think it will be the last. they was eager to take the booking but from there it went down hill, i requested a balcony if one became available, and gave my mobile number to contact me on, as i am not always at home, but twice a vacancy came up, but what do they do?, ring my home number, so i missed out twice. BUT to try and make ammends they did offer me £100.00 cabin spend, and the promise that if a balcony came they would contact me no joy as yet. NOW this week i am due to pay for the cruise. and wanting clarification on something i have been trying to contact them, twice aug 31 no joy after 15 min. each time, four times today sept 1, first time 20 mins seond and third time some person picked phone up and put it down, very good for customer relationship, i do not think, fouth time after 20 mins i got the leave name ect.ect ect we will get back to you. eventualy they did. excuse for all this WE HAVE MOVED TO NEW PREMISES AND HAVE TEETHING TROUBLES...how long do teething troubles last ??? next yeaqr back to p.o linens yours mr. tansley
  r.b. tansley wrote on 1st September 2010
• Hi! All of these unhappy quotes, are putting me off b'kng a cruise (3 people, 1 a single) would that make it impossibe for them to book it right? If Gill's cruises read this, perhaps they can contact me.. I did request yesterday.. All they did this morning, is send me some JUNK mail. (selling but NOT CRUISES) Roland x
  Roland Peach wrote on 23rd September 2010
• Have booked with gills cruises a couple of times.I have been on the website quite a few times to check on prices for 2011 cruises,saw a few ive liked,seen a price ive liked,however on each occasion the prices quoted have been way out,no apology.They should not be allowed to get away with it.Sort your website prices out please.If you dont i will never cruise with you again,as i dont trust you.
  bob sadler wrote on 24th September 2010
• I must speak in favour of Gills. We have booked with them the last four years and had no problem. After being not sure this year that I would be ready for a holiday after an operation I looked up various agents and saw a cruise that I liked. It was chepaer than Gills was offering but after phoning Gills and telling them, they honoured the price. The only grumble we had was on the Ventura! Our cabin was VERY noisy fron the air conditioning. After complaining, we were given EAR PLUGS!!!
  j.rees wrote on 8th October 2010
• Hi Bob, Your post has recently been brought to my attention and I'm sorry to hear about the difficulty you have experienced on pricing. If you would like to send your contact details to me at tom@gillscruise.com then I will personally look into which prices you were comparing and hope that you will give us the chance to find you a great deal on the type of cruise you were looking at. Look forward to hearing from you. Tom Macklin Director of Sales & Client Services
  Tom Macklin wrote on 8th October 2010
• WARNING....BEFORE YOU BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY....DO NOT EXPECT ANY FORM OF COMMUNICATION AFTER YOU HAVE PAID YOUR BALANCE.....I HAVE TODAY HAD TO PHONE P&O TO ASK THEM WHAT TIME WE ARE SAILING ECT ...AS GILLS CRUISES WILL NOT ANSWER MY PHONE CALLS OR E MAILS......BUT IF YOU PHONE THE BOOKING LINE YOUR CALL IS ANSWERED IN 1 RING....TOTALLY UPSET AT BEING IGNORED....I HAVE SAVED HARD FOR THIS CRUISE AND I DESERVE BETTER THAN THIS!!! WHICH IS TOTAL RUBBISH.....I WILL NOT RECOMMEND ANY ONE TO BOOK WITH GILLS....THEY HAVE ALL THE EXCUSES UNDER THE SUN....MOVING OFFICES.....PROBLEMS WITH CALLS.....THE LIST GOES ON AND ON....THIS IS NOT THE WAY TO PROMOTE YOUR CRUISES...WITH THE ECONOMIC CLIMATE...I WOULD HAVE HOPED FOR BETTER CUSTOMER SERVICE....BUT INSTEAD I GET TOTAL BAD SERVICE...I AM THAT UPSET I AM NOW DREADING MY HOLIDAY...WONDERING WHAT THE HELL IS COMING NEXT....DO SOMETHING RIGHT AND GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER
  mandy williamson wrote on 25th October 2010
• We have recently booked a cruise with you for September 1st 2011. As we live in Malawi you requested a UK address as I was told "Just for formalities" but the people at the UK address would NOT be contacted. Unfortunately you sent to the UK address details of our invoices which has caused us embarrasment as the people at this address were not aware we had given their address. They have now requested that no brochures or deals with your company are sent to them and no personal information concerning our holiday should be sent either. As this is our first time we have used your company we are rather concerned about future assurances from yourselves. We would appreciate a response and confirmation to you comments.
  Sylvia Wall wrote on 8th November 2010
• I am not sure that I like all of the letters ( above ). This will be the first time we have booked through your company, we shall have to see. I can assure you that if it is as bad as described, my business will return to Celebrity Cruises and as I take three cruises a year, you will be the loser. When I tried to send my details by e mail, it would not accept your own cruise number, strange.!!!! Don Oslear Ventura 18/12/10 for 29 nights
  don oslear wrote on 17th November 2010
• as I have typed an e mail and it has not been received it would appear that most of the letters are correct
  don oslear wrote on 17th November 2010
• I now must add, that I have had my previous messages printed, so perhaps not as bad as described but again we shall have to wait and see. Don Oslear
  don oslear wrote on 17th November 2010
• After reading all the customer complaints, its also to inform you that even though you should never book again with gills cruise you should never accept employment there, as the same way they have deceived you as customers they deceive their staff in thinking they are a well established company with wealth. This is all incorrect I will never work for this company again and will not give them my money to book cruises.
  unknown wrote on 24th November 2010
• I rang Gills cruises to book an Iberian cruise with MCS, this cruise had offers of, all inclusive drinks and free coach tranfers to and from Southhampton. The person I spoke told me the dates that I had chosen where available and wanted to go ahea with the booking. When I asked about the offer that was on their web page she said that she would have to speak to her supervisor and would ring me back. Needless to say she didn't ring back. Why do they feel that they have to entice custom by showing offers that dont exist. I wont be using Gills again and will also spread the word t my friends family and work mates. I am not the only person to feel this way as there are many more bad reveiws about Gills.
  Jo wrote on 29th December 2010
• No smoke without fire? INCREDIBLE that such a company can have so many complaints where GILLS do not acknowledge bookings or complaints. Time to set up a website for such companies, I recently have visited websites in various areas of the world an it seems Gills have taken out an agressive banner ad campaign- probably because they feel no one will see the very bad feedback they get on UK sites like this. Shocking , and I have never seen as many compliants about non response, No doubt Stephen Philippou will wait for a couple more "positive" plant feedbacks and then tell us how wonderful they are? Time to take action against companies like GIlls? Steve
  steve wrote on 3rd January 2011
• Also as an ex employee I read these comments and they all ring true. Not sure who the ex member of staff was who left the comment back in Novemeber but spot on. They will take your money and lie to you to get you to book. When I worked there members of sales staff would book you a cruise and tell you anything you wanted to hear to get you to book. (like thats a clear view cabin when clearly on the booking system is was not) This is common for staff at Gills to do this. They only want there bonus. It is no wonder that they are no longer putting as many ads in the papers as I dont think they have the money due to the fact of all the refunds they used to give out to customers who had complaints. In fact I do believe they are now refusing to refund anyone at this current time. Why is this????????? I would never work for them again as they are the most unproffesional company I have ever worked for. IF YOU ARE EVER THINKING OF BOOKING WITH THEM THINK AGAIN. GO AND BOOK WHERE YOU KNOW YOU WILL GET THE AFTERSALES SERVICE. BOOK WHERE YOU KNOW YOU WILL GET A REFUND IF YOU ARE DUE ONE. BOOKING WITH GILLS IS A GAMBLE I WOULD NEVER TAKE. DO YOU TRUST THEM TO HAVE YOUR MONEY????
  Ex employee wrote on 20th January 2011
• As a ex employee I feel I must write this up to let people know what I awful company Gills are to work for and to book with and I will explain why. I left of my own accord as I had had enough of working under such poor management. It is interesting to see that I am not the only ex member of staff to post on this site. Firstly they will tell you what you want to hear to get you to book. Sales staff are on commission and they just want to take your money. For example you call to book a outside cabin they will get you one but not advise you that there is a obstructed view. Not on really. Also I have known some staff to even promise on board credit that does not exist. Not all the staff would do this but some will and what is more the managers know this happens and let them get away with it. Any decent company would sack these individuals but not at Gills. They are being run by ex cruise control staff and you only need to google cruise control to see what happened to them. The best thing I ever did was leave and the worst thing was joining them in the first place. So many staff have left them over the past few months because they refuse to work for managers who have not got a clue how to run a company. If you are due a refund from them and have been waiting for a while then ask yourself why?? They do not seem to be putting many adverts in the national press at the moment and my guess is they can no longer afford to do so with the amount of money wasted in the past on refunding clients who had been mislead whilst booking. I WOULD STRONGLY ADVISE TO SHOP AROUND AND MAKE SURE YOU BOOK WITH A COMPANY WHO WILL LOOK AFTER YOU ALL THE WAY THROUGH. NOT A COMPANY JUST TAKING YOUR MONEY AND THEN LEAVING YOU TO IT. TO THE EX EMPLOYEE WHO LEFT A POST ON THE 24/11/10 SPOT ON MY FRIEND I MUST HAVE WORKED WITH YOU AND GOOD LUCK TO YOU.
  Ex employee wrote on 21st January 2011
• I booked a criuse for 27/02/11 with Gills back in August 2010 and paid the full balance November 2010 and have had no info.at all untill yesterday when they demanded another £1080, because they had made a mistake, or we would lose the holiday -no refund. I,m so annoyed with them and warn others if dealing with them - we won't again.We'll go back to cruise.co as they were fantastic!.
  Rogert Gray wrote on 22nd January 2011
• Worst company I have booked with. Why oh why can you not get any sense out of the staff you speak to??? Sales staff are happy to sell you the cruise and take your money but not so happy to help when you have problems. Customer service is a joke and they fob you off every time. I booked a cruise back in June last year to go in January with Royal caribbean and due to the snow we could not fly and we were told we could either book another holiday or get a full refund as we had booked the flights with Royal caribbean also. We did not want to book another holiday with Gills as we had already had enough of the poor customer service we had been getting before this problem. Still no money has been refunded and my husband has checked with Royal caribbean as was told that Gills have to sort this out as you booked with them. Although I feel they should also be able to help us I can see the point that Gills took our money so its them who need to refund us. My husband got the sense from Royal caribbean that this was not the first problem they have had to deal with about Gills. I only wish I had found this website earlier and I never would have booked with Gills. Has anyone else had major problems getting money back from them?????
  Julie Williams wrote on 26th January 2011
• just back from princess cruise no problems at all will use gills again......
  valerie owens wrote on 27th January 2011
• I downloaded the Gills iphone cruise deals app, balcony deals section - really impressed until it took 3 days to take the £50 reward voucher off my cabin price. Wish their response times were as good as their technology! Thanks to Sharon in cust servs for sorting it out. Now happy.
  Jen wrote on 27th January 2011
• Used Gills for 4 cruises now - I was aware that Gills had probs last year when they moved to London, but they explained that by letter - before then and since then I have been happy with the service I personally have had, which has been very helpful. Will use again and have recommended. I like to suport family firms - you do get better service in the long run.
  Gillian Letts wrote on 3rd February 2011
• on October the 18th I booked 2 cruises with gills at the time they had a special offer on if you booked a cruise you had a free dressing gown I was told when I booked they would send 2 dressing gowns. Well after 3 phone calls all telling me they are on the way and emailing them I am still waiting its now the 8th Febuary. Would like to know if any body has had the same problem and not recieved their free dressing gown's.
  jennifer reid wrote on 8th February 2011
• I also received a free dressing gown or luxury robe as they call it, but after the the service I received why would I want to wear it (with their logo) promoting this shoddy company. I think they should get back to basics because there are travel agents out there selling the same cruises but with much better customer service. I will never book with gills again.
  david wrote on 12th February 2011