My Cruise Connection Travel agent to avoid. Largo Florida

 I would like other readers to be aware of a scam that I fell into. I made a reservation for an Norwegian Cruise Line cruise with My Cruise Connection agent Daryl Novak who responded to my CruiseCompete request. This agent had the best price, so without hesitation I booked my cruise through him. I have booked several cruises through CruiseCompete agents and never had a problem. I was told there was a $250.00pp deposit required at booking, which I am used to. I still don't remember doing this, but the agent asked me for my credit card number for $250.00 and requested me to make another $250.00 to his PayPal account, which I apparently did. I received an invoice from the agent by email reflecting the $500.00 deposit being made, with the final payment due in July. In July I called the agent to make the final payment and I was told to make the payment to his PayPal account, when I questioned this, he told me that is how he takes payment. I made the PayPal deposit as requested and was sent an invoice from the agency via email reflecting the payment and marked Paid in Full. Several days ago (28 days from sailing) I received an email from NCL saying I had a balance due.

At first I thought it was some kind of scam, but all the information was correct including an advance payment I had made for dinner reservations. It showed that only $250.00 was paid at booking, with another $250.00 still owed and the final payment amount. In August a $200.00 payment was made using a MasterCard on the account with a balance due amount of over $1200.00. I called the agent and he told me that there must be some mistake and he would look into it and get back to me in 24 hours. I decided to call direct to NCL to find out what was going on. The first person I talked to at NCL told me that I would have to take it up with the travel agent. The next day when I did not hear back from the agent, I called him and he told me that it would be taken care of, that he some accounting issues in his office and he was working on it.

Later that day I got another invoice from NCL reflecting a $300.00 MasterCard payment on the account, still a balance due of over $900.00. I again contacted NCL and again I was told to take it up with the travel agent. At this point I lost it, I demanded to speak to a supervisor. After waiting on hold for a supervisor for 20 minutes, I was cut off. I called again and after losing it again, I was connected to a supervisor. Mr Lopez was very helpful, he call the agent and vowed the check into it further and get back to me. Later that evening I received a call from the agent and he assured me that it would be a cleared up by the next morning. (Yeah right) I waited until almost noon the next day, then I created a dispute With PayPal for the amount of the final payment. That apparently got his attention, within an hour he called me and assured me that the balance due was paid to NCL and he emailed me a copy of the paid in full invoice from NCL. He wanted me to contact PayPal and get his funds released, which I told him I would after I called NCL and confirmed that we were paid in full. I asked him why he never made the full deposit to NCL at booking, his answer was that NCL only asks for $250.00 so he keeps the other $250.00 in his account.

I tried to cancel the dispute with PayPal online, but I guess it did not take.because I got a call from him later that night desperately begging me to call PayPal and get his funds released. Which I did. I also disputed the PayPal payment with my credit card, which I had to cancel. I also reported the agency to CruiseCompete and was told that it was the second complaint with the same issues and they had severed their relationship with him. The moral of the story is, always make any payments for your cruise directly to the cruise line. In over 30 Cruises, this is the first time I have ever had such a problem, hopefully never again. __________________