MANILA, Philippines - A netizen shared how a travel agency ruined their family’s vacation to Calaguas, an island in the province of Camarines Norte.
A Facebook post by Paulyn Erica David is making the rounds online on how a travel agency, Travel Galore turned their vacation into a nightmare. The group was set to travel on a 2-day,1-night trip from March 28-30 to Calaguas Island. David began by explaining that even at the beginning of their trip, they had already been disappointed when their driver arrived 2 hours late.
To add to their frustration, the driver even brought his family along to their “exclusive trip.” David also lamented the driver companion’s rude behavior as she sat in the front with her seat reclined.
Everything started to go downhill from the driver’s irresponsible driving to the group being directed to a different island, Pulang Daga where the group was left unassisted. Their group were not allowed by the Coast Guard to travel to Calaguas as they reached Paracale Port at 5 p.m. or after 19 hours of trip.
To make things worse, David’s family of 12 were only given two tents for them to use. She said, “We all have to squeeze ourselves, uncomfortable. Some of our companions just decided to cut trash bags so they could sleep on the ground and others just decided to sleep on the grasses near our tent.”
David also complained that when they changed to a new driver, he also brought along “not just two but four” family members. When they finally have to cross Calaguas, the group were not even given life vests and had to ride an overloaded boat on the way back.
For all the stress and inconvenience, David said that they didn’t even receive a single apology from Travel Galore. She said that they paid more than P25,000 for the exclusive trip but was left devastated. The disappointed traveler said, “Nakakapagod, nakakaiyak nakakagalit sa sama ng loob. We did not spend our hard-earned money with this kind of service.”
“Para kaming pinabayaan nalang at magtiyaga nalang sa kung ano anong bagay. No amount can suffice the stress. this incident gave us,” David added.
The post has gone viral with over 30,000 shares to date.
Travel Galore agency
Travel Galore is based in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte and owned by Regina Lyca Bagaoisan. The agency is yet to issue a public statement about the viral incident.
On the Facebook page, Travel Galore Philippines, they have been rated 1 with a flood of negative reviews. On their second page, Travel Galore, there have been claims that the admin deletes negative comments and reviews.
It also looks like this isn’t the first time that the client complained about them. A blog post by Joemar Belleza back in 2017 also detailed a complaint about the same agency. Belleza wrote, “There are things that should’ve gone well if Travel Galore only properly documented our payments and at least compensated for proper service from their not-so-proper ones for our accommodation. Unfortunately, they didn’t.”
The viral post by David also has stories from other clients of Travel Galore that were dissatisfied with their service.
— The Summit Express
A Facebook post by Paulyn Erica David is making the rounds online on how a travel agency, Travel Galore turned their vacation into a nightmare. The group was set to travel on a 2-day,1-night trip from March 28-30 to Calaguas Island. David began by explaining that even at the beginning of their trip, they had already been disappointed when their driver arrived 2 hours late.
To add to their frustration, the driver even brought his family along to their “exclusive trip.” David also lamented the driver companion’s rude behavior as she sat in the front with her seat reclined.
 |
| The driver’s companion reclined her seat the whole trip | Photo Courtesy: Facebook/ Paulyne David |
Everything started to go downhill from the driver’s irresponsible driving to the group being directed to a different island, Pulang Daga where the group was left unassisted. Their group were not allowed by the Coast Guard to travel to Calaguas as they reached Paracale Port at 5 p.m. or after 19 hours of trip.
To make things worse, David’s family of 12 were only given two tents for them to use. She said, “We all have to squeeze ourselves, uncomfortable. Some of our companions just decided to cut trash bags so they could sleep on the ground and others just decided to sleep on the grasses near our tent.”
 |
| They were only given 2 tents for 12 people | Photo Courtesy: Facebook/ Paulyne David |
 |
| They were only given 2 tents for 12 people | Photo Courtesy: Facebook/ Paulyne David |
David also complained that when they changed to a new driver, he also brought along “not just two but four” family members. When they finally have to cross Calaguas, the group were not even given life vests and had to ride an overloaded boat on the way back.
 |
| No life vests were given | Photo Courtesy: Facebook/ Paulyne David |
For all the stress and inconvenience, David said that they didn’t even receive a single apology from Travel Galore. She said that they paid more than P25,000 for the exclusive trip but was left devastated. The disappointed traveler said, “Nakakapagod, nakakaiyak nakakagalit sa sama ng loob. We did not spend our hard-earned money with this kind of service.”
“Para kaming pinabayaan nalang at magtiyaga nalang sa kung ano anong bagay. No amount can suffice the stress. this incident gave us,” David added.
The post has gone viral with over 30,000 shares to date.
Travel Galore agency
Travel Galore is based in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte and owned by Regina Lyca Bagaoisan. The agency is yet to issue a public statement about the viral incident.
On the Facebook page, Travel Galore Philippines, they have been rated 1 with a flood of negative reviews. On their second page, Travel Galore, there have been claims that the admin deletes negative comments and reviews.
It also looks like this isn’t the first time that the client complained about them. A blog post by Joemar Belleza back in 2017 also detailed a complaint about the same agency. Belleza wrote, “There are things that should’ve gone well if Travel Galore only properly documented our payments and at least compensated for proper service from their not-so-proper ones for our accommodation. Unfortunately, they didn’t.”
The viral post by David also has stories from other clients of Travel Galore that were dissatisfied with their service.
— The Summit Express
