Flight Centre South Africa - Flight Centre Cresta Avis 

I recently recovered from breast and cervical cancer. My dream has always been to visit Zanzibar. I've just turned 60. in order to celebrate my life, I decided to make my dream come true.
I went to Flight Centre Cresta Randburg entrusting them with my dream vacation. Tshepiwe my travel agent booked a week at Chuime Beach Resort. Tshepiwe told me that all drinks were included except for alcoholic beverages. Tshepiwe told me that there was a beautiful beach just a ten minutes walk from the resort.
I asked Tshepiwe if there was good bird watching at the resort and she assured me that there was.
I asked Tshepiwe to ensure that we had twin beds as I was going with my daughter and as we are both restless sleepers and we didn't want to share one bed.
Tshepiwe said she would book us twin beds.
Tshepiwe then told me that I need to take out travel insurance We didn't bring our passports and Tshepiwe said not a problem. We could do it any time. A few days later my daughter and I came to Flight Centre with our passports but it was Tshepiwe's day off, another staff member, Clara helped us. She said we needed to take out travel insurance. This came to three thousand rand. I was happy to take out insurance as my daughter suffers from epilepsy and if she had a seizure I needed to know she would be looked after but was never asked if we were members of a medical aid as some medical services provide help for out of country travel. I returned home satisfied that we had paid for our trip in its entirety. Early the next morning however, Tshepiwe phoned to say that we still needed to take out travel insurance to get into Zanzibar. I feel that I was doube charged for insurance This was over and above the travel insurance that we had already paid for with Clara. We were now six thousand rand over our budget.
We arrived at Chuime beach resort to find out that ALL drinks were charged to us including tea, coffee, juice, cooldrinks and even water, we were not prepared for as we were informed by the travel consultant, this ate into our budget so that we ended up only able to pay for one excursion away from the resort.
There is ABSOLUTLY NO beach at the resort except for a filthy, dirty foul smelling fisherman's beach. I tried to walk on that beach and was accosted by every fisherman demanding that I pay money to walk on the beach. The fisherman went out every night at hightide and would return in the morning and all we heard all day long was shouting yelling and the banging sounds of fishermen repairing their boats. Moreover, there was no birdlife whatsoever except for scavenging House crows eating bits of fish and bait. It was absolutely clear to me that Tshepiwe had never been to Chuime Beach Resort and merely answered all my questions with the answers she thought I wanted to hear. In the name Chuime Beach Resort one would expect to find a beach but to no avail.
When we were shown to our room I noticed one double bed in the middle of the room. Tshepiwe didn't even bother to book twin beds. Neither my daughter nor I had a good night's sleep. Our toilet didn't flush. We had to report that and wait for it to be repaired. I took a shower after the dusty hot journey only to find the shower flooded the bathroom. I reported it and had to wait for the showerhead to be repaired. We spent an entire day with no water and experienced power outages constantly. Moreover, the resort ran out of Coke, Sprite, milk, ice cream and sweetener. This is not what I expected from a sixty-five thousand Rand holiday.
The final blow came when we were ready to leave and were told that we had to pay an infrastructure charge. This was a huge amount of dollars. I was shocked. I have no problem with this policy. My problem was that nobody from Flight Centre warned me about this charge. I went to a travel agent so that I didn't have to find these things out for myself.
I have written to Flight Centre several times. I have spoken to Ingrid from Flight Centre Cresta and Lloyd Machiri (Customer Experience Expert) to no avail. I remain dissatisfied, unheard, resentful and frustrated.
This is not what I expect from a reputable travel agent and find that the service was sub- par by Flight Centre. What this tells me is that the agency has not done their research about the resort and their facilities and that they profess to have training and knowledge. Furthermore I was expecting that as the travel agent inform me of all pending costs as a courtesy as they should know the product that they are selling. I am awaiting for feedback as this is sub-standard service and thus far no satisfaction.

Aviva Cook
Your dissatisfied Customer.

Since planning a trip for my husband and me in 2020, Charlene has helped me organise two incredible trips for my parents in 2025 and 2026. Her efficiency, patience, professionalism, and attention to detail made the entire process seamless from start to finish. The experience was so positive that my parents are already eager to plan another trip with her.

What I am most grateful for, however, is the care and support she showed during one of my parents' trips when I was unable to reach them. Charlene went above and beyond, taking time out of her personal schedule to help me navigate the situation and reassure me that they were safe. Her willingness to help during such a stressful moment is something I never expected, and it meant more to me than words can express.

Charlene, you are truly the best. Thank you for your exceptional service, kindness, and genuine care. I cannot recommend you highly enough.

Kim has been very helpful . I was struggling to book a flight and she was able to pick online that i have issues and came to rescue

Kim was absolutely fantastic, incredibly helpful, friendly, and efficient. She responded to my queries immediately and was patient and professional. When I had trouble making the payment for my flight (due to an issue on my side), she went out of her way to assist me without hesitation. Her support made the entire process less stressful, and I’m truly grateful for her excellent service.

spoke to lady named Tarren who normally works at the sandton branch but was assisting in Cresta over the weekend
we requested a quote for our travels and have not heared from her or any other staff member since

we have since taken our business elsewhere