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WE DON'T THINK the BBB review tells the whole story. We think Grand Circle's problem is growth. It hasn't been able to keep service and quality up with the increased numbers.

We took our first tour with GCT in 1999 -- a river cruise from Vienna to Amsterdam. Superior boat, food and service, experienced program directors, activities scheduling and execution -- all great. Only one complaint, and a troubling one at that: 65 of 135 passengers, and more than half the crew, contracted bronchitis and pneumonia. The purser and staff needed to take more effective disease control actions.

We have now traveled with GCT five times. We took another river cruise last year and found much lower food quality and presentation, inadequate dining room supervision and poor table service. The execution of the activities was marginal; two of the three program directors were rookies with little or no experience.

Ed Fritsch, Williamsburg

GRAND CIRCLE Travel is still grand. We know; we've been on four tours and plan more. The column says the Better Business Bureau, over the last three years, has received "135 complaints" from "about half a million customers" about Grand Circle. That works out to a problem rate of about 0.027 percent -- hardly the "pattern of complaints" you cite. More telling, a 0.027 complaint percentage works out to a 99.97 percent "excellent or good" service rating.

Glenwood Gibbs and Anne Gibbs, Edgewater, Md.

135 COMPLAINTS is a drop in the bucket for Grand Circle Travel, a superb organization that handles impeccably the details for thousands of people each year who travel all over the world. Ask about Grand Circle's repeat business and you will find statistics that most businesses would envy. It would be wonderful if most organizations and businesses did their jobs half as competently and with as much special regard for each individual customer as Grand Circle does.

Stanton E. Samenow, Falls Church

Write us: Washington Post Travel section, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071. Fax: 202-912-3609. E-mail: travel@washpost.com. Provide your full name, town of residence and daytime telephone number. Letters are subject to editing for length and clarity.