Quick question about PVP's...

OK, received a call from someone claiming to be a PVP, assigned to me by Carnival. Once he verified my information he was able to tell me the details of our two previous cruises with Canival. He asked about future plans, and was able to give me a price for a date I threw at him.

Is this legit? Do PVPs just call previous cruisers out of the blue? I do login and check different cruises on line, but never reserve or hold anything. Just curious.

If you login and look around it can get you a call from a PVP.

yep. I think they have something tied to your account and when you log in and look at prices they know. Because I hadn't been on carnival's site for a while and no calls. But then I logged in, looked at prices and BAM phone call after phone call.

So what's the point of a PVP? I assume they're just a salesperson, correct? Sort of like a TA except employed by Carnival to book cabins. Am I missing something here, or do I have the wrong impression?

So what's the point of a PVP? I assume they're just a salesperson, correct? Sort of like a TA except employed by Carnival to book cabins. Am I missing something here, or do I have the wrong impression?

In this case, yes more of a salesperson almost making a "cold call". However, I have a PVP and she has been wonderfully helpful for years. Knows the kinds of cruises we like and always gives us a courtesy call if she thinks there is a special itinerary or sale we'd like. Only calls if she notices I'm on the website and has something useful to share. Otherwise she has always gave us helpful and correct info and I'm always happy to recommend her to others.

But to each their own! This has been debated time and time again!

I have had my PVP for over 10 years and have booked 31 cruises through her. She is considered one of their top producers. I am constantly on Carnival's website checking the rates of my upcoming cruises for price drops, etc. She never calls me and knows when I am ready to book I will call her completely informed on what I want. Thank goodness she doesn't call me when she sees I'm on or she would be calling me everyday.

In this case, yes more of a salesperson almost making a "cold call". However, I have a PVP and she has been wonderfully helpful for years. Knows the kinds of cruises we like and always gives us a courtesy call if she thinks there is a special itinerary or sale we'd like. Only calls if she notices I'm on the website and has something useful to share. Otherwise she has always gave us helpful and correct info and I'm always happy to recommend her to others.

 

But to each their own! This has been debated time and time again!

Agree. I too have a great relationship with my PVP. Yet at some point, somewhere, many moons ago, that very 1st contact call to me was made to start the relationship.

In my opinion, the true advantage of having a PVP is you have one person to call who is in charge of your booking, has all the information on it from the inception.

The disadvantage is I might not get a return call for several hours, perhaps even a day (rare), which is why if there's a price drop involved I always take a screen shot and document that date and time.

My personal experience with my PVP has been very positive. If I ever have a question or dispute and she is not sure of the right answer, she tells me so. She will then either put me on hold, or call me back after she's run it by management. I have not always gotten my way (usually, but not always). However, I've always been satisfied with the explanations I've been given.

OK, received a call from someone claiming to be a PVP, assigned to me by Carnival. Once he verified my information he was able to tell me the details of our two previous cruises with Canival. He asked about future plans, and was able to give me a price for a date I threw at him.

Is this legit? Do PVPs just call previous cruisers out of the blue? I do login and check different cruises on line, but never reserve or hold anything. Just curious.

PVPs may call out of the blue, especially if they see you have been looking at cruises on the Carnival website. If you get a good PVP, they provide service other than just acting as a booking agent. My PVP has assisted me with referrals I have made where I was compensated, providing up-to-date information on impending changes, and getting my shareholder credit applied to my bookings. My PVP knows though that I will call her after I have done my own research and am ready to book. She never really markets to me. She's a seasoned PVP and I'm a seasoned Carnival cruiser. It's a match made in heaven once you get to know each other a little if you get a good one.

Hope you got a good one.

I have had my PVP for over 10 years and have booked 31 cruises through her. She is considered one of their top producers. I am constantly on Carnival's website checking the rates of my upcoming cruises for price drops, etc. She never calls me and knows when I am ready to book I will call her completely informed on what I want. Thank goodness she doesn't call me when she sees I'm on or she would be calling me everyday.

Sounds like my pvp.

I LOVE our PVP! He is truly awesome. Whenever I need something, he always answers the questions and then if he doesn't know the answer he will always find out and get back to me.

Yes, he does know that I'm on the website and I usually get a call the next day.

PVP's are also great for quick questions. My PVP called me on one of those out of the blue calls about 1.5 years ago when I logged in and put a hold on a room. she called, we talked, I booked with her a few days later, and ever since then, she calls me when I start looking at rates again in January (tax refund has to go somewhere), she asks what I'm looking for, what I want to pay, and will call me as soon as the special that fits what I want hits. She knows I want a balcony, when my anniversary is, and on the last cruise had a bottle of champagne waiting for me and my wife when we boarded.

I also shot her an email yesterday about a price drop, form wouldn't work on my computer, she submitted it, it was denied, and before I could email her about it, she emailed me saying she would make sure it would go through, 5 min later the acceptance came through.

She's also researching cruises for next year with my parents and the inlaws to coincide with when they can go... in other words, dealing with the family schedules for me:D

If you login and look around it can get you a call from a PVP.

Exactly what happened to me yesterday. I recognized the caller-id number as being Carnivals. Z told me he was a PVP. I asked him if he was psycic as I was also ON the computer ON Carnivals site. He laughed and said he was told to call me. We had a nice conversation about them monitoring our activity and I told him I already had a PVP. He was a little surprised and said he would relay a message to her. A few minutes later she called me. Today I called her back and booked a cruise. So their calls are not always a coincidence. They monitor our activity and know we are interested. He didn't step on the other PVP's toes and was very nice. He was just doing what he was told.

PVP and me have an understanding. Please dont call me I will call you when ready to book or have any sort of issue with existing booking.

Works great. Down the road if we start wanting to book a week or two before crusing at moment notice will change the rules and have her call me with good deals and that will work well too.

Same PVP for almost 10 years and I wouldn't book a Carnival cruise any other way.

I qualify for an interline rate which I can't book online (eligibility and credentials must be manually verified), so I HAVE to go through an agent. My PVP has all of my credentials stored, so I don't need to go through the process every time I make a new reservation.

My PVP has also coordinated ship visits on several occasions to meet up with us on sailing date to have lunch and tour the ship.

It's been a few years since we've sailed on Carnival, but I still refer people to him any time I can. Everyone has been very satisfied with his services.

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Over the years two of my PvP's left Carnival. The first time I simply hoke up with a guy who covered for the first one when he was off. Both were very good. Then when the 2nd guy left a PVP assigned himself to me. He was terrible, so I fired him after 2 cruises. I put my email on this site and asked about good PVP's and I really got a great one now.

Ours left suddenly and didnt care for the one assigned to me.

Asked cruising friends for recommendations and got an excellent one we have used now for about 10 cruises.

Though I'm not the OP, I appreciate all of the responses to my question of what a PVP does. I too received a cold call after holding a booking but didn't get a chance to talk with the woman. She called as I was boarding a plane. I think I'll give her a call back (to at least let her know that she shouldn't call every time I log onto the CCL site).

Does anyone know what the qualifications threshold is for the interline rate that was mentioned above? What are they looking for? Income? Frequency of cruises? Betting a lot at the casino? Frequently booking suites? My curiosity is piqued.

Does anyone know what the qualifications threshold is for the interline rate that was mentioned above? What are they looking for?

Interline rates in particular are reduced rates for travel industry employees (Airlines, other cruise lines, Airline Pilots Association, FAA, Sabre, Galileo, Worldspan, IATA, etc). The savings are sometimes minimal, but sometimes they can be substantial, specially if you can travel on short notice. Not too long ago, there was a 7 night cruise on Princess listed for $99!

Unfortunately, I can't go on such short notice, but I have coworkers who take advantage of these specials all the time.

Thank you all for your responses. I was just concerned that it was someone trying to scam me. You never know.

I guess time will tell if he is a good PVP or not.:)

Interline rates in particular are reduced rates for travel industry employees (Airlines, other cruise lines, Airline Pilots Association, FAA, Sabre, Galileo, Worldspan, IATA, etc).

Carnival has also expanded Interline qualification to employees of any Air Cargo company including FedEx and UPS.