Mistake made by Personal cruise agent.

Hello all,

Here is my story we had place two cabins on hold for a Med cruise in June on the Royal Princess and by the time final payment came around only one went through and the other got automatically cancelled.

I had no idea the agent was suppose to do this transaction manually or some sort.

We are pretty mad as she has informed us that not only 1 cabin got cancelled but this cruise Is now sold out.

We are very disappointed as we do not feel like going anymore as this was a cruise with friends and now only our cabin has been confirmed.

My question to you is has this ever happened to you ?

Have you gotten reimbursed for all the cruise,plane tickets and pre and post hotel as well.

She has told us that our friends had been place on a high priority waitlist for a cabin that would become available.

My next question do you think people on waitlist for sold out cruises get called ?

Should we consider all cancelling now and try to get our money back from them ?

Does anyone else has ideas or solution to this ?

Thanks all

Sea ya

Eric

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I have no idea what happened. The most likely scenario is that either your TA blew it completely or someone else totally dropped the ball. I have no way of knowing which happened but almost certainly one or the other occurred. Sorry for your hassle. Seems like a huge problem.

Hello all,

Here is my story we had place two cabins on hold for a Med cruise in June on the Royal Princess and by the time final payment came around only one went through and the other got automatically cancelled.

 

I had no idea the agent was suppose to do this transaction manually or some sort.

 

We are pretty mad as she has informed us that not only 1 cabin got cancelled but this cruise Is now sold out.

 

We are very disappointed as we do not feel like going anymore as this was a cruise with friends and now only our cabin has been confirmed.

 

My question to you is has this ever happened to you ?

 

Have you gotten reimbursed for all the cruise,plane tickets and pre and post hotel as well.

 

She has told us that our friends had been place on a high priority waitlist for a cabin that would become available.

 

My next question do you think people on waitlist for sold out cruises get called ?

 

Should we consider all cancelling now and try to get our money back from them ?

 

Does anyone else has ideas or solution to this ?

 

Thanks all

 

Sea ya

 

Eric

 

 

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Not exactly the same but we 'lost' our carefully chosen and booked cabin on an NCL cruise. It was the fault of staff at the new NCL office in Sydney who onsold our excellent midship cabin to a more important person elsewhere in the world :evilsmile: Our TA was not to blame but she went into bat for us and her agency picked up the flight and accommodation cancellation fees, not NCL. It's left a dreadful impression on us and we'll probably never attempt to sail with NCL again. For you, if the itinerary is something you really want to do, if your holiday leave is locked in, then just go and enjoy your cruise. Your friends could end up getting that priority waitlist and it'll all work out for the best. Got my fingers crossed for you.

Not sure what you are asking but what I took from this was that you had two different cabins on hold for the same cruise. When final payment came along, one was cancelled. And now you are upset they cancelled the cabin you really wanted.

My understanding is that if you do not pay for your cruise by final payment, it gets cancelled.

Why couldn't you make up your mind earleir? What were you waiting for?

Not sure if I am missing something here?

Not sure what you are asking but what I took from this was that you had two different cabins on hold for the same cruise. When final payment came along, one was cancelled. And now you are upset they cancelled the cabin you really wanted.

My understanding is that if you do not pay for your cruise by final payment, it gets cancelled.

 

Why couldn't you make up your mind earleir? What were you waiting for?

 

Not sure if I am missing something here?

My reading of the OP was that they had 2 cabins on hold (one for them and one for their friends) but when the final payment was done, one of them did not go through and was cancelled. Their cabin was booked but the one for their friends was not, hence they are on the priority wait list.

Some one seems to have made a big error here - either the TA who was handling the 2 cabins or Princess who had the booking. Not sure how it happened but hopefully there will a cabin turn up for their friends.

Got it. I thought both were for them. Yes, it is strange. Hope they get on and get some answers.

If it was at final payment day, who knows what happened. My ta always makes me pay at least four days before final payment. Same as flying in for a cruise. Never know what might happen when you wait to come in the day of the cruise.

Op, hope you get it straightened out.

Was it clear to your TA that you were holding one of the cabins for your friends? Were they listed on the cabin? Could your TA have reasonably misconstrued that you were holding the cabins to choose between instead of that you intended to book both (one for you, one for your friends)?

Reputable travel agents carry Errors and Omissions insurance to cover situations where they mess up. While there is no loss of money due to their error in this case, there is a loss of circumstances (e.g. the loss of the cruise opportunity for your friends). I think that they should explore this with the TA to see if there is something compensable here, if in fact there was a clear understanding that both cabins were to be booked at final payment date.

Did your friends call in with their final payment information?

What number are they listed on the waitlist? Are they waitlisted for several types of cabins - I would do that to maximize that they are on the ship.

Yes, people cancel the cruise after final payment. Though air will be tricky with this one.

Good luck.

I'm confused. OP says they were 'on hold.' This is not the same as being deposited but I'm going to assume that's what was meant.

Seems to me the fault lies with the person they booked the cabins with. Only final payment was made on one cabin and not on the other.

I'd approach the agent who handled this to find out what happened and ask how they are going to fix the situation.

Was this an independent travel agent? Or one of Princess' Vacation Planners?

If the former, they likely have insurance to cover any loss that you will have if you also cancel your trip due to their error.

If the latter, call Princess directly and put the monkey on their back.

Regardless, be sure to keep a paper trail of your journey to the conclusion of this issue.

The way I read it

Two cabins were booked one in your name and one in your friends name, two booking numbers.

On final payment date you paid your balance

Your friend did not

Your friend's booking was cancelled as per the contract

Your friend is now wait listed

OR

Two cabins were booked one in your name and one in your friends name, two booking numbers.

On final payment date balances were paid for both bookings

Agent did not apply payment to both bookings, and one was cancelled

In the first case probably no error on the part of the agent. In the second the T.A. or Princess seem to be at fault and should make good in some way.

Were both cabins booked by one person, or did you book separately? Was the agent supposed to pay for both cabins with one credit card? Or was each party supposed to pay for their own cabin?

Who arranged for the hotels and air? Were these booked via the cruiseline or independently? Did one person pay for both parties, or did you book/pay separately? Are these non-refundable bookings?

I know you feel that you don't want to go if your friends cannot go, but I think you should. We frequently cruise with friends, but we each make our own bookings, most with the same TA. More than once, one couple or another has had to cancel. That does not stop the others. We just promise to book another future cruise with them, and we do.

Where your friends are on the waitlist determines how likely they are to get a new cabin. As Coral advised, they should waitlist in every category to increase their chances.

OP states 2 cabins "On Hold" .

By "On Hold" does OP mean "Deposited" or merely "Optioned" (temporary hold for short time until deposit or pay in full is received)?

I know a lot of cruisers love their TAs, and many are very good. But I just never use one anymore, and haven't for several years. I hear too many stories of the TA failing to pay the balance in a timely manner, and all kinds of problems ensue, including cancelling of the cruise. I'm in control, and I make the payments myself directly to Princess. I sure hope things work out for the OP. I agree with those who say don't cancel your cruise. There will be other opportunities to cruise with friends.

The OP didn’t explain this situation very well. This is why everyone is trying to explain different scenarios.

Did they have two different booking numbers? Before final payment could they go onto the cruise personalizer and see their cruises?

There is too much information missing.

I had something like this happen to me. My TA (who we love) book a cruise for us. She forgot to put the deposit down from our credit card. This was for a Caribbean cruise of 7 nights. I went to look at our booking on line two weeks later and saw that it was gone. I call her and she checked and told me that she made a mistake. I told her if she can to get us back on and if not we would take another Princess ship, that week or another week. It really did not matter to us what ship or week. We can go any time and have done this cruise many times. She felt so bad.

She was able to get us on the same ship and same date. But what she did was moved us from a outside cabin to a mid ship balcony, she took care of the difference in price and also gave us some OBC.

What I liked about what she did was :

1. She said it was her mistake

2. She gave us the up grade and OBC to make up for her mistake.

3. We still use her for all our vacation travel.

OP, this won't help you now, but in the future, ask for the passenger confirmation the cruise line generates and sends to the TA when any change is made to the record, whether payment, stateroom change or anything else. It should be available less than a couple of hours after the change is made. Usually just a few minutes. That makes errors much more fixable.

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I would blame your TA and require them to fix or compensate you for the error. Even if these rooms were only on hold he should have known there were 2 rooms required. His follow-up was nonexistent.

This does not help you now but I never make extensive travel arrangements without being right on top of them. There are too many out there that don't care.

I start a travel binder for each trip and make copies of everything and follow-up. Hope this can still happen for you. Between your faulty TA and princess maybe you can be in line for another cancellation. Good Luck

For those of you struggling with the phrasing nuance of the original post, please bear in mind OP is from Quebec, and English may not be his first language. I do hope he will return and clarify how this situation evolved, so that we can offer good advice as how to proceed.

Hello all,

 

My next question do you think people on waitlist for sold out cruises get called ?

 

Should we consider all cancelling now and try to get our money back from them ?

 

Does anyone else has ideas or solution to this ?

 

Thanks all

 

Sea ya

 

Eric

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Get on the waitlist ASAP.

WL for as many cabin cat's as you want. It's a one time $200 fully refundable deposit. You can turn it down if you want as well.

We do this quite often and have only missed out once.

I would say you will clear at some point.

Princess has cabins behind the scenes you and I don't see.

Also keep checking each day as sometimes cabins show up and they don't call you right away.

The only issue would be airfare/schedule etc if it does not clear until the last few days.

Hello all,

Sorry if I did sound a little confused but hearing this from my TA but me in shock.

I will try to use the proper lingo here as to get everyone to understand our situation.

I used an independent TA and put a deposit on two cabins.

One for ourselves and the other was our friends that put a deposit for their cabin.

A few days ago received an email from my TA advising me she had made a mistake at final payment and did go through with paying my cabin but omitted doing the same with our friends.

Apparently this automatically cancelled our friends reservation and not when the agent notice that a few days later it was already too late as the cruise was sold out.

They have been placed on a high priority waitlist.

This is crazy as if they don't come we feel we should also be compensated as it was suppose to be a cruise with them.

Hope this help

Still positive here :-)

Sea ya

Éric

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Being your TA's admitted fault, you should insist that they should do all things to make it right.

Meantime, find a more reliable TA for your next cruise.

Good luck to you and your friend on the waitlist!

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I hope it gets taken care of to both you and your friends satisfaction and that a cabin opens up.

Wow, the TA really screwed up, my guess is that Princess sent them a least a couple or more reminders like they do when you book a deposit direct and then get close to final payment.

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I just don't know what to say! I would be so disappointed if I was planning a cruise with friends only to find out the TA made this mistake. I would definitely call the TA and say that if your friends do not get a cabin, they need to refund all your expenses, especially if, as another poster suggested, they carry insurance for these purposes. If your heart was set on traveling with your friends, try to rebook another cruise with them with a more attentive TA Very, very disappointing for you, I am sure.

I am a retired travel consultant. If money is on the booking, Princess always sends an email to the agency alerting them to the threat of cancellation. This type of situation can occur if the agent is not affiliated with an agency that provides proper backup. Our agency always provided backup for all of our agents. Princess will do everything possible to get the OP friends confirmed off the waitlist. Princess is a real hardliner as far as payments are concerned. The OP is within cancellation penalty. If they cancel they will need to pay that penalty. I would like to hear the entire story.

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