Worst customer service - EVER!

Hi,

Let me start by saying I love cruising and really enjoy Celebrity ships. The last time I book a cruise through a travel agent, celebrity agent said that they have hard time making changes and said next time to directly book with their agent. This was a huge mistake. I wasted so much time dealing with Celebrity Reps.

That was probably the worst advice ever. My dealing with celebrity customer service reps has been worst ever.

Long story short, I had to made 5 different calls into celebrity to made simple change to my Itinerary including update to flight booking through ChoiceAir (through them). Was lied to multiple occasions. A change that should have been done with one call but instead with multiples. Even so, today jan 2, the reservation is still not complete.

Long Story.

First, I needed to make change to the 123Go package; a simple change from 123Promo3 (free gratuity) to 123Promo1 (Drink Package) for one of my reservations. All done within the promotion period. The rep that help me book the cruise told me that I can change this at anytime up until my final payment (April 2015). This was the first lie. I found out later through another rep that this isn't true, although I can still make changes but the promo ends Jan 4, 2015 (makes sense). They made some changes but it did not reflect online nor did I get a new itinerary with updated change. I'm told that it will take 7 days (that's right 7 days!!!) for the changes to take effect and that I will get an update email with the changes. I'm not sure why it takes 7 days to update something in their database but whatever it is, they really need to change their system.

I call in again a few days later (to add air) and to confirm the change above with another rep. This rep told me that he made *some* changes to correct whatever the other rep did and that that the new changes would take affect within 48-72 hours. 2-3 days?! Are you kidding me? My issues now is whether I can trust anything any of their reps told me. I told the rep that i will call back when the change take place to add air to avoid any confusion.

The change made to my reservation didn't make sense but I had no choice but to wait.

I called back a few days later to add air so I asked another person to again check on the package. The rep said it's wrong and it needs to manually fix it. After this person made changes to the reservation, I can see the change right away. I didn't have to wait days for it to update but whatever change made didn't look like the promo I asked for but in place of that was some code "PNPWORKAOUN". He said it's ok and that it the change has taken place in his system, it just not showing up in mine. The update itinerary did not have the right package as well. I asked this rep about the code and he said it will update to the correct code in a few days? At this point, I don't trust anything celebrity reps are telling me.

I still have to add air so I ask for a quote. The rep gave me quote for the flight per person, I agreed and ask him to book it for 7. He came back and said he has to send me to ChoiceAir to complete the booking (credit card info needed etc). Once transferred, approximately 3 mins, a choiceAir rep came on and said, your quote is for only 3 person. ??? She said she's going to re-quote the price for 7. The new quote came back is $50 more per person. So for 3 mins, my cost rises $400?? This is a big scam. I decided that I had enough and about to scrape the whole vacation and stop dealing with Celebrity and go with someone else. (This was not the first time that they screw with the air fair. The last time they did this to me, I did cancel the whole cruise).

The choiceAir person (Venessa) apologizes and ask me to give her a few minutes to recheck the quote. The new quote, still higher than what i was originally quoted, was more reasonable. 22 higher. Fine.

Air is now taken care of but the update itinerary still didn't have the updated pormo.

Not feeling very confident with what I was told and with the advice of my significant other to call back and talk to someone else. I waited a few days and call back to check on the promo change.

This time, another person figure out the problem and made some changes to my reservation. The changes show up right away with the exception of airfair for one person. The promo code show up exactly the same as my other reservation. Good start.

So, the only missing change is Airfair to one person on the reservation. They can't attach air for some reason so she told me that she has escalated with choiceAir to get this fix it. After staying on hold for a while, she came back and said that the change will take affect in a few days and that I will get a new itinerary with the changes. In the mean time, she sent me an updated itinerary with mostly correct info.

I called back today, a day after i'm supposed to have receive confirmation from celebrity, to check on the status.

I asked to speak to a supervisor to get this taken care of once and for all but another rep insist on helping me look at my reservation. OK. After about 20 mins, he said that all air has been paid for and that all look correct. I told him I'm looking at the summary online and it still exactly the same since last and that the Air section has not change. The price of air didn't add up. He kept on saying that its all in order and correct. After disagreeing with him for 20mins, i asked for a supervisor.

After 50mins on hold, someone pickup and claim to be a supervisor and wanted to look at my reservation. Initially, she also said that the reservation is all in order. However, I asked her to look at the air section and see if the math add up. She looked and agree that air wasn't attach to one person and that she'll fix it and call me back TODAY. I have doubts. It's almost two hours past so I doubt I will get any call.

As much as I love to cruise with Celebrity, I can't help but hesitate choosing to book with them for on my next cruise. :(

What can we say....there is absolutely no advantage to booking directly with celebrity....and as you've found out, there are many disadvantages.....which apparently include a lack of competence.

Hope this all works out and next time find a good TA and let them deal with celebrity.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

cruise_csuf,

Sorry you have had so much trouble. There are several things to note, and they apply to any of the major cruise lines, not just Celebrity.

When you book through a travel agent they become your advocate with the cruise line and the cruise line will only deal with your agent. If you wish to book directly with the cruise line then you have access to their staff.

Cruise Air is not mandatory. You are dealing with multiple reservations which MAY be booked with different fares due to capacity. Booking 6 as you indicated could very well move some or all of your reservations into a higher fare category. Most major airlines base prices on units of 9 for capacity purposes. You probably hit one of those magical levels which forced all or some of the tickets into a higher category. This could have happened if you had booked directly with an airline. Cruise Air purchases tickets in bulk and if they have exceeded their bulk numbers they have to either reprice into a higher fare or go back to the airline and purchase a ticket at a different (usually higher) rate.

I hope this makes sense to you. As I read your post I think that this is why that 6th person's air fare is in limbo.

When everything falls into place do monitor your air reservations from time to time looking for schedule changes and/or equipment changes. This could very well affect your seating arrangements. You can do this on the airline's web site. Any changes might be adjusted via the airline, particularly if you are a frequent flyer member, or through Cruise Air. The cruise air tickets could be in a consolidator class and adjustments can be difficult to accomplish, especially closer to your departure with 6 passengers. This is why it is so important to monitor your reservations. You also want everyone on the same airline PNR.

If problems arise with your air please post on the CRUISE AIR forum under the Discussions boards. There are posters there who can provide assistance.

Strangely, this is exactly what I'm dealing with in an attempt to change specialty dining res for our Spring sailing. I'm assured it has been changed, I rec confirmation emails to the change but when checking calendar of events via website for the sailing...it is not changed. Another call, same story. Made my 7th call today...we'll see but I have my doubts.:rolleyes:

Best of luck to you.:)

We will be on the Equinox in February and booked this cruise through one of Celebrity's sales agents. We do not call the 800 number listed on Celebrity's main page when we have any type of question or concern (perhaps to reserve a shore excursion, need to check on our invoice or book choice air). This is the fourth cruise we've booked by calling the same sales agent (the number we have is a different Celebrity # with the agent's personal extension number) so he is very familiar with every aspect our booking. This avoids being told one thing by one person and something different by a different person. Perhaps the issue with the cost of choice air stems from the fact that airlines change their rates frequently and Celebrity can only quote what the current rate is at the time of booking.

cruise_csuf,

Sorry you have had so much trouble. There are several things to note, and they apply to any of the major cruise lines, not just Celebrity.

When you book through a travel agent they become your advocate with the cruise line and the cruise line will only deal with your agent. If you wish to book directly with the cruise line then you have access to their staff.

Cruise Air is not mandatory. You are dealing with multiple reservations which MAY be booked with different fares due to capacity. Booking 6 as you indicated could very well move some or all of your reservations into a higher fare category. Most major airlines base prices on units of 9 for capacity purposes. You probably hit one of those magical levels which forced all or some of the tickets into a higher category. This could have happened if you had booked directly with an airline. Cruise Air purchases tickets in bulk and if they have exceeded their bulk numbers they have to either reprice into a higher fare or go back to the airline and purchase a ticket at a different (usually higher) rate.

I hope this makes sense to you. As I read your post I think that this is why that 6th person's air fare is in limbo.

When everything falls into place do monitor your air reservations from time to time looking for schedule changes and/or equipment changes. This could very well affect your seating arrangements. You can do this on the airline's web site. Any changes might be adjusted via the airline, particularly if you are a frequent flyer member, or through Cruise Air. The cruise air tickets could be in a consolidator class and adjustments can be difficult to accomplish, especially closer to your departure with 6 passengers. This is why it is so important to monitor your reservations. You also want everyone on the same airline PNR.

If problems arise with your air please post on the CRUISE AIR forum under the Discussions boards. There are posters there who can provide assistance.

^^^This. The price for seven people on the same flight does not equal the price for one person on the flight times seven. The more people you put on the same flight, the higher the price gets, because airlines jack up the price as supply decreases. So, if you're looking for seven people on the same flight, always get that quote. Never assume that the quote for one person works for all seven.

If you enjoy working directly with Celebrity and don't mind calling them/waiting on hold every time you make a change, then booking directly through Celebrity is the way to go. People who like to make changes on their own typically like to go to Celebrity directly. However, if the thought of dealing with all the website issues/customer service misinformation/confusion makes you want to pull your hair out, booking through a qualified Travel Agent may be a better fit for you. You won't be able to make changes through Celebrity directly, but you can often shoot over a quick email to your TA and your TA will sort it all out and confirm back with you. It may take them just as long to sort it out with Celebrity, but they'll advocate for you and do their best to get all your desires met.

I have booked twice with Celebrity directly, next time instead of the 800 number I will book either thru the Casino or thru Captain's Club.

I've also found that if I am not getting anywhere with an agent I just hang up and call again, new agent! I do wish I could get just one agent (at least a good one) at Celebrity to speak with, other cruise lines offer that option.

I have booked twice with Celebrity directly, next time instead of the 800 number I will book either thru the Casino or thru Captain's Club.

 

I've also found that if I am not getting anywhere with an agent I just hang up and call again, new agent! I do wish I could get just one agent (at least a good one) at Celebrity to speak with, other cruise lines offer that option.

You would probably need another life to accomplish this, though. I am currently on hold (approaching 50 minutes and counting) before talking to the FIRST agent, let alone doing that, hanging up after talking to one and waiting who knows long to get another agent.

If I hear "that's modern luxury" one more time I am going to lose it :rolleyes:

We live in the Pacific Northwest a few years ago X built a service center in Eugene Oregon about 80 miles from are home town. Every time we drive by the service center they have a big help wanted sign hanging. Maybe that has something to do with their poor service;)

This is why I use a travel agent. I don't have the time or patience for this nonsense.

 

I still have to add air so I ask for a quote. The rep gave me quote for the flight per person, I agreed and ask him to book it for 7. He came back and said he has to send me to ChoiceAir to complete the booking (credit card info needed etc). Once transferred, approximately 3 mins, a choiceAir rep came on and said, your quote is for only 3 person. ??? She said she's going to re-quote the price for 7. The new quote came back is $50 more per person. So for 3 mins, my cost rises $400?? This is a big scam. I decided that I had enough and about to scrape the whole vacation and stop dealing with Celebrity and go with someone else. (This was not the first time that they screw with the air fair. The last time they did this to me, I did cancel the whole cruise).

 

The choiceAir person (Venessa) apologizes and ask me to give her a few minutes to recheck the quote. The new quote, still higher than what i was originally quoted, was more reasonable. 22 higher. Fine.

Airfares are the most "fluid" and "dynamic" thing out there in travel I find.

I book all air direct via airline sites (it's very, very rare a TA can get any fare one can not get themselves booking direct, in fact most airlines have a "lowest fare guarantee" when booking on their websites).

I just booked Summit out of San Juan later this month. Logged into United.com to check airfares, found one for $310 round trip, direct both ways out of Cleveland. Booked cruise, once confirmed came back to united.com, an hour or so later, far was up to $340. Got side tracked, and was waiting to hear from a friend about the trip, logged in the next morning, fare was now $440. Booked it. 4 hours later checked for my friend, fare back down to $320. Canceled and rebooked into cheaper fare.

I have booked twice with Celebrity directly, next time instead of the 800 number I will book either thru the Casino or thru Captain's Club.

 

I've also found that if I am not getting anywhere with an agent I just hang up and call again, new agent! I do wish I could get just one agent (at least a good one) at Celebrity to speak with, other cruise lines offer that option.

I have a fabulous Celebrity agent that I can reach directly by phone or email! She always responds immediately to my inquiries/requests.

We recently played phone tag during the Thanksgiving holidays, when we wanted to book a TA on the Reflection in April, 2016; and Kristy was there to get it done!

Carolyn

I had horrible customer service on Dec 26th - I hope that they had temporary staff on over the holidays and this is not what their regular reps are like. We had friends stay with us over the holidays and were thinking about joining us on our cruise. I called 4 times and each time was put on hold and disconnected, the 5th time the rep told me that there was a change made to my reservation, I freaked and asked for a supervisor. She would not put me through to a supervisor and could not or would not tell me what was changed on my reservation. I hung up and called back and received a wonderful rep who walked me through my reservation and ensured me that all was ok. Our friends could not believe the customer service and decided not to book.

You would probably need another life to accomplish this, though. I am currently on hold (approaching 50 minutes and counting) before talking to the FIRST agent, let alone doing that, hanging up after talking to one and waiting who knows long to get another agent.

 

If I hear "that's modern luxury" one more time I am going to lose it :rolleyes:

I had no problem on the 22nd of Dec. Each call took about 1 minute to answer. Sorry for the long wait!

Strangely, this is exactly what I'm dealing with in an attempt to change specialty dining res for our Spring sailing. I'm assured it has been changed, I rec confirmation emails to the change but when checking calendar of events via website for the sailing...it is not changed. Another call, same story. Made my 7th call today...we'll see but I have my doubts.:rolleyes:

 

Best of luck to you.:)

I would cancel the specialty dining res and start all over again.

We booked the specialty dining for night #2 on the Century -- all worked out perfectly. We also booked a package for the Solstice for night #2 with a group of people -- when we got on the ship to book the other 2 dining times, we found out that we didn't even have the first one booked. Changing it from one cruise to another is just asking for trouble.....hahaha ... sorry.

I have only had one Celebrity cruise but would already rate their "Customer Diservice" department as one of [probably THE}the worst I've ever dealt with in any industry.

Maybe 2nd to their pathetic joke of a website.

The cruise itself was great except for spending 2 days in bed after a security guard hit me in the back with his metal detector when he wasn't watching what he was doing.

Don't get me started on the appalling Customer relations over that.

I too have gotten frustrated. I do however call the Captains Club. Usually it is a short hold. I did call this am to completely change a cruise. I was on hold for an hour and of course it is the weekend and they have less staff. I will say that the rep was very pleasant to deal with. He had to change everything including a couple of perks. He was patient and gave me the time we needed and was very courteous to deal with. It's nice that a person has the choice of whether they feel most comfortable letting a TA do the work or dealing direct with the cruiseline themselves. :)

This is why I use a travel agent. I don't have the time or patience for this nonsense.

 

Agree. I do nothing without a travel agent. Lucky for me, my sister is one. But, she has never booked a cruise for her clients and therefore went to her co-worker, who is a cruise specialist and only books cruises, for advice. So far, for our first cruise, everything has gone well. The only reason we called customer service was to ask some questions and get some advice. February 7th, can't wait. :D

I have a fabulous Celebrity agent that I can reach directly by phone or email! She always responds immediately to my inquiries/requests.

Same here - the Celebrity vacation planner I use for everything that I don't do myself is fantastic - Alex always responds really fast to any email I send him or voicemail, and I can reach him directly at his extension. He is funny and nice and makes good suggestions.

It really must be luck of the draw when people call X as to who you get. On the few occasions over the past few years when I have dealt with Celebrity reps other than Alex, including calls made through the general 800 number, I have had great experiences - very nice and helpful people who are fun to chat with. I tend to call at night, I don't know if that is relevant, but I have been really pleased with the help I have received (and I am no Pollyanna in this respect, believe me).

I'm seeing that I'm not the only one currently having problems with Celebrity Reps.

Just to be fair, this bad experience is currently only with their reps. I love the service on their ships. One of the reason I return. After this, I probably may not. Maybe. :(

Brief explanation to why I decided to book directly with Celebrity Agent.

Bad experience with a TA is the reason why I decided to work directly with Celebrity Reps this time. The last TA I worked with (VTG) seems great at first, answer a lot of my initial questions, friendly, pick up the phone right a way when i call but after the money exchange hand and cruise lock in (non-refundable airfair, last payment, etc), this great communication all but disappeared. Left me to have call Celebrity to correct some of the errors made to my reservations. That was when the rep on the other end being extremely helpful, put me on hold to get in touch with my TA so they can get the change corrected.

Shortly after that experience, there was a huge price drop in price of the cabin within a few days of payment and the TA drag his feet on getting the adjustment (not answering phone call or return calls, etc). Having booked two cabins (Veranda), the saving was too big to ignore.

I decided to contact celebrity directly but they can't change anything. The celebrity rep at the time told me had i booked directly with them, the change would have been easy.

By the time the TA decided to call me back, the sale had ended. Having miss out on the saving and added insult to the injury, the TA said they can't do anything after you made your payment. Not even and upgrade to Aqua class or concier class which were then less than the price I had paid for Veranda.

That was an expensive lesson learned so I did not want to repeat. I feel that TAs offer no benefits and sale prices listed on their website rarely save any money once you start picking cabins.

So, the issues with my Itinerary still isn't resolve. Although the supervisor did call back and said that she'll work on it, latest is Monday to get this resolve.

We'll see. So much for knowing a "nano" second before I know that I wanted. :)

As for those defending the airfair hike, it's really not fair if you look at it. I clearly state 7 people to the rep. Why did they come back 3 mins later with higher fair and then back with slightly higher fair (of the originally quoted) shortly after that? All I can think of is pinching your pennies.

My past experience with Royal Caribbean cruise (choiceAir part) wasn't like that at all. Once I agree on the price, that was the price I paid. None of this messing around. Service on the Royal Caribbean ship, we'll that's a different experience entirely.

@GUT2407 - I agree. Their website / booking system is one of the worsts. How can they not have that fix? I hate constantly having to get out of the reservation and not be able to see what the rep said they change after they did them.

@ Eno - I've also been disconnected, place on hold, and have various unknown changes made to my reservation as well. :(

@ MRSBITS - I have a person (Michel) that call me and sent me an email saying he's my "Certified Vacation Planner at Celebrity Cruises" and that I can contact him for every steps in my booking process. All I can say is that he's even harder to get a hold of than the bad TA with VTG. I called and left a message regarding various booking debacles but have yet to receive a return call. Perhaps he's on vacation?? I don't know, I'm not blaming him though.

@cle-guy - my experience booking directly with airline or one of those travel sites was less than satisfactory. Prices are a lot higher/and or just as un-refundable. Booking directly with the cruise line has some pluses.

@Happy Cruiser - I don't like dealing with this as much as the next person. But finding a GOOD TA has been a challenge.

@ ECCruise - you and me both! And the "nano" second bits. Urgg.

@ bobsfamily - What is the casino? I know the captain club but is that a different 800#? Or is this only available on the ship? As someone mentioned, hanging up and call back is not a good option. Going back of the queue or work with someone else and having to explain all over again is tiring.

@ cruisinlawn - Same to you. Good luck.

@ alcpa1 - thanks for the info on Cruise Air Forums. I'll check that out. Just to be clear, the air for all 7 people are supposedly paid for. It's just not sum up correctly in the summary page for one reservation. The reason is they're having problem attaching that air fair to one person. This fix benefit them, not me. But I don't like surprises so I like to take care of things when i'm free NOW.

@ ghstudio - there isn't a great benefit with a TA either. A good TA is hard to come by apparently.

Thanks everyone for replying/advice.

cruise_csuf,

Sorry you have had so much trouble. There are several things to note, and they apply to any of the major cruise lines, not just Celebrity.

When you book through a travel agent they become your advocate with the cruise line and the cruise line will only deal with your agent. If you wish to book directly with the cruise line then you have access to their staff.

Cruise Air is not mandatory. You are dealing with multiple reservations which MAY be booked with different fares due to capacity. Booking 6 as you indicated could very well move some or all of your reservations into a higher fare category. Most major airlines base prices on units of 9 for capacity purposes. You probably hit one of those magical levels which forced all or some of the tickets into a higher category. This could have happened if you had booked directly with an airline. Cruise Air purchases tickets in bulk and if they have exceeded their bulk numbers they have to either reprice into a higher fare or go back to the airline and purchase a ticket at a different (usually higher) rate.

I hope this makes sense to you. As I read your post I think that this is why that 6th person's air fare is in limbo.

When everything falls into place do monitor your air reservations from time to time looking for schedule changes and/or equipment changes. This could very well affect your seating arrangements. You can do this on the airline's web site. Any changes might be adjusted via the airline, particularly if you are a frequent flyer member, or through Cruise Air. The cruise air tickets could be in a consolidator class and adjustments can be difficult to accomplish, especially closer to your departure with 6 passengers. This is why it is so important to monitor your reservations. You also want everyone on the same airline PNR.

If problems arise with your air please post on the CRUISE AIR forum under the Discussions boards. There are posters there who can provide assistance.

THIS ^^^

I agree except for the fact, that Choice Air doesn't use consolidator tickets, or at least they say they don't. They do however use group fairs. As soon as the OP went from 1 or 2 seats, the fair bucket was empty and the entire price went up. The solution sounds like they booked 3 or 6 at the lower bucket, and then the others at a higher bucket and cost average.

Seperately, as far as changes taking 7 days or a few days, I can see this happening with their database. You call and get a rep, he makes the change, it needs to be officially reviewed by revenue management or whoever to make sure it is an approved change. They estimated on the high side, and it was the holiday. The next rep estimated less, as the holiday was closer to being over, and expected it to happen faster. The third rep used a "work around" code to get you the changed perk.

I personally understand the frustration, I spent 90 minutes with Southwest yesterday dealing with one change, that for some reason they couldn't make, and then another cancellation. They're supposed to be good, but it was terrible yesterday. It happens to the best of companies, but admittedly, it happens too often with Celebrity. It seems the cause is often due to inadequate IT systems. It's often just as frustrating to not be able to make changes to a reservation when you have a TA but the extra OBC offered is worth it.

Good luck and happy sailing,

Jenna

I would cancel the specialty dining res and start all over again.

We booked the specialty dining for night #2 on the Century -- all worked out perfectly. We also booked a package for the Solstice for night #2 with a group of people -- when we got on the ship to book the other 2 dining times, we found out that we didn't even have the first one booked. Changing it from one cruise to another is just asking for trouble.....hahaha ... sorry.

no, we were changing (least making an attempt to) within the same sailing from day 3 to day 6. Not changing from one ship to another...hahahaha back at you.

we've now made double res and will cancel once onboard. I want to ensure it is correct onboard prior to cancelling. Thanks all. :)

Seperately, as far as changes taking 7 days or a few days, I can see this happening with their database. You call and get a rep, he makes the change, it needs to be officially reviewed by revenue management or whoever to make sure it is an approved change. They estimated on the high side, and it was the holiday. The next rep estimated less, as the holiday was closer to being over, and expected it to happen faster. The third rep used a "work around" code to get you the changed perk.

Your assessment is reasonable, between two holidays and all and I did give them quite a bit of slacks, however, the truth is probably far from that. Incompetent is more likely the reason.

Thanks. I hope to put all this behind me and enjoy the cruise!