Direct Booking Cost Discepancies

My husband and I currently have a Bermuda cruise booked for next year.I've been monitoring the price and when I checked the Celebrity website the cost had gone down by about $120 pp. We booked directly with the cruise line so I called to have the price adjusted and through a very round about conversation was told the price we had already booked was better than the current promotion. I pulled up the website and described what I was seeing but kept being told why what I was seeing was not correct. I let it go and hung up the phone and proceeded to put a hold on a new stateroom in our same category at the reduced price. At that point I called Celebrity back and was connected with someone different. I described what I had done and he immediately changed our booking to reflect the lower price keeping our current stateroom.

This is our first time sailing with Celebrity and I have to say I'm a little frustrated about this situation though ultimately it was resolved. Is it normal for the Celebrity vacation planners to be inconsistent? And it just seems a bit odd that the first one saw different prices than the second. Did the first person I spoke with just not want to provide me with the lower cost?

Celebrity Vacation Planners will all have different answers for just about every question you may have! :eek:. If you think you are right and don't get that from your first call, hang up and call again. Worth a couple phone calls.

Welcome to Celebrity and enjoy Bermuda. Celebrity does a great job on the ships.

I take a screen shot of the lower price and email it to my TA. She takes care of it. I've got $1050 off a cruise. Then $500 OBC after final payment. On our sailing the Sky Suites were not selling.

Just one of the many reasons that so many of us use a good travel agent.

Just one of the many reasons that so many of us use a good travel agent.

If your TA is not reachable, are you able to get Celebrity to do a price match?

I booked mine through a TA and I could not get hold of him. I called Celebrity directly and the person went "...no there is no price drop." I pointed out to her on what I see online and she said, "yeah, just a small difference, and you have to get your TA to do it." Not happy with the response. My TA finally responded back and the price drop was $900. I have a strong feeling that that agent did not want to do a price match at all, and I do not know if only TA can ask for the price drop when booked through a TA.

I've never run into a situation where my TA is not reachable. So I wouldn't know.

If your TA is not reachable, are you able to get Celebrity to do a price match?

 

I booked mine through a TA and I could not get hold of him. I called Celebrity directly and the person went "...no there is no price drop." I pointed out to her on what I see online and she said, "yeah, just a small difference, and you have to get your TA to do it." Not happy with the response. My TA finally responded back and the price drop was $900. I have a strong feeling that that agent did not want to do a price match at all, and I do not know if only TA can ask for the price drop when booked through a TA.

If you are booked directly through X they can adjust your rate. If you are booked through a TA, X can't make any changes to your reservation, only the TA you booked with can make changes.

If your TA is not reachable, are you able to get Celebrity to do a price match?

 

I booked mine through a TA and I could not get hold of him. I called Celebrity directly and the person went "...no there is no price drop." I pointed out to her on what I see online and she said, "yeah, just a small difference, and you have to get your TA to do it." Not happy with the response. My TA finally responded back and the price drop was $900. I have a strong feeling that that agent did not want to do a price match at all, and I do not know if only TA can ask for the price drop when booked through a TA.

There are reasons to book directly with Celebrity ... not being able to get through to your TA is one of them.

With any cruiseline, once you have turned your reservation over to a TA, the cruiseline won't touch your reservation....that is what you signed up for so you really cannot expect any more than that from the cruiseline.

Your TA can definitely work on your behalf to apply the discounted price for you if before you final payment ... that is their job. If they are unwilling to do so, get a different travel agent or go directly through the cruiseline itself.

If you find yourself in this situation again, maybe follow these suggestions:

Get a TA with no fees for cancellation or when making a downward adjustment to the cost of your booking. There are still some out there with these charges.

Find a TA that gives you some additional perks. All are not created equal in giving out freebies.

Book the cruise under a separate booking number on the site or at the cruiseline where you noticed the price drop and then cancel the original reservation. You will only have a limited amount of time to hold both reservations ... I think it is 24 hrs .... so be quick. If you booked it through the cruiseline, you can leave it with them or transfer the reservation to another TA. I think you have only 60 days to do the transfer. Be aware that when transferring it to a TA, though ... again, you have signed away your ability to have the cruiseline reps help you with your reservation. You cannot transfer it to a different TA once you've done so.

Hope this helps. We've sometimes learned things the hard way.

My husband and I currently have a Bermuda cruise booked for next year.I've been monitoring the price and when I checked the Celebrity website the cost had gone down by about $120 pp. We booked directly with the cruise line so I called to have the price adjusted and through a very round about conversation was told the price we had already booked was better than the current promotion. I pulled up the website and described what I was seeing but kept being told why what I was seeing was not correct. I let it go and hung up the phone and proceeded to put a hold on a new stateroom in our same category at the reduced price. At that point I called Celebrity back and was connected with someone different. I described what I had done and he immediately changed our booking to reflect the lower price keeping our current stateroom.

 

This is our first time sailing with Celebrity and I have to say I'm a little frustrated about this situation though ultimately it was resolved. Is it normal for the Celebrity vacation planners to be inconsistent? And it just seems a bit odd that the first one saw different prices than the second. Did the first person I spoke with just not want to provide me with the lower cost?

A similar conversation went on between a member of my Roll Call and a Celebrity agent. :rolleyes: For some reason, Celebrity has their agents fighting for no price drops with this latest promo.

A similar conversation went on between a member of my Roll Call and a Celebrity agent. :rolleyes: For some reason, Celebrity has their agents fighting for no price drops with this latest promo.

Which would be a plus for having a TA-- it can be done online with no Celebrity agent needed and it doesn't need to be argued.

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I am booked direct with Celebrity and they assigned me a vacation plannner - No one else will make changes to my reservation - I have to either deal with her or her assistant. I have both their emails. I have never had a problem when there is a price drop, in fact usually when they re-fare it the price comes in even less than I thought.

We have booked direct with X and other cruise lines before we learned that we do better with a TA. Yes it's counter-intuitive that once removed from the source the cruise is cheaper (when considering fare and perks) than dealing direct with cruise line, and not just with X. We price every cruise we do and compare cruise price and perks across-the-board looking at cruise line prices and several TA prices and pick the best deal. We also always compare TA's.

So far, we've always chosen the same TA since they have always had the best over all value. They have always delivered what was promised with no issues and made adjustments when we've found price reductions that were combinable with our perks or advised us well on how to get the best value.

I've also found that when booking direct with a cruise line you get more accurate answers from their loyalty club desk than with their reservation personnel. When dealing with reservation desk personnel I often know more than they seem to (not always but in my experience most). Many have not cruised (eek) and either don't know or are unwilling to ask pertinent questions to get me to the lowest fare for the cabin category I want to book.

I've found that TAs often have experienced the ships or itineraries I'm booking and know the right questions to ask to secure the best fare with the most perks for me. (Or else they have better training) I guess they know that they have to compete for my business and since they do a large volume they have more clout with the cruise line that allows them to be a better value.

My husband and I currently have a Bermuda cruise booked for next year.I've been monitoring the price and when I checked the Celebrity website the cost had gone down by about $120 pp. We booked directly with the cruise line so I called to have the price adjusted and through a very round about conversation was told the price we had already booked was better than the current promotion. I pulled up the website and described what I was seeing but kept being told why what I was seeing was not correct. I let it go and hung up the phone and proceeded to put a hold on a new stateroom in our same category at the reduced price. At that point I called Celebrity back and was connected with someone different. I described what I had done and he immediately changed our booking to reflect the lower price keeping our current stateroom.

 

This is our first time sailing with Celebrity and I have to say I'm a little frustrated about this situation though ultimately it was resolved. Is it normal for the Celebrity vacation planners to be inconsistent? And it just seems a bit odd that the first one saw different prices than the second. Did the first person I spoke with just not want to provide me with the lower cost?

We have never had a problem getting the lower rate when calling the X reservation line. It pays to be persistent. I just booked our one-way flight from the US to London for next year on American Airlines, using point. I called because I tried to book on line and was never able to complete the booking. I was referred to the It help desk that was very helpful and found that the AA points on their computer didn't show 30K pp, but 65K pp. I still had the AA website that showed the 30K, which the help desk confirmed. So, the help desk switched me to a reservation attendant, who went to her supervisor and overrode the computer. So I got the two flights for 30K pp. It pays to be persistent.

As I said we use a TA for our cruises. We have 4 cruises booked for next year. Our next cruise I worked on getting our 10 year visa'a for China. Booking pre stay in Hong Kong and going to Macau. Post stay at Disneyland Shanghai for the Chinese New Year. Last week I booked airfare for our May cruise. Now trying to figure out where to stay in Waikiki pre cruise. What I'm trying to say is I have enough planning to do on my own. Why not let my TA deal with Celebrity.

I am booked direct with Celebrity and they assigned me a vacation plannner - No one else will make changes to my reservation - I have to either deal with her or her assistant. I have both their emails. I have never had a problem when there is a price drop, in fact usually when they re-fare it the price comes in even less than I thought.

I've had no issue working with the captains club agents on price drops for cruises booked with a vacation planner (believe I've also worked with regular reservations too but I usually call the Capt Club)

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I've had no issue working with the captains club agents on price drops for cruises booked with a vacation planner (believe I've also worked with regular reservations too but I usually call the Capt Club)

 

 

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This is our first Celebrity cruise so I don't think we are members of the "club" till after that.

This is our first Celebrity cruise so I don't think we are members of the "club" till after that.

You are if you've taken Royal Caribbean or azamara-- they will status match you.

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You are if you've taken Royal Caribbean or azamara-- they will status match you.

 

 

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No, we have completed 8 Princess Cruises.

This is our first Celebrity cruise so I don't think we are members of the "club" till after that.

No, we have completed 8 Princess Cruises.

On Princess you do not become a member of their Captain's Circle until you have completed one cruise.

On Celebrity you can go to the web site and sign up to be a member of the Captain's Club before your first cruise sails. You will become a member with zero points.

This is true of all of the cruise lines, and there are much worse ones than Celebrity. Some people there know how to do things and others don't, and you will also get inconsistent answers to other types of questions. Policies are also constantly changing, including how promotions are applied and altered. If you don't like the answer you get, call again. The same thing happens when travel agents call. Travel agents can book online and cancel online but adjustments to existing reservations are dependent on advocating on the telephone with the right person.

We do not like our TA at all and were thinking of booking directly with Celebrity for our next cruise. Now I'm not sure if that's a good idea. Would really appreciate any help. Thanks.

On Princess you do not become a member of their Captain's Circle until you have completed one cruise.

 

On Celebrity you can go to the web site and sign up to be a member of the Captain's Club before your first cruise sails. You will become a member with zero points.

That makes you a Preview member which gets you a newsletter only. So essentially it's the same as Princess.

We do not like our TA at all and were thinking of booking directly with Celebrity for our next cruise. Now I'm not sure if that's a good idea. Would really appreciate any help. Thanks.

We use a TA affiliated with a warehouse (think Strongsville near I-71 & 83). Their hours are M-F 8am to midnight our time and Sa & Su 9am to 8:30pm. You won't have an assigned agent, but we've had no issues obtaining price reductions or moving cabin classes, etc.

This TA used to give refundable OBC but now have changed to a gift card for the store. I've been told that the gift card can be converted to cash by taking it directly to the store, but we haven't had a booking with the gift card, so IDK for sure.

Good Luck!

We do not like our TA at all and were thinking of booking directly with Celebrity for our next cruise. Now I'm not sure if that's a good idea. Would really appreciate any help. Thanks.

We use a large online TA. After booking several cruises direct (X and others) we found that we got better perks and more OBC using the TA and sometimes even lower fares than the cruise line offers. Shop for a good TA , you'll find the right one. Just ask questions and happy cruising!:)