cabin upgrade problems

[catdoc]

I'm so frustrated that I could scream! I am booked early saver in 2 interior cabins on a 9/30 sailing. I made the mistake of booking through a travel agent. I have been trying to upgrade our rooms to 2 balcony cabins since Tuesday. My travel agent says that Carnival has a bunch of forms she is supposed to fill out including the price protection form and she keeps getting sent from one department to another. I have now been talking to her for 3 full days. I finally tried calling Carnival and the first person I talked to contacted guest services. They said that my travel agent has to fill out a price protection form before anything can be done. Why? I am not trying to price match or get OBC. All I want to do is upgrade my room and pay them money to do it. I am so confused. If this is what early saver does, then I'll not book that way again. Do you have any suggestions? The phone operator wouldn't ask guest services any more questions and gave me the rush off the phone. After 3 days, I hoped someone would take my money and move my rooms. I can always stay in the inside rooms and will still have a good time. I'm just irritated with myself for booking through a travel agent.

[trvlqueen]

I'm so frustrated that I could scream! I am booked early saver in 2 interior cabins on a 9/30 sailing. I made the mistake of booking through a travel agent. I have been trying to upgrade our rooms to 2 balcony cabins since Tuesday. My travel agent says that Carnival has a bunch of forms she is supposed to fill out including the price protection form and she keeps getting sent from one department to another. I have now been talking to her for 3 full days. I finally tried calling Carnival and the first person I talked to contacted guest services. They said that my travel agent has to fill out a price protection form before anything can be done. Why? I am not trying to price match or get OBC. All I want to do is upgrade my room and pay them money to do it. I am so confused. If this is what early saver does, then I'll not book that way again. Do you have any suggestions? The phone operator wouldn't ask guest services any more questions and gave me the rush off the phone. After 3 days, I hoped someone would take my money and move my rooms. I can always stay in the inside rooms and will still have a good time. I'm just irritated with myself for booking through a travel agent.

 

Don't be irritated for USING a TA - be irritated that you used the WRONG TA.

 

She's full of horse tookey (similar to buffalo chips, but looser and smells worse). If she calls CCL, it's a 5 minute or less process. All she has to do is make sure that she is using the right codes for the fare you're using and "presto" it will be done. She doesn't even have to call CCL if you aren't past final payment - she can do it herself on the computer.

 

Call her manager.

[firefly333]

There is a ES price drop form that is so easy to fill out. It has a check mark for if you want to upgrade .. and one to check if you want OBC.

 

And put in the comments where you want to upgrade to. ES dept doesnt take phone calls.

 

I can see how irratating it is. It does seem like too many TAs dont have a clue how to handle bookings. Unfortunately Carnival is not supposed to talk to you directly because they are paying your TA to handle your booking.

 

Does your TA have a smarter supervisor?

[tobylars12]

. Unfortunately Carnival is not supposed to talk to you directly because they are paying your TA to handle your booking.

 

 

This changed this week, but I heard it is only a trial program! You can call CCL directly, answer a few questions to verify it is your booking, tell them what you want and the rep. will try to call your TA and conference her/him in on the call. If TA is unavailable, a detailed message by the rep will be left, and they can assist you! CCL will then send a confirmation email to the TA to verify the change.

[Starfire_rules]

We also used Early Saver but it took a whole 5 minutes for our TA to upgrade us from a suite to the Captain's Suite. It's odd it is taking your TA so long.:confused:

[firefly333]

This changed this week, but I heard it is only a trial program! You can call CCL directly, answer a few questions to verify it is your booking, tell them what you want and the rep. will try to call your TA and conference her/him in on the call. If TA is unavailable, a detailed message by the rep will be left, and they can assist you! CCL will then send a confirmation email to the TA to verify the change.

 

Sounds like a awesome program .. so many stories lately of inept TAs, hope this will help some out.

 

Glad to hear this.

[Swayde]

it sounds to me that you have a very incompetent travel agent =(

[trvlqueen]

I used to do this back the one time I used an inept agent ... fill out your own form, but put the agent's contact info in instead of yours. It doesn't ask for any identifiers (TA numbers) - the only hiccup is that if there is a cost to upgrade, CCL will need your credit card info if you're past final payment. If you aren't yet, they'll just increase your balance due.

[needabreakcanada]

I just kept calling carnival and eventually I would find a rep that would discuss "a hypothetical situation" so that i knew exactly what the TA had to do.

 

Then I informed the TA (so she knew I did my homework).

 

When that did not work I told the TA I wanted a conference call with her and carnival to straighten the mess out.

 

Worked like a charm.

[golfadj]

If the upgrade is at a higher cost what does ES have to do with it. Think you found a rather incompetent TA.

[catdoc]

I'm going to walk away for the evening and try again in the morning. I guess what has me so confused is why I have to have a price drop form at all. I'm just trying to pay to upgrade to a balcony room, not do a price match or OBC. There is probably a reason, I just don't get it and no one can explain it including the Carnival rep. My travel agent is not in an agency, she is a sole proprietor so I can't go to a manager. I'll try her one more time in the morning then call Carnival and beg. I have upgraded a cabin before in ES and all I did was call Carnival. Quick and easy. It was before final payment that time so maybe that is the difference? I would think they would want to take my money and have an inside available to sell.

[cruzn buckeye]

We just did this with two cabins. No problems. Found a pack and go rate that would let us go from inside cabin on panarama deck to a balcony gty. But since the Balcony was more, we just called and said we wanted to upgrade to a balcony gty. No problems, just paid the difference with our ccs. We were past final payment. We actually had our gty cabin number assigned a few hours later... never had a gty assignment that quickly... but then again, we were only 3 weeks away from departure... We did not have to fill out any ES form.

[catdoc]

That's what I thought. I think my travel agent is confused and told Carnival I was trying to price-match. I'm going to start day 4 of trying to upgrade to a balcony...........

[fergusonvt]

I booked ES (but through Carnival directly) and was able to upgrade from an aft balcony to an aft vista balcony with no issues.

[catdoc]

OK, you'll like this one. My travel agent told me that the problem was that Carnival was going to charge me 50.00 per person for the change. Really??? I am changing from an inside to a balcony. They don't charge a change fee for that! I really wish Carnival would talk to me.

[Lisa Sox Fan]

I booked early saver through a TA and was able to upgrade my cabin to a balcony no problem last week for the 9/30 Freedom cruise. She did put me on hold while she called Carnival but then came right back to me and told me I was all set.

I just told her that I wanted to change my room and gave her the room number I wanted. It sounds like your TA doesn't know what she is doing. Is there someone else in her office that can help you?

I was not charged $50 pp. I was only charge the difference which I knew from doing a fake booking online so I knew what the difference would be.

[firefly333]

OK, you'll like this one. My travel agent told me that the problem was that Carnival was going to charge me 50.00 per person for the change. Really??? I am changing from an inside to a balcony. They don't charge a change fee for that! I really wish Carnival would talk to me.

 

Call Carnival and try for a conference call .. try to make your TA do a conference call .. time to start making some demands.

 

TA is clueless .. so you need to take over and get it done now. If I was you I would submit the price drop form myself and put your TAs info in it. (as suggested above)

 

OP you might want to read thru this thread. This is someone else who is saying.. why does Carnival require a price drop form to upgrade.. she is having worse problems in a way than you. (but related imo)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1694630

[firefly333]

My travel agent is not in an agency, she is a sole proprietor so I can't go to a manager.

 

Is there someone else in her office that can help you?

 

Sounds like the answer is no there isnt someone else to talk to, though there should be as it cant be a stand alone, she has to have gotten her license thru some company?

 

OP let us know if you are able to get a conference call or get Carnival to help out here.

[wiskt]

So sorry you are going through this, & hope it gets resolved quickly.

 

This is the main reason I call the cruise line direct and speak to the same PVP (or agent with other lines). I wont even book online because online can't answer any questions I have as I am booking. There are some TA's out there that know their job and processes for the companies they solicit, they may wave that extra $ back or something, but in the end it is factored into the cost elsewhere. I prefer to deal directly with the cruise line and cut out the middle man.

 

I book EARLY SAVER all the time and never had any problems. I know the consequences if I have to cancel and its a risk Im willing to take for the option of the price drops.

 

Don't let this frustration ruin your vacation. As firefly333 said, its time to take the reigns on your vacation. If that means getting a conference call with your TA and or whatever. Once its resolved I would either get some references in your area for a more qualified TA or use a Carnival PVP for your next booking. If it was me I would be following up with a review of the TA and/or a lett to the agency they work for on how the process was handled. Constructive FEEDBACK is your friend and very helpful for others so they don't have to have the same experiences.

 

GOOD LUCK and hoping your cruise will be so wonderful you wont even remember all you are going through right now!!!

[catdoc]

Thanks everyone. It helps to have someone to talk to. I'm really ready to go on the cruise now to relax! After calling Carnival three times this morning, I got a phone agent who would help me. She said it was a new program they had that allowed them to talk to people who were booked through a travel agent. She changed my booking to a balcony with no problems. No price protection form or change fees required. I just paid the difference which was what I wanted to do all along. Yay! I was so relieved. I think that is a good program. She said some of the travel agents did not like the new program so we'll see if it works. If the travel agent knew how to do the change, I wouldn't need to talk to Carnival. I personally like my travel agent but it is obvious that she doesn't understand how to deal with Carnival. Lesson learned. We have never had a balcony before so I hope it was worth fighting over for 4 days!!

[thephantomsgirl]

Balconies are great - I prefer to sail that way (never have done anything else).

So enjoy and know it's was worth it!!!

[footballbabe3]

Yeah!! I hope youhave a great cruise. Be safe!

[travler27]

In all my years of travel (I have over 3 million Frequent Flyer miles) I've never had any dealings with a TA that added anything positive to the process.

[MsTabbyKats]

Thanks everyone. It helps to have someone to talk to. I'm really ready to go on the cruise now to relax! After calling Carnival three times this morning, I got a phone agent who would help me. She said it was a new program they had that allowed them to talk to people who were booked through a travel agent. She changed my booking to a balcony with no problems. No price protection form or change fees required. I just paid the difference which was what I wanted to do all along. Yay! I was so relieved. I think that is a good program. She said some of the travel agents did not like the new program so we'll see if it works. If the travel agent knew how to do the change, I wouldn't need to talk to Carnival. I personally like my travel agent but it is obvious that she doesn't understand how to deal with Carnival. Lesson learned. We have never had a balcony before so I hope it was worth fighting over for 4 days!!

 

I wonder why. Seems it would make things easier for them........

[wiskt]

I wonder why. Seems it would make things easier for them........

 

 

Probably because they don't want you to deal directly to the cruise line and find out how much easier it is to cut out the middle man and get your questions answered. It could lose clients and kickbacks if people just start dealing direct.