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Mistake made by Personal cruise agent.

nimiq

By nimiq,
in Princess Cruises

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DrivesLikeMario

DrivesLikeMario

Posted
Posted

The agent should have Errors & Omissions Insurance which would cover a mistake like this. He/she should also be contacting their BDM to get him/her in on finding a cabin for your friends. It's a mistake, everyone makes them. At least the TA admitted it - now he or she needs to make it right. Good luck!

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sonomaphil "Live from...." Rare

sonomaphil

Posted
Posted
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.

 

Agreed. We book directly with Princess or with one of the large online services if price dictates. The TA at that point is an order taker to me. I know many, many prolific posters here are travel agents so I'm sorry if this offends you.

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cherylandtk

cherylandtk

Posted
Posted

Eric ( or your friends)

1. Stay in daily touch with the TA. Call to ask where you are on the waitlists. Call to see what she has heard from Princess in the last 24 hours. Ask her to explain what the priority waitlist means and where you are on that list. Ask her what her BDM said today. Call and ask her to discuss cancelation penalties. Call even just to ask 'What is new since yesterday?' but call so she knows you will be calling daily and will be nicely asking those questions and expect some updates and answers.

2. Look at the Princess website several times a day to see if any cabin has opened or even if there is the opportunity to make a GTY booking. As others have said, sometimes a cabin opens up even when there are waitlists. If you see anything, jump on it, don't assume that the waitlist will be filled in order. Many stories on these boards of this sort of out-of-order booking happening.

3. As Keith said, the odds are good that you will clear the waitlist, but you must be both flexible and proactive to increase your odds.

4. Pay attention to what Drives Like Mario says, she knows the process from the inside and gives good advice.

 

The question of whether to cancel or not is very difficult to answer. If you have prepaid costs for air and hotels that are not refundable, that is probably going to be your loss if you cancel. Insurance does not cover canceling for this reason. If you want the TA to pay for it, they probably won't agree to it now; their best approach is to say to wait and see if a room opens up, and if one does, then there won't be a need to cancel. If you get up to cruise departure AND no rooms were offered to you, then you can see what you can negotiate with the TA and their errors/omissions policy, but it is not guaranteed that they will cover any of your losses. (But you can always run over the 'what-if' scenarios with the TA in your daily phone call.)

 

Good luck, keep checking the website and with your TA and come back to let us know when they find a room for your friends.

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taxatty "Live from...." Rare

taxatty

Posted
Posted
Pro-actively look for open cabins also! Sometimes Princess's waitlist procedure doesn't catch cabins when they open. I have had this happen.
So have I. We got a suite once because Princess didn't bother checking the wait list. A call every now and then wouldn't hurt either.
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Coral "Live from...." Rare

Coral

Posted
Posted
So have I. We got a suite once because Princess didn't bother checking the wait list. A call every now and then wouldn't hurt either.

 

Yea - I was waitlisted for a mini suite once and I saw the mini suite online that I had booked for the previous B2B. Good thing I kept checking!

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Lucky TGO

Lucky TGO

Posted
Posted
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 totally agree with you.

Tony

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Pam in CA

Pam in CA

Posted
Posted

People seem to think that if they are on the wait list that they will automatically be assigned the next available cabin. This is NOT the case. If a cabin becomes available, anyone can book it. Waitlists are not automatic. Be proactive and check for availability frequently. Have your TA check several times a day. Don't wait for a cabin to become available.

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geocruiser

geocruiser

Posted
Posted
People seem to think that if they are on the wait list that they will automatically be assigned the next available cabin. This is NOT the case. If a cabin becomes available, anyone can book it. Waitlists are not automatic. Be proactive and check for availability frequently. Have your TA check several times a day. Don't wait for a cabin to become available.

 

 

Pam, you are right. I remember another thread about that. People were waiting for the spot to come up on the wait list, and there were cabins available on Princess's web site. All ways good to check yourself and have you TA check too.

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Colo Cruiser

Colo Cruiser

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Posted
Pam, you are right. I remember another thread about that. People were waiting for the spot to come up on the wait list, and there were cabins available on Princess's web site. All ways good to check yourself and have you TA check too.

 

 

It just happened to me last week. :rolleyes:

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geoherb "Live from...." Rare

geoherb

Posted
Posted (edited)

I hope things work out for the OP. I like that my TA always sends me confirmation that my final payment has been made. I also check on credit card statement online just as an additional verification for myself.

Edited by geoherb
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billco

billco

Posted
Posted (edited)

Sorry to hear of this. I have a great TA, but things fall through the crack all the time. That's why, IMO it is the responsibility of the person booking the cruise to make sure all factors relating to the cruise (passports, visas, hotels, tours, payments) are done in time. I think the lesson to be learned is to ensure that final payment is made in enough time to see that credit card has been charged.

 

Who cares about your cruise more than you do? No one.

Edited by billco
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nimiq

nimiq

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Sorry to hear of this. I have a great TA, but things fall through the crack all the time. That's why, IMO it is the responsibility of the person booking the cruise to make sure all factors relating to the cruise (passports, visas, hotels, tours, payments) are done in time. I think the lesson to be learned is to ensure that final payment is made in enough time to see that credit card has been charged.

 

Who cares about your cruise more than you do? No one.

 

 

Unfortunately if we pay a commission to a TA it's to actually take care of all of that if not I would of done it myself.

 

As for us we did see the final payment go through as I get a text notification as soon a charged has been made on my credit card.

 

Unfortunately our friends did not have that set up and did not know that they had to check if the TA had done his job in the first place.

 

As for now we still stand on the waitlist.

Fingers crossed our friends make it in this cruise.

 

Sea ya

Éric

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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sonomaphil "Live from...." Rare

sonomaphil

Posted
Posted
Sorry to hear of this. I have a great TA, but things fall through the crack all the time. That's why, IMO it is the responsibility of the person booking the cruise to make sure all factors relating to the cruise (passports, visas, hotels, tours, payments) are done in time.

 

Then way use this "great" TA? You'll get better prices booking yourself online. Exactly what did they do to make them great if "things fall through the crack all the time"?

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nimiq

nimiq

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Then way use this "great" TA? You'll get better prices booking yourself online. Exactly what did they do to make them great if "things fall through the crack all the time"?

 

 

Error is human I have been using this TA for the past 12 years and all was good. I have never said that things fell through the cracks every time. Where did you get that ?

 

I was just trying to explain a situation that is happening to us and to let everyone know at the same time to be more vigilant when final payments arrivals.

 

 

 

 

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nimiq

nimiq

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Eric...any word on your friend's cruise?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

First wow thanks for caring that much and only good news we got is that our friends went from being #5 on the waitlist to #3 this week.

 

Apparently we are lucky to have that high priority on that waitlist as it's seem to be pretty long list.

 

Still having positive vibes for this one,

 

Thanks

Eric

 

 

 

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Aus Traveller

Aus Traveller

Posted
Posted
First wow thanks for caring that much and only good news we got is that our friends went from being #5 on the waitlist to #3 this week.

 

Apparently we are lucky to have that high priority on that waitlist as it's seem to be pretty long list.

 

Still having positive vibes for this one,

 

Thanks

Eric

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

A lot of us are watching and cheering for you from the sidelines. I hope your friends get their cabin. Being so high on the waitlist I think they are likely to, but I do know of previous cruises where available cabins have been grabbed by people who see the cabin become available (on the internet). It is worth checking this (or asking your travel agent to check) a few times a day. All the best. :)

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  • 3 weeks later...
nimiq

nimiq

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So here is the final verdict our friends never made out of the waitlist and because of this we were offered all 4 of us, So two cabins on an Alaskan cruise departing same date.

So believe it or not we went from a MED cruise to an Alaskan cruise lol.

This should be interesting first time doing Alaska :-)

 

Sea ya

Eric

 

 

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