How's your travel agent?

[CILCIANRQTS]

Our TA works for a small agency and has been wonderful!

She’s helped us cancel 3 cruises, two of which had other couples she needed to coordinate with. She calls regularly to update us and discuss options. Also handling non-refundable air tix for refunds.

Suggestion: If you’re happy with your TA’s efforts, send a gift card. (we thought a liquor card was appropriate!)

[lori-annk]

I think I use the same big box TA even after emailing them I haven’t gotten any good response but I’ve gotten emails about how busy they are

[cruzzzinma]

My TA is part of a large agency that does a lot of business with Celebrity. He and his assistant have been excellent. Early on, he talked me off a ledge about cancelling cruises in April and May. He said “just wait, the cruise lines will have to do something.” He was right. The agency set up a cancellation team and I heard from them with a couple hours about Celebrity and Cunard cancellations.

 

i emailed his assistant a couple of weeks ago to cancel a Cunard cruise in July because final payment was a few days away. I got a confirmation of cancellation the next day. I expect to get the same service in a couple of weeks when I cancel an Oceania cruise in October before final payment at the end of the month.

[George C]

Those with a great travel agent are extremely lucky , my current one is useless , most likely will just go back to booking them by myself.

[Cruiz'nBaers]

Not happy with our online agency/agent.  Got the initial email, called agent and told what we wanted, no follow up email or verification.  Called back about a week later and left a message, was called back, agent seemed a bit “put out”.  Said we would like an email follow up to verify what it was we were wanting so there would be some sort of trail, nothing.  We booked air, pre stay hotel and transfers for a Mediterranean cruise leaving Barcelona on May 9.  Wish there was more communication, we feel left in the dark.  We’re told we have to wait our turn, they are very busy.

[molemaui]

Outstanding is the only way to describe my travel agency!

[Denny01]

I read through this thread and apparently, more than a few posters used ‘Call Centers’ or ‘Booking Agents’ not actual Travel Agents/Travel Advisors. I’m afraid that is the main difference if your ‘TA’ (using that term loosely to include the first two I mentioned) contacted and assisted you. My TA is a local businesswoman with an office and a support team. Not a website, not a 800-number and not a at-home single individual. My TA contacted me, not the other way around because I had a river cruise in late March and she walked me through waiting for the Line to cancel the cruise to allow me to get a 125% FCC or full refund. She assisted in cancelling the airline and the pre-cruise tour and the pre/post hotels. I also had a late April Med cruise and she did the same. She then assisted me in getting a reservation with a Line that allowed cancellations up to 2days prior of any cruise made before 30 April which I did. And she is watching my Oct 2020 Apex cruise and has already come up with options that we don’t need to use.....yet. 

 

I’ve booked on my own and that worked OK when there wasn’t any issues; I booked via the Cruise Line and that worked and they were pretty helpful, but I have a feeling with so many changes/calls under this circumstance it’s hard to get hold of them for good reason; I’ve use a website and an 800-number service which I put under the definition of booking on my own since once they have my booking, they are Of No Help What So Ever. 

 

So you want help? Or you want professional assistance? Use a true TA professional Travel Advisor, not a call center/booking agent. You may get a few more bucks using those high volume companies, but........you also get what you pay for. 

 

Den

Edited April 9, 2020 by Denny01

[MamaFej]

My TA is a dear friend (I was in the same high school class as his sister, he and my brother were two years  behind us). His business is very small and he can't afford to give me the huge amounts of OBC that the big box agencies can, but he has found us some great deals and he anticipates and takes care of things I might not think of. 

He takes very good care of us, and all his clients. 

Even though we are seeing each other from 6-10 feet away every day* he is still contacting us by email and/or phone with updates about our FCCs, etc. 

He has been helping stranded travelers get home the past few weeks, even a few who did not book their original itineraries through him. Why? Because it was the right thing to do. Each day, he was giving us updates on a 16 year-old from New Zealand who was originally stuck in Spain, then in Ireland. It took quite a bit of effort and multi-national negotiations, but he eventually got the kid home. The kid was just a friend of a friend of his, but J was happy to help him get back safely to his parents. 

A few years ago, we paid extra to upgrade airplane seats. American switched planes on us, and we ended up in far less-than optimal seats. Customer service at the airport would do nothing. I texted J, and he had the money back on our credit card within hours.

 

*His wife is rehab-ing from one surgery and preparing for another... once such surgeries can happen again.  She must exercise in water, and her gym is closed as is the pool at J's mom's condo. They come over every day so she can exercise in our pool.  We converse with J from 6-12 feet away while she is in the pool. 

 

[deliver42]

Our TA is closed, due to it being non essential as er Gov. DeSantis of Florida.

[Pennstatedj]

We have a large online TA and direct with X, both have done nothing for us. No communication following our canceling of one cruise and X cancelling the other. We shall see the difference in amount of time it takes to get a refund. This will determine how we go forward with future bookings. 

[upwarduk]

I rang our TA when it was announced that Silhouette wouldn’t be doing the East bound TA on 17th April, to say I wasn’t prepared to pay on 3rd May, until I knew whether the ship was actually coming to Southampton. I also stated that I didn’t think I would be able to cruise, as :

a) Celebrity want a Drs letter to say I am fit to cruise. I don’t think I will get that letter, as I have been sent a letter from the surgery, saying that I should Social Shield, due to multiple long term conditions.

b) Gov.UK guidelines state that over 70’s should not cruise.

My TA’s attitude was don’t cancel yet, much can change before August 1st.

Well, things did change last week, the Cruise with Confidence was pushed to September 1st.

My TA did ring Celebrity and they extended the date that I need to pay to 5th June.

i would be interested in comments from clients living in UK - has anyone got their deposit refunded?

 

[phoenix_dream]

21 hours ago, registrar said:

Helen

they let you even though a travel agent booked it?

We called our TA to ask if we needed to go through them.  They said no, we could just respond to Celebrity directly.  FCC for cancelled cruises will be processed automatically.  For one of our cancelled cruises we wanted a refund so we just replied to the Celebrity email

[Firepath]

We use one of the large on-line agents that many of you also use. I called them last. Saturday when I saw that for the price I paid for inside cabin I could now get a veranda and wanted to switch. My agent was not available and the person I spoke with told me they were short handed because most of their agents had just been furloughed. 

[poeticlicensed]

Mine has been crickets. Called a couple of weeks ago since I have heard nothing directly from X. TA was surprised I didnt get a notification from X. Sent me the notice with the link which I filled out requesting a refund. The only communication I have had from the TA are mass emails saying that they have to work remotely (join the club!) And that they are prioritizing calls and emails by sail date. The only reason I use a TA at all is that they throw in extra perks. I was really hoping for more service but at this point I'll be happy just to get my money back 

Edited April 9, 2020 by poeticlicensed

[awhfy]

On 4/8/2020 at 9:46 AM, Grandmaanne7 said:

I use the same TA.  Yup, absolutely nothing!

We use the same agency; however, I’ve had several individual emails with updates so I know they’re still there. Check your spam/junk folder...that’s where my individual emails went

Edited April 9, 2020 by awhfy

[paulh84]

We use a large online agency also. Haven’t heard anything from them but this isn’t their issue. We have an FCC pending for cancelled March cruise. I guess we are pretty low maintenance clients because I’m not sure what additional service they could offer right now. 

[Grandmaanne7]

20 minutes ago, awhfy said:

We use the same agency; however, I’ve had several individual emails with updates so I know they’re still there. Check your spam/junk folder...that’s where my individual emails went

Nope, nothing there either.  I do occasionally get emails from them just nothing to do with my cancelled cruise.  The latest email was just today titled "This Week in Armchair Explorer".

[TFree]

We have three Celebrity cruises booked, all for 2021, all through the same big box store travel agent many others use.  I have heard nothing from the big box, but then again these are all at least 10 months off, so I am not sure why even a personalized travel agent would have contacted us by now.

 

We had one Uniworld river cruise booked for early June, on the Danube, through an individual local travel agent who is now affiliated with a large online company.  She contacted us proactively to see what we wanted to do, and after debating it with our cruise mates, we decided to take a very attractive offer to re-book the river cruise for May of 2021.  Our cruise mates decided to cancel and get a partial refund, partial future cruise credit, apparently because a bankruptcy lawyer friend got them worked up about possible cruise line bankruptcies.  Which I think is a serious issue, but we decided to roll the dice with our Uniworld cruise.

 

Tom & Judy

[davekathy]

She dropped the ball! Not impressed and will no longer use her. 👎 We have 4 future cruises booked and unfortunately 3 of the 4 are booked with her! 

Edited April 9, 2020 by davekathy

[phbr]

Watched an interesting piece on the Cruising With Don channel on YouTube earlier.

 

Its come to his attention that some of the Discount Cruise agencies (he didn't name any for obvious reasons) are ONLY offering a FCC and no refunds whatsover. He surmised one of the reasons for this is the fact that these agencies block off a number of cabins on various sailings at a cost of maybe 5% of the total cost ..

 

They are also only allowing a 6 month window to re-book the future cruise as well, a much shorter time frame than on offer from the Cruise lines.

 

I doubt any of the above would stand up if tested through the courts, but it does seem its going to be more stressful to obtain the refunds that many people need just now given the present emplyment situation.

[phbr]

1 hour ago, phbr said:

Watched an interesting piece on the Cruising With Don channel on YouTube earlier.

 

Its come to his attention that some of the Discount Cruise agencies (he didn't name any for obvious reasons) are ONLY offering a FCC and no refunds whatsover. He surmised one of the reasons for this is the fact that these agencies block off a number of cabins on various sailings at a cost of maybe 5% of the total cost ..

 

They are also only allowing a 6 month window to re-book the future cruise as well, a much shorter time frame than on offer from the Cruise lines.

 

I doubt any of the above would stand up if tested through the courts, but it does seem its going to be more stressful to obtain the refunds that many people need just now given the present emplyment situation.

Heres the link to the above

 

 

[paulh84]

14 hours ago, phbr said:

Watched an interesting piece on the Cruising With Don channel on YouTube earlier.

 

Its come to his attention that some of the Discount Cruise agencies (he didn't name any for obvious reasons) are ONLY offering a FCC and no refunds whatsover. He surmised one of the reasons for this is the fact that these agencies block off a number of cabins on various sailings at a cost of maybe 5% of the total cost ..

 

They are also only allowing a 6 month window to re-book the future cruise as well, a much shorter time frame than on offer from the Cruise lines.

 

I doubt any of the above would stand up if tested through the courts, but it does seem its going to be more stressful to obtain the refunds that many people need just now given the present emplyment situation.

I’ll reserve my opinion of that guy.....but, I’ve followed these boards fairly closely since all of this started and have seen nothing that would substantiate his claim. I can’t imagine the cruise lines themselves would allow agencies to make their own set of rules right now either. 

[Pinboy]

4 hours ago, paulh84 said:

I’ll reserve my opinion of that guy.....but, I’ve followed these boards fairly closely since all of this started and have seen nothing that would substantiate his claim. I can’t imagine the cruise lines themselves would allow agencies to make their own set of rules right now either. 

" maybe 5% of the total cost "

Should that read 5 % OFF rather than OF  the total price

[ccruzer123]

I hear from my TA all the time, at least 10 times since this whole thing started.   The TA calls  us when they receive email updates or information from the cruise line, just letting us know what they received.  We discuss possible options and questions we may have with upcoming cruises.  They have been very good about keep us informed.

[MamaFej]

Mine texted ten minutes ago that Princess is suspending cruising until at least July 1. 

It's sad, but it's also wise.