How's your travel agent?

[Quo Vadis?]

Princess seems to be a little more flexible that Celebrity:

"

For those who are impacted by this business decision, Princess is offering guests the opportunity to transfer 100% of the money paid for their cancelled cruise to a future cruise of their choice. To add a bonus incentive for guests to accept this offer, the company will add an additional generous future cruise credit benefit which can be applied to the cruise fare. In addition, Princess will honor this offer for those guests who had made final payment and cancelled their booking on or after February 4, 2020. The future cruise credit can be used on any voyage departing through May 1, 2022.   

Princess will protect travel advisor commissions on bookings for cancelled cruises that were paid in full and for the total amount of the future cruise credits, in recognition of the critical role they play in the cruise line’s business and success. 

If the future cruise credit option does not work for some guests, they will be able to complete an electronic form on Princess.com to request a cash refund. Princess asks guests not to call the Reservation Call Center due to the possibility of high call volumes and the potential of long on-hold wait times due to this unprecedented action. Guests and their travel advisors will be sent communications on how to manage cancellations and desired compensation. Information and instructions for requesting a refund are available online at Princess.com"

[paulh84]

6 hours ago, Pinboy said:

" maybe 5% of the total cost "

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

 

I think he means the agency puts down a 5% deposit to hold a group of cabins to sell as a group rate. I don't see how this would have have bearing on an agency getting to dictate their own terms of a FCC just because you booked in a group.

[Quo Vadis?]

An email from one of the agencies that we have used in the past:

 

"Dear Mr. Argo,

I hope this letter finds you and your loved ones safe and healthy.

I want to start today with a very sincere apology to anyone who has encountered long hold times on phone calls and long wait times for a response to an email sent to --------------. I can only imagine how frustrating this is for customers who need help with a cancellation or a rebooking, and for that, I apologize.

We are trying to manage about 10 times the usual number of customer inquiries due to cruise line cancellations. Each time the cruise lines roll their suspensions of service forward for a month, we have tens of thousands of affected customers asking for assistance at essentially the same time.

All of our cruise counselors and customer care specialists are working long hours under stay-at-home orders to provide the best possible service, but we know we are failing to meet your expectations--and our own--in terms of response time.

Please rest assured that we are doing everything we can to work through this backlog and we will be back to normal as quickly as we possibly can. I appreciate your patience and understanding as we navigate this crisis together.

Last month, I wrote to announce the suspension of oceangoing cruises worldwide due to COVID-19. Soon after, river cruise companies and escorted tour companies announced their own cancellations.

International vacation travel has virtually ceased for the time being.

Most of the cruise line suspensions are currently set to extend into May with a few stretching into the summer. Alaska sailings are suspended until July at the earliest.

Yesterday, the CDC extended indefinitely their warning against cruise ship travel while the virus rages and I believe that more suspensions of service are inevitable.

Many health professionals believe that new cases of COVID-19 will peak in the U.S. in the coming four to five weeks, with the peak week dependent on location. I've looked for projections for the peak week in Canada but haven't seen anything that looked official yet.

If the peak happens as predicted in the U.S., and the virus goes dormant in the summer, as many expect, there is still hope for a summer vacation for a travel-starved population.

Some countries in Europe were hit earlier than the U.S. and are already seeing new cases of COVID-19 decline, an encouraging sign for all of us.

We are continuing daily updates to our comprehensive guide to coronavirus-related cruise news and you can see it ........

Our update includes every cruise line and river cruise operator we represent and lists such things as cancelled sailing dates, options for refunds and future cruise credits for sailings cancelled by the cruise lines, and relaxed refund and final payment policies for future bookings.

In closing, I want to wish all of our friends and customers around the world good health, good fortune and an early return to the life we all enjoyed such a short time ago."

[cruising teacher]

On 4/8/2020 at 10:46 AM, Grandmaanne7 said:

I use the same TA.  Yup, absolutely nothing!

I use the same travel agent.  Celebrity cancelled my March 15 and March  27 sailings on the Silhouette. Celebrity will give me no information at all. So much for being Zenith😥

Zero response from the TA. How do they think they will stay in business when this is over.

[yorky]

I wonder how many of you will move away from the big box TA’s after this and move to the smaller independents with lower offers. We usually use a local TA in the UK, can’t match what you get over in the US but the service has always been fantastic.

[wrk2cruise]

The large online TA that many of you are talking about that charges a $50 pp cancellation fee.  Are they charging the fee if you cancel with CWC or if Celebrity cancelled on you?   I used them on over a dozen cruises but got put off over a couple of issues a few years ago.

[zitsky]

I use one of the medium to bigger ones.  Service has been good.

[MAXII]

37 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

The large online TA that many of you are talking about that charges a $50 pp cancellation fee.  Are they charging the fee if you cancel with CWC or if Celebrity cancelled on you?   I used them on over a dozen cruises but got put off over a couple of issues a few years ago.

Yes, CWC but I received a "goodwill voucher" to be used on or before Dec 31, 2021 for each fee charged.

[vkb2751]

40 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

The large online TA that many of you are talking about that charges a $50 pp cancellation fee.  Are they charging the fee if you cancel with CWC or if Celebrity cancelled on you?   I used them on over a dozen cruises but got put off over a couple of issues a few years ago.

 

No fee if celebrity cancelled.

[davekathy]

1 hour ago, cruising teacher said:

I use the same travel agent.  Celebrity cancelled my March 15 and March  27 sailings on the Silhouette. Celebrity will give me no information at all. So much for being Zenith😥

Zero response from the TA. How do they think they will stay in business when this is over.

Did you call the Captains Club? 1-800-760-0654. I did concerning our 28 March and 4 April Summit cruises that Celebrity cancelled and I requested cash refunds for both cruises thru my useless TA. The CC rep.I spoke with gave me the info I was trying to get from my useless TA.  

Edited April 11, 2020 by davekathy

[cruising teacher]

2 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Did you call the Captains Club? 1-800-760-0654. I did concerning our 28 March and 4 April Summit cruises that Celebrity cancelled and I requests cash refunds for both cruises thru my useless TA. The CC rep.I spoke with gave me the info I was trying to get from my useless TA.  

Thank you! I will try again on Monday.

[Lindypops]

On 4/9/2020 at 2:21 PM, upwarduk said:

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?

 

we were due to sail on 22 march and have been told by out TA that we will not receive a refund  for 90 days  i.e. July😱.

on the other hand I hear people who booked direct with Celebrity have already received refunds .

dont understand why it takes 90 days 

[Roger88]

Lindypops. This is correct. Cruising is prohibited till like 15th of May or something. I would suggest waiting for a refund (which may take up to 90 days), and then just either book another cruise for Autumn (the situation must be resolved by then) or just try looking for another way to travel. But I am afraid many countries will be locked up for an uncertain period of time...

[Pinboy]

We recently cancelled a British Isles cruise scheduled for July with a $ 200 NRD and from what I was told by my TA ( Big Box Canada ) and confirmed with Celebrity, they will issue a $ 200 FCC that I will apply ( hopefully ) to our scheduled cruise in November.  

At the same time, we are currently waiting for a refund on the March cruise that was cancelled. 

[zitsky]

26 minutes ago, Roger88 said:

Lindypops. This is correct. Cruising is prohibited till like 15th of May or something. I would suggest waiting for a refund (which may take up to 90 days), and then just either book another cruise for Autumn (the situation must be resolved by then) or just try looking for another way to travel. But I am afraid many countries will be locked up for an uncertain period of time...

 

You contradict yourself.  Must be resolved by Autumn or countries locked up for uncertain time????

[Firepath]

On 4/11/2020 at 6:09 AM, Argo. said:

An email from one of the agencies that we have used in the past:

 

"Dear Mr. Argo,

I hope this letter finds you and your loved ones safe and healthy.

I want to start today with a very sincere apology to anyone who has encountered long hold times on phone calls and long wait times for a response to an email sent to --------------. I can only imagine how frustrating this is for customers who need help with a cancellation or a rebooking, and for that, I apologize.

We are trying to manage about 10 times the usual number of customer inquiries due to cruise line cancellations. Each time the cruise lines roll their suspensions of service forward for a month, we have tens of thousands of affected customers asking for assistance at essentially the same time.

All of our cruise counselors and customer care specialists are working long hours under stay-at-home orders to provide the best possible service, but we know we are failing to meet your expectations--and our own--in terms of response time.

Please rest assured that we are doing everything we can to work through this backlog and we will be back to normal as quickly as we possibly can. I appreciate your patience and understanding as we navigate this crisis together.

Last month, I wrote to announce the suspension of oceangoing cruises worldwide due to COVID-19. Soon after, river cruise companies and escorted tour companies announced their own cancellations.

International vacation travel has virtually ceased for the time being.

Most of the cruise line suspensions are currently set to extend into May with a few stretching into the summer. Alaska sailings are suspended until July at the earliest.

Yesterday, the CDC extended indefinitely their warning against cruise ship travel while the virus rages and I believe that more suspensions of service are inevitable.

Many health professionals believe that new cases of COVID-19 will peak in the U.S. in the coming four to five weeks, with the peak week dependent on location. I've looked for projections for the peak week in Canada but haven't seen anything that looked official yet.

If the peak happens as predicted in the U.S., and the virus goes dormant in the summer, as many expect, there is still hope for a summer vacation for a travel-starved population.

Some countries in Europe were hit earlier than the U.S. and are already seeing new cases of COVID-19 decline, an encouraging sign for all of us.

We are continuing daily updates to our comprehensive guide to coronavirus-related cruise news and you can see it ........

Our update includes every cruise line and river cruise operator we represent and lists such things as cancelled sailing dates, options for refunds and future cruise credits for sailings cancelled by the cruise lines, and relaxed refund and final payment policies for future bookings.

In closing, I want to wish all of our friends and customers around the world good health, good fortune and an early return to the life we all enjoyed such a short time ago."

I received that same email. We also have a pending August cruise and received another email specific to that. Part of it reads:

I'm not sure how that will work as their pricing is different as is the insurance offered.

  

[yngandrch]

In one of the companies I own, we invest in small businesses and usually our timing is impeccable.  However, back in January we took ownership of a small travel agency specializing in luxury cruises and high-end family vacations.  Luckily everything was still in the transition process and we had very few clients that were affected.  

 

Even in our short time dealing in the travel industry (although we were in the research phase for quite awhile) we have met a lot of other great travel agents (and of course some not so good ones) out there.  Some of the largest players in the industry laid off thousands of employees.  It's quite possible your travel agent is not receiving any of your communications (not necessarily ignoring them).  Others are struggling.  Many others in the industry are scrambling and simply have no idea what to say, or how to proceed.  Many are swamped and unable to handle all the phone calls and are finding that the majority of their back office support have been furloughed.  While it's a busy time for the travel industry, it's not a profitable one and they are unfortunately stuck in the middle.