Customer service leaves a lot to be desired.

[Arizona Wildcat]

On 7/15/2021 at 11:49 AM, Locobill49 said:

I have been on hold for 1 1/2 hours for customer service. I received an email today with our 8/20/2021 cruise invoice which has three issues.

The dining time is wrong and we have 6 couples with no linkage to anyone. The TA said we have early dining and booked together. 

They charged the port fees and taxes twice. We thought we were all paid off.

OBC is missing $300 for sky suite. 
Our TA is next to useless and will be the last cruise using him. 
 

I am so aggravated at this point……

Why are you ranting about Celebrity.   You needed choose a good TA.  For now you are stuck with your poor choice unless you transfer your reservation back to Celebrity or another TA.

FWIW - The $300 OBC if from your TA will not appear until you board. 

Edited July 21, 2021 by Arizona Wildcat

[ScottC4746]

Just my two cents, I used a TA in the past who is a personal friend of mine and he couldn't separate business calls from personal calls so this is my first to go without a TA.  As he pointed out to me when I first started using him, a TA sometimes is easier to get hold of, but while the TA might be able to get better prices, compare with the savings vs. perks going directly with the cruise line.  Sometimes the cruise line has higher OBC than the TA can offer.  Example my cruise in Sept 2023 has $300 pp obc but if I booked through him it would be $0.

 

Edited July 21, 2021 by ScottC4746

[slewis7]

8 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

You needed choose a good TA.  For now you are stuck with your poor choice unless you transfer your reservation back to Celebrity or another TA.

I did not know this was possible.  I have a cruise scheduled for next April and I would love to move it to another TA or Celebrity.  Does anyone know the process?

[grandgeezer]

1 hour ago, ScottC4746 said:

Just my two cents, I used a TA in the past who is a personal friend of mine and he couldn't separate business calls from personal calls so this is my first to go without a TA.  As he pointed out to me when I first started using him, a TA sometimes is easier to get hold of, but while the TA might be able to get better prices, compare with the savings vs. perks going directly with the cruise line.  Sometimes the cruise line has higher OBC than the TA can offer.  Example my cruise in Sept 2023 has $300 pp obc but if I booked through him it would be $0.

 

Are you sure you aren't comparing apples with oranges? All TAs do is act as a middle man, and it should be the exact package as the cruise line, but normally they add extra such as obc, specialty restaurants, etc. 

[Iamcruzin]

4 hours ago, Locobill49 said:

I was on hold with Celebrity. I know that they will not handle TA reservations. But if I booked directly with Celebrity, would I want to sit on the phone for an hour and a half? Hell no!!

Apparently neither does your travel agent. 

[slewis7]

43 minutes ago, grandgeezer said:

Are you sure you aren't comparing apples with oranges? All TAs do is act as a middle man, and it should be the exact package as the cruise line, but normally they add extra such as obc, specialty restaurants, etc. 

 

In general I think that is true.  Sometimes TA have special group bookings that offer better pricing then available through the cruise line.

[sn2792]

On 7/15/2021 at 3:00 PM, Dwight1 said:

I know many on here love using a TA. I never do and book directly with Celebrity so there is no “ middle man” to avoid any issues. 

My TA handles everything for me. In addition you get OBC from the TA. My cruise I’m leaving on Saturday has $725 in OBC from Celebrity and another $600 from the TA, so very worth it to not book directly.

[DaKahuna]

I have an excellent TA who has worked diligently on my behalf the few times issues have arisen.  However, she’s never given me any discounts over the prices I get direct with Celebrity, never any additional OBC, or speciality restaurants.  Am I using the wrong TA? 

[Dancing Shoes]

5 hours ago, slewis7 said:

I did not know this was possible.  I have a cruise scheduled for next April and I would love to move it to another TA or Celebrity.  Does anyone know the process?

I did this on another cruise line, but am pretty sure it would be the same.  Call the "new" whoever you choose and tell them you want to transfer.  They will then contact the the original TA to have them release the reservation.  I did this from a cruise line to a TA to get perks!!

[jelayne]

There is no incentive for the TA currently holding the reservation to give the reservation to another TA.  Doing that would result in original TA not getting commission for the booking.

[39august]

The current TA has to be willing to give up the reservation and their commission, and most won't. 

[bEwAbG]

Transferring from a cruise line booking to a TA is common and allowable by most lines within a certain period of time.

 

For the cruise line to take it back over from a TA, there generally has to be something egregious happening on the TA's part.  You would have to contact the cruise line and make your case with them and it would be subject to further investigation.

[hawkesbaynz]

My experience in the UK is that I can never find better deals with TA (UK or US). Likely as I get 10% military discount. I like that I can contact Celebrity during there open times and get things sorted immediately.  
 

Used a TA for an Oceania cruise. Meagre couple percent discount even with negotiating a few TAs ( life’s too short). Then having to wait to speak to her as naturally she is part- time and colleagues will not deal with me as it is ‘concierge service’! When I wanted to change a cruise it was if I had asked a vulgar question and the new cruise was Oceania price and they charged me an admin fee!  Celebrity change ‘no worries’.

[ipeeinthepool]

deleted

Edited July 22, 2021 by ipeeinthepool

[Oceangoer2]

On 7/15/2021 at 4:51 PM, Arizona Wildcat said:

I have a great TA. Send her an email and she takes care of any issues. 

Agree to the OP that Celebrity cannot help unless the booking is transferred  to X.  Also do note that invoices from X are almost universally with errors until a week out.

My best advise is get a good TA.

In defense of X reps....I have NEVER had an incorrect booking confirmation in the many years dealing directly with them and 4 different CVPs. 

Edited July 22, 2021 by Oceangoer2

[rjrpar]

17 hours ago, sn2792 said:

My TA handles everything for me. In addition you get OBC from the TA. My cruise I’m leaving on Saturday has $725 in OBC from Celebrity and another $600 from the TA, so very worth it to not book directly.

Surprising more people don’t understand this!

[Oceangoer2]

1 minute ago, rjrpar said:

Surprising more people don’t understand this!

I don't use a TA (one time I did the trip was messed up and I had to straighten it out), but I'm surprised that X allows them so much 'extra' that they can share so much of their commission in OBC to the traveller.  Guess that pushes up cruise cost for all of us in the long run.

[wrk2cruise]

1 minute ago, Oceangoer2 said:

I don't use a TA (one time I did the trip was messed up and I had to straighten it out), but I'm surprised that X allows them so much 'extra' that they can share so much of their commission in OBC to the traveller.  Guess that pushes up cruise cost for all of us in the long run.

 

It's a volume game.  They give up part of their commission to attract business.  They get more business, they make more money.  The more business they generate for say Celebrity the better Celebrity will treat them as a preferred agency.

 

Of course they have to have lower overhead than the old brick and mortar TA's and it's generally a different service level.

 

I have a great TA who I use.  I do all my own research and generally make my booking with Celebrity and get all in order, then transfer to him.   I don't expect him to do much to service the booking unless there are price drops.  If there are unexpected issues he handles them with Celebrity for me.   He gives me a straight 10% of the commissionable cruise fare as refundable OBC.

 

It doesn't push up the cost of cruising for anyone.   Commission has been built into the travel industry fares forever.   If you book straight with Celebrity you can bet that the CVP gets most if not all of their compensation as commission.

[Oceangoer2]

2 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

It's a volume game.  They give up part of their commission to attract business.  They get more business, they make more money.  The more business they generate for say Celebrity the better Celebrity will treat them as a preferred agency.

 

Of course they have to have lower overhead than the old brick and mortar TA's and it's generally a different service level.

 

I have a great TA who I use.  I do all my own research and generally make my booking with Celebrity and get all in order, then transfer to him.   I don't expect him to do much to service the booking unless there are price drops.  If there are unexpected issues he handles them with Celebrity for me.   He gives me a straight 10% of the commissionable cruise fare as refundable OBC.

 

It doesn't push up the cost of cruising for anyone.   Commission has been built into the travel industry fares forever.   If you book straight with Celebrity you can bet that the CVP gets most if not all of their compensation as commission.

I wouldn't like to ask my CVP is she's on commission...seems so personal.  I'd like to think she's salaried and has all the protections that go with it.

[wrk2cruise]

I wasn't suggesting you ask your CVP it is none of our business.  I was just suggesting that their compensation is funded by the $$ which is paid as commission to TA's selling the same product.    That this is not increasing the cost of cruising any more than it always has.  It's just a cost of sales.

 

Many sales jobs the majority of compensation is in the form of commission.

[Bo1953]

22 hours ago, slewis7 said:

I did not know this was possible.  I have a cruise scheduled for next April and I would love to move it to another TA or Celebrity.  Does anyone know the process?

Generally, one has 30 days to transfer booking to a TA, and almost anytime to transfer back to X ONLY with a bonafide reason i.e. TA is MIA after a period of time.

 

I had to have several reservations transferred back to X because there was no communication from the TA for several weeks.

 

There is a form at X's website to complete to request the transfer.

 

bon voyage

[hcat]

On 7/15/2021 at 6:04 PM, Denny01 said:

Except being on the phone for 1.5+ hrs…..

 

den

Never waited  that long..evem during the Covid mass Cancellation period.

Just have to avoid busiest times.

 

Agree this is an issue for the TA

[Oceangoer2]

4 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

I wasn't suggesting you ask your CVP it is none of our business.  I was just suggesting that their compensation is funded by the $$ which is paid as commission to TA's selling the same product.    That this is not increasing the cost of cruising any more than it always has.  It's just a cost of sales.

 

Many sales jobs the majority of compensation is in the form of commission.

Guess I was relating to the (large) corp. I worked for....all sales staff was salaried, with bonuses and all the perks and security that go with that.  I know commission is a major driver for many sales personnel...and I don't judge them for being aggressive.  Tough world.   However, my CVP isn't, so I assumed she was on salary.

[If only]

10 hours ago, Oceangoer2 said:

In defense of X reps....I have NEVER had an incorrect booking confirmation in the many years dealing directly with them and 4 different CVPs. 

You are a lucky person, we have a cruise that goes up $200. a day for no apparent reason other than a CVP made a mistake & changed our Refundable deposit to Non-Refundable and now it cannot be changed back.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 22, 2021 by If only

[jagoffee]

On 7/21/2021 at 5:41 PM, DaKahuna said:

I have an excellent TA who has worked diligently on my behalf the few times issues have arisen.  However, she’s never given me any discounts over the prices I get direct with Celebrity, never any additional OBC, or speciality restaurants.  Am I using the wrong TA? 

Most likely.  It depends on how much help you need with your cruise selection and other decisions.