Invoices for Crystal cruises.

[bayonejoe]

How long is it taking from time of booking until receipt of the invoice?

thanks

[Stickman1990]

I’m going to go out on a limb and say - it varies 

But I’ve been seeing a few hours but I’ve heard of cases of it being the next day 

Best to ask your TA what their experience has been or are you booking directly with Crystal?

[History&Wine]

I made my booking directly with Crystal.  I received my invoice while I was still on the phone with the rep.

 

I was told I have 30 days to move the booking to a TA.  Admittedly the last time i cruised was pre-covid.  It seems amenities provided by TAs has shrunk quite a bit.  Or is this because TAs know nothing about the new Crystal? 

[Stickman1990]

2 minutes ago, History&Wine said:

It seems amenities provided by TAs has shrunk quite a bit.  Or is this because TAs know nothing about the new Crystal? 

Certainly not my experience - same great amenities as before for our bookings. I would always book through my TA - IMHO there’s no upside in booking direct with the cruise line and you’re leaving money on the table 

[History&Wine]

3 minutes ago, Stickman1990 said:

Certainly not my experience - same great amenities as before for our bookings. I would always book through my TA - IMHO there’s no upside in booking direct with the cruise line and you’re leaving money on the table 

I was told by the Crystal rep that the TA would receive all the commission (same as TA had booked it) if the booking was moved within 30 days.  So it seems there should be no difference.  Am I missing something??

[Stickman1990]

7 minutes ago, History&Wine said:

I was told by the Crystal rep that the TA would receive all the commission (same as TA had booked it) if the booking was moved within 30 days.  So it seems there should be no difference.  Am I missing something??

No I think you’re right nut it’s not an experience I’ve ever had so I’m sure others will point out any gotchas in that process

I hadn’t understood that you were going to transfer it to a TA. So why bother making it direct with Crystal in the first place? 

[Jimmycruiser]

6 minutes ago, History&Wine said:

I was told by the Crystal rep that the TA would receive all the commission (same as TA had booked it) if the booking was moved within 30 days.  So it seems there should be no difference.  Am I missing something??

Our TA rebates about 7 to 8% of the cruise fare less destination charges to a prepaid Visa card at completion of the cruise. Price quoted by TA was exactly the same as quoted by Crystal so definitely worth booking thru TA after confirmation of incentives.

[History&Wine]

3 minutes ago, Stickman1990 said:

No I think you’re right nut it’s not an experience I’ve ever had so I’m sure others will point out any gotchas in that process

I hadn’t understood that you were going to transfer it to a TA. So why bother making it direct with Crystal in the first place? 

TA refused to book with Crystal...  looking for a new one....talked to two and the amenities seem VERY small relative to my prior experience. 

[Keith1010]

2 hours ago, bayonejoe said:

How long is it taking from time of booking until receipt of the invoice?

thanks

Early on a few days because of the volume. Book it today likely faster.

 

Keith

[bayonejoe]

We booked on 2-1-23 and received an invoice he same day.

Unfortunately the Crystal Society discount was not included as well as the 500 ship board credit. Still waiting for the revised invoice. Eight days later, still no invoice. Repeated inquiries by my TA are met with “it has been sent” .At least for me not a great start with Crystal .

[Stickman1990]

20 minutes ago, bayonejoe said:

We booked on 2-1-23 and received an invoice he same day.

Eight days later, still no invoice. Repeated inquiries by my TA are met with “it has been sent”

You’d think they’d at least offer to resend it to you! Just doesn’t sound right to me 

I know what I’d be doing - get a professional on the job - a good trusted Travel Agent who will work on your behalf, charge you nothing and very likely offer you incentives to work with them. Given the booking is very recent I’d suggest you exercise that option 

[bayonejoe]

Thanks for the advice.

My very competent TA has been dealing with this daily. At first spending hours holding in order to talk to Crystal reps. Last Friday even speaking with a supervisor while on a conference call with me. I thought, problem solved. Now my TA is just told that the invoice has been sent and she can’t be connected to a supervisor. Needless to say she is very frustrated as am I. 
 

We have anxiously awaited the relaunching of the New Crystal. Hopefully, we will finally be on the 2024 WC. Which we had originally booked on old Crystal.

My TA will try again tomorrow. 

 

 

[Roland4]

4 hours ago, History&Wine said:

TA refused to book with Crystal...  looking for a new one....talked to two and the amenities seem VERY small relative to my prior experience. 

Gee, I wonder why??? The industry, and retail TAs in particular, went through most of 2020 and almost all of 2021 on almost no commission income. While almost all the cruise lines "commission protected" all those millions of dollars in cancelled sailings, not every supplier did, and this resulted in some cases of thousands of dollars of commissions that had been paid in 2019/2020 being recalled. I am the Office Manager, as well as a Consultant, and I watched this happen in real time. While the agency I work with survived, it was a close-run thing, and some of our "competitors" in our community never did re-open.

[Keith1010]

6 hours ago, bayonejoe said:

Thanks for the advice.

My very competent TA has been dealing with this daily. At first spending hours holding in order to talk to Crystal reps. Last Friday even speaking with a supervisor while on a conference call with me. I thought, problem solved. Now my TA is just told that the invoice has been sent and she can’t be connected to a supervisor. Needless to say she is very frustrated as am I. 
 

We have anxiously awaited the relaunching of the New Crystal. Hopefully, we will finally be on the 2024 WC. Which we had originally booked on old Crystal.

My TA will try again tomorrow. 

 

 

I know this is frustrating but the good news is you are booked, and this will get fixed.  Hopefully, the TA will be able to connect with Crystal Reservation with less hold time as the next set of bookings doesn't open for a few more days.

 

Good luck with this and remember time is on your side for the invoice to be updated.

Keith

[May B]

16 hours ago, bayonejoe said:

Thanks for the advice.

My very competent TA has been dealing with this daily. At first spending hours holding in order to talk to Crystal reps. Last Friday even speaking with a supervisor while on a conference call with me. I thought, problem solved. Now my TA is just told that the invoice has been sent and she can’t be connected to a supervisor. Needless to say she is very frustrated as am I. 
 

We have anxiously awaited the relaunching of the New Crystal. Hopefully, we will finally be on the 2024 WC. Which we had originally booked on old Crystal.

My TA will try again tomorrow. 

 

 

Bizarre for your TA not to have received the invoice. Perhaps YOU should try one phone call, and ask to have the invoice sent directly to you.

 

If/when the person at the other end of the phone says no, I think you should ask to confirm the email address they have on file for your TA. Presumably your TA has already done that, perhaps multiple times. But I feel like this warrants acting like a dog with a bone.

 

I can see why you and the TA are frustrated to the nth degree! Hopefully one of you will hit the jackpot soon with a Crystal person who can generate the invoice again. 

[csto]

Until Crystal has an online system that allows the TA to book, cancel, modify reservations etc without the need to constantly call, these issues will continue to occur.  I frankly don't blame a TA for not wanting to book a Crystal cruise at this time considering the wasted time and frustration compared to other luxury lines.

[bitob]

On 2/9/2023 at 7:29 PM, Roland4 said:

Gee, I wonder why??? The industry, and retail TAs in particular, went through most of 2020 and almost all of 2021 on almost no commission income. While almost all the cruise lines "commission protected" all those millions of dollars in cancelled sailings, not every supplier did, and this resulted in some cases of thousands of dollars of commissions that had been paid in 2019/2020 being recalled. I am the Office Manager, as well as a Consultant, and I watched this happen in real time. While the agency I work with survived, it was a close-run thing, and some of our "competitors" in our community never did re-open.

Larry -- my TA will not book Crystal either.  His entire consortium is staying away I am told.  He has a thriving large on line cruise company.  He is not worried about survival.  With all the business I and my friends give him he cannot be hurting. LOLOL

[Keith1010]

12 hours ago, csto said:

Until Crystal has an online system that allows the TA to book, cancel, modify reservations etc without the need to constantly call, these issues will continue to occur.  I frankly don't blame a TA for not wanting to book a Crystal cruise at this time considering the wasted time and frustration compared to other luxury lines.

I hear you but If I was a client who would't go the extra mile for me I would likely not be a client of them.

 

So yes I know it's more difficult to book a cruise with Crystal but so it goes.

 

It's all part of the job IMHO.

 

Keith

[bayonejoe]

Booked 2 cruises on 2-1-23. Finally received corrected invoices on 2-16-23.

This was after multiple calls by my TA.

Her opinion is that the Crystal agents are inexperienced and do not know the Crystal product.

Obviously it will take time

 

[ctjon]

 Not forgiving anyone but normal today is getting inexperienced agents and taking a long time to get results - no matter what the industry.

[Keith1010]

Yes with a whole new reservations team it's going to take them awhile to get up to speed.  

 

Joanthan I agree and severe times when we call customer service we are speaking with someone outside the USA.  Often they are reading from an on-line screen which is scripted.

 

On another social platform I just read a positive experience that a Crystal Society Member from the EU had. They said they had three calls with international customer service who picked up right away and answered all the questions they had and understood the EU rules, regulations and conditions so sounds like that experience is better than the USA domestic based ones. Hopefully with each passing week customer service for North America will get better.

 

Keith

[BWIVince]

4 hours ago, ctjon said:

 Not forgiving anyone but normal today is getting inexperienced agents and taking a long time to get results - no matter what the industry.

 

Totally...  ...And also there IS NO product yet to be experts on.  Most of the product hasn't been designed yet, so when it is, the agents will get that training.  There's not a lot for them to say at this point though.

 

Vince