TA vs. Carnival Cruise Specialist..I am furioussssss

[cruiserlady]

Carnival honors these for bookings made with Carnival - when you book with a travel agent they actually own your reservation and must request any changes to any cruise line themselves and Carnival and the other cruise lines can not call you directly - as a matter of fact all communication must go to your travel agent before to you even in changes of itinerary etc.

[trvl69fla]

By the end of 2007 I will have cruised on my 26th cruise with Carnival. I have received a upgrade twice when I booked a "guarantee" not chose a cabin. You do receive some benefits when you become a Platinum member. The free wash and fold laundry service is wonderful. I only us a PVP with Carnival and she take good care of me. I get great past cruiser pricing. Try booking the same cabin on another cruiseline and see what kind of price you get. I have said on Princess and NCL before also. But I prefer Carnival, especially for the pricing. I have received a lower price on a cruise I have booked because I HAVE called to check the price. The PVP doesnt have time to be checking prices for all the booking they do. Carnival has been kind enought to issue me a onboard credit for a price drop after my final payment was made. Which they really didnt have to do. My suggestion would be to find a good PVP and stick with them and dont jump around from TA to TA to PVP. A TA will lose commission dollars if the price goes down, just remember that. Enough of my 2cents :-)

[Cruzman]

I sail Liberty in about 25 days; I will check prices every hour on the hour.

 

Westwing, I see that you are sailing on my ship. Come on over to our roll call at

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=275629 We have a lot of good stuff planned beginning on Friday, April 13 at the Outback Steakhouse in FLL. Come and join us!

[cindsue]

We are sailing on the Pride in May. We booked our cruise months (and months!) ago through our CSAA TA, and got an "upgrade" on the front end. We paid for one level of extended balcony cabin and actually got the highest level extended balcony cabin (8-I). Since then, the prices have gone up and all the category 8-I Cabins are now completely sold out. Needless to say, I am happy we did it the way we did. My TA advised me when you book a cabin, book the lowest category cabin you are willing to accept. Why? Because as previous posters have stated, upgrades are NOT guaranteed.

[PACURN]

I guess I should have booked the crusie myself as well...For future reference, I will definitely book with CC directly if I am going to do all the work.

 

Thats the way I look at it. Why have a middle man/women. I like to speak directly to Carnival. Thats who the TA is going to call.

[GoinCruisin]

again -- this is always stated. i believe there have been posters which have been able to get further discounts anyway. i've gotten add'l discounts in a bit of a different way: i've been in a position where i've booked through a one day sale, gotten a great rate, then a PG discount has come along, given me a better rate, and it's been lowered.

 

It's VERY rare... and if they do happen to give it to you, ANYTHING in the amount of upgrades you stand to lose... it's a hassle, you have to get a supervisor, etc etc etc... they pretty much stand by "new bookings only" Also, the sales are capacity controlled, for certain cabins only, etc etc. I think people read things on this board and assume it happens to everyone, forgetting that this board represents less than 1% of the cruising population... they see something twice and think it happens to everyone :p LOL But it's simply not true... if the price of the OP's cruise went up right after the sale, you can pretty much guarantee she wouldn't have gotten anything during the sale... the pricing is typically better before the sale...

[Imalismom]

I really think it depends on the TA. Mine checks almost everyday for me - however, we have been personal friends for the last 10 years :-). I was the one who convinced her to become a travel agent when she was looking for a new career.

 

However, just because we are friends is not why she does this - she does it for ALL her bookings - usually at ngiht from her home. Its because she IS an excellent TA.

 

She knows her paycheck depends on her "next" booking or "repeat" booking as she works 100% on commission - so she goes that extra mile (or two).

 

I would not count out all TA's for one bad one.

 

Ali's Mom

[surfklutz]

A good travel agent is worth their weight in gold. Too bad there are lots of travel agents out there that have no clue what they are doing.

 

My travel agent is an advocate for me - and she strings all my components together for me so that my trips are seamless.

[Knights on the Beach]

Am I the only one who was wondering why the OP thought she could book directly with Cruise Critic???? :p I don't believe I've ever seen anyone refer to Carnival as CC. CCL maybe, but not CC.

[stlrboo]

Am I the only one who was wondering why the OP thought she could book directly with Cruise Critic???? :p I don't believe I've ever seen anyone refer to Carnival as CC. CCL maybe, but not CC.

IMHO I think the OP was referring to Carnival Cruise Line as CC! I've seen it before! ;)

[punkin1]

I have cruised many times, on RCCL, CCL and Princess. I always book a guarantee balcony. Every time I was upgraded. I book 1 year or more in advance. For me Carnival has given me the higher cat. upgrades.

[HenryE1005]

Thats the way I look at it. Why have a middle man/women. I like to speak directly to Carnival. Thats who the TA is going to call.

 

One of the best benefits of using a travel agent/agency is that they can, at times, provide an incentive. Mine, for example, provide Carnival bonus bucks that I used to reduce the price of the cruise. I wouldn't have received this had I booked directly with Carnival.

 

It all depends on how good the travel agent/agency is to work with.

[westwingjazz]

I am still not sure what exactly this TA did that was so offensive..wish the OP would tell us more so I understand?

 

She did not do anything; thats the point. I have had my cruise booked since September. Do you know how many one day sales I missed. Now it too late to release my booking to CC. And again there is a one day sale on March 22.

 

Like one poster said, if I am going to do all the work (watching prices 24/7) why have a TA. I rather not be at the mercy of someelse's attitude. And yes I know that it hard for TA to watch prices all the time, but how can you not know if a cruise line is having a one day sale. It is often advertised all over the internet, e-mails, etc.

[westwingjazz]

if you read through the posts, it appears that she was under the impression that the TA wld monitor her booking, notify her of sales and provide her w/ the discounts. i believe some 40 plus posts later, she now knows that won't happen w/ a TA (or at the least, is very unlikely).

 

i'd like to think that a majority of the posts have given her HELPFUL information, by telling her how to check that she has received credits for each of her sailings, and combining PG #s if necessary, and with whom to book w/ in the future and/or the importance of self-monitoring prices.

 

i am not w/ Cat lady who says the Captain is all knowing --- the OP didn't need to know that she shld have been happy w/ the price she booked when she booked it so "quit whining" she needed to understand that she didn't get what she was looking for b/c she was not fully understaning the process.

 

The answers to those questions help the OP.

 

 

Thank you for so much for that........you took the words out of my mouth. The replies and information I have recieved today...priceless

[westwingjazz]

IMHO I think the OP was referring to Carnival Cruise Line as CC! I've seen it before! ;)

 

Thanks for having my back...

[michaelaz]

One more reason NOT to use a TA, I have yet to see the benifit of using a TA with the internet ,Im sure the TA's who have $$$$$$ to gain will see it different

[GoinCruisin]

She did not do anything; thats the point. I have had my cruise booked since September. Do you know how many one day sales I missed. Now it too late to release my booking to CC. And again there is a one day sale on March 22.

 

Like one poster said, if I am going to do all the work (watching prices 24/7) why have a TA. I rather not be at the mercy of someelse's attitude. And yes I know that it hard for TA to watch prices all the time, but how can you not know if a cruise line is having a one day sale. It is often advertised all over the internet, e-mails, etc.

 

Why would a TA call you for a one day sale when they are only good for NEW BOOKINGS??? Wouldn't they concentrate on contacting people that could actually take advantage of the sale, like... people that aren't booked?? I always check my own pricing, it takes all of 2 minutes to do... I have YET to see a single "sale" that was a better deal, but I also know that the sales do not apply to me since I am already booked... if the everyday price goes down, that's different... but as mentioned MANY times already, the sales are good for new bookings... if the everyday price goes down, call your TA and see what she can do. I guess a small TA with a handful of clients can check prices every day for all of their customers, but most TA's that are doing good business aren't out contacting their booked customers about a sale for new bookings only... They have these sales every week, and typically, you do better on your own... very rarely have I seen the prices actually drop below what you could get them for if you booked earlier. Even if you book direct with Carnival, they aren't going to call you every time the price drops... if you are expecting someone to do that, it's a little unrealistic considering the price of Carnival cruises... you are getting a pretty good bargain.

[jkeller527]

i will clear this all up. Most travel agents keep their bookings on a ticker for all of the sales and we get them 2 days before the public. You can not get the lower rate if final payment has been made unless you have the insurance and cancel and rebook. The cost of the loss of the insurance usually makes it not worth the rebook. Even if you are outside of final payment you can not just get the lower rate, you have to cancel the booking and rebook at the lower rate and the cruise lines do not always allow transfer of funds. That means that you have 2 deposits out there and the cruise lines can take a long time to refund the first deposit. Most reasons to use a TA are not for the price issues but rather the service. If you are not getting it then you can get an agent who will do what you want. For instance in our last blizzard there were clients coming in off the street that had booked thru the cruise lines couldnt get thru and their flights were canceled,. They were going to miss their cruise. The clients we had booked were reaccomodated before opening of business. you dont pay a travel agent the cruise line does. We often will get a better rate than the cruise line because we know when to book. Upgrades are capacity controlled and your booking will get an upgrade or not depending on those statistics not who booked thru.

[TRIBE1959]

I realize this won't help the OP but fyi. I booked thru a TA(national chain) during time between deposit and final payment I checked for price adjustments myself. When I found one (had a guaranteed suite) I called her, she called CCL and they dropped my price while I was on hold. My TA said well it's only $300 but I was thrilled. It's my first cruise so maybe it's a fluke. I sail in 19 days on Imagination. Doc's have U83 hoping it's a great room.

[Kurbanfan]

She did not do anything; thats the point. I have had my cruise booked since September. Do you know how many one day sales I missed. Now it too late to release my booking to CC. And again there is a one day sale on March 22.

 

 

There wasn't nothing for her to do. One day sales apply to new bookings. You are already booked. I think people get misinformed on here regarding upgrades and obc. Every sale does not apply. Also some can not be taken together either. I have found that we get a better price on the past guest sales.....but then again they don't apply to every sailing either.

You just need to keep a eye on your price and watch to see if it goes down.

Both myself and my TA keep a eye on our price to see if it goes down.

I see people on here with the same complaint as you....and it always turns out to be that they misunderstood how the sales work.