Replying to the original inquiry, a dirty little secret our TA passed on a few years ago may explain the lack of availability of certain suites on certain cruises. Many suites are "held" with a deposit even prior to release of the itinerary to the public by large travel agencies. They can keep those suites off the market and reach out to many of their frequent customers to offer "an exclusive package". They throw in additional OBC, a nice bottle of wine, car service, luggage service... while still making money. They even trade the suites around to "affiliated" agencies. When the final payment is due, if they have not booked a client, they release the suite and get their deposit refunded. We were "lucky" and accepted one of these offers two years ago. Received all four perks offered by cruise line, $250 additional OBC and welcome bottle of red wine (TA made a large point they were both from her) and $150 OBC from the agency.
With that said, maybe she was just a great salesperson telling us that story to make us feel she was taking good care of us with her inside connections in bookings. Maybe it is 100% BS.
More suites?
in Celebrity Cruises
Posted
Replying to the original inquiry, a dirty little secret our TA passed on a few years ago may explain the lack of availability of certain suites on certain cruises. Many suites are "held" with a deposit even prior to release of the itinerary to the public by large travel agencies. They can keep those suites off the market and reach out to many of their frequent customers to offer "an exclusive package". They throw in additional OBC, a nice bottle of wine, car service, luggage service... while still making money. They even trade the suites around to "affiliated" agencies. When the final payment is due, if they have not booked a client, they release the suite and get their deposit refunded. We were "lucky" and accepted one of these offers two years ago. Received all four perks offered by cruise line, $250 additional OBC and welcome bottle of red wine (TA made a large point they were both from her) and $150 OBC from the agency.
With that said, maybe she was just a great salesperson telling us that story to make us feel she was taking good care of us with her inside connections in bookings. Maybe it is 100% BS.