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Is My TA lazy or wrong?


April42749
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I generally book with a TA because either the cruise is a few dollars cheaper or we get some OBC. I'm not loyal to any particular TA or agency, just who gives me a better deal. And sometimes, because I often book close to the sail date, I book directly.

Anyway, from these boards I'm almost sure that I read (recently) that if the price goes down after final payment you can get a credit of 25% of the difference.

The price of my cruise went down by $50/pp...so I asked my TA if we are entitled to this as OBC from NCL. His response: "NCL no longer offers compensation for price changes after final payment"

So, wrong or lazy? This isn't something I'm going to "fight for"....but if he is misinformed or lazy I'll use a different TA in the future.

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Most cruise lines don't offer much if anything after final payment. At most 25% of the difference in OBC..so in your case, not much.

 

If it had gone up after payment, would you want them to call you and ask for the difference?

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Most cruise lines don't offer much if anything after final payment. At most 25% of the difference in OBC..so in your case, not much.

 

If it had gone up after payment, would you want them to call you and ask for the difference?

 

LOL....of course not! And I said it wasn't worth fighting over. I just wanted to know if it allowable...and he's too lazy to get it for me. If that's the case...and it is allowable but he's lazy....there really isn't much benefit for using him in the future. He isn't the only TA out there and I'm pretty capable of making my own phone calls.

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LOL....of course not! And I said it wasn't worth fighting over. I just wanted to know if it allowable...and he's too lazy to get it for me. If that's the case...and it is allowable but he's lazy....there really isn't much benefit for using him in the future. He isn't the only TA out there and I'm pretty capable of making my own phone calls.

It’s very rare for NCL to give obc for price drops anymore, especially for $12.

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LOL....of course not! And I said it wasn't worth fighting over. I just wanted to know if it allowable...and he's too lazy to get it for me. If that's the case...and it is allowable but he's lazy....there really isn't much benefit for using him in the future. He isn't the only TA out there and I'm pretty capable of making my own phone calls.

 

My neighbors cruise a lot more than me, they have told me that after I book the cruise and have made final payment, don't look at the price again. I think it's good advice.

 

I am currently looking at cruise that goes next Sept...11 day in the Southern Caribbean...I can tall you that in the last 3 months I have hesitated to book it, it has gone UP.....

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I generally book with a TA because either the cruise is a few dollars cheaper or we get some OBC. I'm not loyal to any particular TA or agency, just who gives me a better deal. And sometimes, because I often book close to the sail date, I book directly.

Anyway, from these boards I'm almost sure that I read (recently) that if the price goes down after final payment you can get a credit of 25% of the difference.

The price of my cruise went down by $50/pp...so I asked my TA if we are entitled to this as OBC from NCL. His response: "NCL no longer offers compensation for price changes after final payment"

So, wrong or lazy? This isn't something I'm going to "fight for"....but if he is misinformed or lazy I'll use a different TA in the future.

 

Your travel agent is correct and you are incorrect, and honestly you kind of come off as an entitled jerk here. OCCASIONALLY they WILL give a partial credit if you booked the cruise and the price drops within 24 hours, but not always. Once final payment has passed, you are entitled to nothing. If you're unhappy with your TA, move on. If you're happy, stick with him. But if you have a concern address it with your TA, not passive-aggressively here on an anonymous forum.

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I generally book with a TA because either the cruise is a few dollars cheaper or we get some OBC. I'm not loyal to any particular TA or agency, just who gives me a better deal. And sometimes, because I often book close to the sail date, I book directly.

Anyway, from these boards I'm almost sure that I read (recently) that if the price goes down after final payment you can get a credit of 25% of the difference.

The price of my cruise went down by $50/pp...so I asked my TA if we are entitled to this as OBC from NCL. His response: "NCL no longer offers compensation for price changes after final payment"

So, wrong or lazy? This isn't something I'm going to "fight for"....but if he is misinformed or lazy I'll use a different TA in the future.

 

For $12.50? This has to be a joke.

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LOL....of course not! And I said it wasn't worth fighting over. I just wanted to know if it allowable...and he's too lazy to get it for me. If that's the case...and it is allowable but he's lazy....there really isn't much benefit for using him in the future. He isn't the only TA out there and I'm pretty capable of making my own phone calls.

 

Put yourself in his shoes. If dozens of clients were calling in weekly to wrangle an approximate $12/pp OBC adjustment with the cruiseline every time there was a post-final payment "sale", how much time does he have to develop/foster/manage new fully-commissioned bookings?

 

Even if it were "allowable", I wouldn't call telling you "nope" being lazy - I'd call it smart regardless of the client thinking this would be a nicety that would sweeten repeat business.

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Your travel agent is correct and you are incorrect, and honestly you kind of come off as an entitled jerk here. OCCASIONALLY they WILL give a partial credit if you booked the cruise and the price drops within 24 hours, but not always. Once final payment has passed, you are entitled to nothing. If you're unhappy with your TA, move on. If you're happy, stick with him. But if you have a concern address it with your TA, not passive-aggressively here on an anonymous forum.

I see nothing wrong with the tone of the OP. Just asking a question which is what these boards are intended for. I think it would be passive-aggressive if the OP addressed it with the TA in a "lazy or lie" manner.

Edited by Mike_DeA
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I see nothing wrong with the tone of the OP. Just asking a question which is what these boards are intended for. I think it would be passive-aggressive if the OP address it with the TA in a "lazy or lie" manner.

OP asked if the TA was lazy or wrong, when in fact the TA was most likely correct. The OP didn’t mention that as an option.

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On my upcoming cruise on the Escape in October, the current promo for OBC plus Free At Sea was added after I was in final payment (I had only gotten the Free at Sea perks). I had booked through my NCL personal cruise consultant and she was able to get me the OBC offer added.

 

I have also heard what the OP posted of being able to get 25% of the price drop in OBC through NCL PCCs, but I have not heard of TAs consistently being able to offer such things.

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On my upcoming cruise on the Escape in October, the current promo for OBC plus Free At Sea was added after I was in final payment (I had only gotten the Free at Sea perks). I had booked through my NCL personal cruise consultant and she was able to get me the OBC offer added.

 

I have also heard what the OP posted of being able to get 25% of the price drop in OBC through NCL PCCs, but I have not heard of TAs consistently being able to offer such things.

 

Thank you Jamie. I knew I heard it somewhere. From now on I'll probably use an NCL PCC. This agent or any other agent doesn't save me "big bucks" and I prefer to be in control of my booking.

 

 

It's amazing that I just ask a "policy question" and I get insulted and flamed. I never said I was upset or even cared about the credit per se. Sadly, the reading comprehension level of this forum is rather pathetic since so many entirely missed my point.

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I had this exact problem on my last Celebrity cruise (seems like all the cruise lines stick together on this). Booked a Sky Suite as all suites was sold out early. Paid final payment and the following day (less than 24 hours,) went online and found that the suites that were all sold out had come back on the market, also they were priced ridiculously low. We had a total of minus -$1800 difference for our suite. Make a long story short. My TA and Celebrity went back and forth for over a week and finally,thanks mostly to my TA, they upgraded us to a Celebrity Suite, where the price difference was more in line with what I had already paid. This was definitely an exception to the rule, they usually do not make any price adjustments after final payment or OBC. But this was over the top in pricing.

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I am surprised by some of the response so far. There is NO rule for NCL to do anything because a price drops after final payment. It is possible that you can get an upgrade or small about of OBC depending on the amount of the drop. However, its also quite possible that you will not get an upgrade and will not get additional OBC. This probably depends on availability of upgrades, etc.

NCL like all other cruise lines is not required to do anything just because of a price drop just like they cant hold you responsible for a price increase after final payment.

You can ask but if your TA already hooked you up with a good deal, its possible there is nothing more to give. Take no offense but a price drop of $50 is really not that substantial to offer something IMHO. I have had price drops of $600.

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I had this exact problem on my last Celebrity cruise (seems like all the cruise lines stick together on this). Booked a Sky Suite as all suites was sold out early. Paid final payment and the following day (less than 24 hours,) went online and found that the suites that were all sold out had come back on the market, also they were priced ridiculously low. We had a total of minus -$1800 difference for our suite. Make a long story short. My TA and Celebrity went back and forth for over a week and finally,thanks mostly to my TA, they upgraded us to a Celebrity Suite, where the price difference was more in line with what I had already paid. This was definitely an exception to the rule, they usually do not make any price adjustments after final payment or OBC. But this was over the top in pricing.

 

For $1800 I'd be upset. And, if the TA didn't get involved I'd be uber upset! Now, that's a good TA.

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I generally book with a TA because either the cruise is a few dollars cheaper or we get some OBC. I'm not loyal to any particular TA or agency, just who gives me a better deal. And sometimes, because I often book close to the sail date, I book directly.

Anyway, from these boards I'm almost sure that I read (recently) that if the price goes down after final payment you can get a credit of 25% of the difference.

The price of my cruise went down by $50/pp...so I asked my TA if we are entitled to this as OBC from NCL. His response: "NCL no longer offers compensation for price changes after final payment"

So, wrong or lazy? This isn't something I'm going to "fight for"....but if he is misinformed or lazy I'll use a different TA in the future.

 

You forgot thee third option. The TA is correct. NCL doen't give any OBC for price drops. You can upgrade to a higher category, but that is all that they will do for you.

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On my upcoming cruise on the Escape in October, the current promo for OBC plus Free At Sea was added after I was in final payment (I had only gotten the Free at Sea perks). I had booked through my NCL personal cruise consultant and she was able to get me the OBC offer added.

 

I have also heard what the OP posted of being able to get 25% of the price drop in OBC through NCL PCCs, but I have not heard of TAs consistently being able to offer such things.

 

I'm curious where you "heard" this. If have never heard or read of such a thing and have been cruising for almost 30 years.

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I'm curious where you "heard" this. If have never heard or read of such a thing and have been cruising for almost 30 years.

 

Jamie "heard it" the same place as me....here.

 

People have had price drops of $XXX....and received 25% credit in the form of OBC. There was a thread about this recently....in the past 2 weeks. I forget the specifics...but I'm going "thread hunting".

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I'm curious where you "heard" this. If have never heard or read of such a thing and have been cruising for almost 30 years.

 

 

Here's the thread that was going on about the time the OBC offer went out and people were trying to get it added after final payment: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2652335

 

Here's a recent thread that has a few references to the 25% OBC for price drops. I know I have seen it referred to a bunch of times before, this is just one of the more recent threads that came up in a quick forum search: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2677819

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Here's the thread that was going on about the time the OBC offer went out and people were trying to get it added after final payment: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2652335

 

Here's a recent thread that has a few references to the 25% OBC for price drops. I know I have seen it referred to a bunch of times before, this is just one of the more recent threads that came up in a quick forum search: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2677819

 

Thank you again Jamie. It's nice to see that that OP was not called an entitled idiot although she was proactive about $25.

 

No...I don't actually expect a TA to spend time "fighting" for my $25. The price I got from him is still less than if I booked today. But, by definition, it's his job...since he is being paid to handle my booking.

 

 

To sum it up....he may be correct. He may not be correct. But, I think I'm better off using a PCC for NCL as long as I can do it myself (with Jamie's help...lol).

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To sum it up....he may be correct. He may not be correct. But, I think I'm better off using a PCC for NCL as long as I can do it myself (with Jamie's help...lol).

 

One of the main reasons I book through the PCC is that she specifically told me the first time I booked through her (my second cruise) that if prices or perks change after I book, even after final payment, she might be able to help me out. Which she did with that OBC change. I don't know for sure if she gets me any better or worse deal up front with the initial booking than using a TA, but so far she's been pretty great to me... always returns my calls and emails and puts up with all my questions.

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You forgot thee third option. The TA is correct. NCL doen't give any OBC for price drops. You can upgrade to a higher category, but that is all that they will do for you.

When we sailed on the Breakaway two years ago, I watched the pricing after final payment. I knew that I couldn't get any money if the price dropped. However, I was watching for price drops in the room category. We were originally booked in a regular mid-ship balcony. About three weeks before sailing, I noticed the pricing on spa balcony cabins had dropped significantly. They were still more than what I had paid for the mid-ship balcony, but only by $40.00. I did a quick mock reservation and found several of the spa balconies were available. So I asked our TA to see if we could pay the $40.00 pp price difference and upgrade to the spa balcony. We were able to secure the new room! We were able to keep our selected amenities and we got the thermal suite access for much less than it would have cost if we kept the original balcony and paid for a thermal suite pass. It was a wonderful trip!

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It's amazing that I just ask a "policy question" and I get insulted and flamed. I never said I was upset or even cared about the credit per se. Sadly, the reading comprehension level of this forum is rather pathetic since so many entirely missed my point.

 

I'll bite. It's not about whether you were upset about the $12 you may have missed out on. Asking a question is fine. That wasn't the issue either. It was the "lazy or lie" bit you added in. Basically, you're flaming the TA before you even know if they deserved to be flamed. Then, when people comment on it, you turn around and insult the reading comprehension of other posters. That's basically why I decided to bother posting. If it had just been the first thing, I wouldn't have said anything if you hadn't either (or at least not insulted people). Adding the second insult basically cemented it that you're an a%#&*(... er, jerk.

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