Opinion on Personal Vacation Planners

[mmpadp]

Anyone have any experience with using Carnival's Personal Vacation Planners? Any advantages or disadvantages? I'm thinking of booking a cruise to Alaska and wondering if I should book on-line or use the services of Carnival's Vacation Planners

[firefly333]

Mine is very good. There are so many constant changes to rules, that it comes in handy to have someone to call. I book and never think I will change, but a better cabin comes up, they change the name of the category, little things that its good to have someone to take care of things and tell you what you can do and cant, like with ES.

 

I know a lot of rules, but my PVP knows more and just for those unexpected things... sometimes it comes in handy.

[cuyahoga11]

Anyone have any experience with using Carnival's Personal Vacation Planners? Any advantages or disadvantages? I'm thinking of booking a cruise to Alaska and wondering if I should book on-line or use the services of Carnival's Vacation Planners

 

As with anything, you will have good and bad. With TA's you are pretty much stuck after you book if you have a bad one. With a PVP, if you dont click, you can always ask a supervisor to assign you to some one else. I have been very lucky, I had a good one, who has since left the company and the one I was assigned to is a gem.

[JulieAndTim2009]

We like a combination of the two. We've only booked 2 cruises (so far!!) but both times we have started out doing a lot of research online and having a pretty solid idea of exactly what we are going to book. Then we call our PVP and check on any specials and see what she can offer us. Both times we have had any and all questions we had answered and some great information and booked through the PVP. We figure it can't hurt to know what the online options are and then see if the PVP can offer us anything better.

Hope that helps.

[Traveler353]

My PVP is a professional. Pro-active, stays on top of price changes and any specials coming up that he thinks might be interested in. I see no reason to book thru anyone else.

[mmpadp]

Thanks for the replies. You've all convinced me to use a Personal Vacation planner.

[TCF]

It's like anything else when it comes to service; sometimes you get a good one, sometimes not so good.

 

I have found the Carnival PVP to be exceptional. He is senior in the company, is always helpful and friendly.

 

By the same token my experience with the similar position with those working at Holland America to be the opposite. Short, curt, unfriendly, not very helpful seems to sum up both the ones I have run into there.

 

We did have a TA, but once we learned about cruising, and more important, how to cruise, the value of the TA seemed to drop. Clearly, a TA is of value when you first start to cruise and when you don't have the time on your own to dig around in the details. The "deals", such as they are these days, are easily ferreted out on the cruise line sites and with the PVPs.

 

So for Carnival, Princess and NCL we use their "PVPs".....booking Holland America gets done through the TA.

[minnesotalady]

Agree with prior posters. However, with our upcoming cruise on the Carnival Dream, our PVP could not even come close to the price we got booking on line. That was our experience only and just our opinion for that cruise. We are booked, made final payment and good to go with Carnival. Again, this was our experience on this cruise. Saved $1,800.00.:D

[LHP]

We have booked cruises all 3 ways.....TA, Internet company and PVP.

 

Our PVP was sent to us by Carnival's past President "Uncle Bob" years ago...and we have used him ever since.

 

He has been wonderful. (even called me on HIS vacation to make sure I knew what Hurricane Gustav was doing to my Ecstasy cruise)

 

He watches the price for me and gets me any reductions BEFORE the final payment. (we don't so Early Saver)

 

The downside is that if you want to cruise with another cruise line...you are on your own again.

 

Some TAs will cut their commission to give you a better deal....

 

So there are pros and cons to both.....

 

I am not a big fan of Internet Companies....tried that twice (two different companies) and did not have a good result.

[Jsme]

We have friends who have one they love and adore but we have yet to find one to feel the same way about.

[ImmortalxKiss]

How exactly does one go about getting a PVP?

[tootsiescurly]

We have friends who have one they love and adore but we have yet to find one to feel the same way about.

 

Have to agree. We had a great one about 4 years ago. He was promoted. Every one since has been less than desirable. They have done the minimum, screwed up our reservation on one occaision and not proactive at all.

[UpstateCruizer]

For my first 4 cruises I used the same travel agent that I got by using a site that competes for my business. I was a good customer and required little if any help after my initial booking. My next cruise was a group cruise with Cruise Critic. I was not impressed with the agent they used and would avoid booking through them for any future cruises unless the deal was irresistable.

 

My last cruise was another through the same travel agent that booked my first 4. This time I switched my booking to Early Saver which changed everything. This meant I'd need my agent to submit price reductions for me. I had two instances of these and both times were nothing but a hassle. I also had shareholder's credit and a future cruise certificate that I submitted directly to Carnival myself.

 

When the price of my cruise dropped $270 a week before we sailed I contacted my travel agent who was kept telling me I was wrong and not entitled to price reductions etc. We went round and round until he agreed to submit my form. He had to actually call Carnival to get them to put it through so I asked him to check to make sure my OBC for shareholder and the future cruise certificate were there. His response was "I have no idea about either of those but you people who want all this done a week before you cruise are going to have to take it up with Carnival since it's between you and them at this point" Well anyone who has used a TA knows that once you are booked with a TA you can not call them as they will only talk to your TA. I knew that was the last cruise I'd be booking with that agent after that conversation.

 

When we boarded the ship I had all my required documents with me to verify what I was entitled to. Lucky for me since they tried telling me my OBC for the future cruise certificate was applied to my balance by my travel agent. After 3 days of going round and round it was straightened out. Had I used a PVP this would have all been in place prior to the cruise and any issues that may have came up would have been easy to fix with a call to him.

 

Many many people were in line at the purser's desk on the last cruise asking where the OBC their travel agent had promised was. This was from a large online site that offers obc as an incentive for booking. Guest services kept telling people there was nothing they could do if a travel agent did not follow through on their end.

 

There are some great agents out there and I'd only book with someone offering a great rate on a group cruise since those rates rarely go down lower anyway. Otherwise it's a PVP and early saver for me.

[dan40]

PVP's are order takers, nothing more. Some are knowledgeable order takers, some, not so much. But none can make a deal. None can do better than any competent TA, but a TA CAN make a better deal. Plus I cruise many lines, not just Carnival. A TA can serve me for any line, a PVP, only Carnival. And when the TA's and the PVP's prices are the same it means Carnival is banking the money that normally would go to the TA in commission.

Capable compared to capable, I'll take a TA every time.

[Travel Bugs]

I really enjoy the Cruise Critic website and am new to it. I can appreciate the policy for Cruise Critic in not providing specifics so I will share how we found our PVP.

 

Prior to knowing that the Cruise Critic site existed, I was visiting Carnival's site, on the section called "Carnival Connections" and they had a similar thread to this one. That's where others chatted about how they found their PVP, and I found the recommendation of one in particular. Also, another way that you can be contacted directly by a PVP is to "log in" at the Carnival site, and when you appear to be inquiring about cruises, all of a sudden you start getting e-mails and phone calls from someone who has been assigned to you. By the way, you do not have to take the PVP assigned to you...since we'd already started working with someone else we let the other PVP know that we had someone we'd found.

 

I like Carnival's policy with their PVP's - our PVP was ethical and wanted to make sure we didn't have another PVP (since I'd mentioned we'd been contacted) so that we weren't stepping on toes. ALSO, I found out they don't work on commission like TA's, rather they earn points for booking and if you've been working with a PVP and later decide to book with a TA, please know that you can first book with the PVP so they receive credit for all the help they've provided you and then they can transfer it over to your TA who actually earns a commission. Have fun shopping for cruises - we're excited to be sailing next year on the Splendor.

[CruisingSoon88]

I originally booked our cruise by just calling the toll free number. I ended up having to change our cruise date and ship. By just calling back to the toll free number with no specific person to talk to, I always got different answers to the same questions. Someone on here gave me the generic PVP number which is 1-800-819-3902. Just call this number and ask to be assigned a PVP. It worked for me and I am satisfied so far with my PVP.:)