Travel Agent Blues

[jgooden1]

As I read many of the threads on this site I am so bummed that I reserved my upcoming cruise through a travel agent. I had taken several cruises with my parents so I knew the ropes. When it came to book a cruise for me and my husband and several years ago I felt confident enough to book on my own on-line. We had two fantastic cruises that I booked direct with HAL. For some dumb reason I decided to use an agent to book our NCL cruise this time and it has been an excruciatingly awful experience.

 

I chose her from the CLIA website assuming that she would have access to information/rates that I would not and might be able to throw in a few perks.

 

Ha! Not only were her rates the same as everything else I could find (for both the cruise and pre-cruise hotel) but I had to check and re-check what she was doing constantly. Twice she sent me the wrong people's cruise documentation. At one point she actually got into a tiff of some sort with NCL and my reservation was canceled. She did not know what side of the ship would be best for viewing ports (I did the research and told her to please chnage our cabin) and and the whopper...she did not inform me of a $3000 price drop on my room!!

 

Since I booked with her and not NCL I have no control over my situation and have to deal with her on everything. Which means long distance phone calls constantly as she always seems to be have "strange problems" with her e-mail. She does not relay any communication from NCL like the recent "Your Ticket to Dine" program that I just read about on the NCL board.

 

So, after ranting and raving all this time my comment/questions are:

 

1. If you are reasonably savvy on-line and unless you personally know a first rate travel agent I would NEVER gamble with an unknown agent. One of the main benefits of using an agent is to have them do all the leg work so you don't have to. If the agent is like mine you will spend all of your time trying to correct their mistakes!

 

2. Does anyone know of any way that I can work around my agent to get in on things like the "Your Ticket to Dine" or other offerings that NCL has for booked guests?

 

Thanks for sticking with me! Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated!!

[Tanderra]

Hi there :)....we have always, in the past, done our holidays online with no problems whatsover. This time OH's daughter talked us into going with her TA....never ever again!!!!

Like you, he seems to have a problem answering emails and I am beginning to wonder when we are getting our documents. I still have lots of questions to ask but I have now given up. I just hope we get all our documentation soon.

I realise it is still some weeks away (our cruise)....April 12th, but if we had done everything online we would have had everything by now, as my brother and sister-in-law have and they booked it all online...same cruise and accomodation afterwards, plus all flights.

I am a diabetic and can do without all these stress hormones pushing my blood sugar levels up.

I hope you get satisfaction very soon....and hope we have a wonderful vacation. No more TA's for us! :(

[Ellusionz]

I believe I've read thru the boards you can "transfer" it to the cruise company. Someone will prolly respond soon who knows or you could search for those threads that talk about it :)

[Tanderra]

I believe I've read thru the boards you can "transfer" it to the cruise company. Someone will prolly respond soon who knows or you could search for those threads that talk about it :)

 

Thankyou so much for that :)....here's hoping someone will know :)

It took me quite some time just to get the reservation number for the cruise so that I could get more information on the RCL site...apparently there was a mix up and I can't access 'My Cruises' on the site until approx 2 weeks before our cruise.

My brother had notification from RCI that our Ports of Call days had been changed....our TA never told us :(

Thankyou once again :)

[PartyAllDaTyme]

I believe I've read thru the boards you can "transfer" it to the cruise company. Someone will prolly respond soon who knows or you could search for those threads that talk about it :)

 

I'm a bit of a noob at this, but I believe that once you've booked through a TA (or had a reservation made with the cruise line transferred to the TA), they "own" the reservation, and you'd need their approval to release it for transfer to another agency (or to the cruise line). Most won't do that, since they're losing your business (at least for this trip) AND giving it to a competitor, but some will under the right circumstances in hopes that you'll remember their courtesy and they'll get more of your business, and the business of those you then refer to them, in the long run.

 

The only alternative is to cancel the booking, eat whatever cancellation fees the TA assesses, and start over.

[anxiousforvacation]

When dealing with an online travel agency you may be talking to just a basic agent. If they are not doing their job, call the general number and ask to speak to a supervisor. If they are a reputable agency they will have supervisors to speak with.

 

We had our friend book our cruise for us. I let everthing be handled for me until it got out of control. He was booking from a state that had a discount, but being from another state we didn't qualify for the discount. He told the agent where we where from, but the agent booked us with his state discount. Long story short, he told us months after the booking that we had to straigten it out with the cruise line or pay the extra current price which was several hundred more. We called in, he was not there. We asked to speak to a supervisor and our problem was solved immediately by a very friendly, knowledgable person. (I believe they made a deal with the cruiseline and the agent most likely ate his commission) I would not book another cruise with that agent but would use this online agency again.

[GrumpaTom]

This is a case of knowing who you are dealing with and trusting them to do the right things for you.

 

My wife is a home based travel agent and she bends over backwards for her clients. Each day she has a checklist of booked or pending clients and she checks that days rates for the cruises they are booked on or looking at up to the final payment date. If she sees the rate drop for her client she is on the phone to the cruise line changing their booking to the new rate and sends a message to the client once it is done so they know of the change. More then once she had seen that the price for the next level cabin, for example oceanview to balcony, has dropped a difference of only $100 per person, called the client and told them about it and changed their reservation. If the client os comfortable with her she collects their passport or ID information and does the online checkin process for them and assists them with understanding the contract and accepting it. She prints out eDocs and mails them for clients that do not have access to printers and any mail she receives is forwarded on the same day. She answers questions as quickly as possible and if she doesnt know the answer she will find it out and respond to them as soon as possible.

 

She wants their business and shows it with her actions. So you can't lump all travel agents into a bucket and call them bad. Each person is different.

[reeran]

This is a case of knowing who you are dealing with and trusting them to do the right things for you.

 

My wife is a home based travel agent and she bends over backwards for her clients. Each day she has a checklist of booked or pending clients and she checks that days rates for the cruises they are booked on or looking at up to the final payment date. If she sees the rate drop for her client she is on the phone to the cruise line changing their booking to the new rate and sends a message to the client once it is done so they know of the change. More then once she had seen that the price for the next level cabin, for example oceanview to balcony, has dropped a difference of only $100 per person, called the client and told them about it and changed their reservation. If the client os comfortable with her she collects their passport or ID information and does the online checkin process for them and assists them with understanding the contract and accepting it. She prints out eDocs and mails them for clients that do not have access to printers and any mail she receives is forwarded on the same day. She answers questions as quickly as possible and if she doesnt know the answer she will find it out and respond to them as soon as possible.

 

She wants their business and shows it with her actions. So you can't lump all travel agents into a bucket and call them bad. Each person is different.

 

 

You are so right, it is all about service. It sound like your wife is a great TA.

 

I quit using mine when I had to keep track of drops and then on top of it all she would not return my calls when I called her about them. I decided I was not going to give her my business, do her work and then have her cost me money on top of it all. I started booking on line and have done so ever since.

[jgooden1]

So you can't lump all travel agents into a bucket and call them bad. Each person is different.

 

You are right and I would never call all travel agents bad. I was specific in cautioning that unless you really know the agent (or know their reputation well) you may be in for a rough time and I would never risk it again. I have good success with agents that I knew in the past but I also feel very comfortable on-line and have done very well on my own. If you are like me having that level of control may be better than risking getting an awful agent.

[jgooden1]

You are right and I would never call all travel agents bad. I was specific in cautioning that unless you really know the agent (or know their reputation well) you may be in for a rough time and I would never risk it again. I have good success with agents that I knew in the past but I also feel very comfortable on-line and have done very well on my own. If you are like me having that level of control may be better than risking getting an awful agent.

[reeran]

You are right and I would never call all travel agents bad. I was specific in cautioning that unless you really know the agent (or know their reputation well) you may be in for a rough time and I would never risk it again. I have good success with agents that I knew in the past but I also feel very comfortable on-line and have done very well on my own. If you are like me having that level of control may be better than risking getting an awful agent.

 

 

What happed to us was, I was so disatisfied with the service on top of the fact that internet booking was becoming more popular, it just fell into place and I decided I did not need a TA anymore.