irockadidas Posted February 22, 2012 #1 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Just wondering if upsell's are only offered to people that booked directly through carnival or do they also offer them to people that booked through a TA. Anyone have any experience with this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GottaLuvCruising Posted February 22, 2012 #2 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I was a TA for 5 years and often got upsell (and upgrade) calls from cruise lines for my clients. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sami1220 Posted February 23, 2012 #3 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I certainly hope so! I was going to book through Carnival but a friend gave the TA my phone number and let her know that I was gonna book too....so I felt "obligated" to book through her....I am hoping we still get the chance at a good upsell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
golfadj Posted February 23, 2012 #4 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I would think it would be faster and more efficient to contact passengers direct, leaving out clients of TA's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewels4488 Posted February 23, 2012 #5 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I was a TA for 5 years and often got upsell (and upgrade) calls from cruise lines for my clients. We are sailing in 3 months. I let my TA know I am checking prices and would upgrade to a balcony if there was a price drop. Do you think I need to ask her to call me if Carnival calls her, or will she do this anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iceleven Posted February 23, 2012 #6 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I received an "upsell" while booking on my own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GottaLuvCruising Posted February 23, 2012 #7 Share Posted February 23, 2012 We are sailing in 3 months. I let my TA know I am checking prices and would upgrade to a balcony if there was a price drop. Do you think I need to ask her to call me if Carnival calls her, or will she do this anyway? I would absolutely expect your TA to contact you. If you are open to any upgrade, let her know proactively. I could usually reach a client within minutes. One time I could not because they were traveling to the ship. So I accepted the upgrade on their behalf and left them a message. They were thrilled (balcony to suite at no cost to them). Several times I also received calls where a cruise ship was oversold and they were offering substantial compensation if clients would take an alternate cruise. One cruise line in particular seemed to do this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Room Service! Posted February 23, 2012 #8 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I use a TA. Have never received an upsell offer, but did receive an upgrade. From balcony to a suite. Sweet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
golfadj Posted February 23, 2012 #9 Share Posted February 23, 2012 We are sailing in 3 months. I let my TA know I am checking prices and would upgrade to a balcony if there was a price drop. Do you think I need to ask her to call me if Carnival calls her, or will she do this anyway? If she is doing her job she will call you, if not she should not be your TA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karonijo Posted February 23, 2012 #10 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I have used the same TA for most of my cruises taken in the past 10 years. She was one of my sisters best friends in high school. At first, I thought she was good and took care of us...I was pretty new at what to expect I guess or what she had the capability of doing for us. Out of all the cruises booked through her, I can't remember ever her calling us for any kind of upgrade offers. I think there was one time I recall ever even getting a bottle of wine delivered to our cabin upon sail away..which was actually from the company she worked for at the time. Our last cruise was just in October and it was my 50th birthday ...which she new and so many times mentioned it in our conversations. I really thought she would have a little surprise in the cabin for me waiting. Nothing ...all week long. Why do they ask if you are celebrating anything special if they don't do anything special for you? to thank you for your business you have given for so many years. Well..that was my last time booking with her. I am going directly through Carnival ..I enjoyed having a PVP when we did. He always knew when I was looking online though.. LOL I also thought that was one of the reasons we never got a call for upgrades due to we had a TA. I also like checking out my booking online and being able to makes changes, add excursions, make purchases..etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
golfadj Posted February 23, 2012 #11 Share Posted February 23, 2012 We started our cruising career with local TA who was very good we thought but in retrospect really wasnt based on what we have learned here. Went to pvp but went back to TA when pvp left suddenly and found TA who gave obc. Used her for several cruises and was ok but for upcoming one used a pvp. I am too hands on to have to wait on TA to get back to me when I could call direct and get things done more quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdGuyMG Posted February 23, 2012 #12 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Just as Carnival will not talk to you about your booking if you booked with a T/A they will not (and can not) contact a T/A booked client about up-sells. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
douglinc@msn.com Posted February 23, 2012 #13 Share Posted February 23, 2012 We always use a TA and have never got an up sell call. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakesnana Posted February 23, 2012 #14 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Just as Carnival will not talk to you about your booking if you booked with a T/A they will not (and can not) contact a T/A booked client about up-sells. You are correct, they do not contact the passenger directly, but they do contact the TA to see if their client would be interested in an upsell. It has happened in the past and I assume still happens today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
golfadj Posted February 23, 2012 #15 Share Posted February 23, 2012 You are correct, they do not contact the passenger directly, but they do contact the TA to see if their client would be interested in an upsell. It has happened in the past and I assume still happens today. Have gotten the call twice from Carnival and it was obvious they wanted an immediate answer. Barely gave me a minute to talk to DW the first time going from inside to aft wrap. Do not think they will want to wait on TA contact the passenger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdGuyMG Posted February 23, 2012 #16 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Have gotten the call twice from Carnival and it was obvious they wanted an immediate answer. Barely gave me a minute to talk to DW the first time going from inside to aft wrap. Do not think they will want to wait on TA contact the passenger. Nope. And that's just another one of several reasons TA booked guests will not get a call from the Fairy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GottaLuvCruising Posted February 24, 2012 #17 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Nope. And that's just another one of several reasons TA booked guests will not get a call from the Fairy. You are mistaken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irockadidas Posted February 24, 2012 Author #18 Share Posted February 24, 2012 I use a TA. Have never received an upsell offer, but did receive an upgrade. From balcony to a suite. Sweet! Did carnival call you directly or did the TA? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
golfadj Posted February 24, 2012 #19 Share Posted February 24, 2012 You are mistaken. Than we can agree to disagree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leslierx Posted February 24, 2012 #20 Share Posted February 24, 2012 On our first Disney cruise which we booked with a travel agent that I love - she called me to say that we had been upgraded from inside to ocean view at no additional charge - great surprise! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brvhart123 Posted February 24, 2012 #21 Share Posted February 24, 2012 I been on 10 Carnival cruises so far, all booked through my TA. And I have had one up sell offer, Carnival contact my TA. Who in turn contacted me about the offer. Was not much of a deal, so I declined. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdGuyMG Posted February 24, 2012 #22 Share Posted February 24, 2012 You are mistaken. No I'm not. The Upsell call is a revenue opportunity that presents itself when a ship is bottom heavy in lower category bookings and top heavy in available open categories. The Upsell fairy has a limited amount of time to change the complexion of the way the ship is booked. That's why the calls are quick and the prices are (usually) attractive. The Upsell Fairy has no time to analyze the passengers past guest history. The Fairy looks at the opportunities open for the quickest and easiest way to make the most added revenue to the ship. And Stu is right that Carnival contacting TA's who then in turn have to call their customers who may have to then talk it over with their spouses who then have to call the TA back etc, is not the the most efficient way to upsell the ship. And how much revenue does the TA get from the cheap upsell?? Nothing!! But they have to go on their GOCCL computer and do the work to make the changes. In addition, Travel Agents DO NOT under any circumstances want Carnival to contact their clients directly and a call from the Upsell Fairy is just that. It can open up a whole can of worms. What about travel insurance? Seasoned cruisers know how important it is to buy it. Do you think TA's would be OK with Carnival calling their clients to discuss and upsell them valuable trip coverage their travel agent may have neglected to offer? I don't think it would fly. Bottom line.. The Upsell Fairy does not contact non-direct TA booked customers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calif. RN Posted February 24, 2012 #23 Share Posted February 24, 2012 We are sailing on the Miracle in 2 weeks. We booked directly with Carnival, and are past-passengers. I got a call about 10 days ago from the "Upgrade Fairy", a very polite young man who wanted to know if we were interested in trading up from our mid-ship balcony to a mini-suite - only $585 extra, per person. Really? This is exactly the price difference between the balcony we have and the mini-suite, at the time of original booking. If we had wanted to spend another $1170, we would have booked the mini in the first place. The upsell is just that - a polite, but business-focused attempt by Carnival to fill unsold cabins. No deep discount there. I declined the upsell, and am happy with the balcony cabin we booked originally. $1170 just barely covers our airfare from the West Coast to FLL! :eek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulMedik Posted February 24, 2012 #24 Share Posted February 24, 2012 I received an upsell call for the first leg of a B2B and mentioned that we were doing a B2B and asked if they would contact me about it since we booked the second leg thru a TA. They said they would and they did and we bought. Very easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
golfadj Posted February 24, 2012 #25 Share Posted February 24, 2012 We are sailing on the Miracle in 2 weeks. We booked directly with Carnival, and are past-passengers. I got a call about 10 days ago from the "Upgrade Fairy", a very polite young man who wanted to know if we were interested in trading up from our mid-ship balcony to a mini-suite - only $585 extra, per person. Really? This is exactly the price difference between the balcony we have and the mini-suite, at the time of original booking. If we had wanted to spend another $1170, we would have booked the mini in the first place. The upsell is just that - a polite, but business-focused attempt by Carnival to fill unsold cabins. No deep discount there. I declined the upsell, and am happy with the balcony cabin we booked originally. $1170 just barely covers our airfare from the West Coast to FLL! :eek: We have gotten two calls when dealing with pvp. First to go to aft wrap from inside was a deal and we grabbed it. Second to go from inside to suite was exactly the same as the website showed and we passed. how many cabins they have to move and time frame will determine the deals they will offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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