Has anyone else in the UK recently seen a decline in service?

[missminnie]

Hi All

 

After the debarcle of the 123Go offer not being available to us UK residents, I decided to forget it and just get on with our upcoming cruise on the Eclipse on 6th Apr.

 

But yesterday I noticed significant price drops on all cabins and immediately emailed and called my PCS at Celebrity. Left a voicemail and waited. Chased up again a few hours later and still waiting for an email or call back now - over 24 hours later.

 

Now all the cabins we could have upgraded to for just a little more have gone and we were so annoyed. So looked to downgrade to save some money as fed up with their UK service at the moment. Found a good price for a 1C and emailed again. Checked again and even those cabins have gone now - I've never had such poor response times or service from them.

 

Has anyone else experienced this recently as I've never had any problems until the last few months where I'm finding more and more it's a "No you can't have this or that" or just no response at all

 

Will definately be trying another cruise line next year as notice Oceania have some lovely itineraries for not much more to be honest.

[AGGSBAGGS]

We use a TA normally and we seen a price drop for our Xmas cruse. He immediately got on to celebrity and we got the price drop. To be honest, I had a problem with Cunard last week about a price drop, and I was resolved eventually. Allison

[missminnie]

We use a TA normally and we seen a price drop for our Xmas cruse. He immediately got on to celebrity and we got the price drop. To be honest, I had a problem with Cunard last week about a price drop, and I was resolved eventually. Allison

 

Thanks Allison. We've always booked directly as the TA we've all spoken to have all told us that once booked we couldn't benefit from price drops. Just like booking a normal package holiday the price you book at is the price you pay - this is the reason we've always booked directly in the end. Clearly I'm not speaking to the right TA in that case.

[u2cruiser]

missminnie, do you have to go through the PCS?

I certainly wouldn't wait around for a response from them for more than 24 hours, when time is of the essence and cabins are disappearing by the minute. I wouldn't email either as I'm sure direct calls are dealt with quicker than emails.

 

Not surprised you are disappointed.

[missminnie]

missminnie, do you have to go through the PCS?

I certainly wouldn't wait around for a response from them for more than 24 hours, when time is of the essence and cabins are disappearing by the minute. I wouldn't email either as I'm sure direct calls are dealt with quicker than emails.

 

Not surprised you are disappointed.

 

Hi

 

On previous cruises I did used to call just the usual direct number but found they wouldn't always apply the price discounts etc as some of them kept saying new bookings only so gave up and just stuck to the one person we've always used as always done what they could for us unlike some of the others.

 

Just feeling a little frustrated at the moment. Just hoping the S2 suites come down enough now as last time real close to sailing we managed to upgrade to one of them for a small increase in fee but then a huge price drop happened we ended up getting about £400 back ! Fingers crossed....

[u2cruiser]

I reckon the sales teams and PCSs must be very busy with enquiries; January is a prime booking month, especially with the current free drinks promotion. Perhaps they are dealing with new bookings as a priority?

 

I hope you get a call soon and are succesful with your upgrade. We've never looked at price drops in the past, mainly because we book fly cruise packages through TAs, which aren't so negotiable when flights and hotels are included. :)

[excitedofharpenden]

First thing I would say having used a PCS at Celebrity directly to book a number of cruises, if it is a price sensitive case like this I wouldn't use email. From my experience when they are in a busy environment emails are not always reviewed immediately. Secondly and once again for a question on price and cabin availability, if the PCS wasn't available on the phone at the time then I would speak to anyone in that department. If the price drop is a general one and not "new bookings only" then someone other than the PCS should be able to help. I have to say I have always received good service from the UK office, but as the poster above mentioned they are extremely busy at the moment with the promotions currently going on.

 

Phil

[ladylemondrop]

We booked cruise ony through a Travel agent for our forthcoming october cruise, and I noticed a huge price drop so contacted my TA, and unbelievably, got a price drop - £1100 (four of us) am still in shock!!! We have never been able to do this before as I didnt think it applied to UK bookings, but the only thing now is - if the price goes UP do we have to pay more? (I assume not, which means this is amazing offer of generosity)

[shoreham01]

I would definately phone them. Have always received good service when I phone. Could the delay be because some staff could not get in because of the snow.

 

I thought the price drops were honoured providing it was before final payment date.

[missminnie]

Thanks All

 

I did phone! When I didn't get a response I emailed and then called again a few hours later and then emailed again.

 

Finally just received a call back. Only 1 cabin left located in a reasonable location in Aqua and they couldn't hold it whilst I looked up reviews as didn't want to give up our C3 in a good location to find the new A2 may have been in a worse place. Apparently they can no longer hold cabins even for a few hours.

 

So I've stuck where we are and will just keep an eye out for any more A2 cabins opening up and price is still ok.

[excitedofharpenden]

We booked cruise ony through a Travel agent for our forthcoming october cruise, and I noticed a huge price drop so contacted my TA, and unbelievably, got a price drop - £1100 (four of us) am still in shock!!! We have never been able to do this before as I didnt think it applied to UK bookings, but the only thing now is - if the price goes UP do we have to pay more? (I assume not, which means this is amazing offer of generosity)

Providing it isn't a special promotion I have always received price drops, whether through a TA or directly with Celebrity. And no, if the price goes up then you don't pay more!

 

Phil

[Adammara]

I sent an email to our UK CPS in early August as we had been verbally offered $500 OBC for our September Connie cruise, but the the invoice was only showing $300 and asked for clarification (We had had 2 price drops since booking). No reply was recieved, so a fortnight later sent a reminder. but again did not recieve a reply. Never had a problem with email commications before this.

 

I decided to sort it out once onboard, but we had so many issues once on board that I just left it. On returning home we cancelled 2 future cruises by registered letter, and emailed a letter of complaint as requested. We did not have a reply to either communication, so 3 weeks later I emailed the Captains Club, who informed me that they had not recieved the email, or the letter. Amazing really, as I have the reciept for the arrival of the registered letter!

 

Richard

[Project_gal]

I certainly would not have waited to speak to our PCS with the weather as it has been. I would have spoken to someone else. It is always possible that those expecting to be in work are unable to make it in.

 

To answer the original question and the previous poster, I posted a letter yesterday morning commenting on our last cruise and received a telephone call about the letter a few minutes ago. I cannot complain about the response.

 

Sue

[uktog]

To date, never had an issue. All price drops I am entitled to have been promptly applied. If however I am wanting to do a category change, this has to be a "carpe diem" time and if my PCS is not available I sieze the day and call for someone else on the general number. Indeed my PCS voicemail tells me if I need an immediate response that is what I should do

 

Anything to do with price, supply and demand in my view has to be moved on quickly and I do not wait - I know, bad, impatient etc but that is how I am :(

[missminnie]

I certainly would not have waited to speak to our PCS with the weather as it has been. I would have spoken to someone else. It is always possible that those expecting to be in work are unable to make it in.

 

To answer the original question and the previous poster, I posted a letter yesterday morning commenting on our last cruise and received a telephone call about the letter a few minutes ago. I cannot complain about the response.

 

Sue

 

The reason I didn't call the other number was because when I got through to their voicemail it stated that they were in the office but just on another call and leave a message. So I did! Didn't expect over 24 hrs for a call back from my initial contact.

 

But anyway, at least they have come back to us now and shame we missed out on the cabin we wanted. Just keeping our eyes peeled for either more cabins opening up or a further price drop.

[Gordoncruickshank]

I have not bothered about our February cruise as the price has been consistently much higher than what I paid when I boked it a year ago and it is marginal if, taking into account the current price, that there would be any net benefit in rebooking to get a beverage package.

 

The current price is around £500 per head dearer and I would lose my shareholder benefit.

 

What I have done is managed to get the Eurpoean offer for October - classic beverage package and at the time of booking confirmed with the Celebrity rep that his could be upgraded on board to the Premium beverage package. That is contrary to how I have been told the 123 go offer works - you can't upgrade on board and have top do this after the now extended promotion period with Celebrity direct.

 

You would think that the 2 prganisations would have one way of dealing with these and I am now uncomfortable about what I was told on booking the European Cruise.

[excitedofharpenden]

Coincidentally this afternoon I have been dealing with a price drop on an Azamara cruise I am taking soon and couldn't be happier with the service I received. I did manage to speak to my PCS and she was excellent as always.

 

Phil

[shoreham01]

Please excuse my stupidity but what is a PCS? I just phoned up and booked our cruise direct with Celebrity. The cruise before was booked through a TA.

 

I know most of you understand initials, but it would be great if at least once during the thread someone could write the full wording. I thought I knew most of the initials, but this is a new one to me.

[Chunky2219]

Thanks Allison. We've always booked directly as the TA we've all spoken to have all told us that once booked we couldn't benefit from price drops. Just like booking a normal package holiday the price you book at is the price you pay - this is the reason we've always booked directly in the end. Clearly I'm not speaking to the right TA in that case.

I can only agree with your final comment.

 

Once a week there's a Celebrity price drop thread and someone from the UK has got goosed, either booking directly with X and not being able to speak to someone high enough in the food chain to get a later price drop, or else booking with a TA who thinks X operates the same way as the Carnival gruop lines do in the UK.

 

We have an excellent (large, local, internet) travel agent and have had three very good price drops on two cruises. One was even a TA block booked discount to start with, but they still got us the drop, all for the price of a phone call. When we got the second drop on a cruise it did cost me a £35 admin fee (charged by Celebrity), but this was peanuts compared to the saving.

 

I can only suggest going back to Celebrity and asking to be moved up the food chain until you can speak with an adult who can help. :mad:

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[ladylemondrop]

I agree about the jargon, am not sure what PCS is either!

 

We did not have to cancel and rebook, to get price reduction, or lose any deals applied, they simply dropped our price on our existing booking, i am still open mouthed (in a good way) had no idea this was possible in uk.

[excitedofharpenden]

 

I can only suggest going back to Celebrity and asking to be moved up the food chain until you can speak with an adult who can help. :mad:

It's got nothing to do with speaking to someone up the "food chain" at Celebrity. As I said in my post above anyone on the general number can help if there has been a price drop that is not part of a special "new bookings only" promotion or the like. Oh and frankly I don't think the "adult" reference and angry face is called for or helpful.

 

I agree about the jargon, am not sure what PCS is either!

 

We did not have to cancel and rebook, to get price reduction, or lose any deals applied, they simply dropped our price on our existing booking, i am still open mouthed (in a good way) had no idea this was possible in uk.

Sorry, PCS stands for Personal Cruise Consultant who can act as your point of contact at the Royal Caribbean/Celebrity/Azamara call centre.

 

Phil

[Chunky2219]

It's got nothing to do with speaking to someone up the "food chain" at Celebrity. As I said in my post above anyone on the general number can help if there has been a price drop that is not part of a special "new bookings only" promotion or the like. Oh and frankly I don't think the "adult" reference and angry face is called for or helpful.

Suit yourself. You've clearly had a good experience, so have I, not everyone does. Yours was direct, mine have been via a TA.

The advice wasn't intended for you and frankly, I don't find your input helpful either. But I can see why you chose your nom de plume. It's a pity there's no smiley for "calm down".

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[mimlypops]

I am delighted with Celebrity. I booked my first cruise with them last week for family of 4 (previously cruised with Princess a couple of times). I then noticed last night that the price had come down by several hundred £ and felt a bit sick ! I phoned their call centre this morning and the price reduction was immediately applied. No fuss, no issues. They also explained their policy on applying price changes to existing bookings, this seemed very fair and more than reasonable to me. I guess we are still fairly new to cruising and don't know how the different companies work but I was overjoyed with this and feel I have been given great service. Actually I have had a big smile on my face all day (while thinking how to spend the savings on board !).

 

ps Louise 1809 I love your "Cruise like a King or Queen" thread !

[excitedofharpenden]

Suit yourself. You've clearly had a good experience, so have I, not everyone does. Yours was direct, mine have been via a TA.

So as far as you offering your opinion of dealing with Celebrity direct and having never done so you are speaking out of your hat.

 

Phil

[uktog]

I can only agree with your final comment.

 

Once a week there's a Celebrity price drop thread and someone from the UK has got goosed, either booking directly with X and not being able to speak to someone high enough in the food chain to get a later price drop, or else booking with a TA who thinks X operates the same way as the Carnival gruop lines do in the UK.

 

We have an excellent (large, local, internet) travel agent and have had three very good price drops on two cruises. One was even a TA block booked discount to start with, but they still got us the drop, all for the price of a phone call. When we got the second drop on a cruise it did cost me a £35 admin fee (charged by Celebrity), but this was peanuts compared to the saving.

 

I can only suggest going back to Celebrity and asking to be moved up the food chain until you can speak with an adult who can help. :mad:

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My experiences are quite the reverse. I have booked both with travel agents (once small local, several times large, once internet only) and we now book direct with Celebrity. The travel agent experiences were poor to say the least and resulted in us not receiving price drops we should have and ones cruisers with other agencies were getting.

 

We have never had an issue with direct booking with Celebrity or in getting any response to emails or mail. As I said in a previous post, I manage the pace of communication and if I believe my call is time sensitive, I manage the length of time I allow between contacting my personal cruise consultant and us speaking. If that time is not what I consider optimum, I talk with one of their colleagues.

 

I believe I have a very good relationship with those staff I have interacted with, they are all adults and I do not demean them by thinking of them as being part of a food chain.

 

I would be interested in hearing of your experience in calling Celebrity UK when you did not feel you were afforded an adult conversation