Travel Agent error - Star Princess Alaska query

[brussellsprout]

This is a bit of a long story, so please bear with me.

 

We are a family of four, first time cruisers who in October booked an Alaskan trip on Star Princess (July 2013). We paid our travel agent, as advised by them (but after prompting by US who wanted it all sorted!) in full in April.

 

Trying to log into cruise personaliser earlier this week we discovered that our booking had been cancelled. Frantic calls to the Travel Agent confirmed that this was the case.

 

The Travel Agent acknowledges that it is entirely their error - they receipted our payment, but didn't pass onto their wholesaler and as we were showing as an incomplete payment, the booking was cancelled.

 

After extensive investigations on here and lots and lots of googling, we had selected a port side Caribe balcony cabin. There are now no balconies available. They have booked us an ocean view, which is NOT what we wanted or indeed paid for.

 

The travel agent has said they will resolve this - I have indicated I will only accept exactly what we paid for - or better.

 

So - am I being reasonable? We think that given we had requested a very specific deck, side and cabin - and committed to a high price to secure this - a LONG time in advance - and in fact, we did fully pay the agent - they should! But obviously, we are very prejudiced, LOL.

 

And - given the timing that it is now May and the cruise is in July - how long should I give them to come up with the solution? I guess I just want to KNOW what's going on ASAP but I don't want to be unreasonable and not give them a fair opportunity to get it fixed. However, it seems that leaving it later will not necessarily be helpful - the cruise seems very popular or do popular things like balcony cabins become available closer to the cruise time? And there is the peace of mind issue - partly I booked so far in advance and wanted it all clear is that I like to know exactly what is happening and be able to enjoy the planning period - now I can't even bear to think about it for fear it won't turn out ok!

 

I feel sick over this - this is a huge trip for us (coming from Australia for the cruise) and this kerfuffle has really upset us all. Not only had I entered the complete immigration stuff for all four of us, but we had booked tours and dining, etc. So a lot of the things we thought were all sorted are now no longer there and we will have to go through all the form filling again!

 

Can I please get some advice from more experienced cruisers?

thank you.

[Scrapnana]

What a disappointment! Personally, I think they should pay for an upgrade but if you are on the 20 July sailing everything above OV seems to be sold out. I would give them no more than two weeks to sort it out.

 

Could you possibly go on Golden Princess? They don't go to Glacier Bay (rest of the itinerary is the same) but do leave only one day after the Star Princess.

 

Good luck!

[Helen]

What date in July? We are booked for the 27th and showing lots of aft balconies on Caribe deck.

[brussellsprout]

our dates are July 6 - and we REALLY want the Glacier Bay trip! One of the reasons we chose Princess was to get this.

The travel agent - our original one, not the one who made the error - is trying very hard to fix it and has promised we will be on the ship and in a balcony or a suite. . PHEW.

I just want it all sorted asap so I can stop worrying. . . but it does sound as though it will be okay, which is a big relief.

[Sea Hag]

Please post back when this is resolved. I'm sure we're all wanted to hear good news that it was all sorted out acceptably. :)

[brussellsprout]

phew! happy to report it is all resolved and we've got confirmed cabin!

It was a very anxious time but the travel agent has worked really hard to get it sorted and we have a lovely cabin, not quite where we wanted originally but it is a bigger one that we had so it's great.

 

Just so relieved that we can go back to enjoying the planning phase again!

[CruisinMinnie]

phew! happy to report it is all resolved and we've got confirmed cabin!

It was a very anxious time but the travel agent has worked really hard to get it sorted and we have a lovely cabin, not quite where we wanted originally but it is a bigger one that we had so it's great.

 

Just so relieved that we can go back to enjoying the planning phase again!

 

Glad to hear it all worked out for you. :)

[Sea Hag]

Good! Sorry it was all such a hassle for you.

[Keith1010]

I am glad it all got resolved.

 

Keith

[LuvinDisCruiser]

phew! happy to report it is all resolved and we've got confirmed cabin!

It was a very anxious time but the travel agent has worked really hard to get it sorted and we have a lovely cabin, not quite where we wanted originally but it is a bigger one that we had so it's great.

 

Just so relieved that we can go back to enjoying the planning phase again!

 

We are on that cruise too ! See you July 6th ! Can't wait !!!!