US Travel Agents win again!

[nenasmum]

Hi All. We are about to leave on our holiday. We had booked one European cruise with RCL awith an Australian agent and one with Celebrity with a US agent.

4 months ago some great suite guarantees became available on the RCL cruise. We tried to pay the extra to upgrade but were told that as we were in the 150 day window that applies only to Australians that it would not be possible. My TA told me, when she eventually replied to my email, that she would charge a fee if she was able to upgrade us. The upgrade did not happen

Last night a good suite guarantee became availabe for the Celebirty cruise. We are weeks AFTER final payment- indeed only 3 weeks from the cruise itself. I contacted my US agent- the upgrade was done in minutes. Not only did she not charge me for the extra work, she gave me an extra $200 cruise credit for booking a suite. 9 hours later I contacted her to thank her and I still got an immediate reply.

Even with the falling dollar this level of service makes it worth while.

[gaechann]

Hi All. We are about to leave on our holiday. We had booked one European cruise with RCL awith an Australian agent and one with Celebrity with a US agent.

4 months ago some great suite guarantees became available on the RCL cruise. We tried to pay the extra to upgrade but were told that as we were in the 150 day window that applies only to Australians that it would not be possible. My TA told me, when she eventually replied to my email, that she would charge a fee if she was able to upgrade us. The upgrade did not happen

Last night a good suite guarantee became availabe for the Celebirty cruise. We are weeks AFTER final payment- indeed only 3 weeks from the cruise itself. I contacted my US agent- the upgrade was done in minutes. Not only did she not charge me for the extra work, she gave me an extra $200 cruise credit for booking a suite. 9 hours later I contacted her to thank her and I still got an immediate reply.

Even with the falling dollar this level of service makes it worth while.

 

Absolutely! Have a great holiday!

[jackiedanny]

Hi All. We are about to leave on our holiday. We had booked one European cruise with RCL awith an Australian agent and one with Celebrity with a US agent.

4 months ago some great suite guarantees became available on the RCL cruise. We tried to pay the extra to upgrade but were told that as we were in the 150 day window that applies only to Australians that it would not be possible. My TA told me, when she eventually replied to my email, that she would charge a fee if she was able to upgrade us. The upgrade did not happen

Last night a good suite guarantee became availabe for the Celebirty cruise. We are weeks AFTER final payment- indeed only 3 weeks from the cruise itself. I contacted my US agent- the upgrade was done in minutes. Not only did she not charge me for the extra work, she gave me an extra $200 cruise credit for booking a suite. 9 hours later I contacted her to thank her and I still got an immediate reply.

Even with the falling dollar this level of service makes it worth while.

 

i thought Australians weren't allowed to book through US travel agents :confused:

[gaechann]

i thought Australians weren't allowed to book through US travel agents :confused:

 

Have you read this thread? Lots of information here about the use of US and Australian travel sites but be aware that the pricing in US doesn't show the port fees & taxes whereas Australian sites by law have to show them in the total cost.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=36467996

[rugbypopsie]

Only Carnival Lines ban Australians from booking through the US...all other lines are fine. The above story re the service through US agents is EXACTLY why we use them...the booking conditions are so much better than here...no reason why they should be but they are...

 

Re the final price..just ask what the total price is including taxes etc. so you know what you are comparing..allow a little for currency exchange too.

 

Sue

[MicCanberra]

Great work nenasmum.

I agree that there are still good service and deals to be obtained even with some of the restrictions on using overseas TAs.

Enjoy:D