Personal cruise consultant question

[kjeanne2001]

I have a PCC with HAL who only works during the week. There has been a price drop on my cruise. If you call HAL and speak to another consultant will it effect the booking from the consultant I use in regards to points or commission? Thanks!

[holacanada]

Hi kjeane,

 

From my personnal experience, usually the CC don't like to "share" their customers. Everytime I try to ask another advice, they redirect my call to my personal CC.

 

Have a nice day !

 

Holacanada from Quebec City

 

 

Holacanada from Quebec city.

Next cruise on Noordam for the 21 days Collector Cruise / Turkey's At Sea...

Edited November 16, 2013 by holacanada

[whogo]

I have a PCC with HAL who only works during the week. There has been a price drop on my cruise. If you call HAL and speak to another consultant will it effect the booking from the consultant I use in regards to points or commission? Thanks!

Why worry about it? Is your relationship with the HAL salesman worth risking the price drop?

[sail7seas]

Send an e-mail to your PCC and a screen shot of the price drop.

It would be very surprising if they don't adjust your price when they return to the office. I would send the e-mail immediately so they see the date/time sent was during 'applicable window'.

[Crazy For Cats]

While price watching for the Veendam's August sailing my PCC was on vacation. A different PCC saw my email and got in touch with me to take care of the issue. He also told me to give my regular PCC name while on ship if I booked another cruise. Seemed like they were working as a team. Really shouldn't matter as customer service should come first.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[sail7seas]

While price watching for the Veendam's August sailing my PCC was on vacation. A different PCC saw my email and got in touch with me to take care of the issue. He also told me to give my regular PCC name while on ship if I booked another cruise. Seemed like they were working as a team. Really shouldn't matter as customer service should come first.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

 

They absolutely cover for each other.

When our PCC is on vacation, there is a specific person (or persons) who check his e-mail and voice mail and handle issues that arise. Of coure, he does the same in return.

 

However, the PCC's don't usually work weekends, do they?

 

[Crazy For Cats]

They absolutely cover for each other.

When our PCC is on vacation, there is a specific person (or persons) who check his e-mail and voice mail and handle issues that arise. Of coure, he does the same in return.

 

However, the PCC's don't usually work weekends, do they?

 

 

I have called on weekends and got someone to take care of an issue. They let my PCC know and they followed up later to make sure I was taken care of properly.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[sail7seas]

Must be that our PCC does not work weekends.

 

Was the 'someone' you spoke with a phone rep or a PCC or do you know?

Seeing your issue was handled, it really doesn't matter which. :)

Edited November 16, 2013 by sail7seas

[Linda&Vern]

They absolutely cover for each other.

When our PCC is on vacation, there is a specific person (or persons) who check his e-mail and voice mail and handle issues that arise. Of coure, he does the same in return.

 

However, the PCC's don't usually work weekends, do they?

Our PCC works Tuesday thru Saturday. In the past, if I needed something on a Monday, someone else answered the phone call and took care of it.

[Hlitner]

My goodness...if you see a price drop you make the call, take to any customer service rep, and ask for the reduction. If they tell you to wait until your PCC comes to work, document the call and the name of the person who gave you this advice, and then wait until your PCC is back to work. Just keep in mind that the PCC program is a bit of a marketing ploy and really is nothing more then a regular customer service person who is assigned a roster of customers. Some folks just seem to feel better when they have their "hand held" by a regular person and HA is meeting that need. As an aside, we just booked a HA cruise yesterday and did our usual shopping around among several major cruise agencies and also HA. Bottom line was that we could get a $1875 OBC from one of our preferred TAs...and HA would give us zip....zero....nada. Personally, we do not think that a relationship with any PCC is worth that kind of money :)

 

Hank

[KAKcruiser]

This is why I don't like having a PCC. If they are not available, the regular customer service people will not help you. And if you are trying to do something in a hurry - change to a better cabin that became available or get a price decrease - it can be very frustrating.

[durangoscots]

This is why I don't like having a PCC. If they are not available, the regular customer service people will not help you. And if you are trying to do something in a hurry - change to a better cabin that became available or get a price decrease - it can be very frustrating.

 

When my PCC has not been available, I have never had a problem getting someone else among the PCCs to help..... they do what needs to be done and leave a message for my own PCC to call me the next day which they have always done, just to verify and discuss the change.

 

Susan

[Linda&Vern]

I have a PCC with HAL who only works during the week. There has been a price drop on my cruise. If you call HAL and speak to another consultant will it effect the booking from the consultant I use in regards to points or commission? Thanks!

I assume you have the direct number to your PCC. What did their voice mail say on Saturday? Did it give the name/number of someone else who could help you?

[IRL_Joanie]

My goodness...if you see a price drop you make the call, take to any customer service rep, and ask for the reduction. If they tell you to wait until your PCC comes to work, document the call and the name of the person who gave you this advice, and then wait until your PCC is back to work. Just keep in mind that the PCC program is a bit of a marketing ploy and really is nothing more then a regular customer service person who is assigned a roster of customers. Some folks just seem to feel better when they have their "hand held" by a regular person and HA is meeting that need. As an aside, we just booked a HA cruise yesterday and did our usual shopping around among several major cruise agencies and also HA. Bottom line was that we could get a $1875 OBC from one of our preferred TAs...and HA would give us zip....zero....nada. Personally, we do not think that a relationship with any PCC is worth that kind of money :)

 

Hank

 

Hank, I realize that you do not care for PCC's and prefer a Travel Agent instead. You've stated this enough times that I can hear you whenever a PCC thread starts up:) NOT an insult or meant in a bad way. Just that I hear you:)

 

Anyway, no one who uses a PCC or Travel Agent SHOULD have to wait for a workday to take advantage of a price drop or anything else when their PCC or TA is away from the office.

 

In this day and age, we (meaning 99.99%) of us use electronic means to communicate.

 

Now, from personal experience for having just gone through similar to the OP for our next cruise (29 November) and our PCC being out on Medical leave for several weeks, during which 2 price drops happened................

 

I took snap shots (each time) of each price drop for our cruise, saved them as a .jpg (Picture) and emailed them to her along with an email.

 

BEFORE I sent the snapshots with the email from me to her, I also used the "Email this itinerary" button on the top near the middle and emailed it to our PCC, myself and my hubby, so that there could be no question of it actually being on HAL's site. THEN I emailed our PCC personally (with snap shot(s) attached), knowing that her stand in would be receiving the emails from the site and myself.

 

If I were to have just called HAL and talked to a regular salesperson/Customer Service rep, they would have had to cancel my booked stateroom, I'd have lost some of the money I'd paid in full and most if not all of the benefits/OBC's we were getting. The $$ loss would not have bothered me that much, BUT the loss of my Specifically Booked stateroom would have!!

 

And whether you are willing to believe it, I hope you do, the PCC's are NOT regular salespersons or Customer Service Representatives. They are specifically trained to do the jobs they do and many even work from home and can help even when not on the clock. I know because on one of our last cruises our PCC was able to jump on something we wanted to change on a weekend. She just happened to check her email and grabbed it for us:) The only reason she could not do the same on this cruise was because she was out for 6 weeks on medical. But her stand in called me not 10 minutes after I sent the emails and we got what we wanted without the hassle of re-booking to take advantage of the price drops without the loss of $$ or Goodies/OBC's etc.

 

To the OP asking the question, listen to what the others who actually use a PCC have told you and enjoy your cruise:)

 

Joanie

[richwmn]

Even though your PCC might not work on Saturday or Sunday, someone in the department does. What I found out recently was that the department that has the PCCs is different from the online and call in people, and the relationship is like a TA to HAL. If you book through the website or call in, it is difficult to get credit to your PCC. On the other hand, my next cruise was booked on a Sunday when my PCC was off. Another person took the reservation. I asked at the time about my PCC getting credit and was told it was no problem, that they covered each other all the time.

[sail7seas]

Thank you, Joanie. :)

[sail7seas]

Even though your PCC might not work on Saturday or Sunday, someone in the department does. What I found out recently was that the department that has the PCCs is different from the online and call in people, and the relationship is like a TA to HAL. If you book through the website or call in, it is difficult to get credit to your PCC. On the other hand, my next cruise was booked on a Sunday when my PCC was off. Another person took the reservation. I asked at the time about my PCC getting credit and was told it was no problem, that they covered each other all the time.

 

 

Those of us who use PCC's call a different number than the 'whomever answers the phone rep' and each PCC has an extension. I will not work with 'whomever answers the phone' and want the relationship of dealing with the same person each time we book. He knows what we want, how we want it and I don't have to go through a whole song and dance. I tell him ship and date, check which cabins are available, pick the one we want and I am done. He knows the rest of what we want and I don't have to detail it all.

 

And yes, when he is on vacation or ill or whatever, someone covers.

 

[cruz chic]

My goodness...if you see a price drop you make the call, take to any customer service rep, and ask for the reduction. If they tell you to wait until your PCC comes to work, document the call and the name of the person who gave you this advice, and then wait until your PCC is back to work. Just keep in mind that the PCC program is a bit of a marketing ploy and really is nothing more then a regular customer service person who is assigned a roster of customers. Some folks just seem to feel better when they have their "hand held" by a regular person and HA is meeting that need. As an aside, we just booked a HA cruise yesterday and did our usual shopping around among several major cruise agencies and also HA. Bottom line was that we could get a $1875 OBC from one of our preferred TAs...and HA would give us zip....zero....nada. Personally, we do not think that a relationship with any PCC is worth that kind of money :)

 

Hank

 

I used the same ta for probably 15 years. I've never gotten 5 cents in obc from them. I have no desire to book thru a Florida online ta that may skip out with my money to get some obc. I'm now booking with a PCC and I'm pretty ok with that arrangement.

[iancal]

We experienced a price drop but our on line TA was away for two days.

 

We called, hit O and spoke to someone who transferred us to what we thought was another agent. He confirmed the price, sent us a revised invoice within an hour.

 

I later discovered that it was the Sales VP of the large on line agency that took our call, made the change, and forwarded us the revised invoice. It took less than 10 minutes and it was outside of normal weekend business hours.

Edited November 17, 2013 by iancal

[iancal]

We experienced a price drop but our on line TA was away for two days.

 

We called, hit O and spoke to someone who transferred us to what we thought was another agent. He confirmed the price, sent us a revised invoice within an hour.

 

I later discovered that it was the Sales VP of the large on line agency that took our call, made the change, and forwarded us the revised invoice. It took less than 10 minutes and it was outside of normal business hours. And we continue to have excellent customer service from these folks...and great OBC's.

[Hlitner]

Have to reinforce Lancal's comment about the larger online cruise agencies (we currently use 4...based on who has the best deal). With all the agencies we use, there is not even any need to talk to particular agent when we want to make a change (like repricing) or have a question. All of the agencies we use have customer service folks that only handle questions and modifications to previous bookings. When we request some kind of change (like getting repriced to a lower price) it is usually done while we are still on the phone. And 3 of the 4 agencies we use are open 7 days a week for at least 12 hours a day. One particular agency is only open Mon-Fri at normal 9-5 hours....but they keep getting our business because for some reason this particular agency seems to always have the best deals on various RCI Inc products (RCI, Celebrity and Azamara).

 

Hank

[kjeanne2001]

Thanks for the replies! I do like working with this PCC as she has been especially helpful to me as this is my first HAL cruise. I did take a screen shot and sent her an email. She just happened to be working on Sunday and called me back. While the price drop was still in place I would lose the Explore 4 so trying to decide if it is worth it.

[frankc98376]

Our PCC is the GREATEST. Sure, I could book with the big warehouse store agency and get $350 onboard credit on our next cruise- we did FCD on our last trip and got $200 credit. Being able to get a quick answer and stuff taken care of immediately is worth more than the extra $150 in shipboard credit.

I agree with others that having someone in the office in Seattle is great if there is a problem or issue.

[guinnesshalfpint]

I know it's subjective, I'm just looking for opinions of those who have used both a PCC and TA. I can tell you I booked a cruise online by myself and got minimal help from HAL customer service when I needed it. Since then I always use the same PCC and book the next cruise on board, and I've been very happy with that arrangement. I get some obcs, great service and occasional up sells from my PCC and price adjustments (when I make time to do the research). Before the internet, we couldn't really book our own and our TA would send wine to the table but I'm sure we paid for that in commissions.

 

Side question, i like to pick my (vf) cabin. What benefit is there to booking a vf or other guaranteed room? Is it like an automatic cabin upgrade, and if so, how much of an upgrade?

 

Thanks in advance!