Invoice

[dar68]

I cannot view our Celebrity invoice on their web site. Is it because we booked with a TA and not thru Celebrity. Final payment is due within two weeks.

[Kamloops50]

I cannot view our Celebrity invoice on their web site. Is it because we booked with a TA and not thru Celebrity. Final payment is due within two weeks.

 

Yes because you booked thru a TA , your agent has control over that information.

[Oxo]

I cannot view our Celebrity invoice on their web site. Is it because we booked with a TA and not thru Celebrity. Final payment is due within two weeks.

 

Your TA should have sent you an Invoice with all that data.

[fleckle]

I cannot view our Celebrity invoice on their web site. Is it because we booked with a TA and not thru Celebrity. Final payment is due within two weeks.

Yes, you are correct. The difference is more than just the invoice though.

As soon as we give a reservation to a TA, all our billing and payment and due date information disappears from our Celebrity account, along with the options to make changes ourselves.

 

About the only thing Celebrity still lets us do on our own after that is to buy more stuff from them.

 

We lose control of just about everything else.

Whether we want to make a payment or a cancellation or a cabin change, or even to change our dining time, or to link reservations with someone else, we must then depend on the TA to do it for us.

 

But yet we do continue to give our bookings to TAs when they provide attractive incentives for us to do so, despite the drawbacks.

 

Edited December 21, 2014 by fleckle

[HardToPort]

Yes, you are correct. The difference is more than just the invoice though.

As soon as we give a reservation to a TA, all our billing and payment and due date information disappears from our Celebrity account, along with the options to make changes ourselves.

 

About the only thing Celebrity still lets us do on our own after that is to buy more stuff from them.

 

We lose control of just about everything else.

Whether we want to make a payment or a cancellation or a cabin change, or even to change our dining time, or to link reservations with someone else, we must then depend on the TA to do it for us.

 

But yet we do continue to give our bookings to TAs when they provide attractive incentives for us to do so, despite the drawbacks.

 

 

Hi Fleckle,

 

Not sure I get the "drawbacks". My TA gets me the same price as I can get online, with added perks usually. I have complete control over everything else. When I want to make a payment, cancel a booking, change a cabin, change dining time, make reservations or book shore excursions I text my TA and presto! It's done. And in less time than I can do it myself and with no aggravation on my part.

 

Not sure what exactly constitutes a "drawback" in your world. My time is too valuable to mess around with minor cruise details when I can get someone to do it for me ... for free. Lastly, if you have genuine concerns about the service you receive from your travel agent there are industry associations that insure the traveler's interest. (TICO up here in Ontario).

 

Maybe you need a new TA.

 

Cheers! and Merry Christmas!

HTP

:cool:

[dar68]

Hi Fleckle,

 

Not sure I get the "drawbacks". My TA gets me the same price as I can get online, with added perks usually. I have complete control over everything else. When I want to make a payment, cancel a booking, change a cabin, change dining time, make reservations or book shore excursions I text my TA and presto! It's done. And in less time than I can do it myself and with no aggravation on my part.

 

Not sure what exactly constitutes a "drawback" in your world. My time is too valuable to mess around with minor cruise details when I can get someone to do it for me ... for free. Lastly, if you have genuine concerns about the service you receive from your travel agent there are industry associations that insure the traveler's interest. (TICO up here in Ontario).

 

Maybe you need a new TA.

 

Cheers! and Merry Christmas!

HTP

:cool:[/quote

 

Have come to conclusion that we definitely have to end our business relationship with this TA before we cruise again.

 

Merry Christmas to All.

[fleckle]

Hi Fleckle,

 

Not sure I get the "drawbacks". My TA gets me the same price as I can get online, with added perks usually. I have complete control over everything else. When I want to make a payment, cancel a booking, change a cabin, change dining time, make reservations or book shore excursions I text my TA and presto! It's done. And in less time than I can do it myself and with no aggravation on my part.

 

Not sure what exactly constitutes a "drawback" in your world. My time is too valuable to mess around with minor cruise details when I can get someone to do it for me ... for free. Lastly, if you have genuine concerns about the service you receive from your travel agent there are industry associations that insure the traveler's interest. (TICO up here in Ontario).

 

Maybe you need a new TA.

 

Cheers! and Merry Christmas!

HTP

:cool:

:confused: Not sure I understand what you mean by a "new" TA? :confused:

There is nothing wrong with the TAs we already use.

 

We use different TAs for different cruises at different times depending on which cruise we are booking because different TAs provide the best deals for different cruises.

 

Besides the additional perks they offer, sometimes a TA can also give us a better price than we can get online.

It pays to shop around and compare offers.

Each situation is different.

Sometimes we get a really great deal from a TA, while other times we find it much better not to bother using a TA at all.

 

It is not a matter of right or wrong, but rather only a matter of personal preference, choosing whichever method works best for you under the circumstances of the particular cruise you are booking at the time.

 

If you enjoy spending time sending messages back and forth, needing to start describing what you want done and then relying on somebody else to make your payments and changes for you and then waiting to receive the confirmation, then that method is certainly fine for you.

 

 

But my personal preference is to make the payment or change directly and immediately myself at my own convenience.

I really like the advantage of being able to press a few keys, see the confirmation appear before my eyes, conclude the entire transaction and be done with it right then and there.

 

To me that beats having to first start contacting a third party to describe what I want someone else to do for me, and then waiting for them to reply to me later, when I am preoccupied with something else.

 

However, as previously stated, I am willing to give up that advantage when a TA offers sufficient benefits to make it worthwhile.

 

As the old saying goes, different strokes.....

..... (not only for different folks, but sometimes even at different times under different circumstances for the same folks). ;)

 

Edited December 21, 2014 by fleckle

[junetraveler2014]

I have experienced TA's to have many different policies, OBC, and moneys to pay your TA if you cancel. I do find the best for us is:D through Celebrity. But whom ever you use, keep up on the information they report to you and if a change or correction is need , make it. Enjoy your cruise

[fleckle]

I have experienced TA's to have many different policies, OBC, and moneys to pay your TA if you cancel. I do find the best for us is:D through Celebrity. But whom ever you use, keep up on the information they report to you and if a change or correction is need , make it.

That is certainly true.

Different TAs do have different policies and some will charge a fee for a cancellation, even if you cancel before the final payment date.

 

Often they set their own final payment date earlier than the cruise line's final payment date.

 

Some TAs will offer much better perks than others.

Often they can give you a lower price if they are able to include you in a "group" even though you do not know anyone else in the group and have no contact with the other group members.

 

In general, a TA that does high volume business with a particular cruise line gets a greater commission, and therefore has more leeway to give us more and better perks than a low volume TA.

 

Some TAs have limited hours when they are available and will connect you to voicemail when you call them, requiring you to leave a message and wait for a return call.

 

Others give the option of speaking with another agent, if your own agent is not immediately available at the time you call.

 

Or you may instead choose to send a text message or email describing what you would like to have the TA do for you, and then need to wait for someone to get back to you, even when it would be so much easier simply to do it yourself right then and have it completed.

But once you give your booking to a TA, you no longer have that option.

 

It is easy to understand why you prefer to leave your booking with Celebrity in situations where using a TA would be more of an obstacle than a benefit.

 

Edited December 23, 2014 by fleckle