Celebrity matching TA OBC

[jwattle]

Hi All,

We booked a March, 2017 cruise in AQ on the Eclipse with all three 123go promos included $300 OBC. I called the Celebrity Travel Planner two days later and had found where an agency was offering the entire 123 go PLUS $400 OBC. The owner said he'd call back.When he did, he stated that he'd talked to his supervisor and they'd found the rate that I had found, so he had permission to match it. I called him back a day later as that additional OBC never showed on my account, but the 123 go credit did. He said that since it's a special credit and not a promo it won't show up until we're onboard. In other words, I can't get it in writing. Opinions?:cool::confused::o

Edited March 1, 2015 by jwattle

[nnzz]

I had the same situation with an additional $300 OBC. Celebrity had me send

a photo shot of the offer and they very generously agreed to match the offer. If memory serves me the additional credit did not show up until after final payment and I had paid my entire balance

but Celebrity was true to its' word and did follow thru.

[jelayne]

A little confused by your post. " the owner said he'd call back. When he did, he stated he had talked to his supervisor" ?? Not sure if you are referring to the TA or Celebrity.

 

If the person you talked with was with Celebrity and he said they would match the OBC a TA was offering then I would definitely want to have a copy of the Guest Copy- Booking Confirmation. If the extra OBC doesn't show there I wouldn't count on it.

[jwattle]

Thank you nnzz!:)

Jelayne, I meant the Celebrity rep. It doesn't show on my guest receipt, thus my question. The Celebrity rep said that as it is a special OBC (matching TA, NOT a Celebrity promo), it will not show until after final payment

[az_tchr]

That is correct. Anything like that does not show until after the final payment. Thus you have a sufficient time before you cruise to get it fixed if there is a problem. I have always had similar credits show up on my final invoice.

[jwattle]

Thank you so much!! :D

[Project_gal]

Interesting thread. Celebrity UK used to have discretion to add additional OBC - even combinable with Shareholder OBC and other offers but Miami stopped them doing it.:( Here they appear to be trying to push us to using a TA [by getting rid of all the experienced customer service reps and replacing them with people who do not know their procedures as well as their customers do] but Miami are obviously trying to attract people from TAs.

Edited March 1, 2015 by Project_gal

[dorisis]

Get it in writing. You have no way of proving it without having a document of some kind.

[TravelerThom]

I'm subscribing to this to follow along, as I've never heard of Celebrity matching (as in, I presume, giving you the same deal to book with Celebrity as you would get booking with the TA) TA's offers. If this is true - I want to know this new [to me] piece of info.

 

I have seen TA offers (with lots of fine print requiring a certain minimum purchase) saying that the TA will match (as in add on to) Celebrity's OBC (if Celebrity will give you a $200 OBC, the TA will give you an additional $200 OBC). There are lots of terms (such is what does "match" mean) that need to be well defined.

 

Thom

[BBsails]

I'm subscribing to this thread too, as I want to follow along to see how this develops. I have a reservation with =X= that I'd like to keep with =X=, but the additional TA OBC is hard to pass up. I haven't inquired about additional OBC from the TA yet, but the agency has been generous in the past.

[Azulann]

I'm subscribing to this thread too, as I want to follow along to see how this develops. I have a reservation with =X= that I'd like to keep with =X=, but the additional TA OBC is hard to pass up. I haven't inquired about additional OBC from the TA yet, but the agency has been generous in the past.

 

I too would like an explanation of this "matching" a TA offer, Or a clarification from Celebrity about the credit given. I have never heard of this.

the OP said they booked while on board a ship. then two days later called Celebrity to match a TA/s offer. Wonder if booking on board has anything to do with it?

[BEAV]

Very interesting.......

 

So is a Celebrity Certified Vacation Planner now authorized to match a TA's perks, therefore saving =X= from having to fork out commissions....???

[jwattle]

I apologize for the confusion. The cruise is booked in March 2017 on Eclipse. I booked from land. The Celebrity planner said it has to "be an offer available to the general public" (ie: anyone can pull it up and book it online).:)

[BEAV]

The Celebrity planner said it has to "be an offer available to the general public" (ie: anyone can pull it up and book it online).:)

 

While I've always used a TA (only had one bad experience over a gazillion cruises), the idea of getting TA-type perks by booking with a Certified Vacation Planner, combined with the ability to further discuss your reservation directly with Celebrity I find very intriguing.

[Cruise Raider]

Celebrity does sometimes match offers that are available to the general public. I posted this some time ago with praise for the customer service rep at Celebrity that helped me with my reservation and was almost flamed to death ... some poster calling me a liar. Really?? Just trying to help out my fellow cruises and name calling ensued. Wow...

 

So, now done with my rant. This group sounds a little more reasonable so will share my experience about booking directly with Celebrity. I have gotten both good and bad 'certified travel planners', CTPs as I will call them, down at Celebrity. The good CTP's have been worth their weight in gold for me and have gone the extra mile to get me extra OBC or free gratuities to keep my business. Others have shut me down outright but I call back later and see if someone else is more willing to work with me.

It is true that the additional OBC will not show up on your reservation initially but will be there when you cruise....or so that has been my experience in the past 3 cruises where I have had it added.

I think it is prudent to call to make sure Celebrity does see it when they look at your reservation but wouldn't fret if not on your paperwork. Even when I do book through a TA instead of directly with the cruiseline, there are goodies added that don't necessarily show up on the invoice and it hasn't come back to bite me yet...and hope it never does because I would rather like to believe that vacation should be relaxing and not frustrating. The key is calling back until you get a CTP that seems intelligent and willing to go that extra mile.

[BEAV]

No rants from me! Thanks for sharing your experiences.....

[Iamcruzin]

Celebrity does sometimes match offers that are available to the general public. I posted this some time ago with praise for the customer service rep at Celebrity that helped me with my reservation and was almost flamed to death ... some poster calling me a liar. Really?? Just trying to help out my fellow cruises and name calling ensued. Wow...

 

 

 

So, now done with my rant. This group sounds a little more reasonable so will share my experience about booking directly with Celebrity. I have gotten both good and bad 'certified travel planners', CTPs as I will call them, down at Celebrity. The good CTP's have been worth their weight in gold for me and have gone the extra mile to get me extra OBC or free gratuities to keep my business. Others have shut me down outright but I call back later and see if someone else is more willing to work with me.

 

It is true that the additional OBC will not show up on your reservation initially but will be there when you cruise....or so that has been my experience in the past 3 cruises where I have had it added.

 

I think it is prudent to call to make sure Celebrity does see it when they look at your reservation but wouldn't fret if not on your paperwork. Even when I do book through a TA instead of directly with the cruiseline, there are goodies added that don't necessarily show up on the invoice and it hasn't come back to bite me yet...and hope it never does because I would rather like to believe that vacation should be relaxing and not frustrating. The key is calling back until you get a CTP that seems intelligent and willing to go that extra mile.

 

 

When they say available to the general public does that refer to an advertised promotion from the TA website? How does Celebrity determine wether the offer is valid and not just hearsay?

[miched]

I had a Celebrity personal planner promise me to match what a TA offered, but I couldn't get it in writing as he said that his supervisor wouldn't allow it but the OBC would be there. I questioned it and he told me that if it isn't all I needed to do was contact him when on board.

 

I called my TA and he said that that the Celebrity and /or the reps are not allowed to do that. I didn't have a warm feeling so I transferred the booking to the TA where I was guaranteed everything. Strange thing happened as for some reason that rep is no longer with Celebrity. :confused: :rolleyes:

 

happy cruisng 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌞

[jwattle]

"Available to the general public" means that Celebrity staff can pull it up online, thus verifying it as not just a one off perk.

Thank you to everyone who is sharing on here!

[kathynorth]

We once booked via a certified Celebrity planner during a holiday sale for a really good rate. When we said we wanted to shop around for TA perks before actually booking the rep offered a $200 OBC for each of the 2 cabins we wanted to book. We were still indecisive, so he added 2 bottles of wine for each cabin. The gesture was appreciated and we booked. Neither the OBC or wine showed on our invoice. On board, we received the the usual OBC notice on day 2. One bottle of wine showed up in each of the cabins about halfway through the 11-day cruise. We figured the missing wine was an oversight on the cabin steward's part, so didn't even mention it.

[TravelerThom]

We once booked via a certified Celebrity planner during a holiday sale for a really good rate. When we said we wanted to shop around for TA perks before actually booking the rep offered a $200 OBC for each of the 2 cabins we wanted to book. We were still indecisive, so he added 2 bottles of wine for each cabin. The gesture was appreciated and we booked. Neither the OBC or wine showed on our invoice...

I knew that I could negotiate with TAs for benefits. I never considered that I could negotiate with the Cruise line for benefits, so this is something to consider. I must admit that I always get something in writing from a TA (usually a note on their invoice) specifying benefits to be received - it is nice to see in writing that what you heard is what they have written down. Given RCCL's (the corporation) ability to lose reservations, etc, I think I'm still somewhat worried about "trust us". But thanks for telling about your experience.

 

Thom

[budster]

Last December on the Silhouette we were missing obc. It was a 7 day and we did have a lot of obc. Someone at X had taken it upon themselves to remove some. It took 5 days of constant bugging to get it resolved. That was the 1st time that ever happened. I had emailed my TA and he never responded till we were home. Needless to say he is no longer our T A :(