warehouse club expands travel services to Canada

[bebe08]

Now that our warehouse club is offering travel services, I've done some a comparison for a potential booking. While the price for the cruise is identical to Celebrity's website, the warehouse club throws in an OBC of approx $350 US. All our previous Celebrity cruises have been booked through a TA who typically throws in $100 OBC.

 

As this is new to Canada, I am wondering if those in the US who have used the warehouse club travel have any advice to offer. What is their service like? Do they provide similar service you get from a typical TA? In the past when we have booked onboard we then transfer to our TA...can we transfer to the warehouse club?

 

I would feel bad leaving our existing TA so want to make sure that I am not missing anything.

 

Thanks and Happy New Year!

[cheriberi]

We have booked our last five Celebrity cruises through our warehouse club and have had an excellent experience. We always receive a decent OBC and their customer service is wonderful. We did book one cruise while onboard and it was very easy to transfer the reservation to them. You should not hesitate to book your cruise through the warehouse club.

[hulamoon]

I have used a warehouse club TA a few times. Overall I had good experiences. The amenities matches or is very close to others particularly in AQ categories and down. There is no cancelation fee.

 

They sometimes have groups that will cut the rate even more.

 

You can come and go, guilt free as you will rarely speak to the same person twice. Many are newbies and sometimes you will know more than they do, but this is also true with booking directly with X.

 

I had a bad experience in the beginning where I booked several sailings with crazy good amenities, so good I asked for a supervisor to verify and a separate letter assuring me it was true. I got all that and then they decided it was incorrect, many months later, and they wanted to change it. This was three years ago. After many, months of hassle I did agree to some compromises. I have learned no TA is perfect though, and I would recommend them.

[TexSea]

Not sure which warehouse club you are referring to, but I've had pretty good experience with ours and the generous OBC always makes up for some minor inconveniences.

 

The one thing I don't like is that if you have a question that requires their agent to have to contact Celebrity (or any other line for that matter), you have to wait on hold. They will not let you hang up and then call you back later if there are questions (at least in my experience). I've waited on the line for up to two hours to get an issue resolved because of the long hold time with Celebrity. Additionally, they don't do email customer service.

 

The agents are salaried so I've never felt any pressure to book or spend more than I want to. And they are always happy to answer questions.

[monicajay]

Very happy they are finally opening Travel Agency in Canada.

 

Name cannot be discussed on these boards.

Edited December 30, 2015 by monicajay

[bebe08]

Thanks everyone for the helpful replies. It sounds like experiences have been mostly positive :)

 

I didn't name the warehouse club as I believe that is against the rules...

[Andy]

Thanks everyone for the helpful replies. It sounds like experiences have been mostly positive :)

 

I didn't name the warehouse club as I believe that is against the rules...

 

Hi Bebe,

 

You are correct. Per our Guidelines, discussion of specific travel agents is against the rules. I highly recommened that our members take a few moments to review our Guidelines : http://boards.cruisecritic.com/faq.php?faq=guidelines

 

As your post did not mention a specific TA, we're good.... but our members should not ask for information about the TA.

 

Thanks very much, and Happy New Year !

[cruzzzinma]

We have had very good experiences with our warehouse TA. OBC is very good. I have only had one issue where they had to go above and beyond, and they did.

 

Just after final payment, cabin 1605 on the Solstice popped up as available. It is an A1 with an oversized balcony. I was booked in a A1, so I called to grab the cabin. My reservation was mysteriously locked (wait 20 minutes and try again) and Celebrity couldn't unlock it so they couldn't assign the cabin. The warehouse TA got her supervisor involved, she got a Celebrity supervisor involved, Celebrity agreed to put the cabin on hold and the IT gurus got my reservation unlocked and we cruised the South Pacific with an oversized balcony.

[TMLAalum]

We've not been contacted via the warehouse TA about any "upgrade" available to Elite & above Captain's Club members for our cruise next month:confused:.

 

Others on our roll call, who've booked directly with Celebrity, have been called with the opportunity to spend a bit more for an upgrade.

 

Anyone who booked via the warehouse club been given the chance for an upgrade?

[NOSaints1]

Can you book other cruiselines besides X

[Andy]

Can you book other cruiselines besides X

 

If it's the warehouse I believe it is, they handle most if not all major cruise lines, and some of the more exotic brands too.

 

Hope this helps !

[jelayne]

We've not been contacted via the warehouse TA about any "upgrade" available to Elite & above Captain's Club members for our cruise next month:confused:.

 

Others on our roll call, who've booked directly with Celebrity, have been called with the opportunity to spend a bit more for an upgrade.

 

Anyone who booked via the warehouse club been given the chance for an upgrade?

 

Since the new upgrade process is rather new I don't know if enough time has passed to determine if booking with a TA will preclude us from being offered a upgrade. I suspect that with the large volume TAs it could be a problem. As I recall when X announced the new process they said there would be a 1 hour window to accept or decline the offer. If Celebrity mails the TA it could be more more than an hour before the mail is opened and the traveler is contacted.

 

If some one on the Roll Call is contacted you can bet I will be proactive and contact our TA and have them contact Celebrity.

[Cruise Junky]

My issue with this company is that they now don't take AMEX. My travel insurance is all tied to that card. What I would gain in OBC I'd lose in having to purchase insurance.

[hulamoon]

i didn't realize Amx was restricted with their travel company, thanks for heads up.

 

If I knew upgrades were offered I would call the TA and ask them to investigate.

[scanditaly]

Not sure which warehouse club you are referring to, but I've had pretty good experience with ours and the generous OBC always makes up for some minor inconveniences.

 

The one thing I don't like is that if you have a question that requires their agent to have to contact Celebrity (or any other line for that matter), you have to wait on hold. They will not let you hang up and then call you back later if there are questions (at least in my experience). I've waited on the line for up to two hours to get an issue resolved because of the long hold time with Celebrity. Additionally, they don't do email customer service.

 

The agents are salaried so I've never felt any pressure to book or spend more than I want to. And they are always happy to answer questions.

I have used a warehouse club for years and years, and I am ultra-satisfied. I won't recount all the details, but suffice it to say that they are there for me through thick and through thin. Thanks for asking.

 

Scanditaly

[scanditaly]

Since the new upgrade process is rather new I don't know if enough time has passed to determine if booking with a TA will preclude us from being offered a upgrade. I suspect that with the large volume TAs it could be a problem. As I recall when X announced the new process they said there would be a 1 hour window to accept or decline the offer. If Celebrity mails the TA it could be more more than an hour before the mail is opened and the traveler is contacted.

 

If some one on the Roll Call is contacted you can bet I will be proactive and contact our TA and have them contact Celebrity.

 

In the same vein as my previous post: yes, I been upgraded three times, twice on X and once on Princess. X was Skysuite to RS...wheeeee!

 

Princess was mini-suite to full suite. I was not informed either time, first knew at the pier.

[Cruise Junky]

i didn't realize Amx was restricted with their travel company, thanks for heads up.

 

If I knew upgrades were offered I would call the TA and ask them to investigate.

 

In Canada they've already dropped AMEX. I think it gets dropped in the US in April?

[YMMBug]

Since the new upgrade process is rather new I don't know if enough time has passed to determine if booking with a TA will preclude us from being offered a upgrade. I suspect that with the large volume TAs it could be a problem. As I recall when X announced the new process they said there would be a 1 hour window to accept or decline the offer. If Celebrity mails the TA it could be more more than an hour before the mail is opened and the traveler is contacted.

 

If some one on the Roll Call is contacted you can bet I will be proactive and contact our TA and have them contact Celebrity.

 

I am on TMLAalums cruise. We got the call at 10:50 am while travelling. Once we landed and saw the message, we called but the agent was gone for the day (6pm MST) I called the next day at 8 and still got the upgrade.

Edited December 31, 2015 by YMMBug

[NoWhiners]

Hi all

 

Great to hear that these services are expanding to Canada, I never understood why they weren't offered from the start. Our experiences have all been good. We have booked multiple trips thru ours and have had no issues. They do have almost all cruise lines covered, including river cruises. It is a bit annoying to have to wait while they call the cruiseline to make arrangements but it's a minor thing. OBC is based on cruise fare--the more it costs, the more OBC you get. We've never gotten an upgrade but we always mark ours 'no upgrade' since we like to pick our cabin. Here in the US, you can also make the arrangements yourself online and they have an excellent chat feature if you are just looking and have a question.

 

One other note--you aren't limited to the inventory they show. We wanted a sweet 16 cabin on a Celebrity Infinity cruise but none were shown when I checked online. So I called and asked about the specific cabin and they said they could book any available cabin, not just the ones they show as available. Also, if you have friends who want to cruise but aren't members, you can book for them. After the booking is done, they can manage all the rest of the details without you (at least here in the US). Things like partial payments, adding gifts, etc. and they will get their own email invoice. I've done this several times fro friends and family, and once you get things started, you can just hand the phone to them and let them work the details. It's pretty convenient.

 

They also offer insurance thru a 3rd party and have started offering excursions thru 3rd parties. We used one in San Juan and it was excellent, with a small group and lower price than the cruiseline.

 

good luck to all and happy New Year

ML

[TeaBag]

In Canada they've already dropped AMEX. I think it gets dropped in the US in April?

That sounds about right. Their decision must be a big loss for Amex. We have already cancelled our Cdn Amex. However, we will keep the US one. I wish they hadn't done this.

 

We may just look at the Warehouse prices for future bookings. I like what everyone is saying about them. Nice to get the 2% back too, if they do this on travel purchases.

Edited December 31, 2015 by TeaBag

[Cruise Junky]

That sounds about right. Their decision must be a big loss for Amex. We have already cancelled our Cdn Amex. However, we will keep the US one. I wish they hadn't done this.

 

We may just look at the Warehouse prices for future bookings. I like what everyone is saying about them. Nice to get the 2% back too, if they do this on travel purchases.

 

I don't think the 2% is paid on travel purchases...that would be nice though

[TMLAalum]

My issue with this company is that they now don't take AMEX. My travel insurance is all tied to that card. What I would gain in OBC I'd lose in having to purchase insurance.

 

In the US the warehouse & gaspumps currently take Amex, but we've paid for all our cruises booked thru them with our airline-affiliated cards which are either visa or mastercards. So, hopefully you will be able to continue to use your Amex when booking cruises.

 

There will be a switch for us this spring when Citicards is replacing Amex as the only card accepted in the warehouse. I hope that I don't need a warehouse-affiliated card, since I already have an AAadvantage card!

[Ex-Airbalancer]

i didn't realize Amx was restricted with their travel company, thanks for heads up.

 

If I knew upgrades were offered I would call the TA and ask them to investigate.

 

They are probably be writing about the Canadian division, the US division could be different

 

I believe their MasterCard has travel insurance built in

[Jade13]

My issue with this company is that they now don't take AMEX. My travel insurance is all tied to that card. What I would gain in OBC I'd lose in having to purchase insurance.

 

 

I would not use any US agent that did not take AmEx. Plus they are supposed to be charging directly to the cruise line so you should inquire further.

[Cruise Junky]

I would not use any US agent that did not take AmEx. Plus they are supposed to be charging directly to the cruise line so you should inquire further.

 

I did a mock booking and its in the terms and conditions that Visa and MasterCard are the only accepted form of payment. Doesn't make any sense seeing as they don't process the payment.