All Things Avalon

[Kenster]

19 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

 

Maybe bring two... you can coordinate with the passengers in the cabin next door. One magnet on each side of the wall? That way you each have one! 😉

 

Even if the magnetic force was strong enough to reach through the wall, they would repel each other.  (Yes, I know you jest!) 

 

My guess is that if the walls really are metal, the plaster and sound proofing would require a much stronger tool than a refrigerator type magnet. 
 

Maybe someone has a solution that worked for them?  How about duct taping a thin sheet of metal to the wall and sticking the magnet on to that? 🙂 

[gnome12]

42 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

 

Maybe bring two... you can coordinate with the passengers in the cabin next door. One magnet on each side of the wall? That way you each have one! 😉

 

Wouldn't they repel each other?

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, jpalbny said:

 

Maybe bring two... you can coordinate with the passengers in the cabin next door. One magnet on each side of the wall? That way you each have one! 😉

 

 

39 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

Wouldn't they repel each other?

 

As long as you're coordinating, arrange with your neighbor to use Bar Magnets and each touch the opposite pole to the wall.  Except for all the other reasons mentioned by @Kenster 😉

[*Miss G*]

4 hours ago, Kenster said:

How about duct taping a thin sheet of metal to the wall and sticking the magnet on to that

 

Duct tape destroys the finish when removed.

[jsn55]

7 hours ago, jpalbny said:

 

Maybe bring two... you can coordinate with the passengers in the cabin next door. One magnet on each side of the wall? That way you each have one! 😉

 

Top marks for creativity!

 

[ericosmith]

3 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

 

Duct tape destroys the finish when removed.

That's why you use gaffe tape.

[Canal archive]

Am I wrong - I expect I am as I thought the idea of the magnet was to hold paper or whatever between it and the wall if that’s the case when removing it to place the paper would mean the magnet next door would fall off! I suspect I’m completely off the wall here, pun intended.

[vada_9]

Well, we found our bit of metal. The door frame leading into the bathroom. We have used our hooks to hang up some washing on coat hangers. Just have to keep the door open. Yeah

[Host Jazzbeau]

7 hours ago, Canal archive said:

Am I wrong - I expect I am as I thought the idea of the magnet was to hold paper or whatever between it and the wall if that’s the case when removing it to place the paper would mean the magnet next door would fall off! I suspect I’m completely off the wall here, pun intended.

What you missed is that JP and I weren't serious.  😉

[Canal archive]

Oh dear silly me what a misstaka to makkah hush my mouth and fix it with gaffe/dukk tape.

[jpalbny]

LOL @Canal archive. No worries. I think only @Kenster (and our host, of course) realized that I was joking. Despite the wink emoji! It's a very serious bunch here on the River Cruise forums...

Edited June 28, 2022 by jpalbny

[Canal archive]

Yup sometimes you have to climb  onto a table to catch the thread.

Or it goes straight over your head.

Edited June 28, 2022 by Canal archive

[Host Jazzbeau]

16 minutes ago, Canal archive said:

Yup sometimes you have to climb  onto a table to catch the thread.

Or it goes straight over your head.

But I caught the 'Allo, 'Allo reference! 😀

[Canal archive]

Don’t worry I’m a tad slow, at a Scouting/Guiding weekend I looked on in sheer amazement when most of the kids stood on their chairs arms up catching air about an off the wall statement. 🤔 but I’m very proud to say that these then youngsters are still in touch with each other and best of all myself.

[Canal archive]

Allo Allo seems to be completely international, my DH working for a German company  and used to exchange (don’t forget I’m ancient) videos of same with some of his counterparts so they caught up with the programme ahead of everyone else.

[sanger727]

So update on our situation. We had gotten ahold of a different agent with our travel agency and gave her our payment information. She did not pay the cruise off and is now ghosting us also. And Avalon won’t call us back because we have an agent ‘working’ on this. It’s crazy. I’ve never had trouble paying a trip off before.

 

also, we found out mid payoff that our agent booked the wrong room type. So we now owe $800 more than expected. And of course our requested room type is sold out now. I told them I wanted compensation, so I’m sure that’s why they are ghosting me.

 

 

Avalon has to realize that there are thousands of dollars not in their pocket over this. And the agent will lose the commission if this cruise falls through. But no one will help us! Pretty sure this will be our only Avalon cruise.

Edited July 5, 2022 by sanger727

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, sanger727 said:

So update on our situation. We had gotten ahold of a different agent with our travel agency and gave her our payment information. She did not pay the cruise off and is now ghosting us also. And Avalon won’t call us back because we have an agent ‘working’ on this. It’s crazy. I’ve never had trouble paying a trip off before.

 

also, we found out mid payoff that our agent booked the wrong room type. So we now owe $800 more than expected. And of course our requested room type is sold out now. I told them I wanted compensation, so I’m sure that’s why they are ghosting me.

 

Avalon has to realize that there are thousands of dollars not in their pocket over this. And the agent will lose the commission if this cruise falls through. But no one will help us! Pretty sure this will be our only Avalon cruise.

You never got any paperwork from your travel agent showing the booking information?  That should have been a red flag way back then.

 

As to Avalon's position:  in the US once you book with a travel agent (or transfer a booking to a travel agent), the travel agent is your agent in dealing with the cruise line – so the cruise line is no longer able to deal direct with you on matters affecting the travel agent [e.g. anything commissionable].  You have to get this straightened out with the travel agent.  

[sanger727]

31 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

You never got any paperwork from your travel agent showing the booking information?  That should have been a red flag way back then.

 

As to Avalon's position:  in the US once you book with a travel agent (or transfer a booking to a travel agent), the travel agent is your agent in dealing with the cruise line – so the cruise line is no longer able to deal direct with you on matters affecting the travel agent [e.g. anything commissionable].  You have to get this straightened out with the travel agent.  

Correct. He took our deposit, and we never heard back from him. It was a HUGE red flag. But at the time, I did confirm that we had a booking and it was more than a year out so I didn’t push it. 
 

If the cruise line would like the $12,000 we owe them, it’s certainly their business to get it. If the travel agency refuses to talk to us or them, they can either take the money directly from us or cancel us and hope to sell the cabin at the last minute.

 

the travel agency is ghosting us. They won’t pick up the phone, return emails, or voicemails. I really don’t know what else we can do to ‘work this out’

Edited July 6, 2022 by sanger727

[jsn55]

2 hours ago, sanger727 said:

So update on our situation. We had gotten ahold of a different agent with our travel agency and gave her our payment information. She did not pay the cruise off and is now ghosting us also. And Avalon won’t call us back because we have an agent ‘working’ on this. It’s crazy. I’ve never had trouble paying a trip off before.

 

also, we found out mid payoff that our agent booked the wrong room type. So we now owe $800 more than expected. And of course our requested room type is sold out now. I told them I wanted compensation, so I’m sure that’s why they are ghosting me.

 

 

Avalon has to realize that there are thousands of dollars not in their pocket over this. And the agent will lose the commission if this cruise falls through. But no one will help us! Pretty sure this will be our only Avalon cruise.

Well, it certainly doesn't sound like Avalon is responsible for any of this.  Is there more to your story in an earlier post? This thread is about people not 'getting it' when someone makes a remark that is tongue-in-cheek.  Your 'travel agency' has made all the mistakes and needs to fix the situation.  Is this a real TA or something on the internet?  If it's a real TA, I would find out  the name of the owner.  I would compose a polite, concise letter explaining the situation and asking for assistance.  Be very businesslike.  Give them a week to respond.  Find out if the agency is part of any professional organizations to whom you might appeal.  Your money has got to be in the agency somewhere, unless the agent was dishonest.  They must have Errors & Omissions coverage.  Blaming Avalon makes no sense, they can't cut your TA  out based on what you tell them.  This is a business arrangement.  Is it too late to file a dispute with your credit card?  If you're dealing with an online 'agency' you're probably out of luck.  There's no accountability with a faceless internet website. 

[*Miss G*]

3 hours ago, sanger727 said:

So update on our situation. We had gotten ahold of a different agent with our travel agency and gave her our payment information. She did not pay the cruise off and is now ghosting us also. And Avalon won’t call us back because we have an agent ‘working’ on this. It’s crazy. I’ve never had trouble paying a trip off before.

 

also, we found out mid payoff that our agent booked the wrong room type. So we now owe $800 more than expected. And of course our requested room type is sold out now. I told them I wanted compensation, so I’m sure that’s why they are ghosting me.

 

 

Avalon has to realize that there are thousands of dollars not in their pocket over this. And the agent will lose the commission if this cruise falls through. But no one will help us! Pretty sure this will be our only Avalon cruise.

 

I think I may have missed some previous posts.  We are dealing directly with Avalon so have not experienced any problems thus far.  Certainly nothing such as you are dealing with.  Is it a bricks & mortar agency which you can physically visit to deal with the issues?  This is one of the many reasons I prefer not to go through a third party.

 

Edited July 6, 2022 by *Miss G*

[Host Jazzbeau]

Just now, *Miss G* said:

 

I think I may have missed some previous posts.  We are dealing directly with Avalon so have not experienced any problems thus far.  Certainly nothing such as you are dealing with.  Is it a bricks & mortar agency which you can physically visit to deal with the issues?  This is one of the many reasons I prefer not to go through a third party.

No, they said it was an internet travel agent.  Remember that you can't ask for more detail than that.

[*Miss G*]

4 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

No, they said it was an internet travel agent.  Remember that you can't ask for more detail than that.

 

I didn’t see where they said it was an internet TA.  I didn’t ask for details. 

[Shelagh12]

I realize that Avalon cannot deal with you directly but is it an option to find a bricks and mortar agency in your city and be able for them to take over your booking and then pay them for your trip?  It doesn’t make sense why  your agent now isn’t getting back to you but at the end of the day you want to be able to pay for and take your trip!

[Host Jazzbeau]

25 minutes ago, Shelagh12 said:

I realize that Avalon cannot deal with you directly but is it an option to find a bricks and mortar agency in your city and be able for them to take over your booking and then pay them for your trip?  It doesn’t make sense why  your agent now isn’t getting back to you but at the end of the day you want to be able to pay for and take your trip!

What I've been told is that the current TA 'owns' the booking and has to release it before it can be transferred anywhere.  However, I have seen one recent report where someone was able to convince the cruise line that the TA was seriously AWOL and that allowed them to make it a direct booking.  So maybe there is hope for @sanger727

[sanger727]

9 hours ago, jsn55 said:

Well, it certainly doesn't sound like Avalon is responsible for any of this.  Is there more to your story in an earlier post? This thread is about people not 'getting it' when someone makes a remark that is tongue-in-cheek.  Your 'travel agency' has made all the mistakes and needs to fix the situation.  Is this a real TA or something on the internet?  If it's a real TA, I would find out  the name of the owner.  I would compose a polite, concise letter explaining the situation and asking for assistance.  Be very businesslike.  Give them a week to respond.  Find out if the agency is part of any professional organizations to whom you might appeal.  Your money has got to be in the agency somewhere, unless the agent was dishonest.  They must have Errors & Omissions coverage.  Blaming Avalon makes no sense, they can't cut your TA  out based on what you tell them.  This is a business arrangement.  Is it too late to file a dispute with your credit card?  If you're dealing with an online 'agency' you're probably out of luck.  There's no accountability with a faceless internet website. 

I’ve been on cruise critic long enough to understand why it sounds like there should be more to the story. There isn’t. 
 

this is an online only TA. The agent was responsive while making booking. Took the down payment. Then we never heard from him again. No confirmation or invoice. I did receive a booking confirmation from

avalon and was able to see that we did have a booking with them. So while it was weird; I didn’t push the matter.

 

Not pushing to get an invoice or confirmation then was my mistake. The incorrect room booking could have been easily corrected. At the time we had another trip upcoming that we were focused on planning so decided to deal with this when we got back. Them covid blew up at work (I was responsible for monitoring all covid cases) and a trip a year away wasn’t a priority. I sent the agent an email or call every so often with no response.

 

A couple of months ago is when I started really trying to get on them. Covid restrictions are gone for this trip so we will definately be taking it. We booked everything else around the cruise. Still no response from our agent. I did leave a voicemail and sent an e-mail to the general agency. That got me a call back from a different agent. She took took our credit card number and said she would pay off the cruise. That was about 3 weeks ago. Cruise hasn’t been paid and she is now not returning emails or voicemails.