Disappointed in Celebrity’s policy

[jagoffee]

After writing to our TA she sent me the phone number for post cruise problems at Celebrity. At first it was the company line of different class cabin means change and loss of benefits. I argued that it was the only available accessible cabin done purely for medical reasons. Then there was more research into the benefits and ultimately unclear if celebrity or travel agency was to blame for the loss of one of our benefits. She apologized for our being shorted and graciously added a benefit to a future cruise we have on Celebrity. Our TA said she spoke to a celebrity agent just yesterday and they are still saying we did not qualify for the benefit. I have passed on some of your generous suggestions for her future use. I still feel very strongly that is should just be the policy to not penalize someone for switching to accessible room for medical problems. If they want to charge for the “better” room so be it but leave our other benefits alone

I agree with you and I think Celebrity does as well.

I would consider getting a new TA. At a minimum they did not get the issue resolved for you and they possible caused the problem.

[Fish Lover]

After writing to our TA she sent me the phone number for post cruise problems at Celebrity. At first it was the company line of different class cabin means change and loss of benefits. I argued that it was the only available accessible cabin done purely for medical reasons. Then there was more research into the benefits and ultimately unclear if celebrity or travel agency was to blame for the loss of one of our benefits. She apologized for our being shorted and graciously added a benefit to a future cruise we have on Celebrity. Our TA said she spoke to a celebrity agent just yesterday and they are still saying we did not qualify for the benefit. I have passed on some of your generous suggestions for her future use. I still feel very strongly that is should just be the policy to not penalize someone for switching to accessible room for medical problems. If they want to charge for the “better” room so be it but leave our other benefits alone

 

Benefit = money equivalent. If you are willing to pay for an upgrade, then just tack the extra benefit on as part of the bill. Everyone has unique situations. This situation necessitated individual exception processing. It's your TA's fault for not realizing that and being more persistent. Furthermore, the fact that she said "every cruise line will be the same" should have been a big red flag. That is almost never the case. That is an excuse, not an explanation. It is too much to expect the cruise line to have a policy in place for every single circumstance.

[TFree]

I agree with you and I think Celebrity does as well.

I would consider getting a new TA. At a minimum they did not get the issue resolved for you and they possible caused the problem.

 

I tend to agree unless you have the kind of relationship with the TA where you are just not prepared to switch. On a completely unrelated issue, I had a TA recently who spent an hour on the phone with me, mostly on hold, while she went back to Celebrity multiple times until she got the issue resolved. She could easily have given up after the first call or two. What I discovered there (this was a large online TA) was that the customer service department of that kind of TA is the one to call. The individual agent who booked your cruise has neither the time nor the incentive to spend an hour on the phone with Celebrity. Customer service - that is their job.

 

Tom & Judy