PCC Personal Cruise Consultant

[EbayCruiser]

We are using our PCC for the first time for our upcoming cruise.  We booked with her because she is very knowledgeable about the ship and stateroom sizes.

 

For those who have used a PCC before, does your PCC give you an onboard gift (wine, etc.).  Just wondering and didn't want to ask her.

[dogo88]

When we used one years ago, they did not do any gifts. Moved over to a TA we like and we get a lower price, same knowledge about the ship and OBC or gifts. 

Some love their PCC other use a TA.

YMMV

[rucrazy]

short answer...occasionally

Our PCC will buy us a specialty dinner if we are celebrating a major life event.. but not on every cruise we book.. the biggest plus for us is he knows what we like and ensures that we get those pleasantries he also helps arrange any table in the dinning room we pre choose.. 

 

[Vict0riann]

Sometimes we get a gift from our PCC.  One time it was flowers, another, chocolate covered strawberries.  I think one time she gave us a little OBC.  It comes with a card, so we knew, and could thank her.  But she doesn't always give us anything.

[boards]

For our first cruise we booked with our PCC we were given a free Pinnacle lunch.  We were not expecting anything, so it was very much appreciated.  We have used her twice since and we feel we got excellent service from her, which was more than enough.

Edited January 15, 2019 by boards

[rucrazy]

48 minutes ago, boards said:

 we feel we got excellent service from her, which was more than enough.

 

Priceless!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Our TA is excellent -- gets us better prices than HAL quotes, gives us lots of perks -- shipboard credit, good bottles of wine, free dinners, etc.

 

We have used her for over 26 years.  She knows what we like -- gets the table we want, etc.

[ger_77]

Over the 8 years we used a PCC, we never received any gifts.  Toward the end (on our 3rd PCC, as the others had left the company), I was doing all the work and the PCC was getting the credit,  so we switched to a TA.  She's lovely to deal with, gives us great rates plus OBC, and I can contact her any time.  The best thing?  We met right here, on Cruise Critic!

 

Smooth Sailing!  🙂🙂🙂

[rucrazy]

13 hours ago, ger_77 said:

(on our 3rd PCC, as the others had left the company), I was doing all the work and the PCC was getting the credit,  so we switched to a TA. 

 

If that ever becomes the case we would do the same!

[EbayCruiser]

Thanks, not expecting anything (we got a fantastic price with the sale) but it would be nice!

Edited January 16, 2019 by EbayCruiser
spelling

[SetAnOpenCourse]

Does anyone use different agents (TAs or PCCs) depending on the cruise line?  I’m concerned that some TAs may get good deals/perks for some lines but not others.

[Randyk47]

11 hours ago, SetAnOpenCourse said:

Does anyone use different agents (TAs or PCCs) depending on the cruise line?  I’m concerned that some TAs may get good deals/perks for some lines but not others.

 

There might be some differences based on how big or how much business an agency or agent does with a line but hard to say.   Our TA gives pretty good discounts regardless of the line but appears to have more flexibility with the smaller luxury lines that apparently pay higher commissions.   The fact she gives cash discounts and not just a bottle of wine, free dinner at a specialty restaurant, or OBC makes us go to her rather than bother with an in-house PCC.  Obviously I can’t and won’t say we’ve tried every possible option with every cruise line but the few we have dealt with the in-house PCCs can’t match external incentives.   

[utahtea]

On 1/15/2019 at 6:57 AM, EbayCruiser said:

We are using our PCC for the first time for our upcoming cruise.  We booked with her because she is very knowledgeable about the ship and stateroom sizes.

 

For those who have used a PCC before, does your PCC give you an onboard gift (wine, etc.).  Just wondering and didn't want to ask her.

 

I don't remember our PCC giving us any on our first cruise, but every time we have cruised since she throws in a little something and each time they have improved.  Started with chocolate covered strawberries and then moved on to specialty restaurant lunches & dinners.  The reason we stay with ours is how she handles all our questions and bookings to get lower prices as they happen.  She is excellent!

[iancal]

Our TA gives us OBC's.  This is what we want.  Then we can buy what we want.  She gave us a private day tour/lunch in Barbados on our last Caribbean cruise.

 

Three other things she does for us.

 When we call to book she scans her list and lets us know of any other offers on other ships/similar itineraries that are as or more attractive.

 

 When we book inside the final payment window, which is most times, she holds the reservation for a few hours which allows us to finalize air prior to finalizing the cruise.   At times, when booking inside the window, she had advised us to 'wait a day or two'.  It has always been to our advantage.

 

She gives us independent recent feedback on various ships/itineries that she has rec'd  from clients. 

 

Edited January 20, 2019 by iancal

[tcrsolutoins]

How does one go about finding a PCC with Holland America? Does the main reservation call center assign one to you when you call in to inquire about a cruise?

[DaveOKC]

13 hours ago, tcrsolutoins said:

How does one go about finding a PCC with Holland America? Does the main reservation call center assign one to you when you call in to inquire about a cruise?

While you can call HAL and they will assign you one, that approach is sort of hit or miss.  I have found that the newer PCCs take awhile to learn the system and thus generally are not as "good".

 

I would ask others you meet onboard for recommendations.

 

 

[DaveOKC]

On 1/15/2019 at 8:57 AM, EbayCruiser said:

We are using our PCC for the first time for our upcoming cruise.  We booked with her because she is very knowledgeable about the ship and stateroom sizes.

 

For those who have used a PCC before, does your PCC give you an onboard gift (wine, etc.).  Just wondering and didn't want to ask her.

Once in awhile we will get a gift from our PCC, but it is not the norm.  Recently she was able to get us an additional $50 in OBC for booking with her as a special promotion that HAL was running at the time.

[EbayCruiser]

We did not receive anything from our PCC so not sure that booking with her is the best option.  She does know "her stuff" when it comes to staterooms (sq. ft. etc.) but no extras.

[crystalspin]

On 5/5/2019 at 4:30 PM, tcrsolutoins said:

How does one go about finding a PCC with Holland America? Does the main reservation call center assign one to you when you call in to inquire about a cruise?

We (I!) made our reservation with the toll-free number. Our confirmation e-mail stated, in the header info, our assigned PCC with phone/extension and individual e-mail address. I thought nothing of it, until I tried to cancel a booking for TWO balcony cabins on a full-transit Panama Canal, on the Friday before Xmas that fell on Sunday, and Xmas eve was final payment day by the numbers. I thought I was safe calling the day before. WELL! The office was closed Friday for the holiday! I tried every number I could find with the same results. The down-payments were quite a bit of money and I was sweating it!

 

I remembered that there had been a contact in the original e-mail and found her information. I e-mailed my plight and requested to cancel the bookings before forfeiture. On Monday the 26th, I was transferred to a manager/supervisor bc it was after all after final payment by then. But he looked at the date-stamp of my email and approved the refund, whew! And this was despite not having used her to make the booking...

 

After that I have used that PCC for everything. Once or twice I have wanted to snag a particular cabin late at night or over the weekend and self-booked, then called her and cancelled the reservation so she can quickly book it for me. She does NOT call me/bug me, but DOES warn me of things like non-refundable deposits or switching from a large to a smaller cabin (the first I avoid, the latter was intentional for location). 

 

If I had it to do over, I would make preliminary contact (perhaps by e-mail and not phone) with the 'assigned' PCC. In fact that's what I did when I made our first booking with Princess!

Edited May 25, 2019 by crystalspin