How to keep track of pricing without calling your agent?

[nancyshaw]

I wanted to check the prices on our booking without calling my agent. 

Was told, you have to call your agent.

The agent is a busy guy, just wanted to see if pricing has gone down.

Called again, didnt give my reservation number, just asked for pricing. Was asked for my name

and told to call my agent. 

 

Do I really have to lie about who I am in order to see if the price of a booked cruise has come down?

[ORV]

Just look at it online. 

[Paulchili]

14 minutes ago, nancyshaw said:

The agent is a busy guy,

Is your TA busier than the Oceania rep?

You are already paying your TA - he/she should be able to help you.

That said, like ORV posted, just check the price online. All TAs have to offer the same price as is listed on the O website - the only difference is what and how much your TA is willling to share with you.

[LHT28]

some TA's  can get pricing  but they are not going to advertise to all

If your TA is too busy  to answer your questions  then ...what can I say

 

[Rob the Cruiser]

If your agent is too busy to notify you of price changes then you need a different agent.

[nancyshaw]

On line the promo is not shown. That is often the case. I know for a fact the price has gone down, was confirmed by someone else who had no booking. 

 

Every time I want to check the price, I dont want to call my agent. That usually results in playing phone tag. It takes very little time to be told the current price.

 

Ok, I got it, just lie, give a different name and pretend you are doing a new booking. Really silly.

[Cruseforme]

No, really...you need a new agent.   Mine calls ME when prices drop on any of the cruises she has booked for us, no matter how much of a drop, or up sell or move over, etc, even after final payment.   I would not accept the fact that I am doing their job!  Why have a TA then?   

[Petoonya]

Hi Nancy.

My TA usually gets back to me in under 10 minutes or if I email 5 or less. If you're playing phone tag with your agent then what happens when you get offered a nice upsell? Sometimes my TA can get me a much better price than O can directly,  those unadvertised specials that I couldn't get directly through O. I know I'll always get the best deal with my TA no matter what.

Sorry, if I missed any other recent posting where you've already said this but is your agent an O Connoisseur Club TA? Hope you don't have to resort to lying to O. Sometimes I get embarrassed calling my TA as much as I do, but she always makes me feel like a million dollars all the same.

Best to you 🙂

[LHT28]

personal advice 

contact your TA or find one that is more responsive 

 

My  TA  replies  very quickly  to any of my questions

[pinotlover]

Call your TA. 

 

Oceania offers package deals most often. Just because the published price drops doesn’t mean the deal got sweeter. Example being they dropped the price of the cruise by $200 but eliminated the $400 PPG. Or, they dropped the published price $200 and reduced the Air Credit, you plan on taking, by $300. Perhaps your TA already knows all this so hasn’t wanted to call and bother you! It’s not really a better offer. 

[nancyshaw]

I called O, gave diff name, got the price...definitely a 400 drop pp....called my TA and had it adjusted....and let the agent know that he should have informed me and taken care of it....

 

but on line , no promo shows ...

 

so I am learning that O does not show on line what is going on behind the scenes...

very diff from Celeb, when there is a price drop or a promo, you can clearly see it on line....

 

also with Viking, there is no problem checking the prices by calling them, no need to lie,  no need to wait for the agent to call you....

[ORV]

It's not a matter of lying, it's that once you have an agent you need to go through them for most changes on your cruise. Celebrity is the same. But there are different deals for different people, especially when upgrades, upsells moveovers etc. start happening. 

[wripro]

There must be some other reason you are reluctant to contact your TA. You are entitled to ask as many questions as often as you like and if you don't get a proper and timely response you want then follow the advice given above...find a new and better agent.

[nancyshaw]

6 hours ago, ORV said:

It's not a matter of lying, it's that once you have an agent you need to go through them for most changes on your cruise. Celebrity is the same. But there are different deals for different people, especially when upgrades, upsells moveovers etc. start happening. 

 

Celebrity is not the same, I can clearly see the promos on line and no problem if I call to see if the price has changed. Not that I am a fan of Celebrity. But that transparency I find very useful. 

[ORV]

1 hour ago, nancyshaw said:

 

Celebrity is not the same, I can clearly see the promos on line and no problem if I call to see if the price has changed. Not that I am a fan of Celebrity. But that transparency I find very useful. 

By the same I meant if you call them and try to do anything with your reservation. You can look at Oceania's prices online also. 

[nancyshaw]

O on line, does not show the promo. Of course this is the first place I looked.

 

I got the info I needed by calling O and pretending to be a new client. The point I am making is that it is too bad it is not more transparent.

 

As for my agent, you are right, he should be able to respond immediately. Have not found one yet that does. Have never minded checking things out on my own, only with O have I not been able to. 

[ORV]

I'm truly not trying to be argumentative, just trying to understand. Perhaps it's interpretation. I think Celebrity's website is a mess. One of the worst I've seen. In the past couple of years they've made it where you have no clue what level in each "category" you're booking in. 

 

I really don't know what promo for Oceania you're referring to. Unless it's a "special pricing" all of their promos and current prices ARE on their website. 

 

It seems you got your information and got your price adjusted. So you got the information you need. Enjoy your cruise. 

[cayman09]

A secret promo, not on the website and not with a TA......how would customers know that it existed? This makes absolutely no sense. 

[nancyshaw]

4 hours ago, cayman09 said:

A secret promo, not on the website and not with a TA......how would customers know that it existed? This makes absolutely no sense. 

 

agree with you exactly..

 

a friend called to see if a better cabin was available....they would not tell her, since she uses an agent, so she said it was for someone else, they told her availability and the fact that there is a promo on it...

 

she relayed the info to me...

 

a 400pp saving on the new years insignia sailing....

 

since our agent did not inform us, we would not have known...

 

yes Celeb web site is awful, but I sure know when there is a promo...

[Aunt Tina]

I'm new to Oceania, and just booked a cruise on Insignia with an Oceania rep, who gave me a price several hundred dollars less than what was listed on their website and is still listed on their website.

 

I agree with NancyShaw - on Celebrity's terrible website you can easily see what the current prices are.  I don't book through a travel agent - most of the ones I've dealt with are closed weekends while I was discovering the drop in prices.