How's your travel agent?

[Quo Vadis?]

I'm curious.  Without mentioning the name of the agency, how many agencies or their agents have contacted their clients in helping them get refunds or FCC from Celebrity.

It is in agencies' best interest to hold on to their clients in the hope of getting clients to use their FCCs and refunds to rebook in the future.

My agency has been MIA, no advice, no apparent interest in helping us through this challenging time, no response to email other than an automated response that they are busy.

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO OUR GUESTS

"To do our part in flattening the CoVid19 curve in our community and to comply with recent state guidelines, ------ will be operating our call center remotely with a significantly reduced staff starting March 28, 2020, until the situation in our area stabilizes. Please be assured that during this time select members of our team are standing by to help. Whether you need service on an existing booking or if you want to book a new cruise, we've got you covered."

[Grandmaanne7]

I use the same TA.  Yup, absolutely nothing!

[mafig]

I have heard from mine.  "anything I can do for you?"

 

I did my own refund filing, so no.  But I'm glad to hear they're still in business.

 

[wrk2cruise]

My agent contacted me by email the day after my May 2nd cruise was cancelled with the options for refund or FCC described.  I asked him to confirm that the FCC could be used on an existing booking.  The next day he sent the email response from his Celebrity contact assuring that the FCC could be applied.   In the end we decided to chose to refund.  The TA promptly filed that request with Celebrity and sent a transcript of the transaction.

 

More than happy with his response.   I was going to complete the refund request on my own without bothering him.

[phoenix_dream]

Also use a large online, not to be named agency.  Nothing except the autogenerated emails saying how busy they are.

[Jeremiah1212]

I don't have a need for help right now. We have an FCC coming. If we want to convert that to a refund I know how to do that also. Not sure what they would really help with at the time??? They are people and stretched thin. I don't really need a well being check or time to chit chat with an agent. 

 

Oddly enough NCL did call me and I haven't taken an NCL cruise since 2015 or 2016. 

[registrar]

If you booked with a travel agent you have to go thru them.

Celebrity has never let you deal directly with them if booked with a travel agent. So I do need to hear from them. Still waiting for my refund from Celebrity. Received my credit from Jet Blue 

[helen haywood]

I had two cruises canceled by Celebrity that were booked with two different agencies.  I have heard nothing from either of them.  I used the link in the Celebrity email to request a refund so I did not contact either of the agencies. 

[registrar]

Helen

they let you even though a travel agent booked it?

[helen haywood]

1 minute ago, registrar said:

If you booked with a travel agent you have to go thru them.

Celebrity has never let you deal directly with them if booked with a travel agent. So I do need to hear from them. Still waiting for my refund from Celebrity. Received my credit from Jet Blue 

That has been the case in the past but evidently for the canceled cruises that Celebrity canceled you can contact them directly.  I have read many reports of people who did use the link to request a refund and hearing nothing have called Celebrity who have confirmed that the request was received and is being processed.  I would be curious if anyone has contacted Celebrity in this instance and was told they had to go through their travel agent.  I am specifically talking about the cruises Celebrity canceled, not a person canceling a cruise on their own.

[jelayne]

I emailed the TA with the message in the OPs post regarding a Price Drop and got a email reply  response advising that they would take care of it the next day.  The next day I got a confirmation that  the lower price was applied to my booking.  I cancelled  under CWC and received a email that they were processing cancellations in sailing date order.  I got email  confirming my cruise was cancelled and that it would be approx 30 days for the FCC.

 

 

[registrar]

Thanks Helen!

I will contact them and see.

Yes my March 22nd cruise on the Edge was cancelled by celebrity

[39august]

My TA from a large agency in Orlando has been very responsive to my questions thru' e-mail. He also has sent confirmations of two cancelled cruises, one by X and one by me before final payment. I have requested refund on each. Since he sometimes works from his home anyway,  that is probably what he is doing currently. 

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

My TA has been great as always.  She's worked very hard on my B2B2B which was cancelled by Celebrity.  I have written confirmations from both her and her rep at Celebrity about the amounts which should be coming my way some day.  Also written confirmation from her rep that the FCCs I used on one of the bookings would be reissued with an expiration date of December 31, 2021.  Sadly, my TA is retiring this year.

 

I had another major big dollar cruise booking that was originally booked by one of my friends with a large agency in Orlando.  I called the booking agent three days in a row and left her voice mails.  No response.  On the fourth day, I called the agency itself and got another agent who cancelled the booking for me since I'm the only one left of the original three in the PH who might be able to cruise, and even that is doubtful since I'm over 70.  Needless to say, that agent will not be in the running for my replacement TA!

[C-Dragons]

Our TA called us weeks ago about our canceled cruise asking if we wanted a refund or FCC. She promptly took care of everything and sent us email confirmations. Same excellent service as always.

[jcpc]

My TA has been wonderful, informative and supportive.  I've had 2 of my cruises cancelled and she was right on top of things for me.  I also have 4 future Celebrity cruises booked and had 2 questions regarding the future bookings.  While she was unsure of the answers to my questions right off the top of her head (remember.....things are in a state of flux at Celebrity) she did reach out to her sales rep via email and has gotten written replies to both of my questions.  She is a small, one-woman show and while she may not give the amount of OBC and other perks that the larger agencies can offer, she still gives me, in my opinion, great OBCs for my cruises.  Plus she's "there when I need her".  I think some of the bigger agencies are simply order takers and are not there for you in a crisis.......you're just a number to them - not a real person.  So while we can debate the pros and cons of smaller vs. larger travel agencies all day I'm very happy with my small agency's response to this situation.

 

[cgolf1]

Ours has been pretty good, but we are really happy with her today. We had recently paid roughly half of our APEX 2021 cruise off and decided with the uncertainty in the cruise industry that we wanted to only have the deposits paid at this time and decide near the PIF date what we do for the APEX cruise.

 

Sent email mid afternoon yesterday and the extra we paid in will be refunded in roughly 3 weeks. Really put our minds at ease they are based out of Cape Canaveral. She is working from home, and we appreciated the quick turnaround.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

53 minutes ago, jcpc said:

My TA has been wonderful, informative and supportive.  I've had 2 of my cruises cancelled and she was right on top of things for me.  I also have 4 future Celebrity cruises booked and had 2 questions regarding the future bookings.  While she was unsure of the answers to my questions right off the top of her head (remember.....things are in a state of flux at Celebrity) she did reach out to her sales rep via email and has gotten written replies to both of my questions.  She is a small, one-woman show and while she may not give the amount of OBC and other perks that the larger agencies can offer, she still gives me, in my opinion, great OBCs for my cruises.  Plus she's "there when I need her".  I think some of the bigger agencies are simply order takers and are not there for you in a crisis.......you're just a number to them - not a real person.  So while we can debate the pros and cons of smaller vs. larger travel agencies all day I'm very happy with my small agency's response to this situation.

 

My current TA (the one who is retiring) is also a one-woman shop.  She can't afford to throw mega amounts of OBC at me like the big agencies can, but I get excellent, responsive service from her.  Can't say the same about my limited experience with a big agency.  Much prefer the smaller, more personal touch.

[BridgeMates]

5 hours ago, Argo. said:

I'm curious.  Without mentioning the name of the agency, how many agencies or their agents have contacted their clients in helping them get refunds or FCC from Celebrity.

It is in agencies' best interest to hold on to their clients in the hope of getting clients to use their FCCs and refunds to rebook in the future.

My agency has been MIA, no advice, no apparent interest in helping us through this challenging time, no response to email other than an automated response that they are busy.

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO OUR GUESTS

"To do our part in flattening the CoVid19 curve in our community and to comply with recent state guidelines, ------ will be operating our call center remotely with a significantly reduced staff starting March 28, 2020, until the situation in our area stabilizes. Please be assured that during this time select members of our team are standing by to help. Whether you need service on an existing booking or if you want to book a new cruise, we've got you covered."

 

Hi, we were on the Silhouette with you in March.  I have the letter about the 25% rebate on our cruise but haven't heard anything.

Do you know what the status is?   We booked thru online TA but I haven't called them.  I'm sure they know nothing about it.

Hope you are both well.  Thanks.

Sandy

[PROCRUISE]

45 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

My current TA (the one who is retiring) is also a one-woman shop.  She can't afford to throw mega amounts of OBC at me like the big agencies can, but I get excellent, responsive service from her.  Can't say the same about my limited experience with a big agency.  Much prefer the smaller, more personal touch.

 

My TA is also one lady, from her home office, operation. Met she and her husband on a cruise 7 yrs ago. She is super and has stayed in constant touch. Rebooked our cancelled March cruise for February 2021 for less money than our FCC and more perks - even if it doesn't sail. Has advised on best plan for our June Alaskan cruise - still waiting for it to be cancelled. Advise best plan with regards to our December cruise and occasionally sends a text to just inquire how we're doing. If I have a question, she answers almost immediately or soon after getting the answer from the cruise line.

[DeltaJoe15]

Does anybody know what date Celebrity has canceled cruises so far.

[Pinboy]

Some TA's are like Realtors-- Once they get paid-- Adios.

On other threads I mentioned that we deal with a Big Box Store TA  ( Offices in Canada and US ) --- Excellent service from any Rep that answers the phone call. They do not offer OBC , however, they do provide a Gift Card for their stores in a % of what we paid for the cruise.  Also, we book future cruises on board and the Future Cruise Dept transfers the booking immediately to the Agency. The entire booking, including OBC that Celebrity provides remains on the booking.  Works very well .

[nycruiser80]

My agent, as always, has been great. He did all the work for me getting my FCC and canceling my booking. Hoping I can book something soon.

[wrk2cruise]

1 hour ago, DeltaJoe15 said:

Does anybody know what date Celebrity has canceled cruises so far.

 

Globally through May 11.   Alaska until July 1.  But best to go to the Celebrity Travel Advisory page for the full list.

[CaptCrunch]

My TA is an independent affiliate of a large agency and she has been great.  She has immediately responded to my emails and has requested a cash refund on our cancelled cruise.  We will definitely use her again.