Sirena March 8, 2020 fcc

[Redtravel]

I have used the same travel agent for many years. He was excellent. Unfortunately, he is no longer employed.  Emails and phone messages are not answered. You get an auto message that he is no longer available.  Sadly, he is another victim of corona virus.

 

Oceania sent my travel agent a notification after my recent Sirena cruise. It was sent to all travel agents of guests on the cruise. It is dated March 19, one day after our disembarkation. They didn’t send it to me. Oceania sent an email detailing future cruise credit with an apology for the poor experience on the cruise. The problem was if your travel agent is no longer employed, there was no way to know that Oceania had issued the credit.  I never was notified of that email. I was disappointed with my last cruise and wrote to Oceania. Today I got a response with an attachment of the March 19th letter that was sent to my former travel agent. It was a very nice gesture. If I hadn’t contacted Oceania directly, I would not know about the apology letter. I am sure that there are other guests on that Sirena cruise that did not know about the apology or fcc. I emailed Oceania explaining that my travel agent is no longer working. I requested that all future communication be sent to me directly.  They don’t do that. They contact agents who then contact clients. Called Miami. They never realized that guests would not be contacted by their agents. They are now aware.  

[LHT28]

Did you TA go out of business  or pass away  due to the virus??

 

You would think if they closed the business they would notify the  cruise lines they had bookings with ?

If they passed on that is another matter

[Redtravel]

Don’t know.  

[LHT28]

1 minute ago, Redtravel said:

Don’t know.  

Was he part of  a larger agency or on his own?

Maybe the head office of his company can let you know ?

[EasyGoingGuy]

FWIW my TA (who was recently assigned to me by a large agency after my previous TA was transferred) left the company without so much as a 'see ya'. Don't know if she was fired or just left. Before 'leaving' she was working on my FCC from Marina 3/15.  When finally, after 2 weeks of no communication, I tried and failed calling her. I then realized she was gone. I went on 'chat' with the agency and got hooked up with another TA who finished my FCC booking. Just a bit stressful. Don't know what communications I might have missed but it's all working out... for now at least.

Edited April 9, 2020 by EasyGoingGuy
correction

[YoHoHo]

42 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

I have used the same travel agent for many years. He was excellent. Unfortunately, he is no longer employed.  Emails and phone messages are not answered. You get an auto message that he is no longer available.  Sadly, he is another victim of corona virus.

<SNIP>

I requested that all future communication be sent to me directly.  They don’t do that. They contact agents who then contact clients. Called Miami. They never realized that guests would not be contacted by their agents. They are now aware.  

With almost 5000 posts in your CC history I am a little surprised you did not know that this is SOP for many/most cruise lines. You engaged an agent to act on your behalf so all the communication goes through them.

 

"They never realized that guests would not be contacted by their agents."
Of course they do. Long before covid-19 turned your issue (and the rest of the entire world) upside down TAs retired, passed away, transitioned to a more relaxed line of work (maybe a flight controller) and some failed to do their job and pass on communications. So while the scale of this is unprecedented in cruising, your "no longer available" TA is not new.

 

What to do?
The real failure is your agent's agency. If you agent is no longer with them then they should have someone cover their email and follow-up. Of course being as it is unclear if the agent passed away, quit, or was laid off before they managed cancellation requests on all the booking they have. If any of those three then the agency surely has someone covering that work. And maybe that someone blew off the email, or it got buried in their work load or due to work load prioritized and you did not make the cut, etc., etc. Or maybe the agency laid off your agent after they completed the bulk of the surge of work and plan on having another agent following up but just still active bookings.

Just speculation of course.

 

Bottom line though is your communication issue is with your agency - a call to their management will hopefully let them know your issue.

 

In any event, it sounds like you have it all sorted now that you know you have a  credit and can use another agency
 

[YoHoHo]

3 minutes ago, EasyGoingGuy said:

FWIW my TA (who was recently assigned to me by a large agency after my previous TA was transferred) left the company without so much as a 'see ya'. Don't know if she was fired or just left. Before 'leaving' she was working on my FCC from Marina 3/15.  When I finally, after 2 weeks of no communication, I tried and failed calling her, I then realized she was gone. I went on 'chat' with the agency and got hooked up with another TA who finished my FCC booking. Just a bit stressful. Don't know what communications I might have missed but it's all working out... for now at least.

That is the solution - contact the agency and they will sort it out. Glad you got it resolved and have a booking in hand. You are well ahead of me.

[Redtravel]

If all things could be “sorted out”:so easily, I wouldn’t be writing this thread. I was unaware that a letter had been sent. I am sharing this info in case somebody else missed it too. I came away from that cruise feeling that Oceania didn’t care. Obviously I was wrong. After speaking to an Oceania representative today, she said that they hadn’t realized that so many agents would stop working.  The representative was very solicitous and apologized for the oversight.
These are unusual times. Agencies are overwhelmed with cancellations and rebookings. Covering clients of agents that are no longer working is an added burden. It would be better if Oceania would send all communications regarding a client to both the client and the agency. It would avoid being cut out. 
I travel, or used to travel, often.  Several tour companies and cruise lines send all info simultaneously to both client and travel agent. 

[YoHoHo]

Yes, I neglected but meant to mention that it was good of you to post this warning to others of the potential issue. Have you also posted on your Roll Call? Especially considering it was an after the fact credit for a poor experience on a certain sailing  I think that would be a good spot to let your fellow cruisers know in case their agents are missing as well (seems to be a theme now unfortunately)

[Redtravel]

Good idea. Rollcall for that cruise was very small.  Most people seemed to be only interested when the cruise was scheduled to visit Cuba.  after the itinerary change, most people dropped out. 

 

[alcpa1]

Thank you for the many thoughts and recommendations. 

We now only have one cruise booked and it is not until next May but we will stay in touch with our agent. She has been a pleasure to work with and hope she can keep her place with the agency.

I might just send a note, in the coming weeks, to the owner to ask him to let his agents and clients know of staffing changes. 

It's also imperative for any agency  to advise the cruise lines of unfortunate closures and then send notifications to the clients with instructions for the next steps. I'd imagine our bookings would reflect a price and perks change too.

[Redtravel]

This could easily not be a problem if cruise lines sent notifications to both the travel agents and their clients.  The apology was really appreciated. It shows that Oceania was sympathetic.  As for the fcc, not sure if we will get to use it. With all the new regulations, it might be hard for us to cruise.  We are over 70 with some health issues. If we need a doctor certification, we could not cruise.  On April 4th, CDC put a commercial travel ban on all cruise passengers disembarking in any US port.  Regardless of your health, you cannot Commercially fly or take train.  Private and charter flights are ok. Driving a private car is ok.  That limits travel.  It will be interesting.  Sadly, life will never be the same.

[Paulchili]

19 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

Sadly, life will never be the same.

Just like post 9/11.

Do you remember when there was no TSA screening and you could greet or see off your family/friends at the gate? Some younger people have never experienced that "freedom".

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, Redtravel said:

On April 4th, CDC put a commercial travel ban on all cruise passengers disembarking in any US port.  Regardless of your health, you cannot Commercially fly or take train.  Private and charter flights are ok. Driving a private car is ok.  That limits travel.  It will be interesting.

I doubt this  is forever 🙄

[Redtravel]

Nobody knows when or if the pandemic will end. There are many projections. Unfortunately until there is an end with either a vaccine or a cure, traveling will be extremely limited.  Several countries have closed borders. In the US, there are travel restrictions keeping people in homes.  Some states will not let people enter who do not live there. For now, stay at home or stay somewhere safe, and hope that we survive.  We need something positive to happen.  

[Redtravel]

2 hours ago, Paulchili said:

Just like post 9/11.

Do you remember when there was no TSA screening and you could greet or see off your family/friends at the gate? Some younger people have never experienced that "freedom".

Paul,   There are major events that change the world. 9-11 was terrible. This is worse. Hope we meet again. Roberta