Price protection debacle

[maxydu]

We are booked on the Horizon for an April 2022 8 night cruise. I don't remember the date I booked but I do remember it was 449 days away due to the

COVID mess. Anyway, I booked through an online travel agency that is very generous. 

Today was the second time I did a "mock booking" and found that the rate for my category had been reduced. On both occasions, I sent the information to my travel agent with a screen shot of the reduction. Just like the first reduction, I received an email stating that the agency had contacted CCL and the category I was booked under was full, therefore no reduction would be awarded. After receiving the emails, I went online and lo and behold, both times it showed a cabin available. Both times I placed a "hold" on the open cabin and sent the "hold" information to the travel agency in hopes of them being able to contact CCL, show the hold, and get my reductions. Both times this worked.

The question is......who do you think provided the inaccurate information.....the travel agency or the rep answering the phones at CCL?

The moral of the story is don't give up.....try and try again when you know you are right and "demand" that CCL plays by their own rules......

After writing and reading this, it's a good thing I'm retired.....it took a lot of time to save $120.00 bucks! lol! Bon Voyage......

Edited September 16, 2021 by maxydu

[BlerkOne]

Sounds like a lazy travel agency.

[Cruisesfun65]

Your travel agency doesn't need to contact Carnival for the price reduction. Most of the time it's a simple process on GoCCL.com to just switch you to the current rate code.

So I believe they're the ones that lied to you, because price reduction means commission reduction.

[Elaine5715]

5 minutes ago, Cruisesfun65 said:

Your travel agency doesn't need to contact Carnival for the price reduction. Most of the time it's a simple process on GoCCL.com to just switch you to the current rate code.

So I believe they're the ones that lied to you, because price reduction means commission reduction.

When you book thru a Travel Agent, they own your booking and Carnival will not talk to you 

[Elaine5715]

There is no benefit to a TA to get a price reduction

[Cruisesfun65]

11 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

When you book thru a Travel Agent, they own your booking and Carnival will not talk to you 

I think you misunderstood. The OP doesn't need to talk to Carnival. But neither does his travel agent. Most of the time the TA can process the price reduction themselves through their booking engine.

In this case the TA told the OP that Carnival wasn't approving the drops. I don't buy that. 

[mondello]

@Elaine5715 GoCCL.com is only for TA use.

Glad everything worked out for OP. However, I always wonder why people are checking prices when they did not book Early Saver, especially after final payment.

Edited September 17, 2021 by mondello
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[BoozinCroozin]

I always check prices. If they go down, I get the office reduction. Most recent example is NCL. About a month ago there was a $600 reduction and 3RT flights for $448. Then two days ago, the price went down another $275.

[Schoifmom]

Just playing devil's advocate here ... are you sure that the mock booking was for the same cabin category, and not just the same class?  Are you just comparing (for example) inside to inside, or are you actually comparing (for example) 4F to 4F??

[maxydu]

Yes, I was comparing aft cabin on 8th floor to same exact cabin on the sixth floor. Today I relinquished the cabin I put on hold after my fare, which was way early saver, was credited with the reduction. 

 

The purpose of my thread was to advise others to double check when denied a request because mistakes do happen. The travel agency I'm dealing with said that they don't have the capability of doing a fare reduction without going through CCL first. At any rate, mission accomplished. As soon as my category is full, I will no longer request reductions but CCL sets the rules and they should be required to adhere by their own rules. I disagree that a TA gets nothing from assisting with price reductions. They gain me as a repeat customer and therefore future commissions.......

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, maxydu said:

Yes, I was comparing aft cabin on 8th floor to same exact cabin on the sixth floor. Today I relinquished the cabin I put on hold after my fare, which was way early saver, was credited with the reduction. 

 

The purpose of my thread was to advise others to double check when denied a request because mistakes do happen. The travel agency I'm dealing with said that they don't have the capability of doing a fare reduction without going through CCL first. At any rate, mission accomplished. As soon as my category is full, I will no longer request reductions but CCL sets the rules and they should be required to adhere by their own rules. I disagree that a TA gets nothing from assisting with price reductions. They gain me as a repeat customer and therefore future commissions.......

And it is a competitive business. The opposite of keeping you as a repeat customer and future commissions is losing you as a customer if you are dissatisfied with their services. And although you cannot recommend a TA on this site, you can in real life and this may also gain or lose future commissions for the TA.

[vwrestler171]

On 9/17/2021 at 3:44 AM, mondello said:

@Elaine5715 GoCCL.com is only for TA use.

Glad everything worked out for OP. However, I always wonder why people are checking prices when they did not book Early Saver, especially after final payment.

You can still upgrade to a better cabin if the rate falls

[vwrestler171]

On 9/17/2021 at 12:26 PM, maxydu said:

Yes, I was comparing aft cabin on 8th floor to same exact cabin on the sixth floor. Today I relinquished the cabin I put on hold after my fare, which was way early saver, was credited with the reduction. 

 

The purpose of my thread was to advise others to double check when denied a request because mistakes do happen. The travel agency I'm dealing with said that they don't have the capability of doing a fare reduction without going through CCL first. At any rate, mission accomplished. As soon as my category is full, I will no longer request reductions but CCL sets the rules and they should be required to adhere by their own rules. I disagree that a TA gets nothing from assisting with price reductions. They gain me as a repeat customer and therefore future commissions.......

The issue with what you said is that there is no cabin on the 6th floor that would be the same category as a cabin on the 8th floor.  Yes they might both me interiors or balconies, but the letter code would not be the same.