Question re: bookings and travel agents

[dex08]

Not sure where to ask this question so I am posting here since our booking is on Celebrity.

 

We booked a cruise through our travel agent for us to take my elderly mother on a Celebrity sailing next year. I gave my mother our sailing date, itinerary and cabin #s but not booking #s. She is old and beginning to become forgetful. She forwarded me an email that came from a travel agent that was not the one we use and this travel agent had provided her with our cabin numbers. After asking her about this, she said she was on (what she thought was) the Celebrity website and clicked to chat with an agent. Obviously, she was on the wrong website because the Celebrity site doesn't have a chat feature plus the email from the random travel agent.

 

How does is a random travel agent able to pull up our cabin information? My mother does not have our Captain's Club # or our RC Crown & Anchor Club #. I'm wondering what information did she provide for them to get this information?! 

Edited July 27, 2023 by dex08
spelling typo

[Bo1953]

It is quite possible that all the info she gave was your first and last names, sailing date and ship and that she was your mother....

 

bon voyage

[LMHSRN]

53 minutes ago, dex08 said:

Not sure where to ask this question so I am posting here since our booking is on Celebrity.

 

We booked a cruise through our travel agent for us to take my elderly mother on a Celebrity sailing next year. I gave my mother our sailing date, itinerary and cabin #s but not booking #s. She is old and beginning to become forgetful. She forwarded me an email that came from a travel agent that was not the one we use and this travel agent had provided her with our cabin numbers. After asking her about this, she said she was on (what she thought was) the Celebrity website and clicked to chat with an agent. Obviously, she was on the wrong website because the Celebrity site doesn't have a chat feature plus the email from the random travel agent.

 

How does is a random travel agent able to pull up our cabin information? My mother does not have our Captain's Club # or our RC Crown & Anchor Club #. I'm wondering what information did she provide for them to get this information?! 

Yes, the Celebrity Web Site does have a chat feature.  I use it all the time.

[wrk2cruise]

Celebrity used to have a Chat feature.   Is it gone now?

[cruisestitch]

It’s not continuously manned but it is there sometimes

[phoenix_dream]

Celebrity does have a chat feature that shows up sometimes but is not always there

[jelayne]

I have had the chat feature available frequently in the past month.  

[hcat]

so has this other "agent" taken over the booking?  Perhaps your TA can sort this out and maybe your mom should not do chats or website anymore...just for safety  and security!

[Bo1953]

12 minutes ago, hcat said:

so has this other "agent" taken over the booking?  Perhaps your TA can sort this out and maybe your mom should not do chats or website anymore...just for safety  and security!

My question would be: what is the reason the OP did not book mother themselves OR sit with her while she tried to navigate the website, phone prompts, chat or other method of contact???

 

I would think, here I go again thinking, the OP would have made the reservations with the TA and had mother with them for any additional info the TA needed to complete the booking.

 

After all it was said she was becoming 'forgetful'... Red Flag, for me at least...

 

At any rate I trust the OP will get this sorted out...

 

bon voyage

[dex08]

3 hours ago, Bo1953 said:

My question would be: what is the reason the OP did not book mother themselves OR sit with her while she tried to navigate the website, phone prompts, chat or other method of contact???

 

I would think, here I go again thinking, the OP would have made the reservations with the TA and had mother with them for any additional info the TA needed to complete the booking.

 

After all it was said she was becoming 'forgetful'... Red Flag, for me at least...

 

At any rate I trust the OP will get this sorted out...

 

bon voyage

 

Sorry, I thought I was clear in my post.

 

I did book my mother myself several months ago with our travel agent. 

 

She has her own computer and randomly went online to find out information regarding our booking - information I had already provided to her. She went online and clicked to chat with some site thinking that it was Celebrity but it was some random travel agency - and they emailed her back our cabin #s. We are fortunate that it does appear to be a legit travel agent, just not OUR travel agent.

 

My biggest concerns are wondering what information does anyone (not just my elderly mother) need to provide a travel agent with in order for them to pull up our cabin #s and provide them to someone claiming to be the individual. If it is just merely by sail date and ship and first and last name, as someone suggested in response above, that's a security red flag in general.

 

My secondary concern is that my elderly mother may have provided our DOB along with first and last names and/or address and other personal info -- which is the huge red flag regarding my mothers general day-to-day actions on her computer. It may be time to restrict her access to the internet and ability to do online chats or go to certain websites - similar to child-level computer access restrictions f- or her own protection and ours.

 

Thanks to everyone who responded!

[WestLakeGirl]

Have you thought of just asking that travel agent how they got your information? If they’re legitimate and no threat, they’ll probably tell you what you need to know

[Bo1953]

1 hour ago, dex08 said:

 

Sorry, I thought I was clear in my post.

 

I did book my mother myself several months ago with our travel agent. 

 

She has her own computer and randomly went online to find out information regarding our booking - information I had already provided to her. She went online and clicked to chat with some site thinking that it was Celebrity but it was some random travel agency - and they emailed her back our cabin #s. We are fortunate that it does appear to be a legit travel agent, just not OUR travel agent.

 

My biggest concerns are wondering what information does anyone (not just my elderly mother) need to provide a travel agent with in order for them to pull up our cabin #s and provide them to someone claiming to be the individual. If it is just merely by sail date and ship and first and last name, as someone suggested in response above, that's a security red flag in general.

 

My secondary concern is that my elderly mother may have provided our DOB along with first and last names and/or address and other personal info -- which is the huge red flag regarding my mothers general day-to-day actions on her computer. It may be time to restrict her access to the internet and ability to do online chats or go to certain websites - similar to child-level computer access restrictions f- or her own protection and ours.

 

Thanks to everyone who responded!

My bad and My apologies for My mis-understanding of the situation...

 

bon voyage

[the penguins]

5 hours ago, dex08 said:

 

Sorry, I thought I was clear in my post.

 

I did book my mother myself several months ago with our travel agent. 

 

She has her own computer and randomly went online to find out information regarding our booking - information I had already provided to her. She went online and clicked to chat with some site thinking that it was Celebrity but it was some random travel agency - and they emailed her back our cabin #s. We are fortunate that it does appear to be a legit travel agent, just not OUR travel agent.

 

My biggest concerns are wondering what information does anyone (not just my elderly mother) need to provide a travel agent with in order for them to pull up our cabin #s and provide them to someone claiming to be the individual. If it is just merely by sail date and ship and first and last name, as someone suggested in response above, that's a security red flag in general.

 

My secondary concern is that my elderly mother may have provided our DOB along with first and last names and/or address and other personal info -- which is the huge red flag regarding my mothers general day-to-day actions on her computer. It may be time to restrict her access to the internet and ability to do online chats or go to certain websites - similar to child-level computer access restrictions f- or her own protection and ours.

 

Thanks to everyone who responded!

Speaking as someone who had the privilege of having Power of Attorney for 2 friends with Alzheimer's take this as "wake up call" to sort out your mum's affairs now.  Hopefully you already have a POA in place but if not you need to act now before it is too late for your mum to sign one. 

[Cruise Gopher]

Travel agencies don’t have access to look up a different travel agency’s customer’s reservation. That’s just not how it works. And they also cannot just look up any reservation based on a customer’s name, DOB, ship sail date etc. 
 

 

[keesar]

I hope Mom does not give out her social security number and date of birth to callers.  I got a call from a person saying he was from a senior protection agency and wanted that information to make sure no one was trying to take advantage of me by opening credit cards, etc.

[mitz18]

On 7/27/2023 at 12:22 PM, dex08 said:

After asking her about this, she said she was on (what she thought was) the Celebrity website and clicked to chat with an agent. Obviously, she was on the wrong website because the Celebrity site doesn't have a chat feature plus the email from the random travel agent.

 

How does is a random travel agent able to pull up our cabin information? My mother does not have our Captain's Club # or our RC Crown & Anchor Club #. I'm wondering what information did she provide for them to get this information?! 

 

Sorry but is it possible she actually was on Celebrity website?  If not, and she can remember what site she was on, I agree with the suggestion of calling that "agent" and seeing how they got the info.  If your mom cannot remember, you can always check the "search history" on her computer to see where she has visited.  Good luck