Celebrity Vacation Planners ` Current Status??? Bad Experience

[ChuckL]

I am attempting to find out whether anyone still has an active dedicated Celebrity Cruise Vacation Planner. The reason why I am asking is because of the following experience.

 

I have been working with my dedicated Celebrity Vacation Planner since 2013. I have always received excellent service from her, so I have stayed with her Celebrity cruise bookings, and used a travel agent for other cruise lines. I booked an upcoming cruise with her this past August. I reached out to her with several questions by email on February 24, but didn’t receive any response. Her email sent out an auto-reply, and her voicemail remained active with a message that my call would be returned. After 3 weeks, I left a voicemail with the Vacation Planner department line a week ago, to see if my vacation planner was alright or if she left Celebrity, and to request a new Vacation Planner or temporary one if she was on an extended absence. That mailbox was actually set up for for new vacation planner requests. The recording on it said calls would be returned within 24 to 48 hours. That was seven days ago.

 

Today, I contacted the Crown & Anchor number, and my call was answered by a general customer service agent and not C&A. I requested to speak with a supervisor in the Vacation Planner department, but I had to explain the reasons why. I spent over 20 minutes on hold with the agent telling me she was still waiting for the supervisor. She finally told me I was being transferred. When the transfer was completed, I asked if the person was a supervisor from the Vacation Planner area. I was told no, but that she was a supervisor from the Resolutions Department, and that she could handle the concerns my vacation planner hadn’t responded to. My “concerns” to my vacation planner were questions, so the purpose of my call was not conveyed correctly by the agent. I told her I wanted a supervisor from Vacation Planners because they had not returned my call requesting a new planner in 7 days either. 

 

The disturbing answer I received was that they did not provide new vacation planners anymore, because they were able to give more prompt service by just having a (random) customer service agent handling the calls. I asked if my vacation planner still worked for Celebrity and was told she did. I asked in what capacity, and was told as a Celebrity Vacation Planner. Resolutions said they would ask her to contact me. The person in Resolutions then attempted to answer my three questions, told me an upgrade to my wifi and inclusion of their new Premium Access program (which she was clueless about) had been cancelled and that I received a refund, when it had not been cancelled nor had I received a refund, and after many more minutes on hold, being told that. She also seemed to have no knowledge about the Celebrity Price Match guarantee program either, and I had to forward all of the emails between my Vacation Planner and me to her attention. Lucky me! Another auto reply email from Resolutions stating my email would be answered in 72 hours. 

 

I suspect that vacation planners are a dying breed at Celebrity. If you still work with one, would you mind giving me their name and 5 digit phone extension. I would really like to find out what happened to my planner because I don’t believe Resolutions telling me she was still at Celebrity, because the lack of a response from her is so untypical of her. 

 

We have loved Celebrity for the past 11 years now, and convinced friends to join us on our next cruise. However, this experience has really soured them on Celebrity. They cannot understand why I was told we couldn’t have a new dedicated planner, and that our price match that was going to be placed on our accounts as OBC 2 weeks prior to sailing might not exist. If this is true, we may unfortunately have to find a favorite cruise line. 

[leaveitallbehind]

37 minutes ago, ChuckL said:

Today, I contacted the Crown & Anchor number, and my call was answered by a general customer service agent and not C&A.

Not picking on just one thing from your entire post, but for clarity I assume you meant Captains Club, not Crown & Anchor as that would be RCCL.

 

I am also sorry to hear of your frustrations and wish I could offer support, but we have always used independent travel agents for our cruises, including Celebrity, with very good success, so I cannot offer any comparisons or suggestions of other VP's.

 

If you like cruising with Celebrity, I would hope that this experience would not take you away from them as there are very good and capable travel agents - perhaps among those you reference for your other cruises - that could provide the service and attention you want.

Edited March 26 by leaveitallbehind

[Pear33]

My Celebrity planner is fantastic . Ryan Wilkenson- 44148

 

[ChuckL]

28 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Not picking on just one thing from your entire post, but for clarity I assume you meant Captains Club, not Crown & Anchor as that would be RCCL.

 

I am also sorry to hear of your frustrations and wish I could offer support, but we have always used independent travel agents for our cruises, including Celebrity, with very good success, so I cannot offer any comparisons or suggestions of other VP's.

 

If you like cruising with Celebrity, I would hope that this experience would not take you away from them as there are very good and capable travel agents - perhaps among those you reference for your other cruises - that could provide the service and attention you want.

 

[ChuckL]

30 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Not picking on just one thing from your entire post, but for clarity I assume you meant Captains Club, not Crown & Anchor as that would be RCCL.

 

I am also sorry to hear of your frustrations and wish I could offer support, but we have always used independent travel agents for our cruises, including Celebrity, with very good success, so I cannot offer any comparisons or suggestions of other VP's.

 

If you like cruising with Celebrity, I would hope that this experience would not take you away from them as there are very good and capable travel agents - perhaps among those you reference for your other cruises - that could provide the service and attention you want.

I certainly know better than to have referenced Crown & Anchor, but I must have Royal Caribbean on my mind. We are sailing on the Icon of the Seas in 46 days, which will be a shock to our system after Celebrity, but it was a prior favorite, it is all in the family, and I had to see it for myself. We strayed from our planner to a travel agent once because Celebrity couldn’t match his group prices, and he was awful in comparison to our planner. We do use a different travel agency when we stray.from Celebrity and would use them for Celebrity if we don’t leave. Honestly am probably too fond of the Celebrity cruise experience and just not customer service recently. 

[ChuckL]

26 minutes ago, Pear33 said:

My Celebrity planner is fantastic . Ryan Wilkenson- 44148

 

Thanks so much. Will give him a call tomorrow!

[Tierun]

I recall a thread some months ago stating that X was doing away with the vacation planners.

[RTShaker]

1 hour ago, Pear33 said:

My Celebrity planner is fantastic . Ryan Wilkenson- 44148

 

 

1 hour ago, ChuckL said:

Thanks so much. Will give him a call tomorrow!

Ryan is a great guy.

[hcat]

We never had a set vac planner and have managed quite well over the years..Our  calls are answered promptly, and issues or concerns are resolved by whoever takes the call..Never wanted to have to wait for a specific agent.  Guess we've been lucky.!

 

OP may want to start working with a pvt travel agent if individualized service is needed. We have been considering this, esp for more complicated trips...and extra perks.

[leaveitallbehind]

9 hours ago, ChuckL said:

I certainly know better than to have referenced Crown & Anchor, but I must have Royal Caribbean on my mind. We are sailing on the Icon of the Seas in 46 days, which will be a shock to our system after Celebrity, but it was a prior favorite, it is all in the family, and I had to see it for myself. We strayed from our planner to a travel agent once because Celebrity couldn’t match his group prices, and he was awful in comparison to our planner. We do use a different travel agency when we stray.from Celebrity and would use them for Celebrity if we don’t leave. Honestly am probably too fond of the Celebrity cruise experience and just not customer service recently. 

I figured I was stating the obvious and was only seeking clarity for others was well as myself.  When our family was young we cruised a lot with RCCL, moving to Celebrity as they became adults. I think Celebrity has a good product and hope your experience is singular and not becoming the norm. As mentioned, should they be changing with their VP experience there are a lot of very qualified TA's that would be able to assist.  Hope your situation works out well for you. Enjoy Icon - I also would think it will be quite a change!

Edited March 26 by leaveitallbehind

[Oceangoer2]

We have had 3 CVP's in over 10 years, approx. 3 years each as 2 were promoted.  All were very good and responsive....until....last year.  Like the OP we had no replies to emails, phone messages for over 3 weeks and no replacement.  Apologies accepted on 2 of these occasions.  Since then it's been very spotty.  Finally our present CVP advised they had been severely cut back to 11 to handle all their clients plus the 'let go' CVPs clients.  She said they are overwhelmed.  Seems it's a push to the general service number who can handle most queries but not the service we've come to expect;  they then have to involve a supervisor who will give permission/clarity (or not) if required.  The message is....if many posters/clients 'complain' loudly and long there may be a reversal to the CVP staffing.  Happy there is good service provided by Ry** as posted above.  I can only comment on my experience and I'm one who seldom requires their help but when I do, I expect a response within hours not days or weeks.

[Liao]

2 hours ago, hcat said:

We never had a set vac planner and have managed quite well over the years..Our  calls are answered promptly, and issues or concerns are resolved by whoever takes the call..Never wanted to have to wait for a specific agent.  Guess we've been lucky.!

 

OP may want to start working with a pvt travel agent if individualized service is needed. We have been considering this, esp for more complicated trips...and extra perks.

My experience has been exactly the same, both in the planning, completion and the cruise itself, I’ve had few issues and in the very few, they were always resolved efficiently.