Non-responding TA

[Dmarie305]

OOOOOOhhh! I am so frustrated. We are scheduled to go out on the Elation on 7/9/06. On Thursday PM I received word that our type of fare had gone down quite a bit. In addition several rooms next to each other had opened up. We have booked 4 rooms (there are 12 of us traveling 6 adults and 6 kids) and initially we couldn't get rooms next to each other. If anything we would like our rooms reassigned so we can be near each other. After contacting Carnival they told me that I would have to speak with my agent. I left a message for him on Friday as well as sent an email. No response. I did the same on Saturday. No response. I finally got through to someone and they told me he was on a cruise and would not be back until 7/4. I was told to email him but that he would not be boarding until the day so it wouldn't be until later in the evening until I heard back from him. Turns out he is a franchise owner of a Travel Agency (I do not think I can mention the name here) and he and his wife are the business and they were both out of the office. He responded to my email late Sunday night and told me to call the Corporate office. I called the Corporate office and they told me that he was suppose to leave someone on call for him and that there was nothing they could do because of the way he booked it. She informed me that she sent him a long email and that I should hear from him soon. As I have been checking the Carnival website and re-pricing, the fare is still lower, but it has gone up since last Friday and the rooms are slowly becoming unavailable. I received an email early this morning, prior to his sightseeing excursion, telling me to focus on getting excited about our trip. I responded and asked him to please tell me when he has taken care of our bookings and I have yet to hear from him.

Just looking to vent. Any advice is welcome, although I do not know if there really anything anyone can do. Anyone else ever run into a problem like this?

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

OOOOOOhhh! I am so frustrated. We are scheduled to go out on the Elation on 7/9/06. On Thursday PM I received word that our type of fare had gone down quite a bit. In addition several rooms next to each other had opened up. We have booked 4 rooms (there are 12 of us traveling 6 adults and 6 kids) and initially we couldn't get rooms next to each other. If anything we would like our rooms reassigned so we can be near each other. After contacting Carnival they told me that I would have to speak with my agent. I left a message for him on Friday as well as sent an email. No response. I did the same on Saturday. No response. I finally got through to someone and they told me he was on a cruise and would not be back until 7/4. I was told to email him but that he would not be boarding until the day so it wouldn't be until later in the evening until I heard back from him. Turns out he is a franchise owner of a Travel Agency (I do not think I can mention the name here) and he and his wife are the business and they were both out of the office. He responded to my email late Sunday night and told me to call the Corporate office. I called the Corporate office and they told me that he was suppose to leave someone on call for him and that there was nothing they could do because of the way he booked it. She informed me that she sent him a long email and that I should hear from him soon. As I have been checking the Carnival website and re-pricing, the fare is still lower, but it has gone up since last Friday and the rooms are slowly becoming unavailable. I received an email early this morning, prior to his sightseeing excursion, telling me to focus on getting excited about our trip. I responded and asked him to please tell me when he has taken care of our bookings and I have yet to hear from him.

 

Just looking to vent. Any advice is welcome, although I do not know if there really anything anyone can do. Anyone else ever run into a problem like this?

 

Another good example of why I book DIRECTLY WITH THE SOURCE! I went through similar "contact issues" with two other TA's before "seeing the light". I don't care if I can save a few $ with a TA, I want - and will pay for - the peace of mind.

 

Tom

[Guest YesitDonna]

What the heck kind of response is... just get excited about your trip? Even if he does get things changed you know I would never even think of using him again. There are so many places out there now with the internet that you would think he would know that custon serive and the little things they do is what has people come back.

[ngl116]

I'm sorry that your having problems with your current TA! Looks like you probably won't be booking anything thru them anymore, and I would advise your friends of your service issues too. I have always had superb service booking directly thru Carnival, and this year found a PVP that I will not call for all booking and questions.

 

Good luck, and don't let this ruin your cruise!

[caribbean dreams]

Just get excited about your trip??

 

Looks like he's gotten his commission and he's done with you.

 

 

[Timmys_mom]

I received an email early this morning, prior to his sightseeing excursion, telling me to focus on getting excited about our trip. I responded and asked him to please tell me when he has taken care of our bookings and I have yet to hear from him.

My guess is that he has set up e-mails with timers on them to be sent at predetermined times (i.e., 10 days out, 5 days out, etc.). I am assuming, however, that he wasn't telling you to forget about the rates and focus on your trip, just that you should be getting really excited about your trip now that it is only ten days away.

 

I'd be all over Corporate at this point - demanding that someone deal with this.

[salty dingo]

Lesson learned: deal only direct with the cruise line, or with national or other "big name" agencies.

 

There is too much potential for too many problems with the small agent. These days, a one or two-person operation can appear much larger, so best to go with the national names you know. They kind where any operator who answers the phone can help you.

 

It boggles my mind how a lot of these independent agents stay in business!

[rvrgirl]

One bad TA does not make all TA's bad;)

[goodml]

Definitely call corporate again.

[seashell36]

One bad TA does not make all TA's bad;)

 

I agree! I have dealt with several different TA's for different vacations (all land based - until last 2 vacations). I did have one situation much like this - small, 2 person franchise thing, I finally got the problem resolved. But, it took 2 weeks and around 20 phone calls to the corporate office.

The TA that I have now is a franchise. But, I have a number that I can get my questions answered 24/7. Right now, my agent is on a Carnival Cruise.

[wizard-of-roz]

On our cruise, last October, on Celebrity, I went through an agency that I found on-line! She was nice enough and the cruise turned out to be terrific but I had to do a lot of the research and calling the cruiseline myself, on her behalf. Because I could never get a hold of her and when I did she said she couldn't get me what I wanted; early seating for dinner, I called guest relations and after much explanation, I got what I wanted!

I'm booked for 2 more cruises, one in September and one in November and needless to say, I did not use her again! But, I did use another on-line agency, let's see how that goes!

I don't mind doing some of the work to guarantee that I get what I want. But, damn they should earn their money.....

Roz

[cox9000]

Wow !! After reading this I feel pretty lucky. I booked our 1st cruise (we sail this weekend) through Carnival's TA This person was so great that I emailed his boss to let them know. Very sorry to hear about your troubles. Any news yet ?

[zqvol]

This situation illustrates why it is not wise to deal with small mom and pop operations.

 

I am sure that no one would deny this agent the right or privilege of taking a vacation, after all that is what he is setting up for you. It is unrealistic to expect him/her to be available for you when he is on vacation. (I bet most of you are not available to customers when you are on vacation.)

 

This is does excuse him not lining up someone to cover for him while he is gone, but circumstances might have prevented the agent from having someone cover the office.

 

The lesson to be learned here is if you are going to deal with a small agency be prepared to have situations like the OP explained arise, and if you cannot accept that these types of things happen then by all means do not deal with any small local agency.

[driver2]

We have been on 17 Cruises, 7 on Carnival & have had great luck with all the TA & Cruise line reservation agents we used. On 3 Carnival cruises we used Carnivals PVP & would not go back to a reg. TA to book a cruise on Carnival. We booked the Miracle 9/10/06 with Carnival & the PVP gave us the same rate that the Internet TA were quoting. She (PVP) also informed me that if a lower rate come up before the Cruise I would get that rate. For anyone thinking of a Carnival Cruise I would first check the rate with carnival then look around to see if you can do better. (There are a lot better rates out there if you look for them). Also the PVP told me if I had a TA I wanted to use I could just give them my booking number & they could take over all the arrangements. Wish all the other lines worked with you like Carnival! Just can't wait to book the next one in 07!!! See you on board. Driver2

[slineberry528]

Not all TA's are like that. I am a TA and when I am away someone covers for me. I leave that person's name and toll free number on my answerring machine. I am leaving on Sat. to cruise on the Miracle and have had someone lined up to cover for me for months.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

This situation illustrates why it is not wise to deal with small mom and pop operations.

 

I am sure that no one would deny this agent the right or privilege of taking a vacation, after all that is what he is setting up for you. It is unrealistic to expect him/her to be available for you when he is on vacation. (I bet most of you are not available to customers when you are on vacation.)

 

This is does excuse him not lining up someone to cover for him while he is gone, but circumstances might have prevented the agent from having someone cover the office.

 

The lesson to be learned here is if you are going to deal with a small agency be prepared to have situations like the OP explained arise, and if you cannot accept that these types of things happen then by all means do not deal with any small local agency.

 

I guess that's one more question to ask before booking.

#1. are there any cancellation fees?

#2.are there any change fees?

#3.are you a mom and pop agency?

 

Irregardless it is still very irresponsible to go off on vacation and leave your customers high and dry.

 

What kind of response is, hey just get excited about your cruise, and don't sweat that few hundred dollars you coulda saved?

 

Even corporate said he was supposed to have coverage!!

 

Bill

[Mr_Cruise]

Well isn't this an interesting thread...

 

Constantly I read about people disliking that all of the independent agencies are going out of business, that they don't want to be forced to book with one of the "big online ones" as their only option, and that they long for the customer service of yesteryear.

 

Here's a guy and his wife making an honest living as cruise/travel agents, they go on a vacation (even check their emails on vacation), and are being flamed for doing so.

 

I do agree that there should be someone available for direct contact in the event of a client emergency (like needing to cancel at some point immediately to avoid penalties etc.)... but come on. Cut the guy a break. This is not an emergency.

 

It's not easy to have a price adjustment (or benefit applied in lieu of) that close to sailing, so I'd consider that a moot point. Further to that, staying in the cabin locations as originally booked (even though not as close to eachother as might be possible) is not going to negatively effect your upcoming cruise... the only thing that can is that attitude you choose to board the ship with.

 

I agree with the other TA, get excited about your upcoming cruise vacation!

[marty30907]

As we have always used our PVP, we have not had any experience with a TA. Our PVP always returns our calls or e-mails. Sorry that you are having a problem.

[wizard-of-roz]

I think what I will do "next time", is shop on-line for the very best deal I can find and then "walk-in" to the travel agent closest to my work and plan my cruising accordingly. I'll give them all the necessary information that I have i.e. price, eating requests and cabins.The travel agent near me is a "huge" agency with multiple assistants to help me!

I will be able to literally "walk-in" and make sure that all my bases are covered!

This on-line stuff is "quick and convenient" but, not always available when you really need to talk to someone.

Mr_Cruise: You're so right, I want that "personal touch" and "hands-on" feeling of "yesteryear"! And, if I don't get it from the "on-line" guys when I want it.....I then demand it! As I said, I'm into them pretty deep for my next 2 cruises so I'm finding myself "working" like a TA myself to get what I want. Would that be so much different with the other guys? I don't really know!

Where did all the "may I help you" people go? Oh! I know to Nordstroms!

Happy Sails to You!

Roz

[S.S.Oceanlover]

I think what I will do "next time", is shop on-line for the very best deal I can find and then "walk-in" to the travel agent closest to my work and plan my cruising accordingly. I'll give them all the necessary information that I have i.e. price, eating requests and cabins.The travel agent near me is a "huge" agency with multiple assistants to help me!

I will be able to literally "walk-in" and make sure that all my bases are covered!

This on-line stuff is "quick and convenient" but, not always available when you really need to talk to someone.

Mr_Cruise: You're so right, I want that "personal touch" and "hands-on" feeling of "yesteryear"! And, if I don't get it from the "on-line" guys when I want it.....I then demand it! As I said, I'm into them pretty deep for my next 2 cruises so I'm finding myself "working" like a TA myself to get what I want. Would that be so much different with the other guys? I don't really know!

Where did all the "may I help you" people go? Oh! I know to Nordstroms!

Happy Sails to You!

Roz

 

 

Shopping online for the best deal won't work for Carnival since everybody needs to ADVERTISE the same price. You can call or e-mail online agencies for a discounted price though.

 

Bill

[wizard-of-roz]

Bill: Thanks for the tip! Love these boards!!!!

Roz

[rvrgirl]

Not all TA's are like that. I am a TA and when I am away someone covers for me. I leave that person's name and toll free number on my answerring machine. I am leaving on Sat. to cruise on the Miracle and have had someone lined up to cover for me for months.

 

I totally agree with you. And it has nothing to do with the mom and pop agency's. We have used one for years and have never had a problem. When our TA is out of the office for any reason, she has someone cover her.

It does seem that the OP is cutting it pretty close with her price adjustments and cabin changes. She sets sail next week? I would just focus on having a wonderful time!

[Boston6]

It does seem that the OP is cutting it pretty close with her price adjustments and cabin changes. She sets sail next week?

 

It's a large group and there are now room available next to each other. Why blame this on the OP? It's the travel agent that's non-responsive.

 

I gave up on using a TA for a similar reason. Booked latest cruise with PVP for the first time.

[rvrgirl]

It's a large group and there are now room available next to each other. Why blame this on the OP? It's the travel agent that's non-responsive.

 

I gave up on using a TA for a similar reason. Booked latest cruise with PVP for the first time.

 

I didn't blame the OP;)

[wizard-of-roz]

I feel so stupid...what is a PVP? :confused: