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Upsell's offered to people booked through TA

irockadidas

By irockadidas,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Sami1220

Sami1220

Posted
Posted

I certainly hope so! I was going to book through Carnival but a friend gave the TA my phone number and let her know that I was gonna book too....so I felt "obligated" to book through her....I am hoping we still get the chance at a good upsell.

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jewels4488

jewels4488

Posted
Posted
I was a TA for 5 years and often got upsell (and upgrade) calls from cruise lines for my clients.

 

We are sailing in 3 months. I let my TA know I am checking prices and would upgrade to a balcony if there was a price drop. Do you think I need to ask her to call me if Carnival calls her, or will she do this anyway?

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GottaLuvCruising

GottaLuvCruising

Posted
Posted
We are sailing in 3 months. I let my TA know I am checking prices and would upgrade to a balcony if there was a price drop. Do you think I need to ask her to call me if Carnival calls her, or will she do this anyway?

 

I would absolutely expect your TA to contact you. If you are open to any upgrade, let her know proactively. I could usually reach a client within minutes. One time I could not because they were traveling to the ship. So I accepted the upgrade on their behalf and left them a message. They were thrilled (balcony to suite at no cost to them).

 

Several times I also received calls where a cruise ship was oversold and they were offering substantial compensation if clients would take an alternate cruise. One cruise line in particular seemed to do this.

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golfadj

golfadj

Posted
Posted
We are sailing in 3 months. I let my TA know I am checking prices and would upgrade to a balcony if there was a price drop. Do you think I need to ask her to call me if Carnival calls her, or will she do this anyway?

 

If she is doing her job she will call you, if not she should not be your TA.

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karonijo

karonijo

Posted
Posted

I have used the same TA for most of my cruises taken in the past 10 years. She was one of my sisters best friends in high school. At first, I thought she was good and took care of us...I was pretty new at what to expect I guess or what she had the capability of doing for us. Out of all the cruises booked through her, I can't remember ever her calling us for any kind of upgrade offers. I think there was one time I recall ever even getting a bottle of wine delivered to our cabin upon sail away..which was actually from the company she worked for at the time. Our last cruise was just in October and it was my 50th birthday ...which she new and so many times mentioned it in our conversations. I really thought she would have a little surprise in the cabin for me waiting. Nothing ...all week long. Why do they ask if you are celebrating anything special if they don't do anything special for you? to thank you for your business you have given for so many years. Well..that was my last time booking with her. I am going directly through Carnival ..I enjoyed having a PVP when we did. He always knew when I was looking online though.. LOL I also thought that was one of the reasons we never got a call for upgrades due to we had a TA. I also like checking out my booking online and being able to makes changes, add excursions, make purchases..etc.

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golfadj

golfadj

Posted
Posted

We started our cruising career with local TA who was very good we thought but in retrospect really wasnt based on what we have learned here.

 

Went to pvp but went back to TA when pvp left suddenly and found TA who gave obc.

 

Used her for several cruises and was ok but for upcoming one used a pvp.

 

I am too hands on to have to wait on TA to get back to me when I could call direct and get things done more quickly.

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jakesnana

jakesnana

Posted
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Just as Carnival will not talk to you about your booking if you booked with a T/A they will not (and can not) contact a T/A booked client about up-sells.

 

You are correct, they do not contact the passenger directly, but they do contact the TA to see if their client would be interested in an upsell.

 

It has happened in the past and I assume still happens today.

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golfadj

golfadj

Posted
Posted
You are correct, they do not contact the passenger directly, but they do contact the TA to see if their client would be interested in an upsell.

 

It has happened in the past and I assume still happens today.

 

Have gotten the call twice from Carnival and it was obvious they wanted an immediate answer. Barely gave me a minute to talk to DW the first time going from inside to aft wrap.

 

Do not think they will want to wait on TA contact the passenger.

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AdGuyMG

AdGuyMG

Posted
Posted
Have gotten the call twice from Carnival and it was obvious they wanted an immediate answer. Barely gave me a minute to talk to DW the first time going from inside to aft wrap.

 

Do not think they will want to wait on TA contact the passenger.

 

Nope. And that's just another one of several reasons TA booked guests will not get a call from the Fairy.

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AdGuyMG

AdGuyMG

Posted
Posted
You are mistaken.

 

No I'm not. The Upsell call is a revenue opportunity that presents itself when a ship is bottom heavy in lower category bookings and top heavy in available open categories. The Upsell fairy has a limited amount of time to change the complexion of the way the ship is booked. That's why the calls are quick and the prices are (usually) attractive. The Upsell Fairy has no time to analyze the passengers past guest history. The Fairy looks at the opportunities open for the quickest and easiest way to make the most added revenue to the ship.

 

And Stu is right that Carnival contacting TA's who then in turn have to call their customers who may have to then talk it over with their spouses who then have to call the TA back etc, is not the the most efficient way to upsell the ship.

 

And how much revenue does the TA get from the cheap upsell?? Nothing!! But they have to go on their GOCCL computer and do the work to make the changes.

 

In addition, Travel Agents DO NOT under any circumstances want Carnival to contact their clients directly and a call from the Upsell Fairy is just that. It can open up a whole can of worms.

 

What about travel insurance? Seasoned cruisers know how important it is to buy it. Do you think TA's would be OK with Carnival calling their clients to discuss and upsell them valuable trip coverage their travel agent may have neglected to offer? I don't think it would fly.

 

Bottom line.. The Upsell Fairy does not contact non-direct TA booked customers.

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Calif. RN

Calif. RN

Posted
Posted

We are sailing on the Miracle in 2 weeks. We booked directly with Carnival, and are past-passengers. I got a call about 10 days ago from the "Upgrade Fairy", a very polite young man who wanted to know if we were interested in trading up from our mid-ship balcony to a mini-suite - only $585 extra, per person. Really? This is exactly the price difference between the balcony we have and the mini-suite, at the time of original booking. If we had wanted to spend another $1170, we would have booked the mini in the first place.

 

The upsell is just that - a polite, but business-focused attempt by Carnival to fill unsold cabins. No deep discount there. I declined the upsell, and am happy with the balcony cabin we booked originally. $1170 just barely covers our airfare from the West Coast to FLL! :eek:

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golfadj

golfadj

Posted
Posted
We are sailing on the Miracle in 2 weeks. We booked directly with Carnival, and are past-passengers. I got a call about 10 days ago from the "Upgrade Fairy", a very polite young man who wanted to know if we were interested in trading up from our mid-ship balcony to a mini-suite - only $585 extra, per person. Really? This is exactly the price difference between the balcony we have and the mini-suite, at the time of original booking. If we had wanted to spend another $1170, we would have booked the mini in the first place.

 

The upsell is just that - a polite, but business-focused attempt by Carnival to fill unsold cabins. No deep discount there. I declined the upsell, and am happy with the balcony cabin we booked originally. $1170 just barely covers our airfare from the West Coast to FLL! :eek:

 

We have gotten two calls when dealing with pvp.

 

First to go to aft wrap from inside was a deal and we grabbed it. Second to go from inside to suite was exactly the same as the website showed and we passed.

 

how many cabins they have to move and time frame will determine the deals they will offer.

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