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OPEN PASSAGE NIGHTMARE be warned


downundermatt

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I purchased a Open Passages Certificate on my last Cruise, not known I should have booked my next Cruise thru the same agent.

Now I have rebooked through my new agent, Celebrity won't honour their Certificate til the previous agent send a transfer on their letterhead back to Celebity. Hence my problem. Celebrity won't allow them (the old agent) to view my booking. Celebrity In Australia claim they can't access the full booking (only a shell as it is made thru a US agent)

Emails and calls to Celebrity (in the US, and my home Australia) have achieve nothing, as have calls to my agents, Suppose the moral is to stick with an Australian agent or book thru Celebrity direct. At least booking in Australia the Department of Consumer Affairs would assist me.

Be warned ....

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I purchased a Open Passages Certificate on my last Cruise, not known I should have booked my next Cruise thru the same agent.

Now I have rebooked through my new agent, Celebrity won't honour their Certificate til the previous agent send a transfer on their letterhead back to Celebity. Hence my problem. Celebrity won't allow them (the old agent) to view my booking. Celebrity In Australia claim they can't access the full booking (only a shell as it is made thru a US agent)

Emails and calls to Celebrity (in the US, and my home Australia) have achieve nothing, as have calls to my agents, Suppose the moral is to stick with an Australian agent or book thru Celebrity direct. At least booking in Australia the Department of Consumer Affairs would assist me.

Be warned ....

 

Thanks downundermatt, I have noted this for the future. Mic:D

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I purchased a Open Passages Certificate on my last Cruise, not known I should have booked my next Cruise thru the same agent.

Now I have rebooked through my new agent, Celebrity won't honour their Certificate til the previous agent send a transfer on their letterhead back to Celebity. Hence my problem. Celebrity won't allow them (the old agent) to view my booking. Celebrity In Australia claim they can't access the full booking (only a shell as it is made thru a US agent)

Emails and calls to Celebrity (in the US, and my home Australia) have achieve nothing, as have calls to my agents, Suppose the moral is to stick with an Australian agent or book thru Celebrity direct. At least booking in Australia the Department of Consumer Affairs would assist me.

Be warned ....

 

This "nightmare" can easily be avoided. When you purchase the Passages Certificate on the ship, tell the FCC that you do NOT want it assigned to a travel agent. Then make sure that the printed copy you get does not have a travel agent's name on it. End of problems, nightmares, etc.

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This "nightmare" can easily be avoided. When you purchase the Passages Certificate on the ship, tell the FCC that you do NOT want it assigned to a travel agent. Then make sure that the printed copy you get does not have a travel agent's name on it. End of problems, nightmares, etc.

 

Linda is correct. Another way is to ask your current TA (travel agent) if they will work with you if you wish to move the reservation -- a good TA will allow you to handle the reservation any way you wish. If they are unwilling to work with you -- find a new TA.

Sorry to hear that you seem to be caught in the middle.

Ray in NH

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Thanks for sharing that information, as I have made the same mistake.

 

I put my US TA's name on, as I was happy with the service, however I didn't think it could be a problem if I chose to book direct with Celebrity, in Australia, in the future.

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I put my dep on an O/P while on board, asking them to sign it right away to my TA, which she did. My TA is, I think very good, but I decided to not to use her company this time. I called Celeb and informed them that I would like to book a prticular cruise with them but my O/P was with a TA. He informed me that I would have to have her call Celeb and do the switch , which is what she did. It took about 36hrs to do the switch, no problem. But in my case I had not at that time booked a cruise with myTA , so the switch was easy.

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This "nightmare" can easily be avoided. When you purchase the Passages Certificate on the ship, tell the FCC that you do NOT want it assigned to a travel agent. Then make sure that the printed copy you get does not have a travel agent's name on it. End of problems, nightmares, etc.
This is excellent advice to follow, even if you think you will want to use the same travel agent again.

By the time you get around to booking another cruise with the certificate, circumstances may have changed.

By leaving your options open, it gives you the freedom and flexibility to use a different travel agent next time, or still use the same one again if you wish, or book directly with the cruise line and use no travel agent at all.

 

Or book your next cruise directly with the cruise line using the passages certificate and then still have 60 days after booking to look around for the best deal and transfer the booking to whichever travel agent you wish.

It should not even be necessary to tell the FCC not to assign your passages certificate to any TA, but unfortunately there are some who will automatically go ahead and assign it to the previous TA without even asking your permission to do so.

 

 

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I put my dep on an O/P while on board, asking them to sign it right away to my TA, which she did. My TA is, I think very good, but I decided to not to use her company this time. I called Celeb and informed them that I would like to book a prticular cruise with them but my O/P was with a TA. He informed me that I would have to have her call Celeb and do the switch , which is what she did. It took about 36hrs to do the switch, no problem. But in my case I had not at that time booked a cruise with myTA , so the switch was easy.

 

Thanks. I'll make sure, if I decide to book direct with Celebrity, in Australia, in future, I don't book a cruise first.

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It should not even be necessary to tell the FCC not to assign your passages certificate to any TA, but unfortunately there are some who will automatically go ahead and assign it to the previous TA without even asking your permission to do so.

 

 

 

From a business perspective, I believe that the cruise line must by default leave the new booking with the travel agent you are sailing with, so you should proactively tell them that you want to move it to either your new preferred agent or take it direct with the cruise line. That way you can always change to another agency when you know who it is.

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Linda is correct. Another way is to ask your current TA (travel agent) if they will work with you if you wish to move the reservation -- a good TA will allow you to handle the reservation any way you wish. If they are unwilling to work with you -- find a new TA.

Sorry to hear that you seem to be caught in the middle.

Ray in NH

 

She already did that's why she wants to move the booking.

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Thanks all for your support, I will call the Passages Number in the USA, as the Captains Club simply don't respond, so much for a Loyalty program.

 

And Linda it truly is a nightmare. There is no mention I need to use the original Travel Agent ANYWHERE on the paperwork they gave me, nor does it state anywhere it needs to be utilised through the same agency.

 

However it does say "no F + F certificates were provided to the guest, out of stock. Please honor 2 certificates on master booking"

 

Lesson Learnt.

 

As my 17 day cruise AUSTRALIA-HAWAII does not count, only solution is to book another cruise through my initial agent

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Thanks all for your support, I will call the Passages Number in the USA, as the Captains Club simply don't respond, so much for a Loyalty program.

 

And Linda it truly is a nightmare. There is no mention I need to use the original Travel Agent ANYWHERE on the paperwork they gave me, nor does it state anywhere it needs to be utilised through the same agency.

 

However it does say "no F + F certificates were provided to the guest, out of stock. Please honor 2 certificates on master booking"

 

Lesson Learnt.

 

As my 17 day cruise AUSTRALIA-HAWAII does not count, only solution is to book another cruise through my initial agent

 

I don't think I said it wasn't a nightmare. I was trying to provide you advice on how to avoid this nightmare the next time. I'm sorry to hear what you're having to go through.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thankfully a call to the Passages Desk resolved the problem satisfactorily ("even tho it isn't normal protocol....") There was no agent listed on the Open Passages Certificate, assume it just goes back to the original agent by default unless you specify to leave it OPEN or with Celebrity - thereby avoiding possible problems later - thanks for all your advice -

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I purchased a Open Passages Certificate on my last Cruise, not known I should have booked my next Cruise thru the same agent.

Now I have rebooked through my new agent, Celebrity won't honour their Certificate til the previous agent send a transfer on their letterhead back to Celebity. Hence my problem. Celebrity won't allow them (the old agent) to view my booking. Celebrity In Australia claim they can't access the full booking (only a shell as it is made thru a US agent)

Emails and calls to Celebrity (in the US, and my home Australia) have achieve nothing, as have calls to my agents, Suppose the moral is to stick with an Australian agent or book thru Celebrity direct. At least booking in Australia the Department of Consumer Affairs would assist me.

Be warned ....

 

I always tell Celebrity to hold my original reservation and not to send it to the current TA.

This way I transfer reservation to the agent of my choice.

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I feel your pain!

 

We bought two Open Passages in 2010 and wanted to use them on two cabins for 2013. We got one in fine, the second one (although we bought at the same time) had it assigned to a TA. It also had the wrong number on it. By the time we got it all worked out - TA it was assigned to had no record of it, Celebrity 'couldn't' do anything about it - the price of the cabin had gone up higher than the credit it would have provided.

 

We just booked a last minute cruise so we used it. I guess Celebrity has a marketing strategy in place. I think I went with Celebrity for this one to use it up!

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Thankfully a call to the Passages Desk resolved the problem satisfactorily ("even tho it isn't normal protocol....") There was no agent listed on the Open Passages Certificate, assume it just goes back to the original agent by default unless you specify to leave it OPEN or with Celebrity - thereby avoiding possible problems later - thanks for all your advice -

 

Glad to hear you have this resolved.

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