AAAAAAHHHHH! Need new travel agent

[Golferboy18]

George, what is HALS's PCC

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[sail7seas]

I'm not sure I would have worded it the same way but seeing 'chickenladyNH' got the upsell, it seems your point is well taken in that no one else had yet taken the offer. We read all the time that the offer goes out to a number of folks and those who answer first, get the 'deal'. That must mean most of the other TA's involved did not open their mail or did not immediately contact their clients either.

 

[chickenladyNH]

Not necessarily sail7seas,

It was not a great upsell price, so I'm sure people could have passed on it.

As for asking too much from a human travel agent....the agent gets paid for making a booking. Nothing else is required except to forward upsell/upgrade offers. I prob. wouldn't have been as mad except, her first words to me this am were..."I got this email over the weekend, but didn't read it until now. Hope it's not taken". Evidently even the travel agent thought that hse should have acted faster.

[xjust4fun]

Congratulations, we had a fabulous travel agent, however he retired, not easy to find a TA that will work for us and provide sound advice. We have friends at the moment who booked 2 cruises with an online internet agency and they were not happy with them or the TA, now they have another cruise that is coming up and they want to change TA. Glad I know someone who provided us with valuable information tonight. Hope they switch their booking.

[erewhon]

We got it!! Really nice to have a Neptune Suite. Now, I won't be tripping over my mom and son. Better yet, free laundry! I really would have been in a bad mood if it was gone. I'm a happy chicken now!

 

Pleased for you that the upsell was still available.

 

Enjoy the suite.

[MisterBill99]

I prob. wouldn't have been as mad except, her first words to me this am were..."I got this email over the weekend, but didn't read it until now. Hope it's not taken". Evidently even the travel agent thought that she should have acted faster.

I don't know how you read this into her words. If she works out of an office and not her home, it's entirely possible that she hadn't been at work to see the offer until Monday morning. I read it as "unfortunately they sent this over the weekend when we were closed..." If they sent the offer at 5:05pm eastern time and you didn't get it until the following morning, would that have also been a problem for you? Having an agent who reads their email 7 days a week is certainly a plus but not to be expected.

 

I had a TA for a long time who was originally doing it full time but eventually went to part time because he graduated from law school and got a full time job. This meant I could not rely on him to act quickly for me, so for my latest booking I found someone else. The next agent seems to be very responsive, although I haven't tried her on the weekend yet.

 

I'm not sure if yout TA gave you any OBC or you were just using her because she is a family friend and not giving you any perks. My new agent is giving me OBC, and that was what I was looking for.

[KAKcruiser]

I'm not sure that the upsell department is open over the weekend. It may not have been possible to call until Monday morning so maybe that is why the offer was still available.

[MisterBill99]

I'm not sure that the upsell department is open over the weekend. It may not have been possible to call until Monday morning so maybe that is why the offer was still available.

True, and it could have just been an automated email that was sent out.

[Tampa Girl]

You realize the email you would've come directly to you and you would've been able to act on the upsell immediately if you didn't use a TA, right?

 

Perfect example of why NOT to use one.

 

But the upside of TA's is that they frequently can get you better prices. We have always used online TA's, and they always better HAL's prices by a substantial amount.

[Fluffqueen01]

My TA has been pretty useless. Once I booked, I never heard com her. I found a great deal myself and called her before we made our final payment. She hemmed and hawed and I told her for the difference, I would cancel and rebook myself. Got a call back and suddenly they were having a sale and she reduced our amount.

 

Last night, we decided to check and see what it would cost to upsell to a suite. Crrently we are on the DA level. She sent a note and said $520 for B suites with a 100 credit per person.

 

Great...I tell her today, lets do it. She calls later and says, whoops, now they are saying BC, specifically 6106 only. She said they told her they didn't say that last night and she just laughed it off. She said they make changes every day and that's how it is.

 

Told her I wasn't very happy, and was she going to call every day to see what the upsell was for that day to see if we could get a b category. Her answer was that it took 20 minutes to make the call and this wasnt a 25,000 dollar cruise, that she had spent hours working on my cruise, and she thought it was offensive that I would ask her to make a call every day.

 

I was really offended, as I am in sales, and the customer always comes first. We basically hung up not happy with each other.

 

So now, I am stuck. The HAL people are great, but can't do anything since I am working with a TA. Seems to me that once you have paid, you ought to be able to upgrade without the use of the TA.

 

She has sent emails once a week on Royal Carribbean cruises, but nothing on the HAL cruises.

 

I asked for help on planning excursions and she was on a cruise at the time and told me she would work on it in four days when she got back. Fine, but I had it done by then.

 

We are four couples. She booked two of us, but the third one was so annoyed with her that she went someplace else, and I got a lecture from the agent when she wanted to know why.

 

So....should I stay in DA2546 or upgrade to the BC6106 suite? It is awfully far front.

[detroit70]

Our HAL PCC told us that upgrade/upsell offers are never sent over the weekend, which may well mean that the offer was sent to the OP during the day on Friday.

 

We had a similar experience with a TA and switched to booking our own for the next cruise and then using the HAL PCC on this last cruise. As a result, the upgrade/upsell offers came directly to my email and I could respond immediately.

 

The only thing we lost by not using the TA is the photo album she gave us after each cruise. We got over that loss pretty easily! :D

[chickenladyNH]

The only thing we lost by not using the TA is the photo album she gave us after each cruise. We got over that loss pretty easily! :D

 

Wow! I don't think we've ever gotten anything from our TA. Like I said, if I cruise with my mom again, I will be making the arrangements!

[billet]

The revenue management team closes at 5pm PST and does not open until Monday at 9am PST so if an auto- email is sent out over the weekend nothing can be done until Monday morning anyway.

[OHCruiser]

It only took once for an upsell to disappear during the time our TA got it and the time it was relayed to us before we decided to book directly with HAL. We lost out on a great deal.

 

Having booked directly with HAL, we've gotten offers on nearly every cruise. I answer the phone or read the e-mail, bring up the ship deck plan, and discuss what's available. We've been very happy with the set up and the results.

[MisterBill99]

Wow! I don't think we've ever gotten anything from our TA. Like I said, if I cruise with my mom again, I will be making the arrangements!

If you're not getting anything (or just a photo book) from your TA for booking with them, then I agree it's not worth using them unless they provide some sort of value to you. On the other hand, there are plenty of agents who will offer various rewards (typically on-board credit) for booking with them.