Significant booking issues

[hulamoon]

I am having intense time consuming issues. I have spent over five hours in the last two days with two recent bookings and promotions.

 

In one case there are notes attached to the booking explaining how it was sold to me and the sales office refuses to honor the agreement.

 

In the second case I have spoken to captains club four times and they tell me how I should handle a booking and their suggestion matches my understanding g from reading and cruisecritic and I was told my old passages could not be transferred except once. I lost all benefits and it is not transferable to a different cruise. This was after being told the only way to benefit was to move the cruise.

 

I know captains club is not in Sales and can only advise, but the supervisors in the sales department I am speaking to only parrot scripts to me.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to get customer care without being on hold for hours and actually speaking to someone?

Edited January 20, 2014 by hulamoon

[scanditaly]

That is my first piece of advice. Just don't give up. find a way that you can have the phone on speaker while you go about your daily living. I have literally sorted laundry, rummaged through the pantry, gone through the days' mail and sent a few e-mails while on hold.

 

that being said, and this too.......If you call again and speak with a new person, you will probably get a different response. I have seen this posted on cruise critic, and also had it happen to me. This goes back to my first piece of advice. Never give up!

 

Then there's the old Monday morning trick. yes, X's employees do have regular Mon-fri work hours, so the best person for the job may be on their weekend right now. And, again, we get back to...Never give up!

[teecee60]

Sorry you are having such a difficult time with your future cruises... :(

 

Unfortunately it seems that not only the Celebrity website, but the customer service department as well, are BOTH very sore spots with MANY cruise critic members, as witnessed by the DOZENS if not HUNDREDS of threads here that tell a story similar to yours. :cool:

 

It is only partially because of those stories, (but that IS ONE reason) I have never booked directly with any Cruise line, and have no intention of doing so in the future, but rather, choose to book though a very large online site. :)

 

I have used this same site for 12 consecutive cruises on 4 different cruise lines and NEVER have I had even a MINOR complaint about them, or the prices and services they offer. :D

 

Perhaps you would be better served, and more satisfied, booking through a travel agent or online site. ;)

[bjarrett7]

I am having intense time consuming issues. I have spent over five hours in the last two days with two recent bookings and promotions.

 

In one case there are notes attached to the booking explaining how it was sold to me and the sales office refuses to honor the agreement.

 

In the second case I have spoken to captains club four times and they tell me how I should handle a booking and their suggestion matches my understanding g from reading and cruisecritic and I was told my old passages could not be transferred except once. I lost all benefits and it is not transferable to a different cruise. This was after being told the only way to benefit was to move the cruise.

 

I know captains club is not in Sales and can only advise, but the supervisors in the sales department I am speaking to only parrot scripts to me.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to get customer care without being on hold for hours and actually speaking to someone?

 

I asked to speak with their supervisor... And it worked for me in an issue I was dealing with.

[WestLakeGirl]

Yes, definitely try to escalate to a supervisor, especially try to find one who has worked for Celebrity for a whole and remembers the previous rules and regulations

[hulamoon]

Thank you for your supportive responses. I did get the name and same parroting responses from a supervisor, who agreed to speak to someone about the first issue on Tuesday. The second issue, basically I have lost the right to move an old passages booking came to the forefront yesterday. My TA has recordings and I spoke to several people as well. It just got worse and worse and each response more insane and further from my agreement with them than last.

 

It was sometime late afternoon that i now understand why people go with those big agencies and leave well enough alone. Unfortunately, so far our lives have required a change occasionally. This is the worst customer care I have encountered in the cruise world. I have heard many travel agents are also unhappy about the deterioration. Call it a pet peeve, but bait and switch annoys the heck out me.

 

With the holiday and today being final payment, I have no idea what to do. The amount of time devoted to two bookings this weekend is astounding.

[wwcruisers]

Sorry -- but I'm a little confused.... :confused:

You mention your TA having recordings. If you are referring to a cruise that you booked through a TA, how is it that the X booking reps are even discussing the booking with you? Have you asked your TA to step in and help you resolve the issue? Good luck, and please let us know how things work out. :)

[hulamoon]

There are two bookings. One assigned to a TA and another not. Regardless if it assigned captains club will discuss open passages and how they can be used.

 

Captains club confirmed for me in the unasigned booked that notes were in the booking saying the date would move and the elite ten percent would hold. In fact entire presentations were made aboard the equinox in December saying we should book before the end of the month to get the discount and it would hold if our date changed and if we were not elite if we were before Galapagos sailing we would get this. I asked it be reflected in the record. It is, but it will not be honored.

 

The second booking should not expire. But my TA was told my open passage benefits would not transfer to a different date.

 

Captains club confirmed to me that benefits did not expire in open passages. After suggesting to me several times I should move it to a TRans Atlantic when I tried we were denied the ability to do it.

 

The sales office does not bother with what terms these bookings were purchased under. They have new rules that are odds with my agreement and what I have been told through captains club.

 

The TA handling it also gets a different story each time she calls. These are not quick calls, they will not conference everyone either. It takes hours. It's not a modern system nor is it luxurious experience.

[ptrpanpens]

There are two bookings. One assigned to a TA and another not. Regardless if it assigned captains club will discuss open passages and how they can be used.

 

Captains club confirmed for me in the unasigned booked that notes were in the booking saying the date would move and the elite ten percent would hold. In fact entire presentations were made aboard the equinox in December saying we should book before the end of the month to get the discount and it would hold if our date changed and if we were not elite if we were before Galapagos sailing we would get this. I asked it be reflected in the record. It is, but it will not be honored.

 

The second booking should not expire. But my TA was told my open passage benefits would not transfer to a different date.

 

Captains club confirmed to me that benefits did not expire in open passages. After suggesting to me several times I should move it to a TRans Atlantic when I tried we were denied the ability to do it.

 

The sales office does not bother with what terms these bookings were purchased under. They have new rules that are odds with my agreement and what I have been told through captains club.

 

The TA handling it also gets a different story each time she calls. These are not quick calls, they will not conference everyone either. It takes hours. It's not a modern system nor is it luxurious experience.

 

I would ask to see the policy in writing. When i have had questions and speak to captains club i always have them read the EXACT policy to me from their regulations. Sometimes a light goes on when they do and they realize they made a mistake.

 

As for TAs, there are many other issues unless you have an exceptional one. And every big company takes more time to call you back while you are waiting to request cabin changes, or something like that. Some are not open on weekends so that causes even more problems. But there are extra perks to consider so you have to weigh the pros and cons. I usually like to have control since i am always looking to change my cabin to a better one and want to do it immediately without waiting for a TA. Plus I have been able to talk celebrity into giving me price reductions when some travel agents cant. Maybe i should go into the business. Lol:D

[hulamoon]

I have had another conversation with captains club who forwarded me to the expedition desk.

 

In December the equinox sales staff held several Galapagos meetings with guests where they said we could move the date, there were hardly any open at the ten percent level. They also said those who were not yet elite could get the full ten percent discount as long as they made elite before their sailing.

 

Being slightly savvy to all the times I have read in here that onboard sales did not go right I asked her to write into the record that this was how it was sold to me. Yesterday captains club verified this it was in the record.

 

Today I am told again it will not be honored. Now, I know the world is a jaded place. But to have sales teams on board holding presentations, making promises to guests to get bookings, put it writing and then have the land team call it a misquote!!

 

As far as I am concerned, you cannot trust what you have in writing with celebrity.

[ariawoman]

I'm confused as the whole point to an "open passage" is not having a date selected (when you book them, you don't select a sailing, for reserved passage you do). So are you saying you bought an open passage, selected a sail date later, and then wanted to transfer that to your ta but they say no, that you'll lose the open passage perks?? If so that's totally false. Also there shouldn't be any issue with changing the sail date on an open passage even once it was assigned one, because that is the "lesser" of the 2 programs (meaning you got less OBC doing it that way vs a reserved passage). So, I'm really confused here. :confused:

[teecee60]

It's not a modern system nor is it luxurious experience.

 

GREAT COMMENT! :) I only wish *I* had been able to come up with it! ;)

[miched]

It's not a modern system nor is it luxurious experience.

 

There was a chin of store called Service Merchandise. They went out of business because they people finally realized that they didn't provide any service and never had any merchandise.

 

🌴🍸🍻🍺

[hulamoon]

I'm confused as the whole point to an "open passage" is not having a date selected (when you book them, you don't select a sailing, for reserved passage you do). So are you saying you bought an open passage, selected a sail date later, and then wanted to transfer that to your ta but they say no, that you'll lose the open passage perks?? If so that's totally false. Also there shouldn't be any issue with changing the sail date on an open passage even once it was assigned one, because that is the "lesser" of the 2 programs (meaning you got less OBC doing it that way vs a reserved passage). So, I'm really confused here. :confused:

 

I worked on two bookings this weekend. The open passages one was assigned.

And it was unusual in that last year we had an opportunity to exchange the three hundred Obc for a drink package. When we switched cruises celebrity staff suggested moving to trans Atlantic would give it more value when we needed to move the date. And that is when the trouble began. We were told no, it would invalidate it, no matter what I do. Multiple times. We asked to return the Obc and I would book regular rate. I need to call now and see where it currently is.

 

The Galapagos booking was just resolved. I was allowed a one time moving of date. But apparently if you move the date of your booking they are denying the ten percent discount for elite members who booked before the end of the year. This resolution took four hours over several days.

[hulamoon]

Both of these issues have been resolved. It took so many hours and I spoke to more people than I can count to get to the solutions. At one point I did consider canceling all my business and moving it elsewhere. There must be some breaki g point meter on the phone and just when the tortured responses are about to make you walk completely they give you what was promised in the beginning.

 

My TA told me other clients have lost their Obc by moving bookings, I do not know why this is. It bothers me there is fine print I didn't know about, and I must have missed discussions about it here.

 

Another item came to light which is odd. My port fees are higher than the current ones. Apparently celebrity uses some system to try to book your fees from the date you booked your original booking on another cruise. It is under ten bucks but why can't I be charged the prevailing fee as I just joined this cruise?

 

We are in our last days of the flu, but even if I had been at my best this was pretty terrible experience. Yes, I am relieved it improved.

 

All in all I have learned a booking is like a sleeping rattle snake. Don't touch it unless you want to suffer. I may have to be a last minute booker again.

[knittinggirl]

Sorry, wrong thread.

Edited January 21, 2014 by knittinggirl

[hulamoon]

I do not think they expire. Captains club doesn't think so. however my TA was told the benefits can expire when you move your booking. She said i was the second client this had happened to.

 

in the end, i received benefits, but it was a horrible experience over multiple days. And they are not the benefits, they are a "we do not owe you obc, but we will give it to you anyway, because you just will not stop asking about it, just this one time, kind of deal." I am not impressed or happy with our experience. Nor do i like someone pretending the agreed benefits are some sort of gift, rather than the normal course of business.