Oh-But-Is-It Posted May 29, 2014 #1 Share Posted May 29, 2014 Phoned today to book a specific cabin for my October cruise (as Travel Agent couldn't be persuaded to do it for me) 'grrr' '' 26 '' Minutes ................ (no its not a typo) 26 minutes to book a cabin. The first 10 minutes was on hold waiting to be connected, and the remainder 16 minutes were spent with a woman who operated at the speed of a sloth. at 10 pence plus network extra's per minute I felt quiet irritated. Grrrrrrrrr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kruzseeka Posted May 30, 2014 #2 Share Posted May 30, 2014 That really is deplorable isn't it? Perhaps it would be a good idea if booking with a TA in future to make that a condition of you booking - that they make the cabin reservation for you at the time. After all what if you booked then found there were only cabins available in an area you wouldn't want to be (like the stern on some ships which can be noisy)? Perhaps if you knew that you wouldn't have booked at all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Jim The Scot Posted May 30, 2014 #3 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Persuaded?I`d be looking to use an alternative TA in future Can I ask why your TA would not pre book your cabin?All our cruises have been booked through a TA and not the same one may I add and they have always pre booked our cabin with no fuss and without being asked or persuaded. Dont see why you should need to make it a condition of your booking its part of the booking process Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovecruise22 Posted May 30, 2014 #4 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Our travel agent also booked ours for us, I have them a list of the ones I wanted and they rang booked it then called me back to confirm Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheila49 Posted May 30, 2014 #5 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Our travel agents have always booked our cabin for us. We have used several different local independents. I have tried to book a cabin by phone in the past and been told that as I booked through a TA they had to book the cabin for me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ormy Posted May 30, 2014 #6 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Part of the TA service, you should have been more persistent with them - TA always does this for us, guess they may have lost a customer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wacktle Posted May 30, 2014 #7 Share Posted May 30, 2014 That really is deplorable isn't it? Perhaps it would be a good idea if booking with a TA in future to make that a condition of you booking - that they make the cabin reservation for you at the time. After all what if you booked then found there were only cabins available in an area you wouldn't want to be (like the stern on some ships which can be noisy)? Perhaps if you knew that you wouldn't have booked at all! When we booked on Thomson Dream for last January, the Thomson travel agent rang to check what cabins were available before I finalised the booking. He was told that all were available in my chosen grade, so I went ahead. He said that a cabin could not be reserved until the next day. When I went back and he rang up to book our selected cabin, all the possibles that I had selected were booked! The ones available were all on another deck. Why can't Thomson let you pre-select a cabin at the time of booking in the same way as all other cruise lines? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtt Posted May 30, 2014 #8 Share Posted May 30, 2014 our ta always prebooks our cabin when we book, he calls and sees what cabins are available then calls us back confirms and then we book and pay deposit, they have always done that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geomagot Posted May 30, 2014 #9 Share Posted May 30, 2014 When we booked on Thomson Dream for last January, the Thomson travel agent rang to check what cabins were available before I finalised the booking. He was told that all were available in my chosen grade, so I went ahead. He said that a cabin could not be reserved until the next day. When I went back and he rang up to book our selected cabin, all the possibles that I had selected were booked! The ones available were all on another deck. Why can't Thomson let you pre-select a cabin at the time of booking in the same way as all other cruise lines? yep...same thing happened to us, we were told while booking that our (list) of cabins would be available but by the time the TA made the call all the cabins on our chosen deck had gone?? (in a matter of hours??):confused::( (and we booked a year in advance!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jem16 Posted May 30, 2014 #10 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Phoned today to book a specific cabin for my October cruise (as Travel Agent couldn't be persuaded to do it for me) 'grrr' '' 26 '' Minutes ................ (no its not a typo) 26 minutes to book a cabin. The first 10 minutes was on hold waiting to be connected, and the remainder 16 minutes were spent with a woman who operated at the speed of a sloth. at 10 pence plus network extra's per minute I felt quiet irritated. Grrrrrrrrr Just used this number to book a specific cabin - 024 7628 2828. All done within 5 minutes and as it's a normal geographic number it was included in my inclusive minutes so no charge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geomagot Posted May 31, 2014 #11 Share Posted May 31, 2014 Just used this number to book a specific cabin - 024 7628 2828. All done within 5 minutes and as it's a normal geographic number it was included in my inclusive minutes so no charge. unfortunately (I know not why??) but (for some unfathomable reason??) if you book thru a TA that TA has to make that call for you??:confused: you cant just call thoms up yourself....they wont do it and just refer you back to the TA:( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilje Posted June 1, 2014 #12 Share Posted June 1, 2014 Thanks for posting that number jem16. I booked a short cruise on line then spent 25 mins on telephone just to book a cabin. Seemed to be deliberate delay to extract extra phone costs. When I book at a TA I get them to price cruise then ring to ring Thomsons as to which cabins of my choice are available when I choose she asks them to hold, pushes computer key to book my cruise and then gives the booking number to the Thomsons person who books my cabin. Job done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wacktle Posted June 4, 2014 #13 Share Posted June 4, 2014 Thanks for posting that number jem16. I booked a short cruise on line then spent 25 mins on telephone just to book a cabin. Seemed to be deliberate delay to extract extra phone costs. When I book at a TA I get them to price cruise then ring to ring Thomsons as to which cabins of my choice are available when I choose she asks them to hold, pushes computer key to book my cruise and then gives the booking number to the Thomsons person who books my cabin. Job done our ta always prebooks our cabin when we book, he calls and sees what cabins are available then calls us back confirms and then we book and pay deposit, they have always done that Hi Bilje & mtt, I know you can't specifically divulge the names of your TAs on here, but can you drop any hints? I booked at the TA with the same name as the travel company and the first name of all the ships we're talking about, and they told me I couldn't book a cabin until the next day as the booking had to go through the system. As I said in a previous post, the TA had made a call to ask if my preferred cabins were available and was told they were, and that in fact none were booked at all. I was surprised as it was only a few weeks before sail date, but as it was my first cruise with Thomson, I assumed that few people fork out the cabin booking fee and so take pot luck. However the next day there was hardly anything of my selected grade on the deck I wanted. They couldn't all have been booked overnight, so someone must hav given out duff info. The TA himself was quite embarassed. It didn't feel very joined-up, and it does put me off booking another Thomson cruise. With today's real-time updating of computer systems, there should be no technical reason why a cabin cannot be selected at the time of booking. I wonder whether it's a ploy to extract a deposit from someone, and then they really have to accept whatever is available as there's little you can do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtt Posted June 4, 2014 #14 Share Posted June 4, 2014 Hi Bilje & mtt, I know you can't specifically divulge the names of your TAs on here, but can you drop any hints? I booked at the TA with the same name as the travel company and the first name of all the ships we're talking about, and they told me I couldn't book a cabin until the next day as the booking had to go through the system. As I said in a previous post, the TA had made a call to ask if my preferred cabins were available and was told they were, and that in fact none were booked at all. I was surprised as it was only a few weeks before sail date, but as it was my first cruise with Thomson, I assumed that few people fork out the cabin booking fee and so take pot luck. However the next day there was hardly anything of my selected grade on the deck I wanted. They couldn't all have been booked overnight, so someone must hav given out duff info. The TA himself was quite embarassed. It didn't feel very joined-up, and it does put me off booking another Thomson cruise. With today's real-time updating of computer systems, there should be no technical reason why a cabin cannot be selected at the time of booking. I wonder whether it's a ploy to extract a deposit from someone, and then they really have to accept whatever is available as there's little you can do. my ta is just our local thomson shop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ormy Posted June 4, 2014 #15 Share Posted June 4, 2014 When we booked last years cruise late April 2012 the TA was able to book our cabin at the same time as booking. This year we are on the Celebration and had lots of problems getting the cabin we wanted, but that turned out to be due to balconies being added - but it took Thomson months to finally explain why we had problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huddersfieldtourist Posted June 4, 2014 #16 Share Posted June 4, 2014 Hi Bilje & mtt, I know you can't specifically divulge the names of your TAs on here, but can you drop any hints? I booked at the TA with the same name as the travel company and the first name of all the ships we're talking about, and they told me I couldn't book a cabin until the next day as the booking had to go through the system. As I said in a previous post, the TA had made a call to ask if my preferred cabins were available and was told they were, and that in fact none were booked at all. I was surprised as it was only a few weeks before sail date, but as it was my first cruise with Thomson, I assumed that few people fork out the cabin booking fee and so take pot luck. However the next day there was hardly anything of my selected grade on the deck I wanted. They couldn't all have been booked overnight, so someone must hav given out duff info. The TA himself was quite embarassed. It didn't feel very joined-up, and it does put me off booking another Thomson cruise. With today's real-time updating of computer systems, there should be no technical reason why a cabin cannot be selected at the time of booking. I wonder whether it's a ploy to extract a deposit from someone, and then they really have to accept whatever is available as there's little you can do. You can book your cabin immediately after the booking has been made - your Thomson TA can do it within moments of getting the booking reference or if you are booking yourself "online" you can do likewise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wacktle Posted June 5, 2014 #17 Share Posted June 5, 2014 You can book your cabin immediately after the booking has been made - your Thomson TA can do it within moments of getting the booking reference or if you are booking yourself "online" you can do likewise Thanks. Maybe the lad at our local Thomson shop was inexperienced, and I was a first time Thomson cruise booker so knew no better. I'll know for next time. I'm having difficulty seeing what grades are available for the cruise (Celebration in Jan, the one that does Guadeloupe). The online deckplans don't seem to match with the new layout now some balconies have been added to ships - i.e. it doesn't show any balcony cabins. It's all quite puzzling. I do have a good old paper brochure fortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy mac Posted June 5, 2014 #18 Share Posted June 5, 2014 our ta booked our cabin for free,said not to tell everybody Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtt Posted June 5, 2014 #19 Share Posted June 5, 2014 we got a price from cruise deals and thet quoted in free booked cabins and our ta matched that, 2 cabins too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeholiday2 Posted June 5, 2014 #20 Share Posted June 5, 2014 Thanks for the number Jem, used it last night, without any problems. After studying the email confirmation they send the number is actually in the small print at the bottom, but they tell you to phone the premium line.... well they would wouldn't they. Ta Joe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jem16 Posted June 5, 2014 #21 Share Posted June 5, 2014 Glad the number has come in useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now