Princess can't help with booking when a TA is involved

[Brisbane41]

Can someone explain why Princess reps won't help me when the booking was made with a travel agent? And why isn't it possible to essentially fire the travel agent and work directly with Princess (after final payment)?

 

We have an upcoming 4 day cruise on the Crown, and we've already had our cabin assigned (we were in a "guarantee" status). I've also read where other people also had their cabins assigned already, so I think most of the guarantee rooms are already assigned. We are just two weeks away from sailing, and it looks like there are a ton of available balcony and mini suite cabins still available. I am not looking for a free upgrade, but I simply want to PAY an upgrade fee to Princess and take advantage of a higher category of cabin since so many are available. Now keep in mind that I am perfectly happy with our current oceanview room, and since it's only a 4 day cruise, it really doesn't matter where we were, but we had a little extra discretionary income recently and I thought it would be nice to try and pay for a higher category...especially since there are so many cabins still available.

 

We booked this cruise through a credit card reward program, and were therefore forced to use their travel agent (well, forced if we wanted to use the points at least). However, they are not like a normal travel agent and their prices don't come anywhere close to what Princess is advertising. When I called the TA that the credit rewards company uses, their "upgrade" costs were MORE than the price of a brand new booking, so it makes no sense to pay for an upgrade with their really odd pricing structure. I called Princess directly and told them I wanted to spend more money with them and asked if they could offer me an upgrade, but she said they couldn't do it and that I have to direct this request to my TA. I asked if I could fire the TA since the booking has been paid in full for quite some time now, but she said I couldn't do that once final payment has been made.

 

Like I said, I am perfectly content with my current cabin, it just seems silly that Princess has no way to take my money that I am more than willing to give them. Instead, they will most likely have many open cabins and they will have less revenue. I know it was my choice to use the credit card rewards points, and I am getting a free cruise out of it, it's just frustrating when I am willing to pay the money and can't do it.

 

It is possible to fire a travel agent under certain circumstances but I am not sure if it is possible with your situation.

 

I have only had to fire a travel agent once after final payment then the travel agent was guilty of extreme negligence with the booking. After final payment was made the cruise line kept asking for my immigration, passage contracts and forms. The travel agent never acted on these requests and the cruise line never issued the tickets. It came down to about a week before I was due to fly half way around the world to join my cruise that I got concerned. After an investigation I discovered the above negligence and needed the tickets re-issued in a hurry. Rather than risk the incompetence of the travel agent, I promptly fired them, the cruise line sent me a document to sign and fax back to them indicating that I had terminated the services of the travel agent. I then had to make a special trip to the office of the cruise line to personally hand in all my newly signed immigration and passage contract forms and have them issue tickets face to face at the office.

 

As it turned out the travel agent in question was going through a divorce and was not doing her job at all. It cost me time and money to fix up their errors. I have blacklisted the travel agency they work for and any associated companies the booking went through and for the past 7 years I have kept my will not to have any dealings with that particular company.

 

Cruise lines will honour your request to fire a travel agent only in extreme circumstances.

[jbobst]

 

When you have a disagreement with a TA, instead of bashing them here, ask for a 3 way call between you, the cruise line and the TA.

 

I am not bashing a TA. I am complaining that the credit card rewards company has an absurd pricing scheme. I feel cheated that they advertise reward points for all these great products and services, then force me to book through their absurd pricing structure and that they place limitations on the points I earned. However, I admit that it's my fault for using this company in the first place, but such is life. I am also frustrated that our upcoming cruise has a ton of available cabins in all categories, and I wish Princess had some method of allowing me to give them money and allow me to pay a reasonable upgrade fee to take advantage of a higher category cabin that will go empty most likely. They don't want my extra revenue in this case, so nothing I can do about it but vent here on Cruise Critic. Regardless, I am going to have a great cruise in a nice oceanview cabin. I have also switched credit card companies and learned my lesson about reward points.

 

I am sorry I ever mentioned the words Travel Agent in this thread, because most everyone is misunderstanding my complaints and frustrations. I should have just left it at Credit Card Rewards program.

[caribill]

I am not bashing a TA. I am complaining that the credit card rewards company has an absurd pricing scheme. I feel cheated that they advertise reward points for all these great products and services, then force me to book through their absurd pricing structure and that they place limitations on the points I earned.

 

Your credit card rewards company is not unique.

 

Many promotions require you to book with a specific agency which charge more than if you booked the cruise about every other possible way.

 

And even the ones that advertise you can use points to book any plane flight with no blackout points are not painting the complete picture. You book your flight at the current full airline price, charge it to that credit card, and then pay the fare to the credit card company with points that cover the full airline price. You do not get to book with miles as airline FF programs allow, so what might have cost 25,000 airline miles with an airline may cost twice that number of points or even more with a credit card company, depending on the price you booked the flight at.

[skrodle]

To travel agent or not to travel agent... that is the question...

 

To the OP, sorry you got hosed on using rewards points and now they dont want to help (or cant help)... I know to you and me and Joe traveler we see it as this. An ocean view is currently $500, a Balcony is $600, I have a ocean view currently so to upgrade to a Balcony it should only be a $100 because that is what my room is worth minus the current cost of the new room. But infact, they look at the price you actually paid minus the cost of the new room. And using the travel points company, they are probably a wholesale consolidator, and may have only paid $150 for the room, or who knows. But you are going to have to pay the difference between what was paid for the room and then the new cost. Its like that on Airlines too.... it stinks, but its how its done...

 

but in otherwords. this thread is going slightly off topic, so I will continue that. I use to be "OH I DONT NEED A TRAVEL AGENT" kind of guy... I can book myself, I am not 900 years old, I know how to do this... But then I found out about discount travel agent through Cruise Critic and now have two that I work with and Book the cruise myself that I want, the room that I want, etc, and they put the cruise out to bid between the two agents and they come back and tell me how much they will discount it, and I go with the cheaper agent. Both are INCREDIBLY responsive, have no change fees or BS like that, and will do anything to keep me happy and never act like I am bothering them. I am so happy using a travel agent now that I will never go back. I will say the ONLY complaint I have is that I cant make payments directly on the website, I have to email her and tell her to charge my credit card on file. Not a pain, but wish I could make payments on the website myself.