Can I get a different PVP?

[MNCruizer1]

I'm really unhappy with the one we booked with. Just didn't seem like she wanted to help me. I have called her since and felt like I was bothering her. Can I call and ask for a new pvp? I feel uncomfortable calling my current one with any questions.

 

Thank you

[loxley]

Yeah.

[ladysail2]

I'm really unhappy with the one we booked with. Just didn't seem like she wanted to help me. I have called her since and felt like I was bothering her. Can I call and ask for a new pvp? I feel uncomfortable calling my current one with any questions.

 

Thank you

 

I'm pretty sure you can. Why not just phone the general reservation line and get talking to whoever answers. If you like the interaction, ask that person to become your new PVP. Try it anyway, nothing to lose. :D

[Tapi]

Why not just phone the general reservation line and get talking to whoever answers. If you like the interaction, ask that person to become your new PVP.

 

 

Agents at the general number are not PVP's. 2 different jobs with different responsibilities and educational requirements at 2 different departments.

 

About getting a new PVP: Yes you can, but do know that another one won't be as motivated to help you since the original one is the one that got paid to make your booking. A new PVP will in essence be working for free. But you can still give Carnival a call and let them know about your dissatisfaction and they'll pair you up with a new person. No guarantees that the new PVP will be better than the first one!

[ladysail2]

Agents at the general number are not PVP's. 2 different jobs with different responsibilities and educational requirements at 2 different departments.

 

About getting a new PVP: Yes you can, but do know that another one won't be as motivated to help you since the original one is the one that got paid to make your booking. A new PVP will in essence be working for free. But you can still give Carnival a call and let them know about your dissatisfaction and they'll pair you up with a new person. No guarantees that the new PVP will be better than the first one!

 

If I wasn't happy with my PVP, I wouldn't care what responsibility or what educational levels were met, I'd talk to someone different and if I felt the interaction was better, then I'd ask that person to help me. Their commission be darned, I'm the paying customer and if they don't meet my needs then I'll deal with someone else. Once the cruise was completed, then yes, I'd request a new PVP....or simply keep dealing with the general number. Why should I feel guilty or have any concern that someone is working without commission...the original PVP doesn't seem to be earning her commission anyway.

You're right, no guarantees, so why not just deal with whoever answers. If a PVP isn't motivated to help, commission or not, then that person would never become my PVP.

 

OP...call and ask for a supervisor and let the supervisor know exactly what the situation is. Hopefully, someone with an interest in your needs will be assigned to you....or at least help you with your current concerns. Don't feel guilty wanting to change PVP's. Perhaps that PVP treats everyone the same and the supervisor should know about it. Good Luck. :D

[Flatbush Flyer]

Agents at the general number are not PVP's. 2 different jobs with different responsibilities and educational requirements at 2 different departments.

 

About getting a new PVP: Yes you can, but do know that another one won't be as motivated to help you since the original one is the one that got paid to make your booking. A new PVP will in essence be working for free. But you can still give Carnival a call and let them know about your dissatisfaction and they'll pair you up with a new person. No guarantees that the new PVP will be better than the first one!

 

 

Opt for a highly respected TA (vs a PVP). Check Conde Nast Traveler magazine for TAs in their occasional "best of ..." lists.

Good news is that you'll find a world of difference. Bad news is today many of them may not do Carnival.

[dizkid]

I wasn't happy with my PVP. Didn't return calls or emails. Once you're booked with a PVP, another PVP can not help you. So, I called the carnival number and told them my story and why I wanted to change PVP's. I even had another PVP lined up to take over. They transferred me to another dept. They took down my info and said I would be contacted (by phone). 2 or 3 weeks later, I finally got the call. Explained why I was unhappy. They said they would email my request to my original PVP and to my new PVP. Later when I called the new PVP, he said he couldn't help me because my old one was still my PVP. Took a while, but finally the booking was transferred.

 

Seems like a lot of hassle for customer. Hope my experience helps.

[Flatbush Flyer]

I wasn't happy with my PVP. Didn't return calls or emails. Once you're booked with a PVP, another PVP can not help you. So, I called the carnival number and told them my story and why I wanted to change PVP's. I even had another PVP lined up to take over. They transferred me to another dept. They took down my info and said I would be contacted (by phone). 2 or 3 weeks later, I finally got the call. Explained why I was unhappy. They said they would email my request to my original PVP and to my new PVP. Later when I called the new PVP, he said he couldn't help me because my old one was still my PVP. Took a while, but finally the booking was transferred.

 

Seems like a lot of hassle for customer. Hope my experience helps.

 

 

Sorry to hear of your poor experience.

If you are (or plan to be) a regular cruiser, there are excellent TAs out there. They may be few and far between OR not.

 

Like so much else in life (car deals, home improvement, etc.), some detailed research and vetting will find those outstanding pros.

 

I'd estimate that it took me a total of 4 hours to drill down in original research to arrive at our current TA who has saved us about $1,500.00 (above all cruise line deals/perks, which is all you'll ever get from their employee PVP) just on our next cruise.

 

Of course, for short once-or-twice-in-a-decade cruises on an inexpensive line, the TA savings over a PVP may not be worth the initial search. However, if you are (or become) a regular cruiser and are adventuresome enough to try different cruise lines, connecting with different PVPs across those lines will quickly become extra but unnecessary work on your part. And all you'll ever get is what the cruise line has to offer (which you could do yourself with vigilance and a phone call or two).

 

Another question to consider is: if PVPs are so great, why do you not find them on the bulk of premium or luxury lines (where the most savvy shoppers use their well-researched/vetted TA and would never consider relying solely on someone employed by the cruise line)?.

 

Why do seasoned travelers on premium/luxury lines use TAs when they could make their own arrangements with their eyes closed? A particular line's top producing TA has the ear of the same sales supervisor as does that line's PVP (if they even had that kind of employee). if unhappy, that TA can take their business elsewhere. The PVP cannot unless s/he quits.

 

Where does that difference really shine?

 

Try getting a $ refund from a PVP due to a last minute price drop AFTER you've made final payment. With few rare exceptions, your PVP will cite the line's "no $ drop after final payment" or "new bookings only" policy while that great TA will answer your cell phone call immediately, hear your request for the credit/refund, place you on "hold," and call the line to secure that drop after which s/he will confirm the transaction before you hangup.

 

"You get what you pay for." In this case it means that a little homework will save you a tremendous amount of time, energy and money.

[DocF]

I had little to no trouble changing our assigned PVP. I called Carnival and told them the guy was worthless. I did this three times before I got our current, very good PVP.

 

Now as to TAs. They can offer the exact same deals as the cruise line employees as they are no longer allowed to do anything else. In the olden days (four or five years ago) they could cut their commission and similar stunts to give a better price than the lines offered. In the immortal words of Porky Pig, "That's all, folks!"

[Elaine515]

I got a new PVP with literally no problem at all.. even through we had already booked a cruise with the current one..

 

This one not only answered all our questions, helped us, got us OBC etc and did not get any credit for the already booked cruise.

 

The only thing that was required from me was to send an email saying that I, Elaine XXXXX, would like to in the future use the new PVP "XXXX XXXX" for all my bookings... Easy enough..

[Flatbush Flyer]

I had little to no trouble changing our assigned PVP. I called Carnival and told them the guy was worthless. I did this three times before I got our current, very good PVP.

 

Now as to TAs. They can offer the exact same deals as the cruise line employees as they are no longer allowed to do anything else. In the olden days (four or five years ago) they could cut their commission and similar stunts to give a better price than the lines offered. In the immortal words of Porky Pig, "That's all, folks!"

 

 

Sorry but you are dead wrong on what TAs can/cannot do.

 

While it is true that, for most lines, base cabin prices for individual bookings may not be discounted, there are always incentive funds provided by cruise lines to their top producing TAs, which translates to OBC for customers (not available from a PVP) OR time limited discounted special sales for that partner TA (often a 10%+\- drop) as well as discounted block cabin purchases by a TA with savings in the form of perks passed on to customers. And, of course, this is always in addition to what the cruise line is offering to all passengers whether they do it themselves or use a PVP.

 

And "commission sharing" is alive and well though sometimes it is in the form of perks like "free internet" rather than the cash refund you may be talking about. Our TA is providing $600 OBC on our next cruise. Where do you think that's coming from?

 

Just got a $800 refund from Oceania via our TA as a price match for a competing O top producer TA running a one month special O/TA special partnership sale. One phone call and $800 saved. O Itself doesn't have the reduced price available for direct bookings.

Edited April 8, 2015 by Flatbush Flyer

[MNCruizer1]

Thank you to all who have responded. I did a some searching last night and a PVPs name kept popping up with great reviews. I called had last night and left a voicemail. She called today and said she really wasn't comfortable taking someone else's booking. She did take a look at my booking and asked a lot of questions the other pvp did not. The deal that I asked my other pvp about is good for us and is the same price. With that..I told her I really wanted to change to her. She said I would need to email into carnival and request the change. I feel awful about her working with me but not getting the commission and told her that. Thank you for all the suggestions. I appreciate the help.

[we3travelers]

So, when I hit Carnival's website looking for information, I filled out the contact info and just like that, I got a PVP calling the house within 24 hours. And she called. Every day. Multiple times a day. Always very courteous, giving me updates on the latest specials that Carnival was offering. Finally, we hit one that I liked. Called her and booked a cruise. She could not have been more helpful. Oops - forgot to add travel insurance. Called her right back, we made the change. She was awesome.

 

Then, I suppose she got her commission check or something. Because at that point, she has not returned a single phone call. I called her 6 times in 10 days, always getting her VM, never her live self. I'd leave a short, nice email with name, phone number and booking number then give her the short version of my question.

 

She never called me back. I finally sent a text to her cell phone. (She'd given me her cell phone number at our original booking) She responded saying that this was her off day and that she'd call me tomorrow. Nope. She surely didn't.

 

Two weeks later, she called our house to remind me that it was close to final payment time. My husband told her that we were considering cancelling our cruise and booking with another line because if her level of initial service was indicative of the level of service we were to expect from Carnival, we wanted no part of it.

 

Ultimately, we did decide to stay with Carnival and I'm sure that the service will be better than what we had with our PVP.

 

By the way, we did call Carnival and let them know of the issues with the PVP. It took 2 days and three phone calls to finally get to someone that could and would answer our question but it was ultimately resolved.