Just when you thought it couldn't get worse

[Finabear]

Even when using a TA, I still like to keep track of everything myself, to the extent that I am able to do so, considering that all the payment information disappears from my Celebrity account as soon as I give the booking to a TA.

 

There have been too many cases where TAs made mistakes.

 

While we are all human and we all make mistakes, at least when I make a payment myself, I can immediately see whether or not it is applied correctly.

 

If I should makes a typo, or the payment is applied incorrectly, I can see it and take steps to correct it.

 

Unfortunately, I can't see where the payment is going or what is happening when I am trusting a TA to make the payment for me.

 

So I just need to take it on faith until I receive my copy of the updated Celebrity invoice and have the chance to look it over to see that the payment really was applied to the correct reservation, the final balance has been updated correctly, and that all my perks are there.

 

 

I would not bother to use a TA who does not provide any perks or OBC, unless the TA is providing a substantially discounted price on the cruise that I cannot get otherwise.

 

We just check our credit card online to see what has been put through and to who. We actually have alerts that notify us of charges over a certain amount ever since a identity theft issue.

We use an online TA and always get free pre-paid grats on RCI and Celebrity. Love that. That is listed on the emailed invoice but often not credited by the cruiseline until the last minute - but never had a problem.

[chamima]

She was an online agent. Never again unless I meet someone onboard who can recommend an agent. Flying blind for a $50 obc isn't worth it. I don't book expensive suites or longer than a 7 day cruise so no $500 OBC for me. If you happen to book at a lower rate then sometimes the perks aren't available. I found that out when I found a lower price in a group booking. I monitor price myself and call at any hour or day direct to Celebrity. I saved $200 on my next cruise by calling Celebrity after midnight on a Saturday night. Which now turns out to be a lower price than the group booking I found online. My category is sold out so I doubt I'll see anymore reductions. If history repeats it's self from this year the price will go up about $300pp.

 

Mike

I hope I sail with you some day so I can help you out.

A good TA can be invaluable.

(Note I said "good")

Ours seems to be available 24/7, not only gets us WAY more than $50 OBC, but she is our advocate when things don't go quite right with the cruiseline.

I can think of 3 examples in the last year where she was able to get things i think we, as individuals, would have been told to "just deal" with.

[SeeJennyCruise]

I am new to Celebrity and did not realize the issues with the website were well known. Yesterday I called Celebrity and reached a very helpful representative. She had me logout of the website and go through the Online Check-In link found under Already Booked. Enter your reservation number and ship information. At the next screen click the My Reservation link just under the X logo in the upper left of the screen. That worked and I was able to access My Cruise Summary and all if the information I was looking for. These steps may not get you to your cruise history, but it has worked repeatedly to get me to my current reservation.

[PuddyfromOz]

To me, it's just simpler to use a travel agent. She checks to see what credit card I want to put the final payment on. She then handles everything and I get an invoice showing that my reservation is paid in full. No worries about will the website work or not. If there are problems, she has to sort them.

 

 

Not only that, but a good TA will also notify you if there is a price drop or if additional perks available. I'm new to cruising, and on my first cruise, my TA even printed out the boarding pass and the luggage tags for me because she knew I didn't have a clue as to what was all involved.

[GottaKnowWhen]

Just tried signing on to "my celebrity" on their web page. Accepted my user ID and password, then stated I could open a new account. Could not get into check existing booked cruises.

 

Anyone else? Their web page and IT department is becoming more than an inconvenience and joke.......

 

I just checked my three future cruises. No trouble logging in, no trouble seeing the reservations. [Except of course the details are invisible for the one held by a TA.] My Captain's Club points are as they should be.

 

I am not a programmer, though I have written small programs starting with Job Control Language utilities back in the early 1960's, and I have supervised programmers building, implementing, fixing, and upgrading various applications. I see things that I would do to improve Celebrity's website and our interaction with the site, but on balance I think it works remarkably well. As in any situation involving many people, money, and computer-stored information I believe that patience is the key and a printed paper-trail can be your salvation.

[jayoldschool]

I just checked in for my cruise next week. Logged in, clicked on "Already Booked?", and filled out my info. Worked fine with no issues, pass printed at the end.

[bellalisa]

Oh things could be a lot worse....you could be in the middle of the mediterranean drowning on a raft trying to reach Sicily with nothing to eat or drink...instead of on the INTERNET trying to pay for a $3000 luxury cruise...the thread title is just a tad dramatic...

 

My TA is amazing, she gets back to me immediatley, takes care of everything and gave me a much better price than Celebrity had, saved $250--plus paid the gratuities plus $275 On board credit for cruise for 2. She was always available and nice! I looked at many quotes from TA and Celebrity and this TA beat all of them!

[seaworthy1]

Oh things could be a lot worse....you could be in the middle of the mediterranean drowning on a raft trying to reach Sicily with nothing to eat or drink...instead of on the INTERNET trying to pay for a $3000 luxury cruise...the thread title is just a tad dramatic...

 

 

 

 

Thanks, for the critique, that's what this web site is all about......

[fleckle]

We just check our credit card online to see what has been put through and to who. We actually have alerts that notify us of charges over a certain amount ever since a identity theft issue.........

Our credit card statements only show that the payment was made to the cruise line, but not where the money actually went.

 

Some friends had a cruise reservation canceled and lost their cabin that way when a TA made their payment for them, but it was not applied to the correct reservation.

 

There was no way for them to know what had happened from looking at their credit card statement.

I don't know if they received their copy of the cruise line's invoice, or if they just didn't bother to check it. But since learning about their experience (and similar experiences of others), we make sure to get an updated copy of the cruise line's invoice and check it out very carefully whenever we make a payment or change to a reservation.

 

 

Those identity theft issues seem to be occurring more and more frequently lately.

Whenever we need to ask a TA to make a payment for us, we ask them to delete our credit card information from their files as soon as the transaction goes through because there have been so many cases of company files being hacked.

 

But we really don't know whether or not they actually delete it, even though they say they will.

Even if they do, there is likely a backup copy somewhere that does not get deleted.

 

Edited June 21, 2015 by fleckle

[hcat]

We used a TA when we started cruising but now just use the Celeb agents...they do a good job and we can makes changes and updates more easily..but do agree that if things turn bad a good TA is a great advocate...

 

website has been second rate for many yrs...cannot understand why each new CEO cannot get a tech company to make it better.....they always but so far no improvement...we just do our best to work around it,,,

[floridatravelersforlife]

We used a TA when we started cruising but now just use the Celeb agents...they do a good job and we can makes changes and updates more easily..but do agree that if things turn bad a good TA is a great advocate...

 

website has been second rate for many yrs...cannot understand why each new CEO cannot get a tech company to make it better.....they always but so far no improvement...we just do our best to work around it,,,

 

Poor tech is typical and growing as more companies outsource their IT depts. overseas to countries you would not imagine. (Like Belarus and Turkey -India is too expensive) My son's work touches a bunch of US IT Departments at many corporations. The idea of absolute uptime and perfection is over. As long as the customer puts up with inferior product, and there is not a major disaster such as Target, nothing will change. This problem will grow as long as CEOS' tolerate cheap more than quality.

[hcat]

Sad!

Edited June 21, 2015 by hcat