upsell--going through TA

[rupert5]

I just sent my TA an email letting her know that if there are any upsells offered closer to my sail date, I would be interested in being informed. My understanding is that since I booked through a TA, they would get the email/call from the upsell department and would then pass that along to me.

 

The TA told me that they do not "have anything in place to alert us if any upgrades become available" meaning that NCL doesn't send them the information. Could this be right? I'm not sure if I just got a un-knowledgeable Customer Service Rep or if they are correct. I want to make sure that if there are any upsells being offered, I am aware of them. Anyone have any suggestions on how to do this? Can I call NCL and tell them what my rep said and will they then work with me? Or, should I just be proactive and reach back out to my TA as we get closer to the sail date?

 

TIA for any insight! :)

[Kamloops50]

I just sent my TA an email letting her know that if there are any upsells offered closer to my sail date, I would be interested in being informed. My understanding is that since I booked through a TA, they would get the email/call from the upsell department and would then pass that along to me.

 

The TA told me that they do not "have anything in place to alert us if any upgrades become available" meaning that NCL doesn't send them the information. Could this be right? I'm not sure if I just got a un-knowledgeable Customer Service Rep or if they are correct. I want to make sure that if there are any upsells being offered, I am aware of them. Anyone have any suggestions on how to do this? Can I call NCL and tell them what my rep said and will they then work with me? Or, should I just be proactive and reach back out to my TA as we get closer to the sail date?

 

TIA for any insight! :)

 

The TA will get an Email if they receive an upsell offer .

[drvalo]

I just sent my TA an email letting her know that if there are any upsells offered closer to my sail date, I would be interested in being informed. My understanding is that since I booked through a TA, they would get the email/call from the upsell department and would then pass that along to me.

 

The TA told me that they do not "have anything in place to alert us if any upgrades become available" meaning that NCL doesn't send them the information. Could this be right? I'm not sure if I just got a un-knowledgeable Customer Service Rep or if they are correct. I want to make sure that if there are any upsells being offered, I am aware of them. Anyone have any suggestions on how to do this? Can I call NCL and tell them what my rep said and will they then work with me? Or, should I just be proactive and reach back out to my TA as we get closer to the sail date?

 

TIA for any insight! :)

 

 

That is the problem with working with a TA...well some TAs. You can track prices yourself and call your TA if prices drop and you would like to upsell to a better cabin. Many of us who do not use TAs track prices and make our own calls. Since you used a TA you would have to call the TA and ask her/him to make the call. I did that only once with a TA. She was willing to make the call and it worked out, but honestly, it would have been simpler if I could have done it myself...I could not, though. The TA should get the email and forward it to you if there is an offer. Unfortunately, it seems, there is nothing in it for the TAs to get you an upsell other than, of course, a happy customer.

[MeHeartCruising]

The TA will get an Email if they receive an upsell offer .

 

And it seems reasonable to think that if the TA is a large corporation or website-based TA, there may not really be any direct connection to a live person who would proactively do anything about the email notification.

 

The OP mentions speaking with a customer service rep (apparently for the TA). That customer service rep may not be the recipient of emails from NCL. It's possible that no customer service rep receives them, I would think.

[rupert5]

thanks everyone! i initiated an upsell myself the other day and was able to have the rep from my TA get NCL on the line and agree to an upgrade from a regular balcony room to a minisuite for $25. so, needless to say, we are very happy with what we have now (was happy with the balcony room, tbh)!

 

wish we had booked direct with NCL, but i let my sister take the reins on this vacation and this is the way she went lol.

 

i will keep monitoring & hope that something moves around. there aren't many suites still available so i doubt we would be the recipient of an upsell call/email, regardless of if our TA gets the email or not. i get a different rep every time i call the TA, so you guys are probably right that even if they did get something they wouldn't think to send along etc.

[GORDONCHICK]

thanks everyone! i initiated an upsell myself the other day and was able to have the rep from my TA get NCL on the line and agree to an upgrade from a regular balcony room to a minisuite for $25. so, needless to say, we are very happy with what we have now (was happy with the balcony room, tbh)!

 

wish we had booked direct with NCL, but i let my sister take the reins on this vacation and this is the way she went lol.

 

i will keep monitoring & hope that something moves around. there aren't many suites still available so i doubt we would be the recipient of an upsell call/email, regardless of if our TA gets the email or not. i get a different rep every time i call the TA, so you guys are probably right that even if they did get something they wouldn't think to send along etc.

 

That's a great upsell - congrats. I always call my TA if I'm interested in an upsell, and she calls. I've given her the amount I'm willing to pay and she knows our other parameters. It's worked out great for us. Works well when you have a good TA. The reason I book with a TA instead of direct is we get extra stuff from our TA. On our up coming cruise, we only got $25 OBC from NCL, but $150 from the TA. Added together, $175 OBC. Some people have great PCCs. We never did, and since you aren't allowed to give the name of your PCC - good or bad, you've got what you've got.

[cubsfan2008]

How far out do you call to ask for an upsell? We cruise January 30th, wondering when I should try for an upsell move from interior to balcony

Edited October 21, 2015 by cubsfan2008

[rupert5]

My sail date is Dec. 3 and I called two weeks ago and it was $600 to upgrade. I called late last week and they made this upsell happen. Not sure if that is how it usually works, but I called as soon as I saw a price drop to see what they could do for me.

[cubsfan2008]

Maybe I should wait a bit longer to call

[punkincc]

thanks everyone! i initiated an upsell myself the other day and was able to have the rep from my TA get NCL on the line and agree to an upgrade from a regular balcony room to a minisuite for $25. so, needless to say, we are very happy with what we have now (was happy with the balcony room, tbh)!

 

wish we had booked direct with NCL, but i let my sister take the reins on this vacation and this is the way she went lol.

 

i will keep monitoring & hope that something moves around. there aren't many suites still available so i doubt we would be the recipient of an upsell call/email, regardless of if our TA gets the email or not. i get a different rep every time i call the TA, so you guys are probably right that even if they did get something they wouldn't think to send along etc.

 

 

What your TA was trying to tell you with their "they have nothing in place" comment was that they are not constantly calling the various cruise lines on a daily basis to see if there are any upgrades/upsells available for a myriad of cabin categories and then calling thousands of booked customers to see if they are possibly interested. You can see how this would take up a lot of time.

 

That does not mean that if NCL initiates an upgrade/upsell call to a TA that they will not immediately call you about it. I don't know about you, but we have an agent listed who is our contact person. We book with a TA to get the extra perks worth hundreds of $$. It is well worth it. And even if you had booked direct with NCL, do you really think they would call to inform you that cabin prices have dropped considerably and you would be eligible for an upgrade or cheap upsell? Very few get those calls. The ones who manage to snag them are the ones who monitor prices and then initiate the calls themselves, like you eventually did, either to NCL or to the TA.

[punkincc]

Maybe I should wait a bit longer to call

 

 

What you should do is monitor those balcony prices on the NCL website for price drops to a level equal to what you paid for your inside or at least a significant decrease for a possible free upgrade or upsell offer. It may indeed be too early, but you never know. If and when you see movement, call NCL or your TA. And, as the OP said, you may have to call more than once, and even then, there may not be enough movement to get you anything depending on how well the cruise is selling.

[cubsfan2008]

Sounds good. We are on the new escape, and I haven't seen the prices move at all for any sailings

[punkincc]

Sounds good. We are on the new escape, and I haven't seen the prices move at all for any sailings

 

We are booked the week prior to you on the Escape. Since we booked, prices have gone up considerably for the Inside, Oceanview and Mini Suite we have booked. I suspect that these cruises in January will sell well, but we can always hope. You might keep an eye on the roll calls for the weeks prior to your sailing. Sometimes someone will give a heads up there if prices drop.

[numberguy]

Sounds good. We are on the new escape, and I haven't seen the prices move at all for any sailings

 

I'm on the Escape, too, November 28, 2015 sailing. The prices have gone way up from when I bought in February, and have now started to drop a bit, but not to the level where I can upgrade. The price I paid for Oceanview Guarantee is the same price as the insides today. Doubt I'll be able to go up to a balcony for $100 or so. Sigh.

 

--Michael

[rupert5]

What your TA was trying to tell you with their "they have nothing in place" comment was that they are not constantly calling the various cruise lines on a daily basis to see if there are any upgrades/upsells available for a myriad of cabin categories and then calling thousands of booked customers to see if they are possibly interested. You can see how this would take up a lot of time.

 

That does not mean that if NCL initiates an upgrade/upsell call to a TA that they will not immediately call you about it. I don't know about you, but we have an agent listed who is our contact person. We book with a TA to get the extra perks worth hundreds of $$. It is well worth it. And even if you had booked direct with NCL, do you really think they would call to inform you that cabin prices have dropped considerably and you would be eligible for an upgrade or cheap upsell? Very few get those calls. The ones who manage to snag them are the ones who monitor prices and then initiate the calls themselves, like you eventually did, either to NCL or to the TA.

 

Just to be clear (in case it helps anyone else), I specifically asked my TA about "upsells" not "upgrades". Meaning--if the upsell fairy called, would they reach out to me. I would never expect them or NCL to monitor price drops (that's just absurd, they have to make money). All I was trying to convey was that I was interested in case NCL contacts them (since they won't contact me directly) regarding an upsell, that I would be interested.

[punkincc]

Just to be clear (in case it helps anyone else), I specifically asked my TA about "upsells" not "upgrades". Meaning--if the upsell fairy called, would they reach out to me. I would never expect them or NCL to monitor price drops (that's just absurd, they have to make money). All I was trying to convey was that I was interested in case NCL contacts them (since they won't contact me directly) regarding an upsell, that I would be interested.

 

So, just to be clear, it was this question about what the TA would do if the upsell fairy called them to offer you a deal to which the TA responded with their "we have nothing in place" comment? Yet, they were fully cooperative, and apparently successfull, in following through on your request to call NCL about an upsell? This does not even make sense.

 

If a TA flat out told me that if the cruiseline called them to offer me a free upgrade or an upsell offer they would simply ignore them and the offer would not immediately be passed on to me, I would complain my way right to the top of that agency, and I would probably make a complaint to NCL as well. Frankly, I have never found an agency who had that policy.

 

Not to irritate you further, but are you sure you did not misunderstand the agent, or vice versa? If true, I would never book with them again, and I would make sure they knew why.

[rupert5]

So, just to be clear, it was this question about what the TA would do if the upsell fairy called them to offer you a deal to which the TA responded with their "we have nothing in place" comment? Yet, they were fully cooperative, and apparently successfull, in following through on your request to call NCL about an upsell? This does not even make sense.

 

If a TA flat out told me that if the cruiseline called them to offer me a free upgrade or an upsell offer they would simply ignore them and the offer would not immediately be passed on to me, I would complain my way right to the top of that agency, and I would probably make a complaint to NCL as well. Frankly, I have never found an agency who had that policy.

 

Not to irritate you further, but are you sure you did not misunderstand the agent, or vice versa? If true, I would never book with them again, and I would make sure they knew why.

 

no irritation--that's why i started the thread, to get other people's perspective!

 

i think the rep that replied to my email was confused in what question she was answering...i don't think she understood i was asking about upsells rather than upgrades (since i used the "upsell" language in my original question and she used "upgrade") and just believed i was asking about upgrades (for which i would not expect them to monitor price drops etc), which then i would understand that they do not have anything in place.

 

from my experience with this TA, i don't think i will use them again simply because every time i reach out to someone i get an answer from someone else. i prefer to have a dedicated person to deal with. my sister planned this one, verrrrrrry differently than i would have lol.

 

i suppose the onus is just on me to do my due diligence and keep track...keeps me busy! :)