Confusion on the ground...(before the air)

[Cruzer1001]

Has anyone had problems with the TA (www.cruise.com in my case) telling you they made air arrangements and then you find out just weeks before departure that they actually didn't and you will need to pony up another wad of hundreds to get what you were told you already had? I know from other threads that cruise.com is known for delaying providing cruise documents until the last moment, but I was surprised to find out when I demanded at least a copy of my air itinerary that the agent had either failed to do what she was telling me she was doing or just plain lied to me. As you might guess, I was not pleased to be told that either I had to pay them another $600 immediately or I would be stuck with flights going to places I didn't want to go to (and miss Christmas with the family!). Needless to say this will be my last cruise booked with them!

 

The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the cruise line will not even talk to me about my reservation BECAUSE I used a TA. Client Services at Celebrity refused to answer any questions about my booking what-so-ever and said I must pose all questions through the TA including any questions about the TA!

 

It seems that once you have paid for your cruise, customer service ends.

[wrp96]

I'm sorry to hear of your situation with a bad travel agent. My one question for you is, when you booked, did you get a receipt or a confirmation showing that you paid for air along with your cruise fare. If you have a receipt showing air was included, then it is up to the TA to take care of your air, at no additional cost to you. If they won't come through for you and make you pay anything additional, then contact your attorney general (you might also contact the attorney general of the state they operate from) and file a complaint about them. If you don't have a confirmation or anything that shows that the price you've already paid includes air, then you are probably out of luck.

 

Sticking up for the cruise lines, it is standard policy with all cruise lines for their customer service agents not to talk to you if you have booked through a TA. There are probably many reasons for this. First, if you book through a TA, that TA owns your booking - not the cruise line. They can set cancellation fees, change fees, etc. and that is all part of booking through a TA. You should find out what their exact policies are before you book with them. Second, it probably helps avoid confusion with the cruise lines by only talking to one person per reservation, in this case a TA. Imagine what would happen if they didn't have this policy. I've booked through a TA, but I see a great deal on the internet for an upgraded room, so I call up the cruise line and grab this great deal and for only a little more. Well the cruise line rep messes it up and doesn't give you your upgrade, now you want your TA to handle it, but they have no idea what actually happened between you and the cruiseline's CSR so they are helpless.

[greatam]

Has anyone had problems with the TA (www.cruise.com in my case) telling you they made air arrangements and then you find out just weeks before departure that they actually didn't and you will need to pony up another wad of hundreds to get what you were told you already had? I know from other threads that cruise.com is known for delaying providing cruise documents until the last moment, but I was surprised to find out when I demanded at least a copy of my air itinerary that the agent had either failed to do what she was telling me she was doing or just plain lied to me. As you might guess, I was not pleased to be told that either I had to pay them another $600 immediately or I would be stuck with flights going to places I didn't want to go to (and miss Christmas with the family!). Needless to say this will be my last cruise booked with them!

 

 

 

It appears that you have stated two problems. 1. You have NO air

2. You have air, but you do not like the flights.

 

If it is #1, and you have a receipt stating you PAID for air, you have a leg to stand on. Cruiseline will either have to reimburse for what you paid and you will have to get your own air (could be an expensive proposition).

OR you will get the TA's boss on the phone and get your air. That does NOT mean you will get flights you like. You will get what the cruiseline assigns to you, no matter how weird or inconvenient it is.

 

If your problem is #2, that is one of the banes of booking cruise air. Weird flights to weird places at weird times. When you book a cruise, TA's have NO idea what flights the cruiseline will book for you, UNLESS you pay for custom air. Sounds like you did not pay for custom air, as you are just now finding out about your air arrangements. Just one more reason NOT to book cruise air.

[Cruzer1001]

There were problems all along with this agency, but once they have your money you are pretty well stuck. I was unable to get any receipts or itinerary information from the TA until a week ago. When I booked the cruise, I specifically identified the route and stop I wished to make on the way back. Tha TA said they needed to get that price by the cruiseline and subsequently called me back with a price AND flight times. I realize that airline schedules can change so I wasn't too alarmed when I checked the airline's site and discovered that there were no flights at these times. What did concern me was when, after repeated requests I was finally provided with an itinerary (not by the TA but by someone else in customer service at the agency) which showed that I was being flown AROUND the city at which I had arranged to stopover -- a greater distance -- and all the way home on the same day! Since the agency had never provided me with any detailed written documentation, all I have is receipts fromt the credit card company for the amounts paid. The TA said it was too far back for her to remember what she might have said or promised and she then said take it or leave it, another $600.00.

[wrp96]

If the flight you originally wanted no longer exists, it is out of everybody's hands. It sounds like the airline cancelled the flight and shifted you to another to get you to your destination which frequently happens. The stoppover city doesn't matter as much to the airline as getting you to your final destination. A good TA would've made you aware of the change when it happened, which obviously this one isn't. But I do think you are blaming the wrong person, you should be blaming the airline and not the TA or the cruiseline.

[Cruzer1001]

Sorry, but I still don't blame the airline since the stopover was scheduled to be nine (9) days. That was what the TA was told by me and that is what the TA quoted on -- she called me back with the price. When I finally got an itinerary printout there was no 9 day stopover, just a same-day change of planes in a different city. In order to get back to what I had originally requested -- and been quoted for -- cost me almost $600 additional. Either the TA never made the arrangements with the cruiseline and just made up a price and flight schedule or she just lied to me. At the end of the day I was deprived of the option of airfare shopping by the TA "lowballing" me on price and then dropping the additional cost when it was too late to make alternate arrangements. We are talking about a 60% increase in the airfare three weeks before departure. And by the way, still no cruise documents and departure is in 14 days.

[greatam]

Whoa!!! Your TA did not provide good service. However, you will have to take some of the responsibility. Sorry for the reality check.

 

Did you do some research about your air BEFORE you spoke to the TA? You would have known approx. what the air would have cost to do what you wanted. Then when you saw a really low price, you could have questioned what you were quoted. TA's do not get many "bargains" on airfare. And cruise air is usually as expensive if not more so than what you can book on your own.

 

What you wanted (9 day stopover-except on international) is really out of the norm for most cruise air. TA probably had no idea how to handle it and just said yes, yes, yes. Half the CSR's for cruise lines know NO MORE than the company they work for have ships and they can make a booking on those ships. LOL

 

Why didn't you DEMAND confirmations or receipts or something from the TA before this time?

 

What you wanted was definitely custom air. A nine day stopover, on a domestic trip, would usually involve pricing as if it was 2 tickets. Yes, yes, before we get into a quibbling match, it may be possible on one discount fare, but NOT usually. If this was an international trip, it is a whole different ballgame.

 

The extra $600.00 was a shock, I am sure. However, it is probably what you would have paid originally. Custom air fees and additional air fare for the stopover (unless this was an international trip-please advise).

 

Sorry to be so hard on you, but we all live and learn. Next time, do the research before you book with an online TA. Online TA's are valuable resources for discounts on cruises and comparing cruise pricing. But online agencies can offer those discounts due to the lack of overhead-not much personal service and no nice office to walk into. When you need something really out of the ordinary, an online TA is probably NOT the place to go. Most times in life, we get what we pay for. Enjoy your cruise

[Cruzer1001]

I'm not saying I don't shoulder any of the blame here, but one expects that when the TA calls you back with the price that that is the price! We are talking flying with Air Canada here, and if you go to their website, changing a trip from FLL to YVR via YYZ into two trips 9 days apart would have been appropriately priced 8 months ago. The problem is that in spite of the TA actually doing it 8 months ago like I was informed she was doing she did nothing and I am paying extra to do it at the last moment. As for demanding, have you ever tried demanding anything from cruise.com? Good Luck. As I said, I won't be booking anything ever again with cruise.com after being taken this time considering they made no effort what-so-ever to understand what had happened here. As long as I was willing(???) to pay to correct their employee's mistakes they feel satisfied.

[Cruzer1001]

I'm not saying I don't shoulder any of the blame here, but one expects that when the TA calls you back with the price that that is the price! We are talking flying with Air Canada here, and if you go to their website, changing a trip from FLL to YVR via YYZ into two trips 9 days apart would have been appropriately priced 8 months ago. The problem is that in spite of the TA actually doing it 8 months ago like I was informed she was doing she did nothing and I am paying extra to do it at the last moment. As for demanding, have you ever tried demanding anything from cruise.com? Good Luck. As I said, I won't be booking anything ever again with cruise.com after being taken this time considering they made no effort what-so-ever to understand what had happened here. As long as I was willing(???) to pay to correct their employee's mistakes they feel satisfied.

[wrp96]

Whoa!!! Your TA did not provide good service. However, you will have to take some of the responsibility. Sorry for the reality check.

 

Did you do some research about your air BEFORE you spoke to the TA? You would have known approx. what the air would have cost to do what you wanted. Then when you saw a really low price, you could have questioned what you were quoted. TA's do not get many "bargains" on airfare. And cruise air is usually as expensive if not more so than what you can book on your own.

 

What you wanted (9 day stopover-except on international) is really out of the norm for most cruise air. TA probably had no idea how to handle it and just said yes, yes, yes. Half the CSR's for cruise lines know NO MORE than the company they work for have ships and they can make a booking on those ships. LOL

 

Why didn't you DEMAND confirmations or receipts or something from the TA before this time?

 

What you wanted was definitely custom air. A nine day stopover, on a domestic trip, would usually involve pricing as if it was 2 tickets. Yes, yes, before we get into a quibbling match, it may be possible on one discount fare, but NOT usually. If this was an international trip, it is a whole different ballgame.

 

The extra $600.00 was a shock, I am sure. However, it is probably what you would have paid originally. Custom air fees and additional air fare for the stopover (unless this was an international trip-please advise).

 

Sorry to be so hard on you, but we all live and learn. Next time, do the research before you book with an online TA. Online TA's are valuable resources for discounts on cruises and comparing cruise pricing. But online agencies can offer those discounts due to the lack of overhead-not much personal service and no nice office to walk into. When you need something really out of the ordinary, an online TA is probably NOT the place to go. Most times in life, we get what we pay for. Enjoy your cruise

 

I agree with you. Cruise air is only good for getting from your departure city to your destination city and the maximum difference in dates they will allow is 3 days.

 

Yes, your TA was wrong to tell you they could do that for you, but you should have just booked the airfare yourself as I've never heard of a cruiseline doing what you wanted them to do.

[Headhoncho]

Has anyone had problems with the TA (www.cruise.com in my case) telling you they made air arrangements and then you find out just weeks before departure that they actually didn't and you will need to pony up another wad of hundreds to get what you were told you already had? I know from other threads that cruise.com is known for delaying providing cruise documents until the last moment, but I was surprised to find out when I demanded at least a copy of my air itinerary that the agent had either failed to do what she was telling me she was doing or just plain lied to me. As you might guess, I was not pleased to be told that either I had to pay them another $600 immediately or I would be stuck with flights going to places I didn't want to go to (and miss Christmas with the family!). Needless to say this will be my last cruise booked with them!

 

The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the cruise line will not even talk to me about my reservation BECAUSE I used a TA. Client Services at Celebrity refused to answer any questions about my booking what-so-ever and said I must pose all questions through the TA including any questions about the TA!

 

It seems that once you have paid for your cruise, customer service ends.

 

It would seem that your flight problem is Fort Lauderdale to Toronto after your cruise, spend 9 days in Toronto visiting family over Christmas and then a flight home to Vancouver. If that is correct, here is a suggestion:

1. Take the flight from YVR to FLL as already booked.

2. Cancel the return flight with cruise.com.

3. Book (by yourself online) a flight on your return date with Southwest from FLL to BUF. Family will have to pick you up at Buffalo Airport - a one and one half hour drive.

4. Book through Westjet from YYZ to VCR on the date you want to return home.

 

You'll likely get better departure times and a substantial saving doing it this way.

 

I know I'm assuming a lot but from yout posts I did my best to figure out your problem.

Btw, this problem you have is the most important reason I always book my flights separately and usually online.

[Cruzer1001]

I realize that it is too late for me to fix anything, and since I have already paid the TA the additional $600.00 they demanded I don't need to fix anything now. My whole point to this issue was to find out if others had experiences the same incredible lack of service AND concern we have had from cruise.com.

 

The issue was not whether something could be done -- the agent told me it was done in the first place. Had I been told otherwise I would have made the flight arrangements myself and for considerable less that it has cost me now. But 8 months ago the TA quoted me a very good price which was very close to what I could do on my own so why would I book the flights elsewhere when the TA told me that this had all been accomplished during her dealings with the cruise line? Booking through the cruise line means I would have some recourse should the cruise go off track at some point. What I find galling is that the TA's "lowballing" the price and then bumping it up at the last minute is obviously designed to keep you from booking airfare anywhere else until it is too late to get a real bargain. I do not feel that I am getting a bad deal for purchasing my flights today, but I am getting a bad deal for someone who was booking their flights eight months ago.

 

As for WestJet, I would never fly with them again. It is an amature airline in a professional business and no bargain. I just purchased my brother a Vancouver to Toronto round-trip for Christmas and as I have usually found, Air Canada was less expensive with more selection. My big problem is that as WestJet frequently cancels flights (and they don't have that many per day) it can take days before you can get on another flight. Besides, who wants to spend several hours on a cramped B737?

 

Back to my issue. I booked a cruise. I asked for an "Air Deviation". The TA said they would have to consult with the cruise line. They called me back with a price for the inclusion of the stop-over. I paid that amount but only received the flight itinerary this past week (I had previously been given flight times only). When I called the TA she said she can't be expected to remember what she promised or said she would do. As a result I had to pay an additional $600. As a result I would never recommend dealing with cruise.com nor will I ever deal with them again. Just some information on what happened to me. Everyone is entitled to have their own experience with any TA, but had someone provided me with this kind of scenario before I booked I would have booked elsewhere.

[ocngypz]

As an FYI, what you requested was not an air deviation and the cruiseline in no way could have handled the booking.

 

I don't know if the agency you used can actually book independent air or not, but you did get a bum ta. They should have been upfront with you.

 

This is what I do with my air clients. I compare the cruiseline air to what is being sold in the market (expedia, orbitz, airline website), then we compare flights, pricing, etc.

 

Sometimes we use both cruiseline and client air.

 

Good luck on your next venture/