Am I asking too much?

[Jimsgirl]

I booked for the Millenium Westward Transatlantic 2006 last June, Celebrity offered their usual air/precruise hotel package, and I elected to take this, except Celebrity said they could not advise me re price of Business class air Tampa to Barcelona, and nor did they at that time know the name of hotel or cost of one nights stay. They said they would have these figures by SEPT.

 

I accepted that, Sept came and went, they said NOV., that too came and went, it was then end of DEC Well here we are and now they are saying FEB

 

I need to know what my final cost is going to be, but Celebrity staff just shrug me off, my agent has been away on vacation since Dec 6th and I am not sure when she will be back. I have left E Mails and even written a "snail mail letter" but still no information.

 

I cannot believe that the cruise line does not know which Hotel they will be using, or have an approximate cost for the air. Tampa is not my airport of choice, but even reminding Celebrity that I am a Captain Club member and that custom air is supposed to be a "reward" gets me nowhere, the staff there do not seem to know that.

 

As a solo senior I really need the help of Celebrity Air/Hotel/transportation but frankly I am now considering cancelling that cruise and taking Infinity back to back in Sept out of LA/Alaska/Panama/Ft lauderdale instead. They have got their act together for that cruise.

[Lois R]

Jimsgirl, did you book directly with the cruiseline? When you said

your agent has been away since Dec 6th and you don't know when

they will be back?:confused: Is that a Regular TA you use?

I feel like if you booked with them, and its your "own ta", it would have

been common courtesy to let you know they would be unavailable.

If you booked through the cruiseline and customer service is not

helping....asking for a Captains' Club Supervisor might be a suggestion.

 

Hope everything works out for you.

[Jimsgirl]

Yes it is my regular TA, she let me know she would be away, and gave me name of another staff member. There never seems to be any one at the office, "A" (my contact) was "away sick", "B" had a "family problem " that kept her out of the office "C" was awy "at a conference" and just for good measure, the phone line was "faulty" and did not allow voice mail to go through.

 

I feel most strongly that Celebrity needs to look at the way it does business .

 

They urge us to "BOOK EARLY" they are pushing us to "book" for 2007, then we are told they cannot tell us the final cost we will have to pay?

 

I am not talking about a sum like $50-$100 , my guess is that the final figure will be about $2500-$3000 more than the price on the invoice. which at the moment is "cruise only" . When you also figure in the additional ins. that is a very large sum to have to budget for at a time much nearer the cruise. They are not even prepared to give an estimated figure.

 

I find the whole situation unacceptable.

[mii]

In my opinion I would get ride of that TA, cancel that cruise and go on the other one that you considered. I truly believe that your TA and her associates are not doing their job.

 

Marilyn

[ocngypz]

Air fares are not released until 330 days prior to departure. That is why you could not get a quote on business air. Suffice to say, it will very close to what you can purchase the air for directly with the airline.

 

As to the hotel, hotels are presently being contracted and finalized for 2007.

 

Frankly, you don't need Celebrity air...transfers.. and hotel. Barcelona is an easy city to get around... and wonderful hotels abound.

 

I don't know how your travel agency works, but when I am out of the office I have a backup agent (but I also take my laptop with me and call my voice mail while I am away). For the more service oriented issues we have a customer service department which handles those calls.

 

BTW, many agents travel a great deal in December. It's the slowest month of the year, and many agencies won't allow time off again until after "wave season" is over.

[florisdekort]

The westbound transatlantic on Millennium is scheduled for late November 2006. It makes perfect sense that Celebrity is saying that airfare won't be available until February 2006, since you can't book any flight whatsoever 330+ days out.

[C 2 C]

I booked for the Millenium Westward Transatlantic 2006 last June,

 

Why not ask other people in the roll call for their experience:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=193243&page=11

[Fredr]

hello,

 

I am not so sure that this is Celebrity's screw up but rather your TA. Get rid of the TA, re-book with another TA or Celebrity directly if the price is right and you want this particular cruise. Research the hotels in Barcelona extensively in terms of price, location, transportation to the ship (does the hotel have a shuttle to the cruise terminal?) and the cost of this transportation. Consider the major chains such as Hilton which might cost more but there is less chance of problems. Review Fodor's, Lonely Planet, and AAA International for Research airlines that serve Barcelona from the airport that you are most familiar. All airlines have websites that include their schedules and prices. Use the search engines such as Expedia, Travelocity, Air Gorilla, Orbitz, to compare airfares and see which airline has the best combination of price and schedule.

 

Sounds like a term paper...but part of the fun of travel is doing the research.

 

Hope that this helps,

 

Fred

[Fredr]

hello,

 

need to correct a paragraph..get copies of Fodor's, Lonely Planet, AAA International and other travel guides to see which hotels will work for you in terms of location and price.

 

Fred