New Policy Affecting Calls to Captain's Club...

[Lastdance]

Wow, when I called Captain's Club today, I spoke to a man by the name of Jason.  I wanted to ask him a question about purchasing internet for my cruise at the end of this month.  I had to give my name, my husband's name and my reservation number.  However, before I could even ask my question, I was told that he could not answer any questions about my reservation or anything else if I went through a travel agent.  He was curt, almost repremanding in his answer and proceded to be rude to the point that I told him that I would call again and speak to another representative, which I did.  She stated the same, but was not rude, just very matter of fact and IMHO very robotic-like.  Honestly, i have never been spoken to or treated like this ever before when calling Captain's Club.  There must be a new training system in place or something new is happening.  I am going to call again tomorrow and see if I can speak with someone in management about my conversations. I tried to today, but was told no one was available.  Truthfully, I just do not know what to think!  TBD...

Edited April 7, 2019 by Lastdance

[RICCruisers]

Let’s hope this is not a new policy. The Captains Club Reps are the most knowledgeable people I have ever spoken to. This would be a terrible breakdown in customer service. I have only had to call them a few times, but was ALWAYS happy with their ability to get me answers or help me through my situation. Plus, they answer their phones in a reasonable amount of time. 

[Jammu2]

Gosh. Did you try calling your travel agent? 

[GerScot]

In the UK I always use webchat and found them to be really helpful and courteous.

[PhoenixCruiser]

Can't you just add it in the Cruise Planner?

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

3 minutes ago, PhoenixCruiser said:

Can't you just add it in the Cruise Planner?

 

As I understand it, if you are of a Captains Club level that gives you a discount higher than what is in the planner, you have to call to purchase the internet package.

 

I'm hoping we can still do things like this through the call center. I was going to call and see about booking a Tortola excursion for my Feb Equinox cruise. I know the one I want, and when you look at Sailing Dates it shows up, but they haven't changed over to the Tortola excursions yet - it's still showing the ones for Punta Cana, which is NOT a stop on this itinerary; Tortola is. I don't want to have to bug my TA with it though.

[cruisestitch]

As to rudeness, there is no excuse but as to referring you to your travel agent, that has been the policy for as long as I can remember.

 

If you book through a travel agent, Celebrity really can’t touch the booking.

 

You should still be able to call Captains Club to ask about general questions regarding the loyalty program, sailing on Celebrity, etc. But for anything with a specific booking, you generally have to go through the travel agent.

Edited April 7, 2019 by cruisestitch

[BEAV]

I called the Captain’s Club yesterday. All I wanted to know was what hotel(s) Celebrity was using in Tokyo as part of their pre and post-cruise program. There was an area in my Cruise Planner to book this type of package, but it was grayed out. Although I wasn’t interested in booking a hotel package, I nevertheless wanted to know which hotels they use in Tokyo. 

 

While the Agent was very friendly, she was also unable to answer my question. 

 

A simple question. Or so I thought.......

Edited April 7, 2019 by BEAV

[BEAV]

2 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

As I understand it, if you are of a Captains Club level that gives you a discount higher than what is in the planner, you have to call to purchase the internet package.

 

Correct. You have to call to have your Captain’s Club discount applied when buying an Internet package.

[Highpeaklad]

21 minutes ago, BEAV said:

I called the Captain’s Club yesterday. All I wanted to know was what hotel(s) Celebrity was using in Tokyo as part of their pre and post-cruise program. There was an area in my Cruise Planner to book this type of package, but it was grayed out. Although I wasn’t interested in booking a hotel package, I nevertheless wanted to know which hotels they use in Tokyo. 

 

While the Agent was very friendly, she was also unable to answer my question. 

 

A simple question. Or so I thought.......

 

Just do a dummy booking and the hotels will show on there. 

[GastroGnome]

The call will have been recorded.  If you are really concerned that Jason was rude then report it, with the time, to the manager you speak to.

[yorky]

I booked though a travel agent. Called Celebrity to add a speciality dining package and upgrade the drinks package as this could not be done online due to the ongoing website issue and was connected to the US.They asked for the name of my TA then said no problem and booked them both for me at the sale price at the time. Received a couple of email confirmations straight away and the rep could not have been more helpful.That was a couple of weeks ago.

Edited April 7, 2019 by yorky

[odysee]

My experience is that for years it has been handled same ; if booking made thru travel agent, Captains Club will not get into issues relating to booking, cabin, upgrades, changes,  etc but will refer you back to agent.  Whereas if thru glitches in system no online bookings for drink packages, excursions, etc.  they will do it for you over phone directly.

[Luvcrusn]

9 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

As I understand it, if you are of a Captains Club level that gives you a discount higher than what is in the planner, you have to call to purchase the internet package.

 

I'm hoping we can still do things like this through the call center. I was going to call and see about booking a Tortola excursion for my Feb Equinox cruise. I know the one I want, and when you look at Sailing Dates it shows up, but they haven't changed over to the Tortola excursions yet - it's still showing the ones for Punta Cana, which is NOT a stop on this itinerary; Tortola is. I don't want to have to bug my TA with it though.

Sorry you had that experience with captains club. Did you call 800-760-0654? They will ask your reservation number and name in order to complete your internet purchase and use your OBC and your Captains Club discount, but it's VERY unusual to have anyone there be anything other than helpful. I'd try calling again and be pleasantly persistent about getting the help you need. As far as the excursion in the port change, you may want to try asking to be connected with the Cruise Enhancement department. They may have access to more information/ability to do a booking in the changed port.

[Luvcrusn]

7 hours ago, BEAV said:

I called the Captain’s Club yesterday. All I wanted to know was what hotel(s) Celebrity was using in Tokyo as part of their pre and post-cruise program. There was an area in my Cruise Planner to book this type of package, but it was grayed out. Although I wasn’t interested in booking a hotel package, I nevertheless wanted to know which hotels they use in Tokyo. 

 

While the Agent was very friendly, she was also unable to answer my question. 

 

A simple question. Or so I thought.......

When they changed to the new website two years ago, you can no longer see the hotel option if you booked through a TA since as you found out, the buttons are greyed out. I have called and gotten that information from Captains Club but it took quite a bit of explaining that I just wanted to know the names of the hotels being offered to those who booked their cruise with X and chose the pre or post cruise packages. It's crazy that they removed this ability to view that page, but the X IT department removed it! If you can't get the info you want, ask to speak with someone else. I've gotten quite a bit of help by praising the customer service reps and telling them that if anyone can figure something out, they are the ones who can do it.

[jshli]

I have a cruise that is booked through my travel agent and called Celebrity a few months ago to add the internet package and apply my “elite” discount.  A very pleasant Celebrity customer rep. took care of it very quickly. I hope this is not something that now has to go through a travel agent, turning something simple into a more complicated and time consuming process. 

 

[Silkroad]

I have noticed the same “policy” change in the Captain’s Club reps’ responses to questions about my bookings. I believe the change occurred around the beginning of the year. I usually book directly with Celebrity, and later transfer to a TA. In the past, I was able to ask specific questions about a transferred booking in conjunction with calls about either IT issues (of which, there have been far too many) or purchases using my CC discount.

 

During recent calls, each rep has immediately said they could only discuss details of bookings I hadn’t transferred to a TA, though of course I could still make purchases for those bookings using my CC discount. During one recent call, I did encounter a male rep I thought rather brusque, but he became less so when I explained that I had a general question about a CC discount. IMO, Celebrity is once again trying to enforce a CC rule they’ve had as long as I’ve been their customer (since 2006).

 

I used my CC discount to purchase a package last week, for a booking I had transferred to a TA, without any issues. The lovely CC rep was very helpful. 

Edited April 7, 2019 by Silkroad

[Silkroad]

10 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

You should still be able to call Captains Club to ask about general questions regarding the loyalty program, sailing on Celebrity, etc. But for anything with a specific booking, you generally have to go through the travel agent.

In my experience, Captain’s Club has always been available for booking “add ons” using one’s CC discount. That has not changed, and that was the reason for the OP’s call.

Edited April 7, 2019 by Silkroad

[Silkroad]

10 hours ago, PhoenixCruiser said:

Can't you just add it in the Cruise Planner?

No. You must call CC to get your CC discount on “add ons” such as the Internet Package. I wish we could get our CC discount applied via Cruise Planner! 

Edited April 7, 2019 by Silkroad

[Fogfog]

Every call to Captains Club --the reps tell us they cannot do anything with the reservation itself--

however with our CC discount the rep was able to handle the internet purchase.

Have had curt reps and helpful reps in the past 6 months or so...

 

It would be far netter if X would fix their website so that the site "sees" our CC status and can apply the proper discount when purchasing internet for example. There is no reason why they can't make this addition... 

 

[Luvcrusn]

3 minutes ago, Fogfog said:

It would be far netter if X would fix their website so that the site "sees" our CC status and can apply the proper discount when purchasing internet for example. There is no reason why they can't make this addition... 

 

Have you any familiarity with X's IT department?!🤣😜 This is the same group that had a cruise that we'd booked 23 months out change from deposited to fully paid! (Unfortunately they caught the error a year later!) It seems it would be both simple and sensible to make the change, but.....

[Fogfog]

5 minutes ago, Luvcrusn said:

Have you any familiarity with X's IT department?!🤣😜 This is the same group that had a cruise that we'd booked 23 months out change from deposited to fully paid! (Unfortunately they caught the error a year later!) It seems it would be both simple and sensible to make the change, but.....

I am familiar--  I will say that I find many other cruise lines websites equally bad... difficult to sort...and  cumbersome.  

Not sure why when many retail sites are smoother functioning. 

 

[CapeCodFlyer]

I called yesterday to book an internet package for an upcoming cruise.  Although, I booked through a travel agent, the X representative booked the package and gave me the CC discount.  He was very pleasant and helpful on the phone.  As for my travel agent, I called her 4 days ago with a question on my booking and I'm still waiting for a return call.  Think I may book directly with X in the future. 

[Lastdance]

Update:

 

I did call and spoke with a very nice supervisor.  I explained how I was treated, along with my question regarding the internet.  In addition, she thanked me for letting her know about my experience and apologized for how I was treated.  Furthermore, she will check in to this situation, as she does not want any client experiencing this when they call.  I assured her that this was my first very negative experience from Captain’s Club, in my many years of cruising, along with sharing how wonderful my previous experiences have always been.

 

Honestly, I am very glad that I perused this and feel Celebrity does need to know when a representative of theirs is not representing the company in a positive way.

[davekathy]

9 minutes ago, Lastdance said:

Update:

 

I did call and spoke with a very nice supervisor.  I explained how I was treated, along with my question regarding the internet.  In addition, she thanked me for letting her know about my experience and apologized for how I was treated.  Furthermore, she will check in to this situation, as she does not want any client experiencing this when they call.  I assured her that this was my first very negative experience from Captain’s Club, in my many years of cruising, along with sharing how wonderful my previous experiences have always been.

 

Honestly, I am very glad that I perused this and feel Celebrity does need to know when a representative of theirs is not representing the company in a positive way.

I agree and good for you. I would have done the something.