Final Payment

[Saman]

I have just checked and 3 days after making direct payment we received an 18 page pdf with the full info of cruise including the docking area in port , a list of the ports where we are calling and if we dock or tender and general terms and conditions , a different document than when we book that had less info .

I hope ta sorts it for you soon .

[GigiK]

2 minutes ago, katiel53 said:

I would be worried then too.  I will not use an agency that has the charge made out to the agency instead of the cruise line.  I'm sure you didn't know that initially, so I understand your concern.  Years ago I used an agency that employed a friend.  I found out that when things were charged to the agency, the owner floated the money and many times didn't pay for tour .

 

Thanks for that information! I thought if you used a TA, then the money always went to them first and then they paid the company. Good to know - wish I had known it in October!

[Mr. Candyman]

1 hour ago, GigiK said:

 

Yes. When we switched it (well, them as there are two), it went gray. We switched because we thought a TA would help us to watch for price drops, which never happened. I mean there might have been, but our price didn't change.

 

And if anybody knows - Because we used a TA, will we also not be able to use the check in online feature as well?

 

I read these boards sometimes, so I know you guys *hate* all these newbie type questions, but I really appreciate any answers or perspectives. Thanks!

All TAs do not operate the same.  You will find some that are wonderful and you will find some that will do nothing after they book your cruise. I did all the leg work and made the job quite easier for my TA.  For the 1st several weeks I stayed on top of him to make sure I was entitled to any price drops and after he showed me that he was on top of things, l stopped micromanaging him.   Hes probably knocked about $400 off of my initial booking.   Yes I probably could have done the same thing myself but if hes going to do it why should I waste my time.

Edited April 14, 2019 by Mr. Candyman

[GigiK]

2 minutes ago, Mr. Candyman said:

All TAs do not operate the same.  You will find some that are wonderful and you will find some that will do nothing after the book your cruise. I did all the leg work and made the job quite easier for my TA. 

 

Thanks for replying! I was just pointing out why we switched and that even if this hadn't happened, it wouldn't have been worth it to us to have changed. The concern for me now is that if you book with a TA and have a problem, you are at the mercy of your TA because Royal will not tell you anything. Not even after it is all over. Not even if it has been paid. I fully understand their not making changes during the process, but I would have thought *afterwards* they could at least tell you if it had been paid. I have no idea how we are going to know what is happening. But they don't and won't. Painful lesson learned!

[Arzeena]

1 hour ago, GigiK said:

 

Thank you! I didn't know what to ask for. She just keeps telling us she paid it, but didn't send any kind of documentation, so even though I knew they didn't do anything with the reservations, I thought that after it was paid that they could say so, but nope. I guess a lot of people think that because they weren't very nice about it at all.

 

Also, will the website change after it is paid? Tomorrow is the 90 days. Will the Online Check In tab become active? Or will the Pay Remaining Balance change at all? Or can you even check in online using the website because the reservation is in the travel agent's hands?

 

I seriously wish we had not used a travel agent. We saved no money by using the travel agent and added lots of aggravation.

Check your credit card charges on line.
Mine shows up as soon as Royal Caribbean charges the card via my TA.

[Arzeena]

Gigi hope your problem is resolved and you have checked in via the web. Have a wonderful cruise.

Edited April 14, 2019 by Arzeena

[not-enough-cruising]

1 hour ago, GigiK said:

 

I seriously wish we had not used a travel agent. We saved no money by using the travel agent and added lots of aggravation.

You need to find a new travel agent; a TA should remove all aggravation AND save you money. 

[GigiK]

14 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

Check your credit card charges on line.
Mine shows up as soon as Royal Caribbean charges the card via my TA.

 

Thanks for replying! It shows up - just as paid to the TA. I learned above that you should really use a TA where the charges show up from Royal Caribbean like you said, not to the TA. My main question was whether it shows up on the website that you have paid. It still says Pay Remaining Balance. From what I can gather, it stays that way? The customer service rep did not know - he said that I could keep paying through that button as much as I wanted to and laughed. I wasn't very entertained! He was aware that he could not tell me the status of our payment, but not that the button becomes inactive when you use a TA. It has been very frustrating. But, live and learn. I just hope we're not spending a week in July drinking Mango Tangos on our patio instead of on Labadee!

Edited April 14, 2019 by GigiK

[GigiK]

1 hour ago, h20skibum said:

Many times, you may not get a reminder from your TA to do online check in, book shows or excursions, until about 30 days before the cruise.

Hopefully, you have started that process at your 90 day check in, or before. Otherwise, some times may be gone.

I would hope your TA got you some perks, over and above what Royal offers. If not, it is time to find a new TA.


Past Reviews post 184

 

Thank you for responding! We have booked a couple of excursions and the refreshment package. The Entertainment section isn't up yet - but maybe that's because of the situation we're in? Didn't really expect any perks. Hoped for a price drop, but that's okay. She just keeps saying it's paid for and Royal did this and Royal did that. But she also said we should have been able to check in today, and we can't - which is what led me to ask about the website here. 90 days  payment was tomorrow. We'll see. No TA for us anymore. I think we just don't travel enough for that to work out for us. If/when we get to go again, we are using the website. This has been too much.

[grandgeezer]

We use an online travel agency. They keep our credit card on file (if we want to use a different card we just call them) and they are 43 for 43 in making our final payment before the deadline. And yes, our credit card is charged by the cruise line not the TA. I leave all the heavy lifting to them and take my 12-20% in perks or price deduction with a smile on my face.

[GigiK]

6 minutes ago, grandgeezer said:

We use an online travel agency. They keep our credit card on file (if we want to use a different card we just call them) and they are 43 for 43 in making our final payment before the deadline. And yes, our credit card is charged by the cruise line not the TA. I leave all the heavy lifting to them and take my 12-20% in perks or price deduction with a smile on my face.

 

Lucky ducky! No perks, no price reductions, no smile (yet!), just aggravation. And I have learned here today that having a TA that charges through the cruise line is the key. In our situation, if something has gone wrong, it has literally nothing to do with Royal. And I learned on the phone today that Royal will tell you zero if you used a TA. Hopefully, we will know  something tomorrow. It's 90 days and we have requested a Royal guest booking invoice from the TA as recommended above. We'll see.

[Iamcruzin]

We had used TA's a few times in the past. This was before I knew about Cruise Critic. Non of them gave us a discount or watched for prices. One time the TA didn't even call us for final payment. If I didn't have a reminder set in my phone calendar my cruise would have been canceled.  

 

I booked through my Warehouse TA for the first time only because of the large OBC they were offering. I never spoke to the same person who booked my reservation even though I had her extension.  She vanished after my booking.  I had to wait long hold periods just to make payments. They did have my credit card on file but I didn't trust them enough to follow through with final payment.  

 

When I book through the cruise line I call and speak to a human. I you can ask them questions at the time of booking which you can't do if you book online. I have called all hours and have always been able to speak to someone. One time around 1:00am I noticed a price drop on a Celebrity cruise I had booked. I call them immediately and had the price adjusted. I saved $200. The next day the price went up. Had I booked with a TA I would have missed the opportunity.

 

I wouldn't expect a TA to watch for price drops. It's a conflict of interest. Macy's doesn't call me to tell me that the pants I bought a week ago are now on sale or automatically credit my account. Why would a travel agent be willing to take a cut in their commission. Those who claim that their travel agent watches for price drops are either TA's who booked their own cruise, have a friend or relative who booked their cruise or have given the TA so much business over the years that the TA is compelled to watch their reservation. I promise you that this is not a normal practice.  

Edited April 15, 2019 by Iamcruzin

[Ken at the beach]

1 hour ago, Iamcruzin said:

We had used TA's a few times in the past. This was before I knew about Cruise Critic. Non of them gave us a discount or watched for prices. One time the TA didn't even call us for final payment. If I didn't have a reminder set in my phone calendar my cruise would have been canceled.  

 

I booked through my Warehouse TA for the first time only because of the large OBC they were offering. I never spoke to the same person who booked my reservation even though I had her extension.  She vanished after my booking.  I had to wait long hold periods just to make payments. They did have my credit card on file but I didn't trust them enough to follow through with final payment.  

 

When I book through the cruise line I call and speak to a human. I you can ask them questions at the time of booking which you can't do if you book online. I have called all hours and have always been able to speak to someone. One time around 1:00am I noticed a price drop on a Celebrity cruise I had booked. I call them immediately and had the price adjusted. I saved $200. The next day the price went up. Had I booked with a TA I would have missed the opportunity.

 

I wouldn't expect a TA to watch for price drops. It's a conflict of interest. Macy's doesn't call me to tell me that the pants I bought a week ago are now on sale or automatically credit my account. Why would a travel agent be willing to take a cut in their commission. Those who claim that their travel agent watches for price drops are either TA's who booked their own cruise, have a friend or relative who booked their cruise or have given the TA so much business over the years that the TA is compelled to watch their reservation. I promise you that this is not a normal practice.  

 

It may not be normal practice for many but there are many TA’s that will watch for price drops.  

 

Do we check the price 2 and 3 times a day like many people do...absolutely not however I will check the prices for all my clients when I see a new sale starting.  Do I miss some drops..,yes but I  also catch some as well.  When I call my clients and let them know I just saved them $500 or a $1000 they are ecstatic and I know that I have most likely have developed a relationship that will lead them to be a long term client.  Any travel agent who is so short sighted as to not look out for their clients best interest shouldn’t be in the business.  Obviously there is a huge difference in the level of service you will get from large on line agencies or big box stores who are rebating a large part of the commission so you shouldn’t expect them to be looking out for you.  

 

 

[Mr. Candyman]

4 hours ago, GigiK said:

 

Thanks for replying! I was just pointing out why we switched and that even if this hadn't happened, it wouldn't have been worth it to us to have changed. The concern for me now is that if you book with a TA and have a problem, you are at the mercy of your TA because Royal will not tell you anything. Not even after it is all over. Not even if it has been paid. I fully understand their not making changes during the process, but I would have thought *afterwards* they could at least tell you if it had been paid. I have no idea how we are going to know what is happening. But they don't and won't. Painful lesson learned!

I still struggle with if it's worth having using a TA (only done it twice now) and nowadays it seems more of a disadvantage. Similar to you, I had discovered, any revisions and questions had to be done through the TA.  Luckily it wasn't so bad (as of now) because mine is in communication with me.  I can definitely see how it would be frustrating though. 

Edited April 15, 2019 by Mr. Candyman

[Mr. Candyman]

1 hour ago, Iamcruzin said:

We had used TA's a few times in the past. This was before I knew about Cruise Critic. Non of them gave us a discount or watched for prices. One time the TA didn't even call us for final payment. If I didn't have a reminder set in my phone calendar my cruise would have been canceled.  

 

I booked through my Warehouse TA for the first time only because of the large OBC they were offering. I never spoke to the same person who booked my reservation even though I had her extension.  She vanished after my booking.  I had to wait long hold periods just to make payments. They did have my credit card on file but I didn't trust them enough to follow through with final payment.  

 

When I book through the cruise line I call and speak to a human. I you can ask them questions at the time of booking which you can't do if you book online. I have called all hours and have always been able to speak to someone. One time around 1:00am I noticed a price drop on a Celebrity cruise I had booked. I call them immediately and had the price adjusted. I saved $200. The next day the price went up. Had I booked with a TA I would have missed the opportunity.

 

I wouldn't expect a TA to watch for price drops. It's a conflict of interest. Macy's doesn't call me to tell me that the pants I bought a week ago are now on sale or automatically credit my account. Why would a travel agent be willing to take a cut in their commission. Those who claim that their travel agent watches for price drops are either TA's who booked their own cruise, have a friend or relative who booked their cruise or have given the TA so much business over the years that the TA is compelled to watch their reservation. I promise you that this is not a normal practice.  

I guess I've been lucky but good to know that price watching isn't their normal practice.  I just know the couple of times the price went down, he called me before I called him.  I think the only reason I oped for a TA is because I didn't want to mess something attempting to make my own booking.  The more you do the more you learn right 😁    

[GigiK]

11 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

I wouldn't expect a TA to watch for price drops. It's a conflict of interest. Macy's doesn't call me to tell me that the pants I bought a week ago are now on sale or automatically credit my account. Why would a travel agent be willing to take a cut in their commission. Those who claim that their travel agent watches for price drops are either TA's who booked their own cruise, have a friend or relative who booked their cruise or have given the TA so much business over the years that the TA is compelled to watch their reservation. I promise you that this is not a normal practice.  

 

Thanks for replying. Live and learn. This aspect really did not occur to me until the problems started, but from their perspective it's not a money maker for them to pass on discounts to you! We have only cruised maybe every six years or so as just getting to the boat is a huge part of the vacation budget, so this had been an experience.

[GigiK]

10 hours ago, Mr. Candyman said:

I guess I've been lucky but good to know that price watching isn't their normal practice.  I just know the couple of times the price went down, he called me before I called him.  I think the only reason I oped for a TA is because I didn't want to mess something attempting to make my own booking.  The more you do the more you learn right 😁    

 

Yep - it was the reason we switched because we had heard people comment about TA's watching for price drops - and she said she did. I guess I thought that it was an automated process and I wasn't thinking about the business conflict for them. So my third lesson - not the TA's job to save you money after you have purchased your cruise!

 

However, my problem here wasn't that, though, as we had hoped but not counted on it. We could not tell whether the cruise had been paid for or not. And I wondered whether there was some indication on the website that it had been paid; and then after hearing more here, whether using a TA affected what you see on the website. When I know the answers to these questions, I will post them and hopefully move on to looking forward to the cruise. 🙂

 

It looks like the person on here who hopefully provided me the path to finding out is a TA. Thank you!!

[Arzeena]

15 hours ago, GigiK said:

 

Thanks for replying! It shows up - just as paid to the TA. I learned above that you should really use a TA where the charges show up from Royal Caribbean like you said, not to the TA. My main question was whether it shows up on the website that you have paid. It still says Pay Remaining Balance. From what I can gather, it stays that way? The customer service rep did not know - he said that I could keep paying through that button as much as I wanted to and laughed. I wasn't very entertained! He was aware that he could not tell me the status of our payment, but not that the button becomes inactive when you use a TA. It has been very frustrating. But, live and learn. I just hope we're not spending a week in July drinking Mango Tangos on our patio instead of on Labadee!

I hear you!

Just keep logging in and checking often. You will be sipping that Mango Tango on your cabin balcony!😁

And only one (ok may be 2) in a million TA's will actually call you and inform you that "there is a price drop and I will adjust your price for the new lower one"!

Edited April 15, 2019 by Arzeena

[grandgeezer]

1 hour ago, Arzeena said:

I hear you!

Just keep logging in and checking often. You will be sipping that Mango Tango on your cabin balcony!😁

And only one (ok may be 2) in a million TA's will actually call you and inform you that "there is a price drop and I will adjust your price for the new lower one"!

 

To level the playing field, when you book through the cruise line, how many of them will call you with a price drop?? I would guess one in a million would be too high.

[Clarea]

5 minutes ago, grandgeezer said:

 

To level the playing field, when you book through the cruise line, how many of them will call you with a price drop?? I would guess one in a million would be too high.

 

I've not heard of any cruise line contacting customers with a price drop.  However, if you call to make your final payment, Royal will check for a price drop if you ask.

[johnjen]

19 hours ago, GigiK said:

 

I seriously wish we had not used a travel agent. We saved no money by using the travel agent and added lots of aggravation.

What a lesson learned. It wasn't worth the free excursion, free flowers, chocolate, discounts I bet. This is yet another reason we hate having that "third party" involved. Our TA completely passed us up on a BIG price drop. That seriously ticked me off, she went on vacay and the other TA's with the company we booked through REFUSED to intervene. Just this ONE incident convinced us - NEVER go through a TA again.

Edited April 15, 2019 by johnjen

[GigiK]

3 hours ago, Arzeena said:

I hear you!

Just keep logging in and checking often. You will be sipping that Mango Tango on your cabin balcony!😁

And only one (ok may be 2) in a million TA's will actually call you and inform you that "there is a price drop and I will adjust your price for the new lower one"!

 

Yay!! Haven't heard from the TA about the Royal invoice, but... We called Royal back today and the rep immediately answered that we were paid in full and said that for some reason our account was locked but that she would unlock it and did. Off work today so filling out the Check In information and printing out Set Sail Passes. Yay!!

 

So - What happened to the website is -

   The Check In button turned into a link, but it said Locked and then it changed to Update Check In/Set Sail after we called.

   The Pay Remaining Balance button stayed gray and didn't change.

   The Cruise Planner button still works with no change.

 

Thank you for all the great information that I didn't know yesterday! Keeping it in mind for the future. 🙂

 

Sipping Mango Tangos and watching the sun rise over the ocean on our cabin balcony in July! So happy!

 

 

Edited April 15, 2019 by GigiK

[Sancho_proudfoot]

Things appear to be different this side of the pond. We have used the same cruise-dedicated TA for a number of years now.

 

They ask us for final payment 12 weeks out. At the normal 90 day point we usually find online checkin open.

[GigiK]

1 hour ago, grandgeezer said:

 

To level the playing field, when you book through the cruise line, how many of them will call you with a price drop?? I would guess one in a million would be too high. 

 

A friend of my husband always books through Carnival and he gets alerts when there is a price drop on his cruises. We have never gone on Carnival, so I don't know any more than that.

[GigiK]

11 minutes ago, Sancho_proudfoot said:

Things appear to be different this side of the pond. We have used the same cruise-dedicated TA for a number of years now.

 

They ask us for final payment 12 weeks out. At the normal 90 day point we usually find online checkin open.

 

Thank you for replying. That seems to be another important point for positive experiences - using a TA that you have known for a long time. My main question was about the website and how or whether it changes when you have paid in full. The answer seems to be that the only change was in the Check In button, and the payment and Check In happened on the same day - 90 days out.