Wholly Guacamole—what a nightmare

[billc23]

16 hours ago, jennmaybe said:

Thanks everyone on your responses regarding getting a TA.  I have major trust issues, and I just cannot trust anyone to handle vacation plans for us.

I agree on not trusting anyone to handle my vacation plans mostly because I find air and hotel reservations are easier to deal with if booked directly w/o a third party. I use Tripit Pro - an app that puts all my trip info together and even checks if the airline prices have dropped. Sort of like having a TA give me a printout of my entire trip. 

 

I either book Celebrity on board where I receive an official booking conformation or (as suggested above) proceed to book online, but put the cruise on hold and save a screenshot of the pricing. Usually I will receive a call from Celebrity (so no waiting as long as you are able to take the call) or call Celebrity back if necessary. I have them email me the booking conformation while I am on the call, review the conformation, and then officially book the cruise. For the next 4 weeks I am able to see my booking online and take advantage of price drops/promotion changes online as long as cabins are available in my category. No phone call needed - just click on change cabin and choose an acceptable one at the lower price. If you really want your original cabin, just repeat the process in about 20 minutes and switch back to your original cabin - 99% of the time it is not a problem. In case you cannot get your original cabin back be sure that the one you switched to is acceptable. 

 

I then transfer my booking to a TA at the 4 week mark (less than 30 day rule to transfer) to receive 10+ % of my cruise fare back. Even though the TA has the booking, you can still book excursions, dining... via the Celebrity website. I do not use the TA for any other part of my vacation plans. I pretty much keep control over my vacation plans except cruise related change such as repricing, cabin changed, cancellations... and the money back is worth it to me.

 

Check out the free version of Tripit.

[ScottC4746]

23 hours ago, jennmaybe said:

Hey CC peeps!

 

So, I just booked our very first Celebrity cruise and I have a major feeling this will be our only Celebrity cruise. Not because of the cruise itself, since we haven’t sailed yet, but because of pre-cruise headaches!

 

Here we go!  Grab your coffee! 🤪

 

I found a great deal sailing out of Fort Lauderdale over Memorial Day weekend, a prime veranda balcony for $1171.  So, I booked it last week.  When I got the confirmation, it showed a total price of $2271. So, needless to say, I called customer service. Ugh!!!

I chose option “2”, then “3” to speak to someone if you booked directly through the Celebrity website. The representative that I first spoke with was actually in the travel agent department.  So, phone issues.  Ok…he transferred me….I hold again only to speak with a rep who proceeds to tell me that he does not know what I am looking at, but he is looking at my confirmation, and it shows a total of $2271 and there’s nothing he can do.  What? 😳.  I politely request to speak to his supervisor because he was of no help.  He transferred me to his supervisor who immediately saw what the problem was in their system and she corrected it.  Problem solved. (She did advise me that the representative I spoke to is new and she was going to use that as a training opportunity.)
 

My mother-in-law and a friend of hers decided yesterday they wanted to join us so I go out to see if the price is still the same. It had actually dropped to $962. So, the first thing I do is call customer service to get the price drop for our cruise.

 

I was on hold for 28 minutes and finally got a representative. Oh but wait a minute, he is in the travel agent department. Seriously? Again?  He transfers me and I finally get a representative in the right department. She put me on hold while she is working on getting the price drop for me and then when she comes back to the line, she disconnects the call.  I don’t think she meant to because she was in the middle of talking to me when it happened.  I waited for a few minutes to see if she would call me back but she never did. At this point, it had been 1 hour and 47 minutes.  So, I call back again….finally got it resolved.

 

I went out last night to book the cruise for them.  Sigh….😔 As soon as the confirmation went through, the total price came up and it was $2271. It was completely wrong as the total should have only been $962. She checks her email confirmation and it shows the same amount of $2271.
 

I called Celebrity this morning and the very same problem. The first representative was in the travel agent department, so he had to transfer me again. I had to wait again……I finally got a representative and luckily she was able to see what was wrong in the system and fixed it for me. Not a 2+ hour ordeal this morning, but 45 min is still too long.

 

To sum it up—not a good 1st impression at all.   Between the price issues when booking online and the horrific issues with trying to reach customer service, I honestly don’t know if sailing Celebrity is going to be worth it.  I have never had these problems with another cruise line—-and we have sailed many different cruise lines.  I did go out and read yesterday about customer service issues with Celebrity, so apparently that is the norm with them. 🤬
 

Anyway, it is Monday morning, and I just needed to vent. We will go on the cruise and we will have a great time! However, if these issues never get resolved with Celebrity, this will definitely be a once & done with them.

 

I hope everyone has a great week! 😄

 

 

I would not make this your last X Cruise unless you have very bad on board experiences.  I booked X directly in 2022 and they customer service for cruise servicing was less than desirable.  I left a message in June 2022 for my "dedicated cruise consultant" for my September cruise and to this day I am still waiting for that return call.  This cruise May 2023 I decided to go with a TA and have had no problems other than the website not allowing me to make a payment, so I have to go through my TA for that.

[marieps]

On 1/8/2024 at 11:13 AM, jennmaybe said:

I had all of the screenshots, but they did not need to see them. Apparently they are having issues on their end in the system and the supervisor I spoke to last week and the representative I spoke to this morning actually saw what was wrong in their system and they fixed it for me and we have the correct price. 
 

 

Looks like this was fixed less than an hour after your initial post.  Enjoy your cruise.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

21 hours ago, jennmaybe said:

Did anyone see the show many years ago on Oasis of the Seas where the passenger could not board because someone else booked the cruise and they had the name wrong on the cruise booking?

no. Did the passenger NOT look at the name on the boarding docs prior to the cruise?

[LA24]

On 1/8/2024 at 11:13 AM, jennmaybe said:

I had all of the screenshots, but they did not need to see them. Apparently they are having issues on their end in the system and the supervisor I spoke to last week and the representative I spoke to this morning actually saw what was wrong in their system and they fixed it for me and we have the correct price. 
 

 

I know ur pain exact same thing happened to me. Nightmare. But still looking forward to our cruise in March. I really dont get why they havent fixed their “IT” issues.