Does the agency you book with determine when you get docs?

[kfleming]

We are sailing on Spirit 10/17 and we don't have our docs yet. I emailed the agency I booked with to ask when to expect them. They called me and said that I wouldn't receive them until 7-10 days before sailing. (OMG, they called me! That in itself is a miracle!) Anyway, I have never received docs that late even when we booked airfare with the cruiseline. I have booked every cruise we have taken except our honeymoon with an online agency. I know that others on this sailing have their docs already. I was just wondering if the agency you book with has anything to do with when you actually receive documents. Does each agency have a system they use for when docs go out? Just curious.

[taszmom]

Yes they do. They may get them 30 days prior to sailing, but may not actually mail them out until much later than that. It's not necessarily that they are purposely holding them, they just have a lot to and often will have large groups to process and mail and they send them out according to sail date, not when they get them into the office.

[newmexicoNita]

Tazsmom has it right. Normally docs, especially NCL arrive within a few weeks after final payment; it is up to the agency to mail them at their conveniece. I always sent them the day they came in or within a few days. That was I could close my files on a customer unless problems arrose. It made it better for me and the passengers love to get them early. We are sailing in November, made final payment over a month ago and haven't heard a word. I would expect to get them in the next fre weeks, if not I will call the agency. Next time I cruise I hope to be able to do everything myself if I go back to work.

 

NMnita

[marvholly]

It is totally up to the TA/agency you booked thru to handle your docs. According to various post the cruise lines are currently sending them to the TAs about 1 month ahead. The TA needs to check them out and then forward them to you. Given 2-3 days to check stuff out and 2-5 days UPS ground less than 2-3 weekw out IMHO bespeaks of an agency/TA that doesen't care and is TOTALLY inefficient and I would be unlikely to use again.

[kfleming]

Thanks for the info.

 

Marvholly-I was told not to expect them until 7-10 days prior to sailing so my assumption (since I know others that do have their docs for the same sailing) is that ours are probably sitting in this particular agency's office. I completely agree with what you said and I can absolutely say with no doubt that I will NEVER use this agency again. Not just for this but other issues as well. I learned a valuable lesson with this booking, just b/c it's the best price doesn't mean it's a good value. They couldn't pay me to even log on to their website again!

[macdays1]

I called my TA two weeks ago about my 10/10 cruise. I told her I was reading on the boards that people on the same cruise had already received their documents, and I was just wondering if mine were in yet. She told me that they were in, but she was still working on getting Sept. cruise docs out. Mine were sitting on her desk. Since I prefer to pick mine up, rather than having them mailed to me, I went up the next day to get them.

[ron46936]

I have often gotten NCL docs months in advance if I had paid in full. On one cruise I changed cabins twice and they sent new docs within 2 weeks after each change.

[kfleming]

So since I know others that have their docs and it's been paid in full since August 3rd it's a pretty good bet that they are sitting on someone's desk. That's frustrating. I know some people don't see the big deal about getting them but I think it's exciting and look forward to it. I'd just like to see them since I'm responsible for 7 people in 3 cabins. It would be reassuring to know everything is in place.

 

Unfortunately picking them up is not an option. That's what I get for booking online and not local!

[jla418]

I booked my October 12 Mexican Cruise thru an online agency on August 4 and of course paid in full on August 4 (I don't have the ability to plan very far ahead). The credit card statement shows the charge as placed by NCL and not the agency (a good thing - I know that NCL received the payment!). The agency e-mailed me on September 11 that the documents were being sent out and should arrive in 3-4 days. The documents arrived via mail on September 15! I was pretty impressed. Based on my experience up to now, I'd use the agency again.

[kruzkupple]

We had an unusual problem in regard to documents for our Aug. 29 cruise on the Dream. We had booked nearly a year ago with a major (world's largest) cruise agency, and had made final payment in May '04. We were advised by the TA not to expect our docs until 7-14 days before sailing, since NCL was booking our air and usually waited until the 11th hour in order to get the best air rates.

 

When we hadn't heard anything by the 15th of August, I called the TA and was told that our docs had not yet arrived. My suspicious mind prompted me to call NCL a couple of days later, to be advised that the docs had been sent to the TA on August 6th. Another call to my TA drew a denial that they had our documents, but that they would call NCL to find out what was going on.

 

Bottom line: The TA called me back on the 18th to tell me that NCL had no idea where our documents were, but that they (NCL) would reissue them immediately and send them directly to me via FedEx. Believe it or not, the docs arrived at my front door the next morning (via DHL) from NCL in Miami! For obvious reasons, I'm plenty upset with both NCL and my TA (which will never be our TA again). We got our docs 9 days before we departed for London, but it sure wasn't easy. :)

 

Jack

[newmexicoNita]

As a temporarily inactive TA, my gut feeling is your TA screwed up big time. That's just my opinion, i could be wrong, but I wouldn't work with them again either. Hope your cruise was better than the worry about your docs.

 

NMNita