A problem with a Travel Agent
 

Hi, this is kind of a "Monday Rant", guess we all have those occasionally. I have never dealt with a travel agent in my life. Have always booked directly through all possible other avenues, i.e. cruise line, airline, expedia, etc. either directly or online.

We're guests on a cruise in early August and everything was booked through T/A in Florida by family member.

I've called this TA twice in the past few months to ask basic questions and she's been rather rude and completely of no help at all. I understand flight arrangements won't be made until 30 days prior. But had other questions as well regarding excursion prices either made privately or by cruise line and she said I'd find out when we get to port.

I've never met the woman but both times I've spoken with her she's been rude and in a hurry to get off the phone.

I've contacted the cruise line and am waiting for some answers there.

I've asked the family member and she said to call the TA.

Sorry to go on and on but now I know why I've never used a travel agent in the past. I'd really be upset if I/we had actually booked and paid for this trip.

Thanks for any information.

The TA is the point person between the member of your family planning the trip and the cruise line.

Contact the cruise line directly. Again.

Certainly, one advantage of DIY is, no rude TA. On the other hand, I have spoken to quite a few dopey and/or rude hotel/airline/car/restaurant reservation clerks over the years, and I wonder: would it have been better to speak to just one rude person, instead of 3 or 4?!

Is it possible to cancel the booking with this travel agent? You probably would have found a cheaper price online through cruisequick.com or bestpricecruises.com. Like everything else, you must choose a travel agent wisely. Sometimes trusting one person's word of mouth doesn't help. Perhaps you should have called before you booked to ask the questions. I'm sure you would have been treated better. As stated earlier, I would just cancel the booking and find someone that does want the business. Otherwise you can just keep calling the TA until you get some answers. Good luck. PS, most excursions are bookable online, just have your confirmation number availible.

Like any other profession, there are bad agents and there are good agents.
Having been a GOOD agent myself, I can tell you that I have known plenty of BAD agents.
Like a bad hairstylist, they eventually go away.
I personally can't imagine booking a cruise without the assistance of a cruise specialist agent.
A good agent should be able to tell you first hand about many of the ships and itineraries, including excursions. I have no desire to search websites and do the research on my own. I thank goodness for the agent who helps me with international and specialty leisure travel!

Did you pay in advance for your trip, without asking about these things beforehand? Or maybe you thought your family member who booked it had asked the important questions? I have found, with everybody in every profession, that you better get all your answers BEFORE you pay! (Because they're not so concerned about you AFTER they have their money!) Good luck!

Thanks for all your advice. I'm on hold now with the cruise line. We did not pay for this trip or plan it. My husband's mother did and encourage us to go along.

When she makes a decision, that's it, so now we're doing the research and I really thought her TA would be a lot more helpful. She hasn't even provided state rooms or reservation numbers, so hopefully, the cruise line can help.

Oh, I understand. You are a guest of your mother-in-law on the cruise.... (lucky you!:-) ) and she did not ask a lot of questions when she booked it with the T.A. Your mother-in-law is the person the T.A. sold the cruise to, and now she probably doesn't want to be bothered with someone besides her client asking questions. Sounds like she feels she's done her job, and doesn't want to be bothered! Again, good luck with getting some answers...

I wonder if it's the same horrible travel I agent I used a few years back to book a cruise. A friend found her through a newspaper ad. Fortunately, last year I found an agent who went the extra mile and then some. What a contrast! The agency's name is Brown & Keene--you can find them on the web. They don't handle all cruise lines, but are magnificent for the ones they do handle.

Oh for Pete's sake. I was on the phone for over 30 minutes on hold about 20 minutes with the cruise line only to find out MIL booked this as a "group" and they can give me absolutely no information. I have to call the TA back. Forget it, I'll take a chance with MIL.

Thanks again for your help and please wish me luck, I'd rather be hit by a beer truck than make this call.....:)

I'll try and explain this again.

When you have a group booking, especially when one person is paying, the group sales person (in your case the travel agent) will not give out details.

The reason being is the relationship is between the group leader (your mother in law) and the cruise line. Confidentiality, for whatever reason, is usually the culprit.

Your mother in law may have booked excursions and wants to surprise everyone.

That makes perfect sense, Go_Travel. I can understand why the agent would only discuss the booking with her client......

That too makes sense to me now as well. However it's been made clear to us by Mom that we are to pay and are certainly more than happy to for the excursions we go on. There are a total of 4 of us going and MIL and her half daughter are going to want to do some things on their own.

Incindentally, I caved and left a message for the owner of the travel agency to call me tomorrow.

Knowing now how this "group" thing works, I guess I'm not getting any info from her.

Well the owner of the agency did in fact call me back first thing this morning and was pleasant enough. She explained what I have learned here about confidentiality on booking groups through TA's.

She did give me out "seperate" state room numbers, big issue for me and said when filling out the form for the cruise line regarding tours in St. Petersburg, Russia I could just leave where they ask for the "group #" blank.

So for GoTravel:
I will say THIS one more time. I understand how "this works". What you do not understand is how my dear, sweet MIL does.

Thank you all for your help!
As I've said, this is why I've never before personally used a TA, and was very happy to do it all myself.

Glad I could help.

It really boils down to a he said, she said thing and the TA getting caught in the middle.

It's also an excuse for the TA not to have to deal with extra passengers.

Hope you have a good time!

Thanks GoTravel. Could I ask you this?

Since we will have passports but not Visas, we are required to book our tours in St. Petersburg thru NCL. The form asks for the group # and the res. # which obviously she would not give me. She said to leave those lines blank. It is my understanding this form needs to be faxed in to NCL 2 weeks prior to sailing.

Should I feel comfortable with leaving out that information on the form?

We really don't want to spend two days in St. Petersburg stuck on the ship.

Thanks again!

Rosemary, I envy you getting to go to St. Petersburg; that's one of the cities I'd love to visit someday!!!

Thank you Bonnie, that's why I'm trying to get the "ducks" in a row now and prevent any snafu's once we get there.

Put that on your to do list Bonnie and "just do it"!

Thanks again!

Rosemary, will your mother in law not give you the group number or is it the TA?

Could it be that mother in law already booked this trip?

This is getting nuts. Call your mother in law and see if you can get the numbers from her.

If the cruise line is stating you do need the numbers, then you need them.

Hi again, yes she did already book it sometime ago. I just called MIL and she's not in but had a very nice conversation with her sister about the whole mess and she said she'd have her call me back with the numbers.

I agree with you that if they want the numbers, I'm getting them one way or the other. Thanks bunches! I appreciate your help very much.