Thread: Book now or wait?

Originally Posted by Cruise Planner

Booking with the cruise line or an online site is not a good idea as they don't provide good service.
Pete

Hopefully, Im allowed to say my experience here with VTG, Vacations to go. I had booked with them before and they offered me a bottle of wine to book again. So I did, no bottle of wine, the cruiseline blamed VTG, VTG blamed the cruiseline for never delivering it. After I got home I said Im not booking again if you dont do what you promise.. so they finally gave me a check for $10.

Fast forward to last year, it was 11 pm and they were open and RCL not open so I called them up and they couldnt do the booking so it made sense. I see there is a $75 C&A coupon, they gave me $62 total off. Two weeks of hours on hold trying to talk to a supervisor, sent pictures of the C&A coupon (they say they cant open attachements). The outcome was the supervisor flat out said unless I got the code from RCL too bad. They did cancel me and wrote that I was a problem customer. Me.. the math didnt add up and they refused to fix it.

They just flat out said they put the code in correctly so it wasnt their problem to fix it. Said they would not figure it out. So, I did cancel. .. after spending 2 weeks frustrated. It obviously must have been hard to book as I think had C&A do the booking and they also messed it up and put in a balcony discount instead of a C&A discount, then announced to me that since I booked early I got another $25 bonus plus the June $100 OBC (this was last June)... but since they too put in the wrong code, months later C&A calls me to say I have a illegal balcony discount and acts all accusing .. as if I made the mistake not them.. Great price though. At least C&A fixed it.

Sorry, but if there is such a thing as a list here of TAs we have had issues with this is my TA that I would say dont use.

Flowers, I started a thread exactly for the purpose you proposed - to list the good and bad travel agents - which I called "Recommended travel agents." Surprisingly, nobody replied to it even though it has been there a while. But the rest of your post is confusing. I had never heard of C&A. What type of coupon are you talking about and how did you get it?

Originally Posted by Smart Traveler

Flowers, I started a thread exactly for the purpose you proposed - to list the good and bad travel agents - which I called "Recommended travel agents." Surprisingly, nobody replied to it even though it has been there a while. But the rest of your post is confusing. I had never heard of C&A. What type of coupon are you talking about and how did you get it?

On RCL after your first cruise, you can join crown and anchor. Most call it C&A. Quarterly they release discounts on select cruises. These vary by your loyalty level and category. I could sign into C&A on the RCL site and see the discount was $75 for a inside cabin, so thats what I expected. The discount was $125 for OV and balcony .. per cabin.

RCL also gives balconys and up discounts according to your loyalty level. Platinum (approx 5 cruises) gets $100 off, $125 I think for Emerald, $200 off for diamond. In addition if you book 6 months out, you now get a $25 bonus.

I dont think you get additional dollars off balconys if you are diamond plus, but I could be wrong. Also, you get double cruise credits if you cruise in a JS/junior suite or higher. I just moved to a JS for exactly that reason on a cruise next spring.

Anyway, I booked a lowly inside cabin, and even booking direct with RCL, they incorrectly applied a balcony discount instead of my C&A coupon discount. RCL has among some of the most loyal of any cruisers. Iv meet men with credits for over 300 cruises .. I kid you not. (though with double counting, may not be actually 300 cruises).

I also suspect the balcony discounts and double cruise credits for JS and higher is why their balconys and suites are prices so high . ... so many people qualify for discounts.