How to deal with better offer after initial deposit?

[Expat Forever]

Hi everyone, here is my situation.
Five days ago, I booked with my online travel agency (second time we used them for the Volendam) a cruise for November 2010. I have not received any papers yet and the credit card authorization form has not been signed either but the initial deposit for the cruise has been deducted from our credit card.
Over the weekend, we received two more offers form other travel agencies and all of them had significantely better prices than what was given to me by my TA.

I feel bad for calling him and I am not sure how to approach that but the price difference is such that I cannot overlook it.

So, what would be a sensible way of bringing it up? What if he says to me, well, bad luck, there is nothing I am willing to do.?

I so appreciate any ideas, please?

[Essiesmom]

I would make sure those other quotes include all the taxes and port charges. And check the cancellation policy of your current TA. Some sharge a fee for cancelling, if you decide to go with one of the other offers. EM

[HamburgAvonLady]

:) I would certainly make sure you are getting the same perks and that all taxes and port charges are included in those new offers.

I was in a similiar spot a few weeks ago - (am
currently under deposit with a TA I have used in the past) but still wanted to see what other offers were out there.
Got one that offered $ 500 OBC and prepaid insurance
which really peaked my interest. I emailed my TA with
the info -- after she checked the offer out -- explained to
me that my original reservations had a lower cabin cost
---- and the new offer was a higher price on the same
cabin catagory --- so that was a wash.:( They did offer me
additional OBC's to keep my business. Not a great amount but appreciated nonetheless.
:mad::mad: I was really "burned" by an internet travel agency located in Florida
in 2008 who offered fantastic OBC's if I paid in full at the
time of first reservation. I took the bait and had major
grief for the 4 months prior to departure. The agency
never forwarded my payments to RCCL until 4 days prior
to departure -- in addition, when I returned --- saw an
additional charge to cc of $ 900 which I had never been
informed about earlier --- plus never got the fuel surcharges refunded back to me. So for my piece of mind - I am going with a TA that I can trust. Good Luck ;)

[K&RCurt]

I would recommend the path that Hamburg lady suggested.

Identify teh Best of the "Better Offers" and forward it to the T/A you are booked with and see whhat they can do to match it. There are tons of loopholes and hidden fees some T/As will omit from the advertised price, so the great deal you see online might not be that great after all.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Yes, like the others have said make sure the category being offered is the same as you are booked in.
If it is the same and it does include port fees plus taxes then go to your TA and see if they will price match.
Unfortunately there are a couple of well known on line agencies that are currently giving discounts that are 90% of their commission even after they have set up a group thru HAL. While this may seem like a bargain to you now, truthfully what kind of service do you expect from them in the long run when they have only made $10 to maybe $15 at best commission total for the agency let alone the agent making anything other than maybe $1.00. Also these same agencies are charging a booking fee to even book your cruise let alone, how high is the cancellation fee? There are some charging a lot.

The other question you have to ask is if they are giving discounts that big how long will they be in business? Just last week I obtained a new client because the deposit charged to their credit card was by the agency not the cruise line so that person immediately contacted the credit card company and that agency and canceled the cruise.


Those agencies that are offering free travel insurance may also soon be in trouble as well with their states insurance commissioners (something I do not want to get into here but trust me there are some legal issues)
Get the facts correct, have this agency with the lower price send you an email of a quote so you have it in print, then go to your TA and tell then what you have found, if they want to keep you as a good client then they will work with you.

[Taxguy77]

:) :mad::mad: I was really "burned" by an internet travel agency located in Florida
in 2008 who offered fantastic OBC's if I paid in full at the
time of first reservation. I took the bait and had major
grief for the 4 months prior to departure. The agency
never forwarded my payments to RCCL until 4 days prior
to departure -- in addition, when I returned --- saw an
additional charge to cc of $ 900 which I had never been
informed about earlier --- plus never got the fuel surcharges refunded back to me. So for my piece of mind - I am going with a TA that I can trust. Good Luck ;)

For peace of mind and to avoid a major loss, possibly including the whole cruise!
I booked my last cruise with an online company and held my breath. CC charge came through right away with the name of cruise line, agent was replaced and I was sent an email giving me the new agents name followed by an email from the new agent. Had a couple of questions and they were answered by email the same or following business day. No perks, but a great price and service.
NOTE: I checked with CC company to be SURE charge went to cruise line!

[mhb1757]

This essentially echos what the other posters have said but we were in a similar situation a couple of years ago, but we had booked 4 cabins and had them where we wanted to be so I hated to cancel and start over so I just forwarded the final offers (including taxes, port charges, etc) from 2 other on line TA's to the agent we had booked with, he took it to his supervisor and they matched the other offer and gave each cabin an extra $50 in OBC for our trouble....we were all happy with the outcome.

So I would say check out the other offers and if they are as good as they look forward them to your TA and see what they will do for you.

[sculptress]

Hi everyone, here is my situation.
Five days ago, I booked with my online travel agency (second time we used them for the Volendam) a cruise for November 2010. I have not received any papers yet and the credit card authorization form has not been signed either but the initial deposit for the cruise has been deducted from our credit card.
Over the weekend, we received two more offers form other travel agencies and all of them had significantely better prices than what was given to me by my TA.

I feel bad for calling him and I am not sure how to approach that but the price difference is such that I cannot overlook it.

So, what would be a sensible way of bringing it up? What if he says to me, well, bad luck, there is nothing I am willing to do.?

I so appreciate any ideas, please?

Hi,
First make sure that the prices you're being given include all the port charges, taxes and fees. Once you have established that, if your TA is reputable he/she will accommodate, but if not, he/she may tell you it's a different deck, different time, or no such booking exists.

My recommendation is to deal directly with the cruiselines as, from my past experiences, they've always price matched the TAs or done better then them. And best of all is that there's never any cancellation fees or other fees for services and paper work, etc. :cool:

[HamburgAvonLady]

Hi,
First make sure that the prices you're being given include all the port charges, taxes and fees. Once you have established that, if your TA is reputable he/she will accommodate, but if not, he/she may tell you it's a different deck, different time, or no such booking exists.

My recommendation is to deal directly with the cruiselines as, from my past experiences, they've always price matched the TAs or done better then them. And best of all is that there's never any cancellation fees or other fees for services and paper work, etc. :cool:

:) wasn't aware that the cruise lines will match lower prices given from travel agents/agencies. How do you
go about that ??

We have a number of friends that have VERY high standing in RCCL's Mariner Club - so they book directly with the line
and get major discounts.

Unfortunately, DH and I are not there yet !

[ariawoman]

I'd do as many are saying above and weigh out all the options. When I called my online TA, they initially said "they probably don't include the port fees" when I was asking them to price match (as it is their policy to do so if you find a better price within a certain amount of time). They looked into it farther and discovered that it was just their price, so they put the paperwork in for the price match. I'm still waiting to find out if it's been approved by their department that does the research. Hoping it does, because I'd save about 300-400 per person.

You definitely need to weigh all your options however. If you have OBC or any free gifts (such as free meals or soda cards or whatever) then you might end up taking a worse offer despite a better cabin price. I've done the math and know that the price needs to drop below X in order for me to consider a different offer.

Good luck! Either way, have fun on your cruise :-)

[Expat Forever]

Thanks to all for the replies.

When I received the other offer, I did check for hidden fees. The price is including all taxes, port charges etc.

I will talk to my TA today and forward the offer to him. Hopefully he will find a way to adjust the price.

Again, your help was highly appreciated.:)