T/a or online booking in

HI ALL,

This topic as been brought up before but i was wondering whats the most up to date info,I booked my cruise on the Dream for Nov from my local Thomson T/A is it best to let them do all my paperwork and manage my booking or shall i just do it myself online? Also if i book a certain cabin would i be best to go through them and let them do it or should i ring Thomsons and do it myself? Does anyone know the best way,Also whats the latest on luggage tags ? any info will be most welcome Thanks

sorry but you cant ring thomsons call center to book a cabin if you have booked thru a ta the call center will task you to go tell the ta to call them back??

also many thomson shops are now charging a fee to match their web price and many other ta’s will struggle to match that price (inc cruise - deals)

personally, i prefer to book online and manage everything myself now, i book just the basics pay the deposit and add on extras/upgrades later...in the hope that they may go down in price...they never do btw.... (but i live in hope)

luggage tags?? do you mean weather they give you any?? the answer is no not anymore:(

Reading your post ,you say you have booked via your Travel agent so they should

complete your booking ,so if you did want to pre book a cabin I would let the travel

Agent book it for you and let them update your paperwork as they do so.

If you were asking about future cruise bookings then I would say only book online

if you are confident at doing so and sure of what you are booking online.

Any doubts and then book via the Travel Agent which they seem to want £25 per party

for this service in Thomson shops.

Thomson shops say for this £25 service they sort everything out saving you premium phone

calls to them if things go wrong . Having said that Wee County Man has put a post on this site

with 01 - telephone numbers and booked his own cabin , leaving £25 in his pocket .

As for tickets they will still give you an e-ticket and no luggage labels , the latter have not been used for a while

as the airports now use Bar coded ID these days ,so mark your cases so you can recognise it .

If your paying your Travel agent ,you could ask them if they could give you some luggage labels .;):)

Link to WCM's Telephone Number post Very Handy:cool:

Kalos,

I haven't yet booked the cabin, however it can be done via that regular landline number. It's on the Thomsons website, so it's not a "secret" number I stumbled upon, although they do try and promote their 0871 number for obvious reasons.

I booked online to save the £25 fee that the High Street TA's are now obliged to add on. Their party line justification for this is unconvincing (to me at least) and to be honest I can't recall the specifics. It just appears to be a way of getting more money out of punters.

Print boarding passes in shop, when required, seems to be part of this.

There was mention of a £5 admin charge in certain circumstances that I failed to grasp as well.

People who are computer comfortable/competent should book online and have no worries.

I do feel for the shop staff (I've been a client since the Medieval Times) and I would prefer to give them my business, all things being equal - however Thomsons default mode has clearly evolved to try and squeeze more cash out of customers at every opportunity (£42 for a cabin booking, for example) so I'm not going to encourage them.

I've still to book excursions - and I think I can do that online as well.

No probs WCM :)

At least people can make a choice now and same as you I feel for the staff in our local Thomson travel agents who are tied to this booking fee.:(

Only last week I went into our TA who had sent me an e-mail to print out my own Boarding passes and it was booked through them :confused:

I did print page 1 (My ticket) and page 7 (my car-park) as the rest were not required.

They then agreed that they should be doing the printing if they are to start charging £25 booking fee on future bookings .

Trying to support them I let them book my excursions , and only after taking my money ,giving me a receipt and a beaming smile did the TA tell me "....Right that's booked and we will call you when we get your Thomson tour tickets. " :eek:

Only did it this way as I thought it was more secure , only to find out off these boards that paying online that ,should it be called off my bank card is refunded there and then but via the travel agent I will have to wait for them to claim back and refund my money :(.

Therefore sorry for the girls up in the shop but I will also be booking online from now on as I see no value in handing over £25 to them .

Thanks for all the information sounds like i will have to do it through my T/A,but i am not keen on paying for the paperwork so will see what they say.I have not paid my balance yet so will my £42 be added to balance or will i have to pay when i book a certain cabin?thanks again folks

will my £42 be added to balance or will i have to pay when i book a certain cabin?thanks again folks

its added to balance (but you can choose to pay at any time)

Thanks for all the information sounds like i will have to do it through my T/A,but i am not keen on paying for the paperwork so will see what they say.I have not paid my balance yet so will my £42 be added to balance or will i have to pay when i book a certain cabin?thanks again folks

You pay the £42 when you book the cabin, we always pay deposit and pay for cabin when booking, you have to pay to secure the cabin

i never pay for cabin when i book....i ring them up...they add the £42 to balance

I guess you can do it either way

We use a thomson ta they won't let you book a cabin without paying the £42 they say it holds your cabin no guaranatee its yours unless you pay at time of booking one they say,been the same for 5 years. My mum booked a cruise with them the other day, called cruise deals (another shop) whot beat online price ten our ta matched price and no £25 charge

Kalos,

"I did print page 1 (My ticket) and page 7 (my car-park) as the rest were not required.

They then agreed that they should be doing the printing if they are to start charging £25 booking fee on future bookings ."

I did exactly the same with my paperwork - pages 2-6 (inclusive) were superflous "bumf" - and even some of page 1 was not needed.

The cynic in me (natural default mode) suspects that Thomson put the two essential pages as "bookends" at each end of the seven page download so that punters print them all.

I recommend a print preview before printing to eliminate unnecessary sheets of paper.

Hardly surprising shop staff are commenting about the amount of ink cartridges they go through printing boarding passes etc.

"My mum booked a cruise with them the other day, called cruise deals (another shop) whot beat online price ten our ta matched price and no £25 charge"

As I understand how such things work (maybe flawed ?) a shop can "absorb" certain added charges to price match, or even undercut another quote.

It very much depends on the manager(ess) and how much leeway they are prepared to allow in order to attract a sale.

Presumably they lose out on commission - but they consider it worth the loss to secure a sale rather than miss out completely.

If you approach Cruise Deals you are simply taking your business to another Thomsons TA (could be anywhere in the UK) who may be willing to match the online deal, or even better it.

From the customer's perspective - a case of being in the right place at the right time, as much as any other factor ?

As I have said before, I think they make up the rules as they go along (Cynical is also my default mode WCM :D) When I went to pay the remaining balance on my October holiday last Sunday, I asked if it was true that they would be charging £25 booking fee in future and the TA said "Yes, after next Sunday" (i.e. Tomorrow -20th July) and if I wanted to book another holiday, to do it before then!

Now I thought it started on 1st July :confused:

I have now booked my cabin 6124 thanks for all you help i did it through the t/a she said because i had booked through her i didnt have to pay any fees only the 42 pound cabin which i had to pay straight away to reserve cabin

I book through an independent TA and have never had to pay the £42 when booking my cabin, it's just added to the final balance.

This was how the mistake arose about the missing £42 that I owed :rolleyes:

When I went in to pay it last week, the manager in the shop said the cabin payent had been added on to the deposit and so when I paid the remaining deposit of £58 it really should have been £100 despite the fact that I had THREE pieces of paper saying £58. I did say that I thought they could have explained that when they sent me the last letter, but no apology was forthcoming :p

Previously we have always paid the deposit, then booked the cabin and paid the £42 there and then.

Oh well, shall be booking online in future!

book online....book only the basics......then wait for them to call you offering upgrades/reserved cabins/drinks packages/premium seats etc etc....let them pay for the call and do the running around

then pay the balance in a thoms shop when its due

all thats left for you to do is print off the seven pages of tickets (use five of those pages to make paper planes and amuse any nearby passing children or pets)

sorted!:D;)

HI ALL,

This topic as been brought up before but i was wondering whats the most up to date info,I booked my cruise on the Dream for Nov from my local Thomson T/A is it best to let them do all my paperwork and manage my booking or shall i just do it myself online? Also if i book a certain cabin would i be best to go through them and let them do it or should i ring Thomsons and do it myself? Does anyone know the best way,Also whats the latest on luggage tags ? any info will be most welcome Thanks

I booked my Dream cruise at the travel agent and that was about it, apart from a couple of courtesy phone calls. The "tickets" came as an email, with a link to the Thomson website. The main thrust of the online check in process was to provide API, and then go on to print boarding passes.

"I book through an independent TA and have never had to pay the £42 when booking my cabin, it's just added to the final balance."

The ongoing chat about booking a cabin has caused me to pause and think some.

If you reserve a cabin at the time of the initial booking the £42 is simply added to the overall cruise price total.

If you settle the whole amount there and then, matter closed.

If you pay the £300 (or £400) deposit - that includes this £42 and the minute you sign the paperwork you are committed to that extra cost.

Therefore if you subsequently change your mind about a reserved cabin you are still obliged to pay the £42 when the final reckoning comes.

I hope I've explained that correctly - and it is accurate.

To be honest, there is no need to book a cabin in the TAs there and then unless you are immediately set on a specific stateroom.

Better to go home, study the deck plans and 'phone in with alternative choices when you are relaxed and focused.

Of course, it's all about personal preferences.

I agree WCM. I would only book the cabin when booking the cruise if I already knew which cabin I wanted. Also would you get your £42 back if you cancelled? On the other hand you can't leave it too long or you may not get the cabin you want!

Agree WCM :)

When I went to pay my £42 last Sunday the TA agreed that it had been added to my account and that it should have been separate (as we have always done it before) I think? she said it is paid into a separate account :confused:

One of the reasons I have used a TA is to check before I book what cabins are available. So if I book online, can I check first, then book the cruise and then phone back to book a cabin on the number in the brochure that WCM gave us?

Sheila,

I can't see how you would get your £42 refunded under any normal circumstances - that fee (regardless of when it is finally paid) is your guarantee of the specific cabin you booked.

Once reserved, and the official paperwork signed, you are into a legally binding contract.

Linda,

"One of the reasons I have used a TA is to check before I book what cabins are available. So if I book online, can I check first, then book the cruise and then phone back to book a cabin on the number in the brochure that WCM gave us?"

That number gives various options - one of them is to book a cabin, so I can see no reason why you can't 'phone in to enquire what cabins are available - and then book online.

Of course you can't reserve a cabin until you have booked a cruise and have a reference number - so any delay between asking about cabin availablity and making your online cruise booking might result in that cabin being allocated to another punter.

The TA is only following the same procedure over the 'phone that you can do from home.

Yes I think I have read of someone asking the TA to check and then by the time the cruise is booked the cabin has gone :rolleyes:

I'm not too fussy about which cabin as long as it is not right at the front (bow thrusters at dawn :() or right at the back (engine noise :() so probably it is best to ask about a particular area and a few cabins that are available, so as not to be disappointed.

"I can't see how you would get your £42 refunded under any normal circumstances - that fee (regardless of when it is finally paid) is your guarantee of the specific cabin you booked.

Once reserved, and the official paperwork signed, you are into a legally binding contract."

I think Sheila means if you had to cancel, say through illness, could you claim the £42 back on your insurance?

This is why I always book trips on board as when I once had to cancel a cruise, I was told it didn't cover "extras"

BTW - why is the quote facility not working???