Transfer booking to travel agent

'Losing control of your reservation' is fact, not opinion. If you book directly through celebrity, and have done so in the past; you would be able to call them directly to apply a promotion to your booking, take advantage of a price drop, etc. Once your TA has the booking, Celebrity won't even talk to you. If you have a good and responsive TA it's a non-issue. But if you have a local agent who takes weekends and holidays off... I've seen many posts from people trying to get a price drop and panicking because they can't get ahold of their TA over the weekend and are afraid the price drop will be gone by then. Again, with a good TA or large agency, that's a non-issue. And you can get around it by making a courtesy hold and what not. But it's certainly a turn off sometimes for people who prefer to be able to contact the cruise line directly.

I guess it depends on your definition of CONTROL. If you mean being able to talk directly with Celebrity, then you are correct. But if you mean being able to pick up price drops and other promotions, then - as you agree in your comment - there is no loss of control if you have an effective professional TA and are willing to take the effort to place a hold if you are using a TA that is available 7 days per week but not 24 hours per day.

Since that is the type of TA I use, I have no loss of control and appreciate the 8% or more savings.

I guess it depends on your definition of CONTROL. If you mean being able to talk directly with Celebrity, then you are correct. But if you mean being able to pick up price drops and other promotions, then - as you agree in your comment - there is no loss of control if you have an effective professional TA and are willing to take the effort to place a hold if you are using a TA that is available 7 days per week but not 24 hours per day.

 

 

 

Since that is the type of TA I use, I have no loss of control and appreciate the 8% or more savings.

My definition of control is to be able to direct changes over your booking. Agreed, assuming you have a good TA it makes no difference. But if you realize after the fact that you booked with a bad TA you are SOL. You can't call celebrity and make changes if your TA is unable or unwilling to do them on your behalf.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We always either book with or transfer an already booked reservation to our Travel Agent.. We consistently save 8% to 12% over any cruise line fare.. We sometimes get other perks such as OBC's which saves us even more..

We've been on many cruises & prior to our 2006 cruise always booked with either the Cruise line Directly or a Group Wholesaler which had a land tour..

For instance, In 2005 we booked an outside “F” cabin (mid-ship) on Holland America's 25 day Amazon Cruise for April 2006 directly with HAL..

Thanks to Randy & Heather who often posted on the HAL board, four months after booking, I checked a couple of on-line Travel Agents who advertise on CruiseCritic.. I Discovered one who could give us $1078 (8.9%) off the HAL fare with a better “E” class cabin (mid-ship) on Main Deck… With this Agent had to book by Internet only as the Agent could not be contacted by phone, which I normally like to do..

 

When I spoke to a HAL Supervisor, he informed me that they could not compete with the fares of their high producing Agents.. On his suggestion, we then Faxed HAL & had them release the booking to the on line TA..We then received the cheaper fare & better cabin…

 

I'm retired from an International Airline & was chagrined to learn that I had been a complete dummy..Should have realized that we always did the same thing in the Airline Industry..

In Nov. 2006 we booked a last minute 14 day cruise with the same Agent & their fare again was 9.9% less than HAL’s fare…This time he put us into his group allotment & in addition gave us the Pinnacle Grill ($30 per person extra) plus wine & 2 massages…

 

On our Oceania 26 day Cruise to the Amazon in Nov. 2007, we received a better rate with another Agent than Oceania could give us...This Agent gave us an additional $150 OBC & a wine package…

We've since been booking our Cruises with an on-line Agent, who we can also talk to by phone.. We've never met him as his office is out of town, but on one of our longer cruises our Agent gave us a bottle of wine, dinner in the Pinnacle plus $150 OBC in addition to a much less expensive fare...

 

As suggested by others on this thread, you have to talk or e-mail a couple of Agents & see what their bottom line fare is…Be sure they quote the total fare which includes, taxes, port charges & fuel surcharges…Find out what extra’s such as OBC’s, spa, wine, etc they will offer..Also be sure to read their Cancellation & Change policy very carefully …Check fares on some of the Cruise Lines which permit discounting by Agents on published fares... Some cruise lines which don’t permit Agents to discount may permit them to offer you OBC’s,wine, spa packages etc..Sorry can't give you the names of our Agents, but they do advertise on Cruise Critic...:cool:

I always check the published fare on every booking we make & then call our Agent for a quote..

 

Thanks for the advise!

Margaret

First time I ever used a TA.  He's a golf buddy but I'll never use him again.  He just didn't listen.  We'd always managed our own cruises and will never do anything else going forward.

38 minutes ago, cltnccruisers said:

First time I ever used a TA.  He's a golf buddy but I'll never use him again.  He just didn't listen.  We'd always managed our own cruises and will never do anything else going forward.

There are a good TA's and bad ones. He might be a golf buddy, but yours was a bad TA if he didn't  listen. Rather than giving up on the idea of using, try looking for another one. Over the years we've booked directly, booked directly then transferred to a TA, and booked directly through a TA. For the last few years, we've used the big box TA and have definitely benefitted from our relationship.  

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

There are a good TA's and bad ones. He might be a golf buddy, but yours was a bad TA if he didn't  listen. Rather than giving up on the idea of using, try looking for another one. Over the years we've booked directly, booked directly then transferred to a TA, and booked directly through a TA. For the last few years, we've used the big box TA and have definitely benefitted from our relationship.  

Fair enough but we only cruise once a year with maybe a quickie here and there.  DW is retired and loves doing the research for our trips.  We really have no need for a TA.  I'd transferred this cruise to my friend because he was getting back into the business post retirement himself and was associated with a large umbrella TA.  Thought it would help him get re-established.

On 9/5/2017 at 12:21 PM, CallyCruzer said:

 

 

I agree with you - case in point what happened to me this weekend. The room that I have been watching for almost a year showed available Sunday - someone obviously cancelled their cruise. I had transferred my cruise to a travel agent - which was closed on Sunday and Labor Day. I called Celebrity to ask if I can change rooms through them - Nope I have to do it through my travel agent. I asked could they at least put a hold on the cabin - again - Nope. This morning when my travel agent opened up - room gone...... So yes, I lost control over my cruise.

In the future, if you know there is a currently reserved cabin you'd like to have if it opens up, tell your travel agent.  They can put you on the hold list for the cabin.  If it opens up, it doesn't go back into open availability.  They notify the first person/travel agent on the hold list that the cabin is available.  Usually have a couple days to confirm before they move to the second person on the list or release to open inventory.  I've obtained a couple aft balcony cabins doing this.

48 minutes ago, cltnccruisers said:

Fair enough but we only cruise once a year with maybe a quickie here and there.  DW is retired and loves doing the research for our trips.  We really have no need for a TA.  I'd transferred this cruise to my friend because he was getting back into the business post retirement himself and was associated with a large umbrella TA.  Thought it would help him get re-established.

I, like your DW, love to plan our trips, but I still use a TA.  In fact, he tells me I'm his easiest client.  When I contact him, I already know the date, ship, cabin number, and rough price.  He just has to check if his agency has any special pricing on my specific cruise and what additional OBC or other promotions I qualify for.  I just don't see a reason to give up getting a better deal booking directly with the cruise line.  I still get to do all the planning that I enjoy, and get the added bonuses provided by using a travel agent.

We also always book onboard and maximize benefits.    Within 60 days and prior to final payment we transfer to one of the agents we work with.   In addition to what Celebrity gives us in benefits the TA usually give OBC"s or other perks in the range of 8-10%.   We almost always travel in Suites so the OBC can be substantial. 

Never had a problem managing our reservation after transferring.   I usually just e-mail the request to our agent and it is usually completed within an hour.   Not all agents or agency are as responsive but found some good ones over the years.

It turns out we need to cancel this trip due to some scheduling problems.  I wasn't able to get to my friend so I called RCL. They told me in no uncertain terms that I must cancel through my TA.  It took a couple of days to contact him.  He has to go through his parent agency who has to contact RCL in turn.  The process will take up to 10 days.  My problem with that is what happens if a refund break point occurs during that 10 days?  Theoretically, we could lose $$.  Granted we don't ever expect to have to cancel a cruise but this, to me, is an example of loss of control.

15 minutes ago, cltnccruisers said:

It turns out we need to cancel this trip due to some scheduling problems.  I wasn't able to get to my friend so I called RCL. They told me in no uncertain terms that I must cancel through my TA.  It took a couple of days to contact him.  He has to go through his parent agency who has to contact RCL in turn.  The process will take up to 10 days.  My problem with that is what happens if a refund break point occurs during that 10 days?  Theoretically, we could lose $$.  Granted we don't ever expect to have to cancel a cruise but this, to me, is an example of loss of control.

You lost control when you made a poor choice of a Travel Agent.  I call my TA and I have a cancellation in hand within an hour.

2 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

You lost control when you made a poor choice of a Travel Agent.  I call my TA and I have a cancellation in hand within an hour.

I agree and shall not make that mistake twice.  I have to admit DW was right in advising against it in the first place.  But don't tell her that.🙄

1 minute ago, cltnccruisers said:

I agree and shall not make that mistake twice.  I have to admit DW was right in advising against it in the first place.  But don't tell her that.🙄

I'm all in favor of travel agents.  Mine is wonderful.   She and her partner work from home.  They are affiliated with a major travel card company and have won numerous awards.  She also discounts 8-10%.  One other factor I like which isn't often mentioned is this.  She works with all cruise companies.  Even European river cruises.  IOW, I can use her for any and all cruises.  Once I wanted to cancel two cruises and book two different ones.  Four different cruise companies.  Instead of four phone calls, one call handle them all.