Is it possible to change which TA has my Celebrity Passages Deposit?

Back in 2011 I purchased a celebrity passage while onboard. I paid $200 towards a future cruise and am entitled to book the next cruise with no deposit and will get some amount of onboard credit. At the time, it was automatically assigned to the TA that I booked that cruise with. I am wondering if there is any way to change that?

My current TA is pretty much useless. He only communicates by email, takes days to respond, and will not help me pick a cruise or tell me prices. He just keeps telling me to look on the site to see what ship I want and he will book it for me. I have said several times that I need to know how much it costs before booking and do not get a real answer. He just says that the site will tell me. However, the Celebrity Passages is not combinable with any other offer so I can't get a price on the website without the other offers built into it. Even when I select no offer it still rolls in resident discounts that I am not asking for. And I have no idea whether that is a problem or not. I've emailed him asking and he doesn't answer the question.

Perhaps there is a way to do it that I am missing, but either way, he is still being useless. I'm really annoyed. I thought a TA was supposed to help me. Otherwise, what is the point of using one if I have to do it all myself?

Have you simply tried to call Celebrity and ask this question?

Hank

Have you simply tried to call Celebrity and ask this question?

 

Hank

I haven't had a chance yet. I will, but figured I would ask here in the meantime and see what others experiences or knowledge was.

Its really pretty hard to get a TA removed from a booking. But you can call Celebity and ask the prices of the cruise you are interested in.

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The TA has to be pretty bad to get removed, but it's a call that Celebrity has to make in conjunction with the TA (who generally would have to agree to give up your booking + their commission) as long as they are still in business and not being grossly negligent. No one on this board can tell you definitively what would happen. You could call Captain's Club and ask their advice, but they're going to want to talk to the travel agent as well at some point. He probably cannot tell you the price until you give him a specific ship and date to check since there are many exclusions involved.

The TA has to be pretty bad to get removed, but it's a call that Celebrity has to make in conjunction with the TA (who generally would have to agree to give up your booking + their commission) as long as they are still in business and not being grossly negligent. No one on this board can tell you definitively what would happen. You could call Captain's Club and ask their advice, but they're going to want to talk to the travel agent as well at some point. He probably cannot tell you the price until you give him a specific ship and date to check since there are many exclusions involved.

You raise good points. I'll just have to call celebrity if I can't get enough help from him.

I have given him a specific cruise and asked for the final price but haven't heard back from him. That was last Friday morning. I was hoping I'd hear from him today but it's almost 5 pm and nothing.

Unfortunately, the TA has to be willing to give up the future cruise booking in order to transfer it back to Celebrity or another agency. Since it is an open booking (meaning you didn't book a specific itinerary), it is non-refundable. And, because it is so old, you might be stuck using it with that agency as the limit to transfer from Celebrity to any other agency is 60 days. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I wouldn't have too much hope.

Now, for some better news to use in the future:

-book a specific sailing making it fully transferable and refundable - don't take out an open booking deposit

-you can always request that Celebrity assign a future cruise deposit to any travel agency or leave it with Celebrity and transfer it to a TA of your choice within 60 days -- it doesn't automatically have to go to the agency with which you booked that current cruise when you purchase the deposit (never has been)

-future cruise deposits are now combinable with one other promotion

-there are some really good agencies out there that give you a lot of free perks but be aware of TA cancellation or change fees

Good luck!

You might try just clicking on 'SKIP' instead of 'Check for Offers'.

Edited to add:

Never mind... I tried and it just put me in a different perk category.

You might try just clicking on 'SKIP' instead of 'Check for Offers'.

 

Edited to add:

Never mind... I tried and it just put me in a different perk category.

Yes, even when I clicked skip it still showed me prices with discounts.

 

Perhaps there is a way to do it that I am missing, but either way, he is still being useless. I'm really annoyed. I thought a TA was supposed to help me. Otherwise, what is the point of using one if I have to do it all myself?

Is this agent a brick and mortar agent in town? Or a Web agent? Is he the owner or an agent at someone else's agency? Both important in dealing with him.

Of course he should be helping you more than it sounds he is. But it sounds like he doesn't have a whole lot of interest and/or knowledge to help.

If you don't want to "straighten him out", call Celebrity and request the change due to his not representing the cruise line in a positive manner.

I have an awesome TA now. I didn't always, I had this same situation. I asked to get the reservation released to me to manage myself. He asked why I told him I wasn't happy and just wanted to take care of my own booking. It was released to me. Then I transferred it to my new TA [emoji57]. There is also a way to do it with the cruise line but it isn't easy.

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Your future cruise certificate is so old, it is possible that you can combine it with offers. Call the Captain's Club and ask.

I needed to do this a few years back. At that time Celebrity said they would need to get the TA's "permission" to release the deposit. That occurred with no problems (TA was OK, issue was with Canadian vs. US Pricing). Celebrity did state that ultimately they would find a way to return it to me even if the TA was reluctant to release it.

Good luck and please come back and let us know what happens.

So, I got an email back from the TA today saying that he thought it was best for me to use a different travel agency. LOL Maybe he saw this post!

I'm kind of annoyed by that and kind of relieved by that. It's what I wanted but it makes me feel like a jerky customer, which I really try not to be. So, am I wrong about this? I don't use TA's very often. Was I asking too much or should he be helping me with this stuff?

I now use a "real" TA, an actual agency and they work full time as a travel agent. The person I was using wasn't a "real" TA took a class or something and did this In their spare time which didn't work for me. I don't think everyone is a fit for for everyone so you should not feel wrong for doing what you did.

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I now use a "real" TA, an actual agency and they work full time as a travel agent. The person I was using wasn't a "real" TA took a class or something and did this In their spare time which didn't work for me. I don't think everyone is a fit for for everyone so you should not feel wrong for doing what you did.

Thanks. This guy is a real TA. He sends me marketing emails all the time. I just havent used him in 6 years.

I just went back through our emails to see if I was out of line with my questions. I asked him 5 things:

1. What are the terms and conditions (since it had been so long I didnt remember)
   
2. Whether there was an additional deposit required to have my daughter come
   
3. Whether there was something about a friend booking at the same time as me to get the same OBC
   
4. Whether there were any reduced deposit deals on Royal Caribbean (which I was also considering)
   
5. And what the final price would be for two different cruises because I could not get the amount on the website without a combined offer
   

He partially answered #1 by saying I had no deposit and that OBC depended on the cabin I chose, but never told me what the OBC levels were. He answered #2 & for #3 he simply sent me the T&C from Celebrity, which didn't answer my question. #4 was met with a simple no, which is mostly OK but I kind of expected some info about what he could offer me to book Royal through him. But I didn't ask so I guess that's my fault. #5 he never gave me prices at all.

Is this normal for a TA or is it as strange as it seems to me?

Much easier booking with an agent if you can actually talk to them via phone with detailed questions.

I do most communication via the email with my out of state TA. But when I have needed to, I get him easily by phone.

If you need help choosing a ship, itinerary, room categories, dining, comparisons between ships or lines etc, then I'd deal with an in person travel agency with specialists in cruising. That requires more "hand holding".

Much easier booking with an agent if you can actually talk to them via phone with detailed questions.

 

I do most communication via the email with my out of state TA. But when I have needed to, I get him easily by phone.

 

If you need help choosing a ship, itinerary, room categories, dining, comparisons between ships or lines etc, then I'd deal with an in person travel agency with specialists in cruising. That requires more "hand holding".

I don't even have a phone number for him and we did my last cruise over email. He used to be my parents/sisters travel agent for cruises. But none of them have cruised in years.

I see what you're saying about the hand holding. I'm generally not a hand holding kind of person. I prefer to do things myself but I was asking him questions that I literally could not get on my own, with the exception of the Royal Caribbean question. But I was under the impression that TAs had special, unadvertised deals, so that's why I asked him that. I actually tried asking Celebrity the first few questions myself but I was told I had to go through the TA.

I mean, I told him exactly what itinerary I was interested in and what room, on what ship, how many people, etc. I just asked for the final price which he wouldn't get for me. I'm not sure what the point of using a TA is if you have to do everything yourself and they don't offer you any deals or even tell you how much it'll be before you book.

Some of the large online TA have special rates that are better than those offered on the X website. Some also offer additional perks and/or OBC than are offered on X. I don't know if either of those are applicable to the agent you are using. Another option you can explore is something we did a number of years ago. We purchased a Future Passages while onboard one of our cruises. For several cruises thereafter, each time we tried to use it, it was non combinable with the rates and special offers offered by our TA. We even tried to just get the value paid onboard applied to the particular cruises we wanted to book unsuccessfully. We are very satisfied with the service offered by our TA and have been unable to even match their service, rates, perks and OBC, so we continue to use them. They were able to refund the Future passages to us. I don't know how they did it, but they did. Maybe you can ask for a refund. Then choose whatever TA looks the best to you or book directly with X, whatever makes you comfortable.