Has anyone handed over a booked cruise to a TA?

[TravelingAPor]

Has anyone transferred their cruise booking out from Carnival and given it to a TA? I was told I could hand over my booked cruise to a TA. (The TA is a friend.) I hope everything stays the same and it won't impact me in anyway. Any advice will be appreciated...TY! __________________

[Fydlstyx]

Originally Posted by TravelingAPor

Has anyone transferred their cruise booking out from Carnival and given it to a TA? I was told I could hand over my booked cruise to a TA. (The TA is a friend.) I hope everything stays the same and it won't impact me in anyway. Any advice will be appreciated...TY! __________________

Why would you do this? You've already booked the cruise, so what would you need a TA for?

[Sheffie]

Originally Posted by TravelingAPor

Has anyone transferred their cruise booking out from Carnival and given it to a TA? I was told I could hand over my booked cruise to a TA. (The TA is a friend.) I hope everything stays the same and it won't impact me in anyway. Any advice will be appreciated...TY! __________________

We have done this. Ours can usually get us an OBC, or a better deal. If not, at least I know my friend is making some $$. She has found us great deals at other times, which is a perk.

You will lose nothing by transferring the reservation to your TA. The only downside is that if you want to change categories, dining times, etc., your TA has to do it for you, but since they are getting paid by the cruiseline, they shouldn't complain. Don't forget that if the price goes down before final payment, you should get the difference back. Just be sure she would do this for you.

[TravelingAPor]

Hi Michelle,
Thank you for the reply. You said exactly what I was thinking. Why let a stranger get the commission
Happy cruising!

[Hflors]

I do it with every booking. TA always offers me a discount so why not. Besides she is known by the cruiseline. If there is a problem I have a pro going to bat for me.

[Padraic]

I do it all the time. I book the cruise on board and have it transferred to my travel agent. If I have a problem of any kind I walk out my back door, walk over to my neighbor and knocked on her door, my travel agent.

[rvsullivan]

Originally Posted by Hflors

I do it with every booking. TA always offers me a discount so why not. Besides she is known by the cruiseline. If there is a problem I have a pro going to bat for me.

This is one of the funniest posts I've seen in a while!!!

[Fydlstyx]

Originally Posted by Sheffie

We have done this. Ours can usually get us an OBC, or a better deal. If not, at least I know my friend is making some $$. She has found us great deals at other times, which is a perk.

You will lose nothing by transferring the reservation to your TA. The only downside is that if you want to change categories, dining times, etc., your TA has to do it for you, but since they are getting paid by the cruiseline, they shouldn't complain. Don't forget that if the price goes down before final payment, you should get the difference back. Just be sure she would do this for you.

Thank you for being kind enough to explain why anyone would book a cruise and then transfer the booking to a TA. I appreciate the info.

I thought that TA's could not offer a different/better rate than the cruiseline itself actually offers!

[NMLady]

Originally Posted by Fydlstyx

Thank you for being kind enough to explain why anyone would book a cruise and then transfer the booking to a TA. I appreciate the info.

I thought that TA's could not offer a different/better rate than the cruiseline itself actually offers!

By giving up part of their commission, a TA could make a better offer, or if they're including your reservation in a group rate it could be a discounted offer.

What I don't understand is why not just make the booking with the TA in the first place.

[LHT28]

No I just book with my TA to begin with

Get the perks

[Fydlstyx]

Originally Posted by NMLady

By giving up part of their commission, a TA could make a better offer, or if they're including your reservation in a group rate it could be a discounted offer.

What I don't understand is why not just make the booking with the TA in the first place.

Part of planning any trip for me is choosing EVERY thing and overseeing every detail. I think a TA would hate working with me. I like to select my cabin on a cruise, select my seat on airplanes, etc. The possibility of a discounted rate or OBC is tempting, but I think the only way I would use a TA is if I made all my choices and showed up with everything printed out.

[TravlGrl]

Originally Posted by Fydlstyx

Part of planning any trip for me is choosing EVERY thing and overseeing every detail. I think a TA would hate working with me. I like to select my cabin on a cruise, select my seat on airplanes, etc. The possibility of a discounted rate or OBC is tempting, but I think the only way I would use a TA is if I made all my choices and showed up with everything printed out.

Absolutely nothing wrong with that. Many of us here are detailed and do all of our planning. Heck, you're making it even easier on the TA. I like to keep the $ local and use my TA here, and get a better deal than the cruiseline every single time.

[Laurie S.]

I also do it all the time. I have an excellent TA, but I enjoy booking the cruise myself first.

[varoo]

Originally Posted by NMLady

........What I don't understand is why not just make the booking with the TA in the first place.

Because you may not have enough time to shop around to compare offers from TA's when you see the cabin you want at a good price. So we find it easiest to go ahead and book what we want when we see it, then take our time to look around for the best deal from a TA.

Once you give your booking to a TA, the cruise line will no longer deal with you.
So from then on you have the nuisance of needing to go through a third party for every little thing.

Also, we dislike that all our financial information disappears from our cruise account as soon as we transfer the booking to a TA.
It no longer shows the amount paid to date or remaining balance due.
We can no longer make payments directly to the cruise line but must depend on the TA to make the payments for us.

Originally Posted by Fydlstyx

........ The possibility of a discounted rate or OBC is tempting, but I think the only way I would use a TA is if I made all my choices and showed up with everything printed out.

That is the way we do it. We are also "do it yourself" types.

We like to select the cabin we want, book the cruise, select the options we want, apply whatever discount or onboard credit certificates or vouchers we have, book our own transfers, hotels, and airline flights.

Then after we have everything set up just the way we want it, we wait until the last minute to transfer the booking to the TA who offers the best deal.

But unfortunately, from that point on it is necessary to go through the TA for changes or additions, even a price adjustment or cabin switch.

Granted, it can be a pain exchanging voice mail messages back and forth via a third party when you are accustomed to making one call directly to the cruise line and having your request completed before you hang up.

But when I am receiving hundreds of dollars of additional perks from the TA (on some cruises even more), I am willing to put up with the inconveniences of third-party voice mail messages and lack of access to my own payment information on my cruise account.

[luvscruising2007]

The cruise line gets their money either way. I like using our local TA to give a local business an opportunity to stay open. They have always been super professional. If they ever close I will stop booking with a TA and book myself. But for now the local agency gets our business.

[Treven]

On a previous cruise, I booked a cruise with the Future Cruise rep. Once finished she asked me if I would like her to transfer my booking to my TA at home. I thanked her and asked her to do that. This was the first time I hadn't booked a cruise originally with my TA, but I wanted to take advantage of the $100 deposit available on board.

[TravelingAPor]

The reason I posed the question, in the first place, was to make sure nothing changes! Thanks to all your replies, I am ready to switch the booking to my TA.
Now I hope nothing else happens to a Carnival ship!