Booking through celebrity then transferring questions....

1. if I book through celebrity how long until I’m allowed to transfer to a travel agent?

2. When I do transfer do I get additional perks available through the TA as additional perks??

3. Let’s say I picked the ship board credit from X and the TA offers the same would I get the additional $$?

I believe you have 60 days from the time of booking but it has to be before final payment.

Anything you get from the travel agent is above and beyond what you get from the cruise line.

If you take obc from the travel agent it should be refundable which means the balance would be credited to the card you used to set up your account. The obc that you received from the cruise line will be used first but is nonrefundable. That means use it or lose it.

What TAs offers varies from TA to TA some offer OBC, some prepaid gratuties, some a gift card or bottle(s) of wine.

some TAs charge cancellation fees and/ or change fees so be sure to ask before you commit

Thanks everyone for all your answers 😀

If you booked your current cruise through a travel agent, Celebrity will default your Next Cruise to that travel agent unless you direct otherwise. The TA will get a confirmation email, you can request the customer copy and you should be able to locate the new booking on the Celebrity website within twenty minutes.

You can also book an open booking, direct or to the TA, if you don’t have a travel date yet in mind. Usually reduced deposit and some OBC given at time of booking.

If you booked your current cruise through a travel agent, Celebrity will default your Next Cruise to that travel agent unless you direct otherwise.

It is very important for new Celebrity passengers to be aware that this happens so they know to keep any new booking in their own names, at least initially.

This clearly should be an "opt in" choice, but instead they made it an "opt out" choice.

There are some onboard agents who neglect to inform passengers that your booking is automatically assigned to the previous travel agent, unless you specify otherwise.

A number of unhappy passengers were not aware that this had been done to them.

Some did not even know that they get an additional 60 days after booking a cruise to look around and compare offers before committing to any travel agent.

By the way, you get those additional 60 days whenever you book a Celebrity cruise, regardless of whether or not you book it on board (as long as you do not initially book it with a travel agent).

Different travel agents can offer better deals for different cruises, (better prices and/or better perks), so the one that had the best deal last time may not be the best for your next cruise.

It's like checking and comparing offers when making any other big purchase.

For a small purchase (or a rock bottom cruise price), the difference is usually minor, so it often doesn't matter that much where you buy it.

But the more you pay for your cruise, the more worthwhile it becomes to check around and compare offers.

The higher the commission travel agents can make by selling a cruise, the more flexibility they have in what they can offer you.

Just to clarify one point: Celebrity will only default your next cruise to your previous travel agent if one of their future cruise agents books the new cruise for you on board a ship.

When you book a new cruise through Celebrity yourself, online or via phone, it does not default to your previous travel agent.

You then still get the additional 60 days to transfer it to a travel agent, or not, as you choose.

100% of the TA's OBC might not be refundable to you as I discovered. Once the credits are showing on your TV screen, check to see what your TA's OBC actually shows. It might show a hundred percent is refundable but it also might show something less is refundable

I believe you have 60 days from the time of booking but it has to be before final payment.

Anything you get from the travel agent is above and beyond what you get from the cruise line.

If you take obc from the travel agent it should be refundable which means the balance would be credited to the card you used to set up your account. The obc that you received from the cruise line will be used first but is nonrefundable. That means use it or lose it.

Not all Travel agent OBC is refundable. Just found out on Equinox last week. Was informed by TA this morning that perks are a combo from Celebrity and TA and as such Celebrity decides if OBC is refundable or not. This is the first time this happened in 50+ cruises!

100% of the TA's OBC might not be refundable to you as I discovered. Once the credits are showing on your TV screen, check to see what your TA's OBC actually shows. It might show a hundred percent is refundable but it also might show something less is refundable

Yes, it's important to know if the OBC you receive from the TA is due to the TA purchasing or upgrading the Celebrity "Big, Better, Best" deal or if they are crediting your onboard account with OBC.

Thanks for the information...I think I’ll just book through a travel agent, lol

Thanks for the information...I think I’ll just book through a travel agent, lol

It's not as difficult or confusing as it sounds and you can pick up a bit of additional OBC by booking onboard. We usually do the following to make it less confusing.

1. We research cruises we're interested in booking before we get on the ship.

2. We visit the onboard booking person to find out what they are offering as a benefit to booking onboard. This is usually whatever the current Celebrity special is, plus $ based on the level of cabin we are booking. We tell them to book this straight to Celebrity so we can transfer to a TA of our choice when we get home. (They are absolutely OK with this.)

3. When we get home we contact several TAs we have booked with in the past and ask them what benefits they will give us to transfer this reservation. (They are absolutely OK with this.) I tell each TA that I need to talk to my DH about this and will get back to them if we decide to transfer the reservation.

4. I compare the benefits and decide which TA I will transfer to. I call that TA back, they email me a transfer form that I sign and send back to them. The TA sends me a confirmation with all benefits (perks) listed.

5. I receive a confirmation from Celebrity that my reservation has been switched to the TA.

It's that easy. Most of the time we end up with $100-200 extra OBC, but one time we ended up with $500 extra and another time snagged an upgrade from BIG to BEST promotion just by booking on board and transferring.

Also, to answer one of the questions from your first post, one time we selected the $300 when we booked onboard, so had $300 + $200 for booking bonus. We transferred to a TA and changed the $300 perk to gratuities because we realized our tips would be more than $300 due to the length of the cruise. We were able to easily change our choice of perk during the transfer.

Kathy North you actually do your homework before you board? Doesn't that take all the excitement out of making the booking?

I wish I was so well directed. Whether it's booking a cruise onboard or buying a watch in the Caribbean, I always seem to wind up with a spur-of-the-moment purchase. Our last on board booking was in May and I asked the agent for the price of the least expensive Infinity Veranda on the Edge in April. We had no intention of going on the Edge when we boarded. I'm glad we did it, I guess, but we are paying quite a bit more than what other posters have paid. Transferring to a big box did make a very big difference.

Kathy North you actually do your homework before you board? Doesn't that take all the excitement out of making the booking? ��

I wish I was so well directed. Whether it's booking a cruise onboard or buying a watch in the Caribbean, I always seem to wind up with a spur-of-the-moment purchase. Our last on board booking was in May and I asked the agent for the price of the least expensive Infinity Veranda on the Edge in April. We had no intention of going on the Edge when we boarded. I'm glad we did it, I guess, but we are paying quite a bit more than what other posters have paid. Transferring to a big box did make a very big difference.

Yes, we actually do all the research before we leave for a cruise. I find it helps to build my excitement for the upcoming cruise. I'm one of those turn over every rock types, so don't want to spend lots of time on the current cruise trying to figure out what to do. However, on one cruise we were lured into a spur of the moment booking of a Galapagos cruise due to a very generous OBC bonus (used on current cruise) that was added to the general promotion, plus the TA OBC (refunded at end of cruise). I guess that means never say never!

It's not as difficult or confusing as it sounds and you can pick up a bit of additional OBC by booking onboard. We usually do the following to make it less confusing.

 

1. We research cruises we're interested in booking before we get on the ship.

2. We visit the onboard booking person to find out what they are offering as a benefit to booking onboard. This is usually whatever the current Celebrity special is, plus $ based on the level of cabin we are booking. We tell them to book this straight to Celebrity so we can transfer to a TA of our choice when we get home. (They are absolutely OK with this.)

3. When we get home we contact several TAs we have booked with in the past and ask them what benefits they will give us to transfer this reservation. (They are absolutely OK with this.) I tell each TA that I need to talk to my DH about this and will get back to them if we decide to transfer the reservation.

LOL! So we are not the only ones who confess to using the "need to check with spouse" routine when we want to stall on making a commitment to buy something.

I would bet that many who don't even have a spouse (or partner, or SO, or roommate), use that excuse as well.

4. I compare the benefits and decide which TA I will transfer to. I call that TA back, they email me a transfer form that I sign and send back to them. The TA sends me a confirmation with all benefits (perks) listed.

We always want to receive a confirmation with all benefits (perks) listed before we submit a transfer form.

It is actually quicker and easier just to submit the online transfer form that Celebrity provides for this purpose.

Celebrity Cruises Travel Agency Transfer Form

There are some high volume TAs that don't even require us to submit any transfer form at all.

We only need to agree to give them the booking over the phone and they take care of the whole thing.

But doing it this way is not for everyone.

For example, I have a cousin who enjoys the hand-holding he gets from his local TA. He likes going in to the TA's office and sitting down to chat for a good part of the afternoon, even though his TA gives him nothing for his business but a bottle of wine.

We ourselves are the exact opposite, do-it-yourself types who want and need nothing from a TA but the additional perks, and occasionally a lower fare.

We booked on board last week, terms were 30 days to transfer to TA, this is in writing on confirmation documents.

We booked on board last week, terms were 30 days to transfer to TA, this is in writing on confirmation documents.

Bummer! They used to give us until final payment for the transfer.

Then, since most people would wait until final payment, they cut it back to 60 days from the date of booking, which was bad enough.

Let's hope that someone just made a mistake with the 30 days.

At least the Celebrity website is still showing 60 days.

Reservation Transfers

 

At least the Celebrity website is still showing 60 days.

So it must be true;)

We booked on board last week, terms were 30 days to transfer to TA, this is in writing on confirmation documents.

Also booked a future cruise while on board Celebrity and they told me that we had 60 days to transfer the cruise . When I arrived home I called our travel agent to transfer and he advised me that I only had 30 days to do so. Very confusing.

Some TAs charge cancellation fees and/ or change fees so be sure to ask before you commit

This is the most important part. The fee's can eat up the difference in the price reduction if the cruise price drops. Another issue is some TA's make you leave a message and by the time they get the message and seek the price change it may be gone.