Canadian Travel Agent?

Hello, I am looking at booking a cruise on the Equinox for this summer. I’ve read some threads and people are talking about booking first then transferring to a travel agent to get a better deal? I don’t understand what that means. At this point the best deal I can get is right off Celebrity website. Would I book direct then talk to a TA and see if they can do better?

Also, are there any Canadians out there who can recommend a great TA? I’ve never used a TA in my life for any of the many world wide trips I’ve taken, including my first and only cruise (reflection 4 years ago).

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So sorry but it's against policy to share names of TA's on Cruise Critic. I'm sure you'll manage to book and enjoy a wonderful cruise.

So sorry but it's against policy to share names of TA's on Cruise Critic. I'm sure you'll manage to book and enjoy a wonderful cruise.

Oh sorry I did not know that.

Would anyone be able to explain the “transfer” part of my question?

Thanks

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Travel agents get paid a commission by the cruise line. They have access to all the deals that the cruise line's booking agents have, plus sometimes also group rates. And then they may choose to give some of their commission to you in the form of OnBoard Credit or a discount. To transfer a booking to a travel agent you have to tell the cruise line -- the TA should help you do this [it's in their interest, after all!]

I’ll add to what Jazzbeau explained. You have 60 days from the time of booking the cruise to transfer the booking to a TA.

Being from Canada, my experience has been for me is that it is cheapest to book direct with Celebrity. I have tried numerous agencies in Canada and $25 obc is about all they would offer. I just email my Celebrity rep every time there is a price drop and she refares it. Our cruise next month we booked deck7 balcony and ended up with deck 10 concierge balcony and saved $120.

You have to do your homework and be vigilant to watch prices.

Hello, I am looking at booking a cruise on the Equinox for this summer. I’ve read some threads and people are talking about booking first then transferring to a travel agent to get a better deal? I don’t understand what that means. At this point the best deal I can get is right off Celebrity website. Would I book direct then talk to a TA and see if they can do better?

 

Also, are there any Canadians out there who can recommend a great TA? I’ve never used a TA in my life for any of the many world wide trips I’ve taken, including my first and only cruise (reflection 4 years ago).

 

 

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I usually stay with Celebrity but have used big name TAs Call around and ask. but stick with well known names. Make sure they don't charge change fees. Also because Celebrity prices fluctuate a lot and the price drops can be short lived and at hours when a small TA is not open find one with extensive hours and one that does not restrict you to one agent.

I have gotten 4 price drops on my next cruise and two were very early on a Sunday morning. I like control and this works for me

Others want the work done for them

Oh sorry I did not know that.

 

Would anyone be able to explain the “transfer” part of my question?

 

Thanks

 

 

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We’re from Canada as well. For years we booked directly through Celebrity or dealt with a friend who was a Canadian travel agent.

We sail frequently with friends who are US citizens. We did not think a US travel agency could deal with Canadians until they told us otherwise.

We still book directly with Celebrity and then transfer the booking to a US travel agency. The travel agent arranges for the transfer. As previously mentioned, this transfer needs to be done within 60 days of original booking.

The travel agency provides approximately 8-9% of the cost of the cruise in on board credit. This credit is refundable to us if we do not use it by the end of the cruise. Any on board credit offered as a perk by the cruise line is normally a “use it or lose it” form.

Keep in mind that once you transfer to a travel agency, you may lose flexibility in terms of servicing as Celebrity will normally talk to them rather than you. Don’t expect your travel agent to “do it all,” because they have others to look after.

Stay in contact with them if you see a price decrease or if you have specific requests. These do not automatically happen on your account. Work as a team with them and you will be happier.

For us, this has been a good thing.

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Don't forget if you use a US agent check to see if you can book in CDN. Also check the cancellation or change fee. Also canadian agents can also get price reduction for you. A good one keeps an eye on pricing and will act on it.

OntarioCruiser

Don't forget if you use a US agent check to see if you can book in CDN. Also check the cancellation or change fee. Also canadian agents can also get price reduction for you. A good one keeps an eye on pricing and will act on it.

OntarioCruiser

Some good points! However, the online US TA that we have used often had group pricing which reduces the cost and these were not available if we booked in $CAD. In this case, we booked in $US and transferred money into our $US account when booking so we were protected from currency fluctuations. Our $ seems to keep trending downward at the moment.

The last couple of cruises we have booked directly with Celebrity and I have watched for price reductions. We book the lowest category we are happy with then take upgrades after final payment if the price is right. Sometimes we are lucky - on our upcoming Transatlantic we booked inside, got two price reductions then after final payment upgraded to a balcony for $100 pp, which was less than we had originally paid for inside.

We have been thinking of investigating the big box store for our next cruise, but their deal will have to be good to persuade me to give up control of our booking.

Sheila

The big box store's Canadian entity added travel to its offerings just a couple of years ago and we booked through them almost immediately. We had gone to a cruise travel show put on by a TA that we had used on occasion in the past and asked for a quotation for a cruise that we start this coming Sunday. The best they could do is offer us a cheap bottle of wine as a perk. We declined the offer, went home and phoned the big box store's TA. Identical quote for the cost of the cruise, but their perk was a $500 cash card for the store. We booked immediately.

There was a slight accounting glitch at one point when Celebrity inadvertently credited us some money. A quick call to the TA and the problem was resolved.

After final payment, the prices went down. Again, a quick call to the TA and we were given a free upgrade from an SV cabin to a Concierge cabin and kept our Celebrity perks as well as the TA's.

To date, I've found them to be highly professional and very knowledgable, and no other Canadian TA that I've dealt with seems able to match them for perks. As this is only your second cruise and first TA, I don't think that you can go wrong giving them a try.

Canadian here and like some others, I do not transfer mine to a TA as I've gained nothing ever from doing so. In fact, first Celebrity was booked through a TA and all it did was tie my hands from calling Celebrity myself for anything.

When I did a future cruise booking on my first Celebrity cruise, I failed to realize they automatically tie it to a TA if the current sailing was booked that way. I did not realize until I got back to my stateroom and looked at the paperwork more closely and went right back to their office to get it changed to remove any holdings with the TA. The TA that I booked with left the company and didn't say a word or notify us, which would have been fine if someone else had picked up for her but nope ... we had to fend for ourselves to figure everything out in the last few weeks before sailing. I only discovered by calling and inquiring about stuff.

To each their own.

Don't forget if you use a US agent check to see if you can book in CDN. Also check the cancellation or change fee. Also canadian agents can also get price reduction for you. A good one keeps an eye on pricing and will act on it.

OntarioCruiser

When I as a US travel agent to book in Canadian.. they tell me they can but then they can't offer the same OBC. Their group rate is for those booked in US funds. It's a crap shoot no matter how you book.... I book something that I can live with.. and keep checking for price drops.... several times a week.

We are in Canada and we use a couple of US based TAs to book in either CAD or USD depending on what the exchange rate is and where the Cruise line has pegged their exchange rate. We have received high amounts of OBC as well as in some cases depending on the cruise line we are using, received substantial rebates. To me it is very much worthwhile to find a US based TA that meets your requirements and transfer your booking to them. I have found that when you book in CAD the OBC and rebates are just the USD amounts translated into CAD and then once on board they are translated back to USD because that is what the cruise line uses.

We haven't tried the big box store here in Canada yet but might check it out in the future. The problem with it is the rebates are in gift cards and i prefer getting an actual cheque.

I will admit that you can experience some frustration if the TA doesn't respond quickly when you have an issue but things do eventually get straightened out. If you deal with the cruise line directly you don't go through that but to me the money i get back is worth small amounts of frustration.

We have walked off the ship with hundreds of $ of unused refundable OBC that we take home anbd have available for future USD transactions.

I usually stay with Celebrity but have used big name TAs Call around and ask. but stick with well known names. Make sure they don't charge change fees. Also because Celebrity prices fluctuate a lot and the price drops can be short lived and at hours when a small TA is not open find one with extensive hours and one that does not restrict you to one agent.

I have gotten 4 price drops on my next cruise and two were very early on a Sunday morning. I like control and this works for me

Others want the work done for them

And the TA does not need to be available 24/7 just 7! If you find a price drop in the wee hours of the night all you need to do is place a 24-hour hold on another cabin and call your TA the following morning to get the lower price of your hold transferred to your original reservation.

Note: your TA may need to initiate a three-way conversation with you, your TA and Celebrity since Celebrity may need your verbal permission to release the hold to the TA.

Hello, I am looking at booking a cruise on the Equinox for this summer. I’ve read some threads and people are talking about booking first then transferring to a travel agent to get a better deal? I don’t understand what that means. At this point the best deal I can get is right off Celebrity website. Would I book direct then talk to a TA and see if they can do better?

 

Also, are there any Canadians out there who can recommend a great TA? I’ve never used a TA in my life for any of the many world wide trips I’ve taken, including my first and only cruise (reflection 4 years ago).

 

 

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Hello , I am a Canadian cruiser ...I live in the nations capital...I sent you a friend request..if you accept I can answer your question in a private chat ...it should not break any board rules.

Being from Canada, my experience has been for me is that it is cheapest to book direct with Celebrity. I have tried numerous agencies in Canada and $25 obc is about all they would offer. I just email my Celebrity rep every time there is a price drop and she refares it. Our cruise next month we booked deck7 balcony and ended up with deck 10 concierge balcony and saved $120.

 

You have to do your homework and be vigilant to watch prices.

Are you watching the Celebrity website itself? How do you find out if the specific class of cabin you booked (at this point we have 2A, deck 7 midship) has dropped in price? I’ve been using my phone and find that the site is very hard to navigate.

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We’re from Canada as well. For years we booked directly through Celebrity or dealt with a friend who was a Canadian travel agent.

 

We sail frequently with friends who are US citizens. We did not think a US travel agency could deal with Canadians until they told us otherwise.

 

We still book directly with Celebrity and then transfer the booking to a US travel agency. The travel agent arranges for the transfer. As previously mentioned, this transfer needs to be done within 60 days of original booking.

 

The travel agency provides approximately 8-9% of the cost of the cruise in on board credit. This credit is refundable to us if we do not use it by the end of the cruise. Any on board credit offered as a perk by the cruise line is normally a “use it or lose it” form.

 

Keep in mind that once you transfer to a travel agency, you may lose flexibility in terms of servicing as Celebrity will normally talk to them rather than you. Don’t expect your travel agent to “do it all,” because they have others to look after.

Stay in contact with them if you see a price decrease or if you have specific requests. These do not automatically happen on your account. Work as a team with them and you will be happier.

 

For us, this has been a good thing.

 

 

 

 

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Great to know I can transfer to a US agent. You bring up another point that I did not know. I had thought the on board credit could be put back on my card at the end of the cruise if it wasn’t used. Is that not the case?

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Travel agents get paid a commission by the cruise line. They have access to all the deals that the cruise line's booking agents have, plus sometimes also group rates. And then they may choose to give some of their commission to you in the form of OnBoard Credit or a discount. To transfer a booking to a travel agent you have to tell the cruise line -- the TA should help you do this [it's in their interest, after all!]

Thank you!

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Most of the TAs up here offer peanuts in extra OBC compared to USA ones. The best deal I've found is if you're a member of the big box store they actually offer a gift card for X crises worth about 8 - 9% of the fare. They also provide great service and don't charge fees for changes/cancellations like done of the USA ones.

 

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Good to know! I’ll check that store!

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Great to know I can transfer to a US agent. You bring up another point that I did not know. I had thought the on board credit could be put back on my card at the end of the cruise if it wasn’t used. Is that not the case?

 

 

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Great to know I can transfer to a US agent. You bring up another point that I did not know. I had thought the on board credit could be put back on my card at the end of the cruise if it wasn’t used. Is that not the case?

 

 

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Refundable OBC can be credited back to your card, or can be withdrawn as cash. Rather than lose a bit when the currency is exchanged by the credit card company and losing it again at some future point when I require some USD, I take the refund in cash.

The big box store's Canadian entity added travel to its offerings just a couple of years ago and we booked through them almost immediately. We had gone to a cruise travel show put on by a TA that we had used on occasion in the past and asked for a quotation for a cruise that we start this coming Sunday. The best they could do is offer us a cheap bottle of wine as a perk. We declined the offer, went home and phoned the big box store's TA. Identical quote for the cost of the cruise, but their perk was a $500 cash card for the store. We booked immediately.

 

 

 

There was a slight accounting glitch at one point when Celebrity inadvertently credited us some money. A quick call to the TA and the problem was resolved.

 

 

 

After final payment, the prices went down. Again, a quick call to the TA and we were given a free upgrade from an SV cabin to a Concierge cabin and kept our Celebrity perks as well as the TA's.

 

 

 

To date, I've found them to be highly professional and very knowledgable, and no other Canadian TA that I've dealt with seems able to match them for perks. As this is only your second cruise and first TA, I don't think that you can go wrong giving them a try.

I didn’t even know they had a travel agency there. Thank you for the great info. I’m going to have a few more calls to make tomorrow because I’m sure I can get a better deal. I’m on the hunt!

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Canadian here and like some others, I do not transfer mine to a TA as I've gained nothing ever from doing so. In fact, first Celebrity was booked through a TA and all it did was tie my hands from calling Celebrity myself for anything.

 

 

 

When I did a future cruise booking on my first Celebrity cruise, I failed to realize they automatically tie it to a TA if the current sailing was booked that way. I did not realize until I got back to my stateroom and looked at the paperwork more closely and went right back to their office to get it changed to remove any holdings with the TA. The TA that I booked with left the company and didn't say a word or notify us, which would have been fine if someone else had picked up for her but nope ... we had to fend for ourselves to figure everything out in the last few weeks before sailing. I only discovered by calling and inquiring about stuff.

 

 

 

To each their own.

That is so stressful. I hope you had a great trip regardless. Thanks for the info.

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