Time limit to transfer cruise to TA

[InsideCruiser]

I called RCL Diamond Plus desk and asked about grandfathering the bookings made before the new form was published. The answer was yes, older booking were grandfathered. I think the idea of limited time to transfer is a real issue if you book one to two years or more in advance. Who can say for sure that they will want to use the same TA they are currently using. Not I!

 

Can't you transfer your booking from one TA to another at any time?

 

That wouldn't be effected by the new 60 day rule would it?

[Lynnees]

Can't you transfer your booking from one TA to another at any time?

 

That wouldn't be effected by the new 60 day rule would it?

 

No you can't just transfer from one TA to another. Once a TA has it they "own" it and the changes of it being released to another TA is remote at best. If they do they will charge you and rightly so.

[cruisenfever]

I just did one on Friday for a booking that was made on line in March for a cruise on January 2. Final payment was at the end of this week and had not yet been made.

 

I faxed in the transfer form on Friday, October 15, and yesterday my confirm was sent by the TA along with a $100 OBC.

 

If October 6 was the cut off date, no one invoked it as far as I can tell.

 

Neither myself or the TA who works for a very large on-line cruise and vacation booking company, were aware of an October 6 deadline. He spoke to RCI on Friday and was told that since my reservation was made in March, there would be sufficient time to transfer it over. It seems the earlier reservations could transfer in 3-5 business days while reservations made later took longer.

The effective date of the new transfer to TA policy is October 18. Any bookings made prior to that are not affected.

[bhpeters]

My current TA just emailed me, saying Royal Caribbean has a new rule that any trip booked direct with Royal (online or otherwise) cannot be transferred to a TA after 60 days. Wow. What a bummer... I like booking online with royal and then transferring to get OBC. This is a huge reason not to book direct if royal isn't currently offering any deals. Why would they do this? Do they really lose that much?

[firefly333]

Carnival only allows 30 days .. worse than RCL.

 

My guess is they dont want to do all the work and then last minute you transfer to a TA to get OBC and the TA does nothing else to earn their commission.

[cruisenfever]

My current TA just emailed me, saying Royal Caribbean has a new rule that any trip booked direct with Royal (online or otherwise) cannot be transferred to a TA after 60 days. Wow. What a bummer... I like booking online with royal and then transferring to get OBC. This is a huge reason not to book direct if royal isn't currently offering any deals. Why would they do this? Do they really lose that much?

The effective date is October 18, 2010 so any cruises booked prior to that date do not fall under the new transfer policy. You must have missed this discussion Time limit to transfer cruise to TA

[InsideCruiser]

My current TA just emailed me, saying Royal Caribbean has a new rule that any trip booked direct with Royal (online or otherwise) cannot be transferred to a TA after 60 days. Wow. What a bummer... I like booking online with royal and then transferring to get OBC. This is a huge reason not to book direct if royal isn't currently offering any deals. Why would they do this? Do they really lose that much?

 

I've been told that some of the large agencies get as much as 16% of the commission-able fare. No reason for RCI to give that away just before final on a cruise that's been booked for over a year. I don't like it but it seems like a very unnecessary expenditure that was ripe to be reigned it.

 

Now that it's necessary to transfer to a TA early in the game, probable price drops should be part of your negotiation. As an example, if they give you 10% of the commission-able fare as an incentive make sure they agree to keep that incentive at 10% of commission-able fare should you have a price drop applied. One of the large online TA's squeezed us, dropping our incentive from 13% to 4% of commission-able fare when we had a price drop applied. They had told me when I booked that there were no cancellation fees, I'm about to find out.

[Kellie Poodle]

I may be wrong, but when I have transferred my booking to a TA, the TA makes it very clear, in writing, that the offer of OBC or whatever perk is contingent on the price of the cruise not going below $x.

 

I just got under the wire with the next cruise, but I would not have a problem with giving them a future booking based on an agreed upon bottom line.

 

I used a large on-line TA also.

[terinzak]

Just got an email that states:

 

Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Azamara Club Cruises have just come out with a NEW POLICY which states that:

 

Bookings made directly with the cruise lines whether the client booked online, onboard,

or thru a Royal Caribbean International Certified Vacation Planner,

INCLUDING open deposit bookings (i.e. Celebrity Passages and Next Cruise Bookings) can NOT be transferred to their Travel Agent of choice after 60 days from their creation.

 

Bookings that are PAID IN FULL or have CHOICE AIR are not eligible

to be transferred once created.

 

 

Thought it might affect someone on here :)

[BND]

Who did you get the email from?

[terinzak]

Who did you get the email from?

 

 

From a very well know cruise agency....just think of the agenncy that does the group cruises for RCL/CCL etc....

[lori450]

Thanks for the heads up. The emails are being sent by a popular online TA. This has been discussed on the boards already and there are a couple of threads discussing this. But it's always great to know that we're all looking out for each other!

[cruisinfanatic]

never been transferable after final payment

[cruisenfever]

This has been discussed in two different threads...........

 

Time limit to transfer cruise to TA

 

Royal's new rule, no booking transfers to TA after 60 days

[househunter]

I think the rule is totally fair. Why should RCI do all the work and then have you switch to a TA? I think they are being very generous by allowing 60 days.

[CoachT]

The effective date is October 18, 2010 so any cruises booked prior to that date do not fall under the new transfer policy. You must have missed this discussion Time limit to transfer cruise to TA

This is so wrong. There is absolutely no grandfathering with this policy in spite of what some people have been told. You will find this out the minute you try to transfer ANY booking with a creation date over 60 days from the time of attempting to transfer it.

 

BY the way, the form itself lists 10/6/10 as the date the new policy went into effect.

[denamo]

Just got an email that states:

 

Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Azamara Club Cruises have just come out with a NEW POLICY which states that:

 

Bookings made directly with the cruise lines whether the client booked online, onboard,

or thru a Royal Caribbean International Certified Vacation Planner,

INCLUDING open deposit bookings (i.e. Celebrity Passages and Next Cruise Bookings) can NOT be transferred to their Travel Agent of choice after 60 days from their creation.

 

Bookings that are PAID IN FULL or have CHOICE AIR are not eligible

to be transferred once created.

 

 

Thought it might affect someone on here :)

 

When we've done the Nextcruise booking onboard, I've had my TA's name put on the reservation. I guess I better ask a few questions the next time getting a Nextcruise certificate.

[Schooner Bar Girl]

never been transferable after final payment

 

They are not talking about transferring after final payment.....but.....about being unable to transfer a booking once 60 days has passed from the initial booking date.

[Bridge Maven]

I think the rule is totally fair. Why should RCI do all the work and then have you switch to a TA? I think they are being very generous by allowing 60 days.

 

Househunter, I agree with you completely.

[mpbmark]

The effective date is October 18, 2010 so any cruises booked prior to that date do not fall under the new transfer policy. You must have missed this discussion Time limit to transfer cruise to TA

 

This is so wrong. There is absolutely no grandfathering with this policy in spite of what some people have been told. You will find this out the minute you try to transfer ANY booking with a creation date over 60 days from the time of attempting to transfer it.

 

BY the way, the form itself lists 10/6/10 as the date the new policy went into effect.

 

Welcome to the RCCL game called, "Who's Correct".

 

It's quite simple. Each person calls their favorite RCCL rep and asks a question. In this case, it's whether the new rule regarding TA transfers is retroactive. We all then get together and compare answers.

 

The great thing about this game is there can be no losers, because the higher ups at RCCL don't ever tell the telephone reps what is happening. Therefore, there are no winners or losers and RCCL keeps everyone playing the game in hopes of ascertaining the correct answer.

 

Fun, right?

[Mikew0805]

I think the rule is totally fair. Why should RCI do all the work and then have you switch to a TA? I think they are being very generous by allowing 60 days.

 

What work? I book my cruises online then transfer to an agency right before final, so that I earn the frequent flyer miles. If anyone has done any work it has been me.

 

Thank goodness I did mine on October 4th...

[MagicMike]

I've been told that some of the large agencies get as much as 16% of the commission-able fare. No reason for RCI to give that away just before final on a cruise that's been booked for over a year. I don't like it but it seems like a very unnecessary expenditure that was ripe to be reigned it.

 

Now that it's necessary to transfer to a TA early in the game, probable price drops should be part of your negotiation. As an example, if they give you 10% of the commission-able fare as an incentive make sure they agree to keep that incentive at 10% of commission-able fare should you have a price drop applied. One of the large online TA's squeezed us, dropping our incentive from 13% to 4% of commission-able fare when we had a price drop applied. They had told me when I booked that there were no cancellation fees, I'm about to find out.

 

There are cruise lines that will not give full commission on transferred cruises. Disney is one of those. If an agency get a big override of sat 16%, they will only get the base 10% on a transferred cruise.

[marci22]

This is so wrong. There is absolutely no grandfathering with this policy in spite of what some people have been told. You will find this out the minute you try to transfer ANY booking with a creation date over 60 days from the time of attempting to transfer it.

 

BY the way, the form itself lists 10/6/10 as the date the new policy went into effect.

 

They have been fairly good at grandfathering new policies. Yes, you may have to call a few reps, and it may be (no, will be!) aggravating, but I have never had a problem with eventually getting the correct result (yet ;) )

 

This is another reason for me to hold off booking. The final one will be when they start charging a change fee. Then I'll never book unless it's a last minute local port.

[marci22]

Now that it's necessary to transfer to a TA early in the game, probable price drops should be part of your negotiation.

 

This is good advice. I usually book myself but I also check out the TA offers. I have found that the cheaper my cruise is, the less they offer. When I have paid a high fare, early in the booking process, they have offered hundreds of dollars. Late in the game after some price drops, it's prepaid gratuities only.

[CrusingJoe]

FYI

 

BREAKING NEWS! New Cruise Line Policy

 

Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Azamara Club Cruises have just come out with a NEW POLICY which states that:

 

Bookings made directly with the cruise lines whether the client booked online, onboard,

or thru a Royal Caribbean International Certified Vacation Planner,

INCLUDING open deposit bookings (i.e. Celebrity Passages and Next Cruise Bookings) can NOT be transferred to their Travel Agent of choice after 60 days from their creation.

 

Bookings that are PAID IN FULL or have CHOICE AIR are not eligible

to be transferred once created.