Best booking strategies

[fizzy1]

Could someone explain what this price drop deal is. Just booked med cruise for sep next year . Booked through a well known online cruise site. If we see their price drop can we get back to them then and ask for the new price or does this only apply to direct bookings through Celebrity ?

 

 

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[Mr. Click]

Fizzy1, if you see a price drop you can go back to your TA and ask about it. Celebrity will not talk to you about it if you are booked with a TA. It is the TA's job to deal with Celebrity, it is your job to watch prices. Please keep in mind that you need to compare apples to apples on these deals. If you have a price that includes some perks, the new, lower price also had to have those perks or you can lose them. Since they started the whole perks thing comparison shopping has become much harder to do.

[sanger727]

Fizzy1, be aware that if you book as a U.K. Customer, I don't think you can take advantage of price drops. US customer's fares are fully refundable up until 'final payment' due date. So if I book a cruise and the price or promos change; I could cancel and rebook with the new terms so they usually allow you to just re-price. However, UK bookings are non-refundable from day 1, so cancellation penalties would go into effect if you cancel/rebook. I've read that you can book through a US agent to get US booking terms.

 

And yes, I use the fishy site and have had good luck with it. I do prevent a lot of the false alerts by not choosing to have it alert me 'when the price drops', but instead set a threshold it must drop under to alert me. I've heard they are having IT issues, but so far so good on my cruises.

 

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[NantahalaCruiser]

Could someone explain what this price drop deal is. Just booked med cruise for sep next year . Booked through a well known online cruise site. If we see their price drop can we get back to them then and ask for the new price or does this only apply to direct bookings through Celebrity ?

 

 

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Assuming that your online TA has no cancellation or transfer fees and is working under US rules rather than UK rules, then your TA should be able to contact Celebrity and have your reservation repriced. However, if your online TA's booking was done using a group rate, then a drop in Celebrity's price for an individual cabin may not be lower than your existing group rate.

[Imonaboat2017]

When I have seen price drops I call my TA and ask. If it is before final payment you can usually get booked at the lower rate without too much trouble. After final payment... no refunds but the first time it happened was on an Alaska cruise last July and when I called the TA I was told "too bad, nothing we can do..." That was about an $800 drop on a 7 night cruise. Then it happened again on a 12 night Med cruise and I emailed and got a similar response. I replied to that with the information that people on our roll call were getting upgrades and I was not happy with the TA, a big online one and reminded them I had booked 6 cruises with them in the past few years including a family trip that was 4 cabins and I would be happy to just use another TA going forward and if need be another cruise line. I got a polite reply that said "we see your point, we will escalate it". A few days later I got a phone call offering the upgrade from1A to Aqua 1. Fine but we were traveling with friends who booked the same day, same agent, same price etc. They got both of us moved up no problems. Fast forward to a few months ago and our 14 night Asia cruise price dropped about $800, again after final payment. I had indeed switched online TAs so I called the new one and with in 15 minutes they had us re-booked into C3. She could have gotten us an Aqua 2 but we were traveling with cousins from the UK who could not make the change and we wanted to be able to dine together so we "settled" for C3.. so when you see a drop, compare it to what you including OBC from the TA, perks from X, etc and if there is a real difference call your TA and ask nicely. The final decision rests with Celebrity but a good TA can get it done for you. So, if you find a price you like, book early, pick a cabin you like and then check often for drops.

 

I also used a "big online TA" for our booking this December. (Please forgive me CC if I disclose something in error - new to forums). When we got our final paperwork, it said there was a $50 pp cancellation fee, and the TA explained that this fee would apply if we found a better deal and wanted to re-book for the same cruise. TA also "mentioned" that any additional perks/better deals would be taken from her commission. From what I've heard from other cruisers, we do have a pretty good package.

 

I gather that no recommendations can be made for specific TAs on CC, but are ppl even using traditional TAs any longer or are most of the TAs online nowadays anyway? Can I get the same type of discounts through an independent TA that I can with a big online TA? We went through this particular TA because my parents had previously booked through them and we all received (albeit small) loyalty perks for doing so.

[sanger727]

I also used a "big online TA" for our booking this December. (Please forgive me CC if I disclose something in error - new to forums). When we got our final paperwork, it said there was a $50 pp cancellation fee, and the TA explained that this fee would apply if we found a better deal and wanted to re-book for the same cruise. TA also "mentioned" that any additional perks/better deals would be taken from her commission. From what I've heard from other cruisers, we do have a pretty good package.

 

 

 

I gather that no recommendations can be made for specific TAs on CC, but are ppl even using traditional TAs any longer or are most of the TAs online nowadays anyway? Can I get the same type of discounts through an independent TA that I can with a big online TA? We went through this particular TA because my parents had previously booked through them and we all received (albeit small) loyalty perks for doing so.

 

 

I only use big online TAs, you need a different one. Some don't have ANY additional cancellation fee. Some do add one, but it only comes in to play if you outright cancel, not a price drop. And you TA is outright lying to you. Price drops don't come from them, now a price drop may lower the commissionable fare and therefore lower the commission, but that's the only affect. The big online TAs I've use have been more than happy to help me with price drops. Happy customers become repeat customers.

 

 

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