Transferring a booking from Princess to Travel Agent

[ACoupleAtSea]

Can you book a sailing with princess and transfer it to a travel agent?  Will the princess agent lose the sale or stat?

Edited January 9, 2019 by ACoupleAtSea

[Bethcb]

Yes. Call Princess and tell them who you want for your TA. They may give you an authorization number unless its a Big Box TA. Then call TA to transfer it. Very easy.

 

[Colo Cruiser]

4 minutes ago, Bethcb said:

Yes. Call Princess and tell them who you want for your TA. They may give you an authorization number unless its a Big Box TA. Then call TA to transfer it. Very easy.

 

You can't do it on the phone........at least I could not.

In November Princess started requiring a form to be filled out and faxed to Princess.

It may take some time to complete the transfer.

You have to transfer within 60 days of booking.

[suekel]

I didn't have to tell princess.  I just called my TA and told her.  You have to do it now within 60 days of booking.  

[trbarton]

25 minutes ago, ACoupleAtSea said:

Can you book a sailing with princess and transfer it to a travel agent?  Will the princess agent lose the sale or stat?

 

I have a T/A that I use & I usually book online with Princess to get what I want. Then I contact my T/A to see what price I can get. If I decide to transfer my booking my T/A does the rest. I’ve never contacted Princess as my T/A can do everything. 

 

Tom😀

Edited January 9, 2019 by trbarton

[Coral]

9 minutes ago, trbarton said:

 

I have a T/A that I use & I usually book online with Princess to get what I won’t. Then I contact my T/A to see what price I can get. If I decide to transfer my booking my T/A does the rest. I’ve never contacted Princess as my T/A can do everything. 

 

Tom😀

Times have changed.

[ACoupleAtSea]

I assume Princess doesnt care if the reservation is transferred?

[Colo Cruiser]

3 minutes ago, ACoupleAtSea said:

I assume Princess doesnt care if the reservation is transferred?

They allow it.

[San Diego Ellie]

Personally, I just found the process of transfer so much more cumbersome.  I think they are trying to discourage the use of travel agents and are trying to pump up direct bookings.  Just two days ago, even though I had no money on a cruise, but had a hold on it, they would not transfer to my agent without sending me a Transfer Form to sign and send to the agent.  I knew they had toughened up the procedure if you already had a deposit, but did not know there was a hurdle if you held it directly with them with a day or two "hold," called your agent and giving the agent your booking number asked agent to put down your "futures" as deposit.  And if you are thinking why not cancel and have agent rebook, the price had gone up  in a day.

 

[Coral]

22 minutes ago, San Diego Ellie said:

Personally, I just found the process of transfer so much more cumbersome.  I think they are trying to discourage the use of travel agents and are trying to pump up direct bookings.  

 

I don't think that is it (discourage agents). More than 90% of cruises booked are handled through agents.

 

They want you to either use an agent or Princess. They are trying to cut down when you use both. In the future, you may just use your agent to book because it is "more cumbersome" to transfer, or just use Princess. They are tired of paying Princess employees when in fact people transfer and the agent gets the entire commission.

Edited January 11, 2019 by Coral

[jagoffee]

I think Coral is correct.  

 

With th so many cruises booked with Travel Agents, Princess would not wish to discourage the use of Travel Agents.

 

Many years ago Renaissance Cruise Line tried a model that was direct booking based (no TAs) but they ended up abandoning that model.  (Also no kids and no smoking).

They went bankrupt shortly after 9/11.

 

[wheezedr]

Do be aware of the 60 day rule which they added late last year and are enforcing.  Now it may be easier to just use a TA from scratch 

[jagoffee]

20 minutes ago, wheezedr said:

Do be aware of the 60 day rule which they added late last year and are enforcing.  Now it may be easier to just use a TA from scratch 

Bingo

[voljeep]

What all CAN a TA do without calling Princess ... that you CAN'T do, without calling Princess ?

[-Lew-]

I've attached the from required in November 2018 by Revenue Support.  It's pretty self-explanatory and can be emailed or faxed to them.

 

Reservation Transfer Request Form.pdf

[fluffybunny22]

Was trying to transfer a booking to a TA this week. I don't have a printer so I emailed the form to my husband to fill out and scan back to me. Apparently you have to physically sign the form which he didn't do. I ended up rebooking with the TA and cancelling my original booking because it was turning into a hassle.

[Retired_Army]

1 hour ago, voljeep said:

What all CAN a TA do without calling Princess ... that you CAN'T do, without calling Princess ?

Well for one thing I can't give myself an additional OBC, or other perk, without getting the money from somewhere.  Just transferred a cruise to my TA who gave me over $900 of refundable OBC for a 16 day South America/Antartica cruise.

 

Put a reminder on my electronic calendar so I don't forget to transfer my Greenland trip before 2 Feb. The "grace period" to transfer after more than 60 days is gone.

Edited January 11, 2019 by Retired_Army

[wheezedr]

2 hours ago, voljeep said:

What all CAN a TA do without calling Princess ... that you CAN'T do, without calling Princess ?

Offer me a substantial amount of OBC and some additional perks.

[masterty]

Here is my experience and timeline. 

Using princess.com, I booked a 10 day voyage on 5/29/2018 in an S7 during the Sip and Sail promotion leaving 5/16/19. 

Earlier this month I learned that there was a new 60 day window added to transfers to TA's. I also learned that they were giving a grace period until December 31st as some of you have been stating. I learned all of this January 3rd 2019. Past the newly added deadline. I was very upset like a lot of you and wished I had paid better attention to this board over the last several months. 

I figured, what the heck I got nothing to loose so I can my TA (big box store). They eagerly take my information and tell me to expect an email 48-72 hours. 

4 days later and no word, no call, no email. 

On 1/7/19 I then call princess asking what is going on? They say they have not received anything and offered to email me the form to fill out. They assured me that this would be done 24-48 hours. 

Today 1/11/19 still nothing. So I called again and spoke to a Princess agent. She was the first one to make mention of a 60 day window informing me that there was nothing else that can be done. 

Upon a little persuasion I convinced her to ask her supervisor. Supervisor said the same bad news. I assured her that this was unacceptable in the politest fashion. I continued to express my displeasure in the change after booking with no notification informing me of a change of policy without sending me the new policy. Our conversation continued to go nowhere. Finally he agreed to transfer me to the costumer relations department. Once transferred to CR I luckily found someone who thanked me for my loyalty, (I am not that loyal) and offered to make a one time offer to transfer my booking to a TA. A booking that is more than 7 months old. He gave me a name and extension number and told my TA to call before he got off that evening.

Promptly called my TA and after a bit of hold time it is all done. I received my TA confirmation email showing the additional $500 of TA supplied OBC. Princess website also shows TA contact information for payment. Woo hoo! 

 

Thanks to this thread or one just like it that I learned this before it was too, too late. 

[Retired_Army]

13 hours ago, StLouisCruisers said:

 

We transferred our 16 day South America/Antarctica cruise on Coral Princess (1-5-20) on Dec. 31.  Are you on the same cruise?

 

Why yes it is 🙂 and we also got our booking transferred on the 31st.

 

I also tried to transfer another booking at the same time, but because I had accidentally paid for the cruise in full Princess would not allow the transfer.  I intended to make a $500 payment using an AMEX card to take advantage of an offer that gave $100 statement credit, but unintentionally paid the balance.  Princess did refund the excess payment amount but their accounting system still flagged the cruise as "paid in full."

 

I believe the AMEX offer was valid until March, so if you haven't used it now is the time to make a payment.

[voljeep]

15 hours ago, Retired_Army said:

Well for one thing I can't give myself an additional OBC, or other perk, without getting the money from somewhere.  Just transferred a cruise to my TA who gave me over $900 of refundable OBC for a 16 day South America/Antartica cruise.

 

14 hours ago, wheezedr said:

Offer me a substantial amount of OBC and some additional perks.

sorry, my post wasn't clear... I was thinking about refaring, changing cabins, even re-booking under new promos

 

can a TA do those things without calling Princess ?

[jagoffee]

20 hours ago, Retired_Army said:

Well for one thing I can't give myself an additional OBC, or other perk, without getting the money from somewhere.  Just transferred a cruise to my TA who gave me over $900 of refundable OBC for a 16 day South America/Antartica cruise.

 

Put a reminder on my electronic calendar so I don't forget to transfer my Greenland trip before 2 Feb. The "grace period" to transfer after more than 60 days is gone.

Why are you waiting until 2/2?  Just curious.

[Coral]

5 hours ago, voljeep said:

 

sorry, my post wasn't clear... I was thinking about refaring, changing cabins, even re-booking under new promos

 

can a TA do those things without calling Princess ?

Yes - they can do it online. They have access to a Princess booking engine.

Edited January 12, 2019 by Coral

[voljeep]

2 minutes ago, Coral said:

Yes - they can do it online. They have access to a Princess booking engine.

If that then, it makes it very clear about the new 60 day policy ... why should Princess 'bother' with passengers calling about changes, etc when the booking, and related commission, will be transferred to a TA at final payment - sometimes up to 2 years after booking

[Coral]

22 minutes ago, voljeep said:

If that then, it makes it very clear about the new 60 day policy ... why should Princess 'bother' with passengers calling about changes, etc when the booking, and related commission, will be transferred to a TA at final payment - sometimes up to 2 years after booking

Exactly. I called my agent the other day about a price reduction (and switching promos) - she could compare and tell me the difference and asked me if I wanted to make the change. It is all done online. Within seconds, I could see it on my screen (she did not call Princess).

 

I am sure there are some agents who are not familiar with the booking engine and prefer to call the cruise line. Also, there have been times when things don't go as planned online and they have to call to get something adjusted but most of the time, it is done online for agents. 

 

Correct - yes, Princess was servicing these clients for up to 2 years and then losing the commission when people transferred it to their agent right before final payment. The agent would then make final payment (can do that online) and it is the Princess employees who did the work.