Transferring away from a travel agent?

[colesc15]

I know there's a way to transfer TO a travel agent if booked direct with Royal. Is there a way to transfer away from a travel agent? We've used the same big, cruise travel agent for years but since covid, they're impossible to get ahold of to help with anything. Looking for any advice. 

[Ashland]

Contact RCI for the info you need. You must have a good reason and the TA must agree to the transfer. Best of luck !

[brillohead]

Or you can just ask Royal.  If RCI tries to contact the TA and they aren't responsive, Royal will take the booking away from them at your request.  And if the TA does respond when Royal initiates the contact, you get your issue handled that way (and you know to find a better TA in the future!).

 

[colesc15]

28 minutes ago, brillohead said:

Or you can just ask Royal.  If RCI tries to contact the TA and they aren't responsive, Royal will take the booking away from them at your request.  And if the TA does respond when Royal initiates the contact, you get your issue handled that way (and you know to find a better TA in the future!).

 

Prior to covid we never had any issues. They only book cruises and it's a big company. Since covid, it's basically a good luck to get ahold of anyone. My guess is they downsized their staff and can't hire anyone now. I've been trying to pay off my balance for a week now with my FCC and I finally got my agent to email me today telling me she'll contact me "in a couple of business days". Told her if it gets put on my credit card automatically I'm not going to be a happy camper. 

[brillohead]

Try contacting Crown and Anchor and seeing if they can apply the FCC for you now, or if they can contact the TA on your behalf now, rather than trying to "fix" things after the fact.

 

[Sayuil]

8 minutes ago, colesc15 said:

You guessed it! Used to be phenomenal, used for years. Now I have two future bookings stuck with them and one I had planned to move to them that I didn't have them attached to but not a chance anymore. Not worth the couple hundred bucks in freebies they give. Sucks. I believe my payoff auto pay happens mid next week and I'll be livid if it goes on a credit card I no longer have VS being paid off in full by a FCC I have. 

I noticed the same issue which the same company. They were great before but with covid they must have downsized and now you can never talk to anyone when you call. 
 

Have to leave a voicemail and wait for them to return calls which can take days.

 

I feel bad for the agents, never had issues with any of them, very professional but I don’t like uncertainty and no response

[colesc15]

6 minutes ago, Sayuil said:

I noticed the same issue which the same company. They were great before but with covid they must have downsized and now you can never talk to anyone when you call. 
 

Have to leave a voicemail and wait for them to return calls which can take days.

 

I feel bad for the agents, never had issues with any of them, very professional but I don’t like uncertainty and no response

Agreed! When I have enough FCC to pay for multiple upcoming cruises and the chance of it hitting a credit card and the headache to correct it, no thanks. 

[brillohead]

32 minutes ago, colesc15 said:

You guessed it! Used to be phenomenal, used for years. Now I have two future bookings stuck with them and one I had planned to move to them that I didn't have them attached to but not a chance anymore. Not worth the couple hundred bucks in freebies they give. Sucks. I believe my payoff auto pay happens mid next week and I'll be livid if it goes on a credit card I no longer have VS being paid off in full by a FCC I have. 

If it's a CC that is no longer in use, the charge will get rejected.... and they may cancel your reservation if that happens.

I wouldn't chance it -- I'd start being a PITA right now.  

(This is why I like having a person be my TA, with an affiliation to group rates through a larger agency.  I get same-day service, don't even have to make a phone call -- I just send an email.)

[satxdiver]

When the cruise industry shut down, TA that only did cruise reservations suddenly had no business or income.  So they furloughed all or most of their staff particularly the IT people since companies view it as pure overhead (I used to work in IT).  Now that ships are sailing and the pent up demand is back they are not able to re-hire the agents they let go or worse yet to hire new agents that have to be trained quickly.  Hence their response is slow to none.  I would not trust a big box TA.

 

Back in the last decade I became upset with my TA (long story).  So I contacted RCCL to see if I could pull the current reservation and two future ones back to RCCL.  They told me to write them a letter requesting it with all the pertinent information which I did.  They pulled the reservations back to RCCL and the TA sent me a really nasty email whining about it.  Reinforced my ending business with this TA was a very wise choice.  

[coaster]

I can see in the future where Royal will only allow direct bookings. Perfect time to do it after this major agency is doing more harm than good now. Days of perks are over. Why should Royal pay a commission to a third party like this that is totally useless?

Edited October 21, 2021 by coaster

[crusinthrough]

39 minutes ago, satxdiver said:

When the cruise industry shut down, TA that only did cruise reservations suddenly had no business or income. 

Royal was still paying commission on cancelled cruises.  I'm not sure of the other cruise lines.  

[coaster]

1 minute ago, crusinthrough said:

Royal was still paying commission on cancelled cruises.  I'm not sure of the other cruise lines.  

Good point. I forgot about that. Makes it stranger why this TA seems to have 'checkout'. 

[coaster]

I was about to transfer my January Jewel booking to this TA to get some extra perks they have given me in the past. Thanks goodness for the reality check. Not worth it. Keeping my booking with Royal.

[Sayuil]

9 minutes ago, coaster said:

I was about to transfer my January Jewel booking to this TA to get some extra perks they have given me in the past. Thanks goodness for the reality check. Not worth it. Keeping my booking with Royal.

FYI, they are also changing their loyalty program starting Oct 31

[colesc15]

59 minutes ago, coaster said:

I was about to transfer my January Jewel booking to this TA to get some extra perks they have given me in the past. Thanks goodness for the reality check. Not worth it. Keeping my booking with Royal.

Yep don't do it. I have an 8 nighter I was going to transfer to them but keeping it with Royal instead and just suffer through the March and July cruise with them. 

[georgiacrzr]

They are awful!  Impossible to get answers

 

There is an email address that you can send to someone at royal for them to take the booking back…only problem is that transfer back to royal will take at least 7 days

 

royal should cancel this agent 

 

royal has been unwilling to make this agent accountable 

 

SO FRUSTRATING! 
 

 

[colesc15]

We're at hour 22 of "ill call you within 24 hours". I won't hold my breath I actually get a call. Not like I can call and get someone else, I'll just get their voicemail anyway. Sigh. 

[sean of the seas]

I have 3 cruises for November 21 and 3 for April 22 booked with this shower.  I had tried many times to get a price drop for these cruises without even a reply,  I think I am paying double what they are now .  I have just used another agent to book 3 more cruises and so far it's been great to have a human sort things.   Loyalty works both ways and they can stick the $50 it's just not worth it anymore.

 

Too late to alter November but Aprils will be going back to Royal.

[sean of the seas]

1 minute ago, sean of the seas said:

I have 3 cruises for November 21 and 3 for April 22 booked with this shower.  I had tried many times to get a price drop for these cruises without even a reply,  I think I am paying double what they are now .  I have just used another agent to book 3 more cruises and so far it's been great to have a human sort things.   Loyalty works both ways and they can stick the $50 it's just not worth it anymore.

 

Too late to alter November but Aprils will be going back to Royal.

Thinking about it does anyone have an email they have used to get a cruise pulled over to Royal

 

Thanks

[colesc15]

Just sent another email and sent a message on Facebook.. See if that gets anywhere 

[colesc15]

Magically got a call back almost immediately after sending the email. Nice as can be this time around and gave me her direct extension even though that likely won't matter. Depending on what they offer for our 8 nighter, may or may not move it since it's only 2 months away and wouldn't need any servicing on it. We'll see. 

[suzyluvs2cruise]

19 hours ago, crusinthrough said:

Royal was still paying commission on cancelled cruises.  I'm not sure of the other cruise lines.  

 

Only if they were paid in full. 

[shippmates]

So sorry everyone is having such issues with this TA.  Sometimes the little perks you get are not as great as the personal service you get from a small local TA.  I learned a long time ago never give your TA the authorization to automatically charge your cruise payments to your credit card.  Hope every one gets the help they need.

[brillohead]

3 hours ago, shippmates said:

I learned a long time ago never give your TA the authorization to automatically charge your cruise payments to your credit card.

 

This isn't a general rule, though -- if you have a responsive and responsible TA, automatically paying your cruise off on time is a valuable service in my eyes.

My TA has been given permission to process all of my final payments for me with the default credit card he has on file.  This way I know it's always taken care of, even if I'm in the middle of the ocean when it comes due, and I don't have to worry about my cruise getting cancelled for non-payment.  

If I want something charged to a different credit card for a particular reason (which has come up three times now, for special cash-back offers from various banks -- like the recent AmEx offer), I just give him that card number and tell him which cruise or how much I want him to charge to that card.  Easy peasy.

[pghflyer]

On 10/22/2021 at 7:39 AM, georgiacrzr said:

There is an email address that you can send to someone at royal for them to take the booking back…only problem is that transfer back to royal will take at least 7 days

 

Is there really an email address at Royal to send your reservation back? Anyone have it?  I found this one from a 2018 thread: Agencychanges@RCCL.com