booked with TA - transfer to RCCL?

[Jill0526]

We booked our Dec 26 cruise on Oasis with a travel agent. Is it possible to transfer the booking to RCCL?

 

Just wondering....

 

Thanks!

[Powriv]

why would you want to transfer your booking to RCCL??

 

Is your travel agent not doing something you expect them to be doing??

[JanineM]

You can transfer a booking up until you have made final payment.

[Mydnite]

However, I am fairly sure that you TA will have to agree to it.

[Lynnees]

Your TA would definitely have to agree to it and unless they have done something dreadfully wrong RCL is not going to interfer or help you in the least.

 

If and only if your TA is willing I would be sure they will charge you to do it.

[Ella2]

As others have stated, the TA would have to agree to release the booking back to you, and would have to contact RCCL to do so.

 

I'm also curious as to why you would want to have the booking released back to you?

[amybeth4]

Probably to have control over things like price drops...instead of having to call the TA and then wait for a call back which could take time and they could lose their reduction.

 

If your TA agrees to this, she'll probably insist you pay her the commission RCI would've paid her. Otherwise she did work for you for free.

[Ella2]

If your TA agrees to this, she'll probably insist you pay her the commission RCI would've paid her. Otherwise she did work for you for free.

 

Maybe, but not necessarily. If all she did was make the booking and final payment hasn't been made yet, it hasn't been that much work...and no commission has been paid yet.

 

I am a TA and released a cruise booking (on DCL, different reason, the client wanted to use DVC points instead of paying for the cruise) and had NO problems doing it, nor did I charge any sort of fee. Other TAs can and do charge fees, but probably in this case at most would charge a cancellation fee.

 

The reason I asked why she wanted the booking released is I'm just curious to know if she's unhappy with the service or thinks the TA should be doing something that he/she is not doing. None of my business, I realize, but just wondering. :)

[amybeth4]

The reason I asked why she wanted the booking released is I'm just curious to know if she's unhappy with the service or thinks the TA should be doing something that he/she is not doing. None of my business, I realize, but just wondering. :)

 

Oh same here!

[gagirl7143]

TA must send a form from RCCL web site and a letter on their letterhead giving back the booking to you and rccl. It must be the owner or manager of the agency.

[Amberderossi]

You can always cancel with your TA and then book with Royal.

 

I do hope your TA charges a cancellation fee on top of any that Royal charges though. A shame to do all of that work and see nothing. TAs that are not charging a cancellation fee won't be in business in five years.

[jeff1948]

rccl requires that a ta must approve the transfer of a booking from a ta to rccl.

a good travel agent will periodically let you know if the prices drop; a good travel agent will answer questions about ports and excursions. they will let you know how to get a passport. we do earn our little bit of commission, and i do mean a little bit. it takes a lot of cruise bookings to make any sort of profit.

what is it that your travel agent is not doing for you? have you discussed this with them?

good luck

[kc320]

You can always cancel with your TA and then book with Royal.

 

I do hope your TA charges a cancellation fee on top of any that Royal charges though. A shame to do all of that work and see nothing. TAs that are not charging a cancellation fee won't be in business in five years.

 

 

Why would you assume the TA has done "all that work"??? Not everyone is a high maintenance cruiser... when I call my TA to book I have already picked out my cruise & my cabin...she simply calls RCL and gives them my information...I continue to use a TA because I like having someone to turn to if things go wrong while I am cruising or on the road..and mine has been top notch in handling any little problems that might come up...

And since the OP is still before final payment RCL would not have any fees..

 

I do hope the OP comes back with more info, inquiring minds would like to know...

[ubdkjrb]

I'm also curious why all the sympathy for the poor TA who has done all the work and then loses it all with the transfer? I don't see that kind of sympathy when it works the opposite - RCCL travel planner does all the work and then a transfer to a TA!

 

Peter

[Sue L]

I'm also curious why all the sympathy for the poor TA who has done all the work and then loses it all with the transfer? I don't see that kind of sympathy when it works the opposite - RCCL travel planner does all the work and then a transfer to a TA!

 

Peter

 

Ah maybe because the RCCL people are on salary and don't lose anything by having something transferred. You are alway so negative to TA's ....what is your problem?

[BecciBoo]

You can do this and the TA have to agree to it. You can fill out a transfer form and mail it in to RCCL. It is entirely your decision. But they have to have that form before they will take it over. I recently did this just because the TA I had was long distance in Florida and I wanted to take control of the booking. It seemed complicated but after I got the form and mailed it in it was fairly easily done. You can ask the RCCL agent to email a PDF of the form or request one from your TA.

[Kittycatwlv]

Since you are well before final payment you can cancel the cruise with the TA and rebook with RCL. If your TA charges a cancellation fee you were using the wrong TA anyway and should take back control of your reservation. I had a TA once who charged $35 for every change to my resv. even a price reduction. After that experience I don't use a TA unless I have to and i make sure they have no fees, and give an OBC or why use one.

[cabs]

When you book with a TA they own your booking and it is up to them to release it. Nothing states that they have to. If you are not in the final payment date you would have to cancel and re-book. I can say that I have never had RCCL call me to tell me the price has been lowered but my TA almost always finds me a sale.

[nycruiser80]

Ah maybe because the RCCL people are on salary and don't lose anything by having something transferred. You are alway so negative to TA's ....what is your problem?

 

 

Being a former TA I find many (not all) on this board to be not so cordial toward travel agents. And most people think its easy as pie.....while being a travel agent is not brain surgery or rocket science...even the most easiest of bookings can become very complicated because travel agents deal with the public. ANY job that deals with the public....from travel agent to real estate agent to a checkout cleark at a store all deal with the public and the public can be downright difficult, demanding and nasty at times. When you book your own trip it is one trip you are doing. If you work at a busy office multiply one trip times 20.

 

Grant it I had some easy booking over my career...such as picking up a cruise booking. But not all of those easy booking remain that way.

Bottom line most jobs look deceptively easy to those on the outside. Being someone who has changed careers I did the same thing. I am now a teacher but before I was I would say oh those teachers have it so easy with their summers off. Now I know to keep my mouth shut being a teacher is one of the most toughest gigs I have ever had. And those summers off I actually work another job. Nevertheless I love teaching and even travel but the moral of the story is that don't always be so quick to judge....beleive me being a travel agent was not as glorious as it sounded it was very long hours for really no money it was a labor of love.

[nycruiser80]

Actually they are on partial salary and partial incentive. If they convert a sales call to a booking and keep the booking thru final payment, they get incentives - both monetary and non-monetary. It may not be as much as the TA's commission, but it still comes out of their pocket when someone transfers from RCCL to a TA. As for why I'm so negative towards TA's - that's been documented in my posts many times.

 

Peter

 

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but the point of my post is that sometimes we need to learn how to respect other people's careers something I learned from being a career changer. Not saying that you are disrespectful, I am sure you are a respectful person. I once had someone on here who knew I was a TA start challenging me with scenarios just to see if a TA is worth something over booking direct. Never in my life! I was surpised that someone would actually do that so I left that post alone. I even showed some people at the office I was working at!

 

Beleive me there are some bad TAs out there but the ones I knew were very hardworking and some like myself and the office I worked for made a salary and NO COMMISSION. So it was good for the clients because we all worked together as we had a very demanding clientle and very wealthy clientle.

 

In any case I don't want to be accused of highjacking this thread so back to the OP's question.

[patseacruiser]

My sister breaks her back as a TA. The minute she gets a booking she starts researching ports, excursions, etc. for the customer. So obviously fodorspeter doesn't get it.

[G'ma]

We booked our Dec 26 cruise on Oasis with a travel agent. Is it possible to transfer the booking to RCCL?

 

Just wondering....

 

Thanks!

 

Only if the travel agent agrees to release the booking to them. Usually, they will simply cancel it....and then you can rebook with whomever.

 

They are not in a big hurry to lose commission for a booking on which they have put in considerable time......and, that's what would happen.

[nycruiser80]

I wouldn't call your response an answer, just more generalities. Of course, given your wealth of experience on these boards (5 posts) you must be correct about those here on cruisecritic not being professionals. Rubbish. The accumulated number of cruises by active cruisecritic members is thousands of times greater that the best, most experienced TA. We've "been there, done that" for most cruise questions. And finally, yes, RCCL customer service lines are manned 24/7.

 

Peter

 

Oh gee I think we meet again! Actually between their Miami and Wichita offices RCI is open 6am-11pm EST so they are not available 24/7. The last travel agency I worked for had a system my boss paid for like a doctors office where emergencies would be paged to her and if she was away WE all had to take turns being "on call" ....beleive me that was not fun! So in essance we had some sort of 24/7 assistance.

[ubdkjrb]

RCCL is NOT open 24/7 they are only open to 11pm on weekdays, these are their hours

 

Our Royal Caribbean Certified Vacation Planners are available from 9:00 AM - 11:00 PM (EST), seven days a week.

 

It is just another example of your trashing TA's and giving out WRONG info and while we are on the topic of wrong, I thought it was against board policy to have two names, Ubdkjrb and fodorspeter.

 

I stand corrected on the hours. Funny how everyone jumped on the 24/7 thing but didn't touch the knowledge issue of those here on cruisecritic. I must have been right about that. And I wonder how many travel agencies are available from 8:00 am to 11:00 pm? Oh, that's right - they give you their private cell phone numbers. But wait - if it's an issue with RCCL (like maybe a price drop), who are they going to call after 11:00 pm??

 

Peter

 

P.S. I haven't used fodorspeter for several years. I used to go round and round with a guy named Paul Therault over on the Fodors boards.

[Sue L]

I stand corrected on the hours. Funny how everyone jumped on the 24/7 thing but didn't touch the knowledge issue of those here on cruisecritic. I must have been right about that. And I wonder how many travel agencies are available from 8:00 am to 11:00 pm? Oh, that's right - they give you their private cell phone numbers. But wait - if it's an issue with RCCL (like maybe a price drop), who are they going to call after 11:00 pm??

 

Peter

 

P.S. I haven't used fodorspeter for several years. I used to go round and round with a guy named Paul Therault over on the Fodors boards.

 

You can't call RCCL directly either with a price drop after 11pm so not an issue of whether you book with RCCL or TA so your point is moot. ManyTa's are available 24/7 with email, cellphones, etc. Try asking your vacation planner for their cell number and see if they give it to you. :rolleyes: