Questions about moving a booking from Princess to a TA

[Go-Bucks!]

1 - To move a booking from Princess to a TA, do I just give the TA the booking number?

 

2 - Can we keep the same room?

 

3 - If the TA is offering OBC, wine, or other perks, are we eligible to get them? If we got OBC from Princess, do we get to keep it?

 

4 - Anything else I should know? :confused:

 

Thanks!!

[jkeller527]

YES to all questions and you will gain someone who cares about your vacation.

[caribill]

You may also have to give the Travel Agent a note they can give to Princess showing that you want to transfer the booking to that TA.

[Colo Cruiser]

It would be up to the TA whether they will apply the extra goodies to the booking. It would be best to check that before you transfer.

It would be based on the fare type whether you can keep your OBC as well. Again check with Princess and the TA if you can keep the OBC.

[DrivesLikeMario]

You usually have to request the transfer in writing on a form. Princess can fax it to you or you can call them directly and tell them who you want to transfer the booking to, but most likely you will not know the TA's number that they book under. The form usually gets faxed into Princess, then after a few days, the booking is transferred to the new agent.

 

Colo is right about the OBC that you got with Princess. It depends on a few variables whether you'll get to keep it, but usually you do.

[Tak8]

I did this for my Christmas cruise this year. I had to fax Princess a form to transfer to an agency. I kept the same room and OBC and the agency added another credit plus I got a better rate.

[kooljamming]

1 - To move a booking from Princess to a TA, do I just give the TA the booking number? I had to email my TA giving him permission. It took a few days for the switch.

 

2 - Can we keep the same room? Yes

 

3 - If the TA is offering OBC, wine, or other perks, are we eligible to get them? Yep, plus a better rate

 

If we got OBC from Princess, do we get to keep it? Not sure

 

4 - Anything else I should know? :confused:

Once you transfer your booking, Princess will not provide you with any information on your cruise. You will need to go through your TA at all times. If your TA is closed or unavailable, this can be frustrating but often a worthwhile trade-off for the added extra and lower fare. You can wait closer to final payment before transfering the booking. You can still use the customer sevice for questions and concerns at weird hours. I almost missed out on switching to an aft balcony because my TA was closed when I saw the cabin available online. Luckily it worked out:D My final payment is due soon and he is away but he gives me great rates and extra.

 

Thanks!!

 

Good Luck!

[AndyTheK]

I plan to book my next cruise when we are aboard in December. Asked my TA how to go about transferring the booking to him. He said all I have to do is tell the FCC when I book who to transfer to, and tell my TA the booking number. He will do all the rest.

[chis52]

I just checked with a TA who has been intouch with Princess regarding my booking and she tells me Princess will charge a £100 admin fee per cabin, so really its not worth my doing that. Do they only charge that fee for English transfers?

[DrivesLikeMario]

chis52 - That is definitely not the case in the US. You can transfer as many times as you want up until final payment for free. Sorry!

[gsrunyan]

We transfered our booking to our TA without getting Princess involved. We called our TA, told him the deal that we got, asked him to get us a better room for the same price, he did that and gave us some OBC that we didn't get before as well as a plate of chocolate strawberries. I then cancelled the reservation with Princess (when they asked why, I told them my TA got us a better room), they cancelled the original reservation and refunded my deposit to my credit card in 48 hours.

 

If Princess does not charge a cancellation fee in England, this may be a way to avoid the GBP100 charge.

 

Glenn

[DrivesLikeMario]

They do charge a cancellation fee in the UK, so that would not work. Be careful cancelling a booking and re-booking the same cruise with a TA. There are times when they will not allow the re-booking if they see what you've done.

[gertz]

You need to know both sides. You should not transfer your booking until you have read all the terms and conditions of the TA. Also have it made clear to you by the TA everything that is being transferred, what incentives your are getting from the TA and most important the price. Once you transfer to TA you do not have as much control of the booking so make sure you are satisfied with price and perks.

Depending on the cruise we will not transfer from Princess unless we are saving at least 8% to 10% or more.

[chis52]

Thanks for your comments about the admin charge. Looking at the long term I will stick with Princess - you never know, the upgrade fairy might come along in the future as we don't travel 'til April 2011 :)

[chapultepec]

Kooljamming is correct about Princess not sharing any info after you transfer . . when I did that 2 yrs. ago and had a question outside of my T/A's hours, Princess refused to give me even non specific details, telling me that since I had transferred the booking, I would have to contact my T/A directly.

 

Another benefit you lose when switching to a T/A is the ability to monitor your payments online as that feature is disabled by Princess.

 

Finally, it almost backfired on me because I wanted to keep the same aft. Caribe cabin I had booked and between the time Princess cancelled, and my T/A took over . . the cabin was gone but thankfully she was able to rebook it. Although I did receive a small OBC for switching, the original cost of the cruise was the same as if I had stayed with Princess as my T/A informed me that in Canada, they (T/A's) are not allowed to undercut Princess. Since then I continue to book with Princess without any major hassles.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Kooljamming is correct about Princess not sharing any info after you transfer . . when I did that 2 yrs. ago and had a question outside of my T/A's hours, Princess refused to give me even non specific details, telling me that since I had transferred the booking, I would have to contact my T/A directly.

 

Another benefit you lose when switching to a T/A is the ability to monitor your payments online as that feature is disabled by Princess.

 

Finally, it almost backfired on me because I wanted to keep the same aft. Caribe cabin I had booked and between the time Princess cancelled, and my T/A took over . . the cabin was gone but thankfully she was able to rebook it. Although I did receive a small OBC for switching, the original cost of the cruise was the same as if I had stayed with Princess as my T/A informed me that in Canada, they (T/A's) are not allowed to undercut Princess. Since then I continue to book with Princess without any major hassles.

 

1. That is not unusual at all that any cruise line would not discuss your booking with you when you have a TA. Every cruise line does that. They have good reason for that rule too.

 

2. Why didn't you go through a US TA? They can cut Princess' prices without any problems. By not using a US TA, you're missing out on lower prices. Maybe the exchange rate makes it unbeneficial for you to do that?

 

3. If you transferred your booking from Princess to a TA, or from one TA to another, there would have been no chance of losing your cabin. They do not cancel your booking, they simply change the TA's name and agency info. on the booking. The cabin remains "sold" the whole time.

[regnig]

I plan to book my next cruise when we are aboard in December. Asked my TA how to go about transferring the booking to him. He said all I have to do is tell the FCC when I book who to transfer to, and tell my TA the booking number. He will do all the rest.

 

If your "next cruise" was held by your TA when you book another while on board the Coral the future sales rep should ask you if you want the booking given to the same TA. If you tell her/him yes they should just email the booking to your TA for you on the spot. Or at least that is what has occured with our bookings the last couple of years. We are from the US so maybe it could be different for you.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Yes, Larsen is correct - even if you're in Canada.

[gertz]

Kooljamming is correct about Princess not sharing any info after you transfer . . when I did that 2 yrs. ago and had a question outside of my T/A's hours, Princess refused to give me even non specific details, telling me that since I had transferred the booking, I would have to contact my T/A directly.

 

Another benefit you lose when switching to a T/A is the ability to monitor your payments online as that feature is disabled by Princess.

 

Finally, it almost backfired on me because I wanted to keep the same aft. Caribe cabin I had booked and between the time Princess cancelled, and my T/A took over . . the cabin was gone but thankfully she was able to rebook it. Although I did receive a small OBC for switching, the original cost of the cruise was the same as if I had stayed with Princess as my T/A informed me that in Canada, they (T/A's) are not allowed to undercut Princess. Since then I continue to book with Princess without any major hassles.

 

 

Did you know all this before you transferred it? I would think not or you would not have transferred it and if you did Why?

A little due dilligence would have helped.

[Pia1913]

I plan to book my next cruise when we are aboard in December. Asked my TA how to go about transferring the booking to him. He said all I have to do is tell the FCC when I book who to transfer to, and tell my TA the booking number. He will do all the rest.

 

When you book on board, Natalie (I hope she's still there for your cruise) will automatically ask you whether you want this new booking sent to your current TA. If answer is Yes.........it's automatic.

[Layla]

Several years ago I transferred a booking from Princess to a TA. All I had to do was fax Princess with the name of the TA and my permission to transfer the booking. Then, the TA contacted Princess and took over the booking. No cancellation involved.

[pjs9876]

The other day someone posted about saving $400. I checked our cruise for July and it was cheaper. I called Princess and reported that I found it lower on the big online agency. They advised me to switch. If all the money had been from FCC it would have worked smoothly. However, we put down a little deposit for my mother and are getting 2 cabins. They would have to cancel our reservations and refund the money (taking about 4 weeks), that did not worry me but they said it would take Princess up to 72 hours to process even if we did a fax. They was a chance we would lose our cabins. We like the minis on Emerald and we have the last two cabins on starboard. So we decided that it was worth it to us to keep the cabins. I will watch the price to see what it does but I don't have the flexibility that I usually have to switch.

[thomasstuart]

Hello Friends.

I need the two luxurious cruise on rent for the one month if you have any contact or want to give then reply me.

Thanks.

[Go-Bucks!]

The reason I asked these questions is that I was going to book a cruise with an online TA who's price was $500pp less than the Princess price and at least $200pp less than any other online TA, but when the room that I absolutely wanted became available, the TA was closed (I couldn't book it on the Internet because we used FCC's for the deposit). So, I booked with Princess just to get this certain room but intend to move it to the cheaper TA asap.

 

I am just concerned that if this transfer is not done properly I'll lose the room (like if they cancel it and rebook). I was hoping that I could simply call the online TA and tell them I want to move the booking to them and they can handle the rest. Some of the posts here seem to have some contradictory info, so I'm not sure if I should contact Princess first or the online TA first. :confused:

[caribill]

I was hoping that I could simply call the online TA and tell them I want to move the booking to them and they can handle the rest. Some of the posts here seem to have some contradictory info, so I'm not sure if I should contact Princess first or the online TA first. :confused:

 

A transfer is a transfer and should not involve any cancellation of a booking. And any OBC from using an FCC should transfer with the rest of the reservation.