Questions about moving a booking from Princess to a TA

[Stevesan]

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:

 

You were lucky you couldn't book with them. They might have been closed when you had an urgent, or even emergency, situation while in transit or at a port.

[Steelers36]

I am sorry to hear you got suckered by a Canadian TA. I doubt that story about "undercutting". I am sure Canadian TA's can do whatever they want.

 

Your biggest problem is that most Canadian TA's are going to quote you in CAD and won't even deal in USD. Why should that concern you? Easy - Princess has total RIP OFF currency conversion rates. For example, all this fall (and earlier), the difference in fares is 25% from USD to CAD. But, the currencies are almost at par these days.

 

Princess will tell you they are fixing this in 2010. Well, why wait? And their "fix" is a joke. The conversion rate is still ridiculous high (in the teens).

 

Princess needs to wake up and get real on currency conversion. If you check out Celebrity/Royal Caribbean, you will see that they convert at the going market rate which is very fair.

 

As you were advised, do not put up with garbage from Canadian TA's. Either book direct with Princess in USD or book with a US TA.

[tarstravels]

For DriveslikeMario...you listed Ocean Princess upcoming med cruise in 2010. which one are you going on? we're thinking of Oct 2010--7-day cruise on the Ocean P.(previously known as Tahitian P) Doyou know if cabins are going to be refurbished on this ship? I've watched the drydock photos going on now..but seems to be common rooms and not cabins. some of the reviews say rooms are old and soft goods in need of repair. wondered what you knew was going to happen to this ship...some rumor of Apr 2010 refurbishment. know anything about it? thanks.

oops! sorry...this posted in wrong thread. i'm new!

[Go-Bucks!]

You were lucky you couldn't book with them. They might have been closed when you had an urgent, or even emergency, situation while in transit or at a port.

 

 

Thanks for your opinion, but now the difference in price is $1,000pp because Princess just upped their price on this cruise! Being able to call them in an urgent situation isn't worth $2,000 extra; that's what trip insurance is for! ;)