Pros/Cons of transferring an NCL booking to a TA?

[OnTheGoMom921]

Hi! I'm wondering if anyone could tell me any pros/cons of booking with a TA over directly booking with NCL.

 

We just booked an S6 suite on the Breakaway (directly from NCL) for next June. No really great specials going on now, but we did get $300 OBC for a suite booking. Through our Amex we can pay off some of our cruise with our points, but it has to be through an Amex Travel Agent. We contacted the agent, and he said he would thow in private car service to the pier if we booked with him, as well as we could use some of our Amex points to pay down our final payment (over $1,000 point credits).

 

Is there any downside to changing my reservation? We are still over 9 months out, so I won't lose the extra latitudes points. But is there something I'm missing?

 

Thank you in advance!!

~Michele:cool:

[Eastcstrob]

No Real downside, Some TA's may even throw in some added OBC in lieu of the car service or in addition to.

 

At times also AMEX will throw in OBC as a special on suites. Since you have some time before the sailing you have a chance of them running that special again.

[Eastcstrob]

Also, Home Shopping Network is running a special if you sign up online for an NCL Catalog, you can receive an additional $100 OBC. Its easy and simple I've recommended all my clients to sign up for that as a quick and easy bonus. Its also combineable with most all promotions..

[OnTheGoMom921]

Thank you!!

[luv2cruise53]

Also, Home Shopping Network is running a special if you sign up online for an NCL Catalog, you can receive an additional $100 OBC. Its easy and simple I've recommended all my clients to sign up for that as a quick and easy bonus. Its also combineable with most all promotions..

 

Of course this HSN special is also available direct through NCL.

 

I used to do the TA route however recently I have gone direct. A personal cruise consultant is always going to apply any and all discounts that come along to your booking. If you are an on the go Mom, then perhaps any extra work would best serve you through a TA. I don't know what you mean by Car Service to the pier. if this is just from your hotel to the port this does not sound like a great plus. Taxi from any NYC hotel is not that expen... if you go the TA route try for more OBC over a car service. I like the fact that a personal cruise consultant is available and I like all the OBC the line will apply.

 

Up to you. IMHO I'd stay with NCL but those AMEX points are calling you. Why doesn't NCL honor AMEXpoints?????

 

 

Kev:cool:

[willysgrandma]

Only downside is you lose control of your booking - everything else you do or have questions on or if you see a price drop, has to go through the travel agent.

 

And the agency may have a cancellation fee if you cancel after you transfer even if you cancel before final payment, so find out about that before you transfer.

 

Otherwise, it is pretty much a win-win as long as you can get in touch with the agent whenever you need to. Some seem to drop off the face of the earth once you book. Find out if someone in the office covers for him when he is not in if there are questions.

[JayinAZ]

Only downside is you lose control of your booking - everything else you do or have questions on or if you see a price drop, has to go through the travel agent.

 

 

I hear this a lot and not sure I understand. You have to call your TA instead of NCL so how is that losing control? You still have to make that phone call, it's just to a different person. You can still buy excursions, make restaurant reservations and buy all the other pre-cruise stuff they sell on the NCL website regardless of where you book. There are good and bad TA's as well as PCC's. Maybe I'm lucky cause after I book, I don't have much of a need to call and ask endless questions. Unfortunately I've only had 1 price drop and the TA did her job after I called.

[Eastcstrob]

And speaking to the "Car Service" In vegas and NY among other places I prefer to have a car service scheduled to pick me up and take me to where I need to go for a set price usually including tip.

 

As opposed to standing in line outside on the curb to wait my turn for a cab that may or may not be clean, etc.

 

We usually have a cold beverage waiting for us in the car.

 

Just depends on your level of travel and comfortablility.

[OnTheGoMom921]

Thank you all for your insights. I do appreciate them. It's nice to know there are many well informed people willing to help out!

 

I will call NCL tomorrow and see about transferring booking, TA is including private car service (from LI to NYC, which we previously paid appox. $139 for a town car to the pier) TA is also going to price out insurance for us, so we can take that off our NCL cost as well and probably do better with TA.

 

My next step is finally getting that AARP membership sent in, since I was appalled that someone would have the audacity to send a youngster such as myself :p so that maybe I can apply the 5% AARP discount. I believe it is can be combined with some other offers.

 

And finally, I did sign up for the $100 HSN OBC, so will have to see if I can get that at the same time I rebook. Thanks for the tip! I believe I read that it can be combined along with the $300 OBC for suite booking.

 

Thanks again!!!:D

[DevCruise]

I hear this a lot and not sure I understand. You have to call your TA instead of NCL so how is that losing control? You still have to make that phone call, it's just to a different person. You can still buy excursions, make restaurant reservations and buy all the other pre-cruise stuff they sell on the NCL website regardless of where you book. There are good and bad TA's as well as PCC's. Maybe I'm lucky cause after I book, I don't have much of a need to call and ask endless questions. Unfortunately I've only had 1 price drop and the TA did her job after I called.

 

For starters, you can't go to the website and make your own cruise payments (assuming you didn't pay in full at the beginning). You have to contact your TA and your TA processes the payment.

 

It also means if you have an issue with the TA (assuming you don't have one you know and love) that you can't call NCL and get them to help you.

[Demonyte]

I hear this a lot and not sure I understand. You have to call your TA instead of NCL so how is that losing control? You still have to make that phone call, it's just to a different person. You can still buy excursions, make restaurant reservations and buy all the other pre-cruise stuff they sell on the NCL website regardless of where you book. There are good and bad TA's as well as PCC's. Maybe I'm lucky cause after I book, I don't have much of a need to call and ask endless questions. Unfortunately I've only had 1 price drop and the TA did her job after I called.

 

The last sentence is the point - if TA isn't that co-operative, you're out of luck.

 

I currently have a kind of B2B booked for next year, first week via online TA and second week direct with our new PCC (got her name from a fellow-CC on our last cruise). So far (I'm handling two different bookings for both cruises) everything has been so much easier with a good PCC and now when I have problems getting one TA-made res to show in "My NCL", the site says that I should contact my travel professional and when I did, they said that I should contact NCL, so... :D (This is still very fresh so I'm gonna try and call NCL tonight)

 

Especially living many timezones away, I've felt that booking direct is much easier in whole, even though it usually means that we'll end up paying a bit more. Only reason I decided to book with TA this time was ~$200pp cheaper price for a balcony on Epic because they had a group booking, but I still don't regret my decision (...yet). ;)

[Northern Bear]

It also means if you have an issue with the TA (assuming you don't have one you know and love) that you can't call NCL and get them to help you.

 

Yup, and as I found out (the hard way) if your TA booked your flight and you have a problem, they won't talk to you, only your TA.

[DevCruise]

Yup, and as I found out (the hard way) if your TA booked your flight and you have a problem, they won't talk to you, only your TA.

 

My wife and I booked our cruise to Hawaii through a TA because we got a discount via a group booking. I think we paid $1400 versus the $1700/1800 per person that NCL was showing at the time. The TA was all nice and wonderful before booking, but afterward it took some arm twisting to get her to let me make monthly payments versus a lump sum final payment at the end. This was how I found out I couldn't make payments through MyNCL when dealing with a TA.

[newmexicoNita]

Hi! I'm wondering if anyone could tell me any pros/cons of booking with a TA over directly booking with NCL.

 

We just booked an S6 suite on the Breakaway (directly from NCL) for next June. No really great specials going on now, but we did get $300 OBC for a suite booking. Through our Amex we can pay off some of our cruise with our points, but it has to be through an Amex Travel Agent. We contacted the agent, and he said he would thow in private car service to the pier if we booked with him, as well as we could use some of our Amex points to pay down our final payment (over $1,000 point credits).

 

Is there any downside to changing my reservation? We are still over 9 months out, so I won't lose the extra latitudes points. But is there something I'm missing?

 

Thank you in advance!!

~Michele:cool:

 

the only negative is you lose control over your booking, it belongs to the TA, so anything you do, no matter how minor has to go through the agency. Other than that it is win win for you. Whenever you can get something thrown in that is a good agent you have. He knows how to keep his cliants happy.

 

Nita

[che5904]

For starters, you can't go to the website and make your own cruise payments (assuming you didn't pay in full at the beginning). You have to contact your TA and your TA processes the payment.

 

It also means if you have an issue with the TA (assuming you don't have one you know and love) that you can't call NCL and get them to help you.

 

Agree but would add. If there is an issue with your booking, let's say something happens at the NCL level (human error) or mistake originally made by TA when booking. You still have to have your TA go to battle for you and work out some sort of reasonable solution. If your TA doesn't know you well (new TA) to work it out themselves and just give you the solution. Then it can mean many phone calls back and forth: TA & NCL, TA & customer, until the issue is resolved to the customer's satisfaction. "middle man" explanation.

[newmexicoNita]

Also, Home Shopping Network is running a special if you sign up online for an NCL Catalog, you can receive an additional $100 OBC. Its easy and simple I've recommended all my clients to sign up for that as a quick and easy bonus. Its also combineable with most all promotions..

 

wow, great information...

 

Nita

[newmexicoNita]

I hear this a lot and not sure I understand. You have to call your TA instead of NCL so how is that losing control? You still have to make that phone call, it's just to a different person. You can still buy excursions, make restaurant reservations and buy all the other pre-cruise stuff they sell on the NCL website regardless of where you book. There are good and bad TA's as well as PCC's. Maybe I'm lucky cause after I book, I don't have much of a need to call and ask endless questions. Unfortunately I've only had 1 price drop and the TA did her job after I called.

 

it isn't really that big of a deal, but some people just like the idea of calling the cruise line for little things or big things for that matter, like asking to have peeople crossed referenced, or maybe moving to a slightly different cabin: I agree with you, I would much rather use a good agent than bother with everything myself but some people love to be in control all the time.

[nosekh]

Also, Home Shopping Network is running a special if you sign up online for an NCL Catalog, you can receive an additional $100 OBC. Its easy and simple I've recommended all my clients to sign up for that as a quick and easy bonus. Its also combineable with most all promotions..

The HSN will not let you enter a canadian address:mad:

[JayinAZ]

My wife and I booked our cruise to Hawaii through a TA because we got a discount via a group booking. I think we paid $1400 versus the $1700/1800 per person that NCL was showing at the time. The TA was all nice and wonderful before booking, but afterward it took some arm twisting to get her to let me make monthly payments versus a lump sum final payment at the end. This was how I found out I couldn't make payments through MyNCL when dealing with a TA.

 

Seems like you can't even make a payment through NCL.com nowadays. NCL website certainly has issues. Check out the thread started today. My TA automatically set up so that the final payment is made a week prior to its due date using my credit card. Doesn't seem like a hassle to me. If the choice is use NCL or use a TA but save hundreds, then I'll always choose the TA. "Control of my booking" I don't think so. FYI, when NCLs lame website wouldn't let me book a specialty restaurant for 3 I called NCL and after several calls they hopefully fixed the problem, so NCL will try to fix a problem if asked, even when booked thru a TA.

Pay more if you want, your choice.

[anniversay/grad trip]

Agree but would add. If there is an issue with your booking, let's say something happens at the NCL level (human error) or mistake originally made by TA when booking. You still have to have your TA go to battle for you and work out some sort of reasonable solution. If your TA doesn't know you well (new TA) to work it out themselves and just give you the solution. Then it can mean many phone calls back and forth: TA & NCL, TA & customer, until the issue is resolved to the customer's satisfaction. "middle man" explanation.

 

CHE5904...I noticed that you are also from Ontario, Canada, as I am. Do you happen to know if Canadians are eligible for the HSN promo $100 OBC credit everyone on these boards are talking about? We seem to get shafted when it comes to the "perks" lol

[anniversay/grad trip]

CHE5904...I noticed that you are also from Ontario, Canada, as I am. Do you happen to know if Canadians are eligible for the HSN promo $100 OBC credit everyone on these boards are talking about? We seem to get shafted when it comes to the "perks" lol

 

Seems I didn;t scroll far enough down....apparently Canadians are NOT eligible for the HSN promo...like I said we get shafted for all the perks....

[che5904]

Seems I didn;t scroll far enough down....apparently Canadians are NOT eligible for the HSN promo...like I said we get shafted for all the perks....

 

I'm not sure what other perks that you don't think we are eligible for. We get mastercard, military, aarp, latitudes, total rewards and any U.S. booking promos and possibly NCL world points (but I'm not sure about that one).

 

HSN would not be put out by NCL but by HSN.

[DevCruise]

Seems like you can't even make a payment through NCL.com nowadays. NCL website certainly has issues. Check out the thread started today. My TA automatically set up so that the final payment is made a week prior to its due date using my credit card. Doesn't seem like a hassle to me. If the choice is use NCL or use a TA but save hundreds, then I'll always choose the TA. "Control of my booking" I don't think so. FYI, when NCLs lame website wouldn't let me book a specialty restaurant for 3 I called NCL and after several calls they hopefully fixed the problem, so NCL will try to fix a problem if asked, even when booked thru a TA.

Pay more if you want, your choice.

 

It sounds like you have a great TA and I'm happy for you. We didn't and it sucked.

[Illinitrvlr]

Just an FYI, I saw on an earlier post that Canadians are eligible for the HSN promotion just not electronically. You have to call the 800# to get registered. Hope this helps:)

[Bridge Maven]

I hear this a lot and not sure I understand. You have to call your TA instead of NCL so how is that losing control? You still have to make that phone call, it's just to a different person. You can still buy excursions, make restaurant reservations and buy all the other pre-cruise stuff they sell on the NCL website regardless of where you book. There are good and bad TA's as well as PCC's. Maybe I'm lucky cause after I book, I don't have much of a need to call and ask endless questions. Unfortunately I've only had 1 price drop and the TA did her job after I called.

 

JayinAZ - this is the problem of losing control. If you see a price drop and you booked your cruise directly through the cruise line, you can call the cruise line directly and will have an e-mail confirming your price adjustment by the time you get off the phone. If you book through a TA, you have to contact the TA, who might not be available at the time, and then after you finally reach the TA, the TA has to call the cruise line on your behalf. I know of many situations where someone booked a cruise through a TA and was not able to benefit from a price reduction because by the time their TA called the cruise line the price had been raised again.