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

[JayinAZ]

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.

 

I guess I've been unlucky since only 1 cruise has gone down in price. I was lucky in that I called my TA and they took care of it promptly. NCL's customer service is not very reliable (from experience as well as the complaints on these boards) so I would have no problem letting my TA deal with them. We could go on forever, so agree to disagree.

4 days till Alaska!!!

[anniversay/grad trip]

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.

 

I am not sure which TA you deal with? But I have never seen a promo at any local travel agency that offers OBC, a bottle of wine, car services, etc etc that is offered from the travel agent and not directly from the cruiseline? I read about them all the time on these boards and after 15 cruises, I am yet to be offered those kind of perks (unless it was some sort of booking incentive directly from the cruise line itself). I read about travel agents themselves offering these incentives to their US customers. I once (a few years back) tried to book through a US website and once I did the math (with the exchange at the time) the incentive the TA was offering was not worth the rick of an unknown site.

[che5904]

I am not sure which TA you deal with? But I have never seen a promo at any local travel agency that offers OBC, a bottle of wine, car services, etc etc that is offered from the travel agent and not directly from the cruiseline? I read about them all the time on these boards and after 15 cruises, I am yet to be offered those kind of perks (unless it was some sort of booking incentive directly from the cruise line itself). I read about travel agents themselves offering these incentives to their US customers. I once (a few years back) tried to book through a US website and once I did the math (with the exchange at the time) the incentive the TA was offering was not worth the rick of an unknown site.

 

 

OK I understand now, I thought you were referring to things put out by NCL.

 

I don't use a TA, I book directly for all my vacations. I've only used a TA twice in my life and since I'm a stone throw from the U.S. it was booked there to be able to fly out of the states because that makes my trip so much cheaper. However my aunt booked an NCL cruise in Feb through a local TA (very small town) and paid $150 cheaper than the web site was showing. I know some of that was OBC (I think $50) and the rest of the savings the TA may have had a block of cabins booked and maybe added her and her friends to the "group" booking.

[gkny]

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.

 

I totally agree with grandma. I only use a TA if I can get a better deal like OBC than the cruise line but personaly I like working with the cruise line better. I think their service is better than a hurried TA. I had to call my TA twice to get a price drop or otherwise they wouldn't give it to me.