Transferring Res to a TA??

[jlazz]

I recently booked a cruise online. Can anyone tell me the advantages or disadvantages to transferring my reservation to a travel agent?

[Northshorecruisers]

Did you book online directly with the cruiseline or with an online TA?

 

If you booked with the line directly, you can probably fax them a letter to switch it to your TA. Check first to be sure it's not going to cost you anything to do that. I've done it before and there was no charge, but rules could vary depending on the cruise line.

 

Changing it over to a TA might get you some OBC or the TA might send you a small gift to your cabin. Again, depends on the TA. Also, a good TA will watch for price drops for you prior to the final payment.

 

If you know the TA you plan to change the reservation to, check with them and they can probably answer all your questions.

[Guest maddycat]

I see that you will be cruising on the Explorer (love that ship). With RCI you can only transfer to a TA with in 60 days of booking the cruise and before final payment. You can get a form from RCI's website, fill it out and fax it to the TA.

 

We usually book onboard to get OBC and a reduced deposit. We have the booking assigned to our regular TA at that time. We've been using him for years. We get some modest OBC from him. He never charges for any changes...price drop, changing cabin, cancellation as some TA do. He's available 7 days a week and responds to our inquiries quickly. If we have any problems he will help us resolve them. All very important to us. He was recommended to us by people we met on a cruise

 

Some TA give free travel insurance, pre-paid gratuities, specialty restaurant dinners, spa treatments. You have to shop around. Be careful and ask lots of questions. Some TA are hard to contact once you sign with them.

[Krazy Kruizers]

If you have booked with anline agency other than RCI -- definitely ask if they are going to charge you a fee to change TA's.

[varoo]

I recently booked a cruise online. Can anyone tell me the advantages or disadvantages to transferring my reservation to a travel agent?

Advantages:

 

- receiving additional perks from the travel agent, such as prepaid gratuities and onboard credit.

 

- sometimes the travel agent may get you a better rate by putting you into a group, although that may sometimes require canceling and re-booking.

 

 

Disadvantages:

 

- You can no longer contact the cruise line directly but need to go through the travel agent for every little thing.

That can be a pain when you call the TA and get voice mail - leave a message - wait for TA to contact the cruise line - followed by the TA calling you back and leaving you a message.

Then if you have follow-up questions or another request, needing to go through the whole cycle again.

 

- You lose access to all your payment information on your own account and the ability to make simple changes yourself. You can no longer even make a payment yourself but must have the travel agent do it for you.

 

You just need to trust that your travel agent really did make that final payment to the cruise line for you.

Most are reliable and there is no problem, but every once in a while there is a report where someone asked the travel agent to make the final payment on time, but the travel agent failed to pay the cruise line, or there was an error and the transaction did not go through, or the payment was applied to the wrong account.

 

Since you will no longer to be able to see any payment information on your own account, it is important to make sure your travel agent sends you a copy of the cruise line's invoice immediately after final payment, showing that you really are paid in full.

- There are some travel agents who charge a fee for any cancellations or changes, so always check your travel agent's policy up front to avoid being stuck with unpleasant surprises later.

 

As previously mentioned, if you are going to transfer a Royal Caribbean reservation to a travel agent it needs to be done within 60 days of booking.

 

The transfer form is in pdf format, so it is easiest just to fill it out online. That is what we do.

 

Here is a link to Royal Caribbean's transfer form:

 

TA_TransferForm.pdf

 

You can either fax it or just send it to your travel agent as an email attachment and let them take care of it.