Booked thru Celebrity-should I transfer to big box travel?

[nhsails]

Hi Everyone and a happy Wednesday.

Booked our first cruise in years direct with Celebrity. Fair price for A1 on hump, got the classic drink package. Hearing all sorts of stories about transferring to a TA or on-line for extra perks? Haven't used a brick and mortar TA since we moved 5 years ago. Have only used an on-line once for a trip to Europe. Looking at the Big Box Store Travel agency. Price is within $10, same classic drink package but $175 OBC. Any experience with them or someone better, my oh so wise friends?

 

D

[bphman]

Shop around and go with the best deal. Some are better than others. We use a large internet company but get very personal service with the person we use. She always gives us a great deal with price and OBC. We have also gotten lousy service from other internet vendors. You have nothing to lose.

[cruzzzinma]

We have used a big box store travel agency for 8 cruises and a London vacation package and have gotten very good OBC. We booked a Viking River cruise for 2015 and got $200 in OBC and a $1200 store gift card (which can be exchanged for cash of we choose not to shop.)

 

Service has been very good but you do deal with whoever answers the phone. They do not have email capability. Supervisors get engaged quickly if there is a need. We are doing a b2b in the fall. Last Sunday, an a1 hump cabin with an oversized balcony became available. For some reason, my reservation was locked. They worked it with Celebrity to hold the cabin until they could get into the reservation. It got done.

[PNW Traveler]

We booked through big box for a Panama Canal cruise because of a big OBC. Telephone service was very good, and we felt it was the best booking method for that particular cruise. For our Alaska cruise this year, we booked through Celebrity and then transferred the booking to big box within the 60 day window. Again, the OBC and incentives were the reason. A few months after transferring the booking a big box service representative telephoned to offer an even sweeter deal and then updated our reservation. (great service!)

However..... for a 2015 cruise which was booked directly with the cruise line - our stateroom category sold out early and within the 60 day window. We did not transfer this booking to an agent.

[KirkNC]

Why not, it's money in yout pocket.

[Balloon Man]

Ahem. I thought we weren't allowed to mention TAs on CC. This posting seems to me to be a good reason why we should.

[debk68]

We have been leery of booking outside the cruiseline. We missed a cruise last year (flight delayed due to mechanical issues) and the RCI agent was able to book us on a cruise that left the next day. I don't know that at TA would be able to do that.

 

But the incentives are enticing!

[Duanerice1]

Ahem. I thought we weren't allowed to mention TAs on CC. This posting seems to me to be a good reason why we should.

 

I always assumed we couldn't mention TA's because there are some that advertise on this site. Not fair tot he advertisers I guess. Not sure though.

 

I used a TA for the first time this upcoming cruise. The $350 OBC got me :) Why pass it up? I booked through Celebrity them immediately transferred.

Duane

[Cruzin with BQ & CQ]

I always use a big box TA as well. In addition to the OBC's, the same pricing as the cruise line, I also use the big box store credit card which gives me a 4-5% rebate on the cost of the cruise. Also the service has always been good. The thing for us though is that we can drive to the port so we don't have to worry about missed flights, etc.

[RickT]

The choice is yours. I only deal with companies I know and trust.

 

The one word of caution I can give is to triple check what their cancellation policy is and whether or not they will charge extra in the event you need to make changes to your reservation.

 

There have been a number of threads discussing how a TA has charged a cancellation fee when X didn't charge any.

[nhsails]

Thank you all for your feedback. Wasn't asking for a specific TA recommendation, just some experiences one may have had.

Went ahead and transferred. Asked all 2 pages of my questions I learned to ask from these terrific Board members, and very happy with the decision. Plus an extra $175 OBC...Happy Dance may officially begin.

 

D

[nhsails]

Thank you Balloon Man, I agree, why I asked ;)

[cbr663]

Sounds like the same TA I was looking at, as the offers are the same. If I go ahead an transfer to the TA, can I still manage the reservation online at Celebrity? I am thinking of things like adding the hotel pre-cruise, excursions and even Choice Air.

[TMLAalum]

The warehouse travel agency we use does charge a $25 fee to obtain a price reduction, which we are responsible for finding. When we changed to a higher cabin category for a higher cost, there was no fee.

 

We have had excellent service from whomever answers our calls, and they are always willing to call Celebrity to get questions answered and issues sorted out.

Edited July 9, 2014 by TMLAalum

[OhioDogLover]

We booked our X cruise for next month on board, then transferred it to a TA we know and like within the window. We got some more OBC. We added Choice Air and I was able to do that myself. I couldn't make changes to the cruise reservation, but the Choice Air part was easy to do. (Luckily, we didn't want to change the cruise reservation, so it worked out just fine.)

I'm not sure we always get the best deal, but we get pretty good ones, and we are confident in the TAs (we have two we use depending on the deal, the cruise, etc.) we use.

My suggestion is look around and see what there is out there.

 

Ohiodoglover

[DoubleEntry]

We booked a Trip on Reflection while on the Explorer of the Seas. We got a great discount and OBC, better for us than the 123 which wasn't being offered yet. We had it transferred to an online big agency who immediately gave us full gratuities.

 

Well worth it.

 

Jeff

[phoenix_dream]

Why use a TA? Often better perks (sometimes a lot better), sometimes better room prices, someone to help if there is a problem, someone to guide you if you are not an experienced cruiser.

 

Why not use a TA? Cancellation and change fees, depending on the TA but most online ones have them. More limited working hours - can't just 'jump on' reduced pricing or the like if the agency is closed on week-ends. Will not be allowed to speak directly with Celebrity about changes or issues as you must go through the TA (although sometimes we have had some luck doing this if our TA was closed and we called the Captains Club rather than the regular number, but no guarantees).

 

Would I do it for $175 difference when all was said and done? Possibly, if I was pretty confident I would not need to cancel or change - would definitely not do it for a cruise a long time out for those reasons.

[GranthamMommy]

I use an Internet TA. With the 123 Go, I got to pick my perk from Celebrity and One from the TA. Then the TA had a 4th of July sale and I got the third perk. Can't complain with Free Drinks, Gratuities and OBC! Price of the cabin was about the same. At least I know my onboard bill won't be too outrageous!

 

It's all about feeling comfortable making your vacation investment.

 

Enjoy!

[Dancin85]

Ahem. I thought we weren't allowed to mention TAs on CC. This posting seems to me to be a good reason why we should.

 

I was wondering the same thing...thanks for asking....

[H2OH!]

we have used a brick and mortar TA, a big box travel company and celebrity.

 

the big box agency gave us huge OBC and other incentives. downside was it was $ 25.00 per price drop which is no big deal IF the price drop is significant. Luckily, we were in a CS and the price just went up and up and up.

 

The brick and mortar TA is hard to use when weekends and evening price drops occur and you want to jump on them.

 

It is always worth trying to see if it works for you.

[bobsfamily]

I have booked with Celebrity, told them what the TA(whatever kind) was offering and they have so far matched it, plus a bit more.

You might just ask before moving the booking.

[ClaudiaB]

We have booked all of our cruises direct with Celebrity and the last three we've then transferred to a big on-line agency. We retained our perks from Celebrity and they gave us more. We never knew about this until we were chatting with some cruise critic people at a gathering on board two years ago.

Recently we booked directly with the agency. We have the name, number and email of the agent we've used in the past so we are able to keep a "relationship" going. Not only did we keep our $300 OBC from Celebrity (we were using an old Passages reservation) but because of a promotion we got $300 additional OBC, free gratuities, and a premium beverage package. (we are sailing in an S1 so the perks are a bit less if it's not a suite).

In addition, since we've been using this online TA, we receive an additional $25 OBC for each cruise they've booked.

The only downside (if it IS one..) is we have to fork over the final payment about a month earlier. Not really a deal since we have to pay it anyway.

Looking forward to our cruise with a beverage package. We've never had one before.

Edited July 11, 2014 by ClaudiaB

[imjustvisiting]

We have booked all of our cruises direct with Celebrity and the last three we've then transferred to a big on-line agency. We retained our perks from Celebrity and they gave us more. We never knew about this until we were chatting with some cruise critic people at a gathering on board two years ago.

Recently we booked directly with the agency. We have the name, number and email of the agent we've used in the past so we are able to keep a "relationship" going. Not only did we keep our $300 OBC from Celebrity (we were using an old Passages reservation) but because of a promotion we got $300 additional OBC, free gratuities, and a premium beverage package. (we are sailing in an S1 so the perks are a bit less if it's not a suite).

In addition, since we've been using this online TA, we receive an additional $25 OBC for each cruise they've booked.

The only downside (if it IS one..) is we have to fork over the final payment about a month earlier. Not really a deal since we have to pay it anyway.

Looking forward to our cruise with a beverage package. We've never had one before.

 

Great to read, thank you for sharing! We only did this once because we booked on the ship. Can you always book with cruise line and then go to TA?

[jelayne]

Big box, warehouse charge a change fee & a cancellation fee. We used them for about a dozen cruises but moved to other TAs when they started the change fee.

 

Most of our current booking are with a large on-line TA they have a small cancellation fee and no fee for changes. We don't book cruises we think we might take, or placeholder cruises so don't even think about the canx fee. Over the past 3 1/2 years the refundable OBC we have gotten is over $5k, so if I do have to cancel a cruise a $50pp charge is nothing in comparison to what we have gotten.

[Merriem]

Hi Everyone and a happy Wednesday.

Booked our first cruise in years direct with Celebrity. Fair price for A1 on hump, got the classic drink package. Hearing all sorts of stories about transferring to a TA or on-line for extra perks? Haven't used a brick and mortar TA since we moved 5 years ago. Have only used an on-line once for a trip to Europe. Looking at the Big Box Store Travel agency. Price is within $10, same classic drink package but $175 OBC. Any experience with them or someone better, my oh so wise friends?

 

D

Shop around. I get about 11% OBC. CElebrity wanted to give me a bottle of wine. That big box OBC is in addition to the one that celebrity was offering with the promo package.