Transferring a Reservation

[KiRiMi]

While on our cruise to Bermuda last month, we booked another Celebrity cruise on the Silhouette in July 2015 - Scandinavia and Russia. We are debating whether to transfer our reservation to a TA. We have only booked one cruise prior to this, using a TA for that one. She was helpful and efficient but did not offer us any perks for booking with her. From all the CC reviews I have read, most of you seem to get OBC or wine/dining credit. If anyone can provide advice or your experience from keeping a reservation with Celebrity versus moving it to a TA, we would very much appreciate it.

 

We would like to use Choice Air to book our air, very expensive tickets when I last checked so hoping we might reduce the cost somewhat using this option. Does anyone know if we would still be able to use Choice Air if we transfer our reservation?

[jelayne]

Yes you can use Choice Air, it doesn't matter whether your reservation is held by Celebrity or through a TA.

 

As for transferring the reservation; we recently booked 4 cruises while on board getting OBC, the drink Package, reduced deposit from Celebrity. Once we returned home we transferred those reservations to the on-line TA we normally use and received additional OBC from them. I personally prefer to have a TA handle our reservations so we don't have to deal with X's long hold times & other issues. A downside of using a TA is that if they are not open on week-ends you could miss a price drop, or see a cabin you would like to switch to but can't because the TA is closed.

 

I would suggest you check some of the larger on line TAs, many are open on weekends, to see what they will offer if you transfer your booking. Also, check to see if they charge a fee should you cancel the cruise or a change fee if you make changes to your booking.

[BBsails]

If you transfer to a TA and see a price drop on the =X= website over a weekend when the TA is closed, just take a screen shot of the =X= page showing the reduction. Phone the TA on Monday. The TA will have you send a copy of the screenshot to him/her and will contact =X= on your behalf. This has worked for me a couple of times.

 

I read that one of the big online TAs plans to be open on Saturdays soon.

 

Betsy

[KiRiMi]

Yes you can use Choice Air, it doesn't matter whether your reservation is held by Celebrity or through a TA.

 

As for transferring the reservation; we recently booked 4 cruises while on board getting OBC, the drink Package, reduced deposit from Celebrity. Once we returned home we transferred those reservations to the on-line TA we normally use and received additional OBC from them. I personally prefer to have a TA handle our reservations so we don't have to deal with X's long hold times & other issues. A downside of using a TA is that if they are not open on week-ends you could miss a price drop, or see a cabin you would like to switch to but can't because the TA is closed.

 

I would suggest you check some of the larger on line TAs, many are open on weekends, to see what they will offer if you transfer your booking. Also, check to see if they charge a fee should you cancel the cruise or a change fee if you make changes to your booking.

 

I didn't know that you could switch your cabin or book at a lower cost once you have made your reservation. I thought we were locked into this cruise and would lose our deposit and perks if we cancelled that reservation. Would you lose your perks if you do that? We received both prepaid gratuities and the beverage package when we booked on board (it was a special promotion for booking a cruise to Europe) - we wouldn't want to lose those perks. Although if he price drop was significant it might make it worth while.

[Sloop-JohnB]

I didn't know that you could switch your cabin or book at a lower cost once you have made your reservation. I thought we were locked into this cruise and would lose our deposit and perks if we cancelled that reservation. Would you lose your perks if you do that? We received both prepaid gratuities and the beverage package when we booked on board (it was a special promotion for booking a cruise to Europe) - we wouldn't want to lose those perks. Although if he price drop was significant it might make it worth while.

 

It is important that you do your homework and read the fine print very carefully.

 

And things can certainly be different before & after final payment.

 

In my own case, we recently booked a cruise that offered the 123GO promo & an OBC (Celebrity's Holiday Sailings Offer)

 

Then about 2 weeks later they put the cruise on Sale... We called up X. As nothing else had changed in the offer but the price... I said I wanted the lower price please.

 

It took less than an hour of my time on the phone with X, a good portion of that being on hold. But in the end I got it all... A savings of over $ 200 for EACH of us (as a price drop on my invoice not OBC because it was before Final Payment)

 

Have heard of others tho who have just been as lucky after Final Payment (although in that case it seems they've either been offered a cabin upgrade... Or an OBC)

 

Therefore cannot hurt to ask

 

Hope this helps,

 

Cheers!

[4774Papa]

While on our cruise to Bermuda last month, we booked another Celebrity cruise on the Silhouette in July 2015 - Scandinavia and Russia. We are debating whether to transfer our reservation to a TA. We have only booked one cruise prior to this, using a TA for that one. She was helpful and efficient but did not offer us any perks for booking with her. From all the CC reviews I have read, most of you seem to get OBC or wine/dining credit. If anyone can provide advice or your experience from keeping a reservation with Celebrity versus moving it to a TA, we would very much appreciate it.

 

We would like to use Choice Air to book our air, very expensive tickets when I last checked so hoping we might reduce the cost somewhat using this option. Does anyone know if we would still be able to use Choice Air if we transfer our reservation?

I tend to book early, in fact usually soon after cruises are announced. I always check a few of the online TAs and rarely ever find any benefit to using a TA.

 

I realize that many on cc can cite examples of bennies they have received. I don't question the accuracy of that. However,half of the time, when I check the TAs the cruise that I want to book is not even listed.

Perhaps it is because I book early. Other cruisers have told be that blank blank TA comes out with specials, that offer great deals. Super, but if you have already booked\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

 

I find that the cruises that I book tend to be popular and always go up in cost. Good example, the Around the Horn of South America.

 

A good reason to book direct is that you control your booking. I constantly check prices and if there is a price drop, I get it. I did have a cruise that dropped in price twice (in Australia).

 

I suggest doing the research and if you find a great deal (as long as the company is reliable) go for it. Of course, you might book early, like me.

[Cruise Raider]

This is what I would do....I would compare perks online. Prices will no doubt be about the same as Celebrity offers as they don't allow many TAs to offer discounts unless it is some special group deal. So, in this case, check out what perks are offered....choose the best one and call Celebrity at that time.

Ask what you would need to do to transfer the reservation? Then, ask them if you were to stay with them, would they offer you the same perk that the TA is offering. Don't lie about any inflated perks....they have to be able to see the same thing you do at the time. I would rather keep my reservation with Celebrity than go through a TA but since the TA's can be so generous, sometimes you do have to switch it over.

The key to transferring the reservation is that you have only a specified period of time in which to do so, think it is either 30 or 60 days. There is no cost to transferring it but once you do, you have to keep your reservation with that TA. I have read where others have been successful in switching from a TA to a different TA or back to the cruiseline but haven't personally done this and not really sure it wouldn't be more of a hassle than it is worth.

Like others have mentioned, make sure your TA that you transfer it to doesn't have a policy where you have to pay to cancel or lower the price on your cruise.

Transferring it should incur no charge but for ease, I would call to see if some additional perks could be offered to you.

I recently booked a cruise onboard and got a ton of perks -- transferred it to a TA shortly after getting home and got an additional $300 in OBC. Since I booked it when there was no pick your perk or 123go promotion going on at the time, the price was lower. When the 123go promo came out, the price went up by nearly $1400 -- we still got the bev package perk and the lower price, plus a boatload of OBC. Sweet!!