SELf vs TA - Transferring Booking

[mycomputer]

Is there THAT much of an advantage to transferring to a TA after you've already booked?? We are sailing in August final payment is made, we've received No OBC, No Price Drops, we picked our cabin but was supposed to be 2 level upgrade, haven't received that either (or is it too early to get these "perks"). Never used a TA before, what's the good bad and the advantage please?? Input/help.

[hftmrock]

the bad is that once you transfer it to a TA, you are no longer in control, you cant call Carnival for anything, they have to put in price reductions and they may lie to cover their commissions and tell you your not eligible and if you need something immediately, there is a change you wont be able to get them.

 

the good is that they might give you some incentive (like OBC) possibly

[summersigh]

We've got a TA who's a real jewel, very knowledgeable and I think that makes a difference. We book all of our transportation needs with her. She doesn't charge for any of her services and we get the same prices or a bit less than we could if we booked ourselves plus any OBC or other perks available. She works in an agency so if she's away someone else can handle any dire need we might have.

 

We certainly don't need someone to hold our hand but is IS nice to know someone has your back when you're away traveling.

 

For Cruises - She takes care of the booking and final payment (we tell her what we want of course), advises on Trip insurance and books that (DH requires pre-existing condition insurance), requests adjustments for price reduction, orders DH's wheelchair assistance for embarkation and disembarkation, and when we once had to cancel because of DH's medical problem she took care of getting the insurance forms for us, filling out a great deal of the information and filing it.

 

Even though in the "booking stuff" the cruise lines will only talk to her we always pick our cabin so that won't need changing and if there's a price drop I call her and she handles it right away. Once we get our booking number from her (minutes after she completes the booking) we CAN and DO use our computer to book shore excursions and make any pre-cruise purchases we desire. The TA doesn't control those.

 

I'm sure we could function without her ... but life is simply easier with her

[Crusin Hogs]

Stick with a Carnival PPV , YOU are in control of your cruise ,not a 3rd party

[vamartha]

You likely used your upgrade when you booked your cabin. It usually means you can go up two decks (and two categories) without the upcharge for being on a higher deck (or category).

 

In other words (and this is generally speaking) with a 2 category upgrade, a cabin on deck 5 is the same price as a cabin on deck 7 when usually a cabin on deck 6 is a wee bit higher than on deck 5 and a cabin on deck 7 is a wee bit higher than on deck 6. But when you book with an upgrade, all three cabins on all three decks are the priced the same. It all happens so seamlessly you might not have noticed if you booked online.

[Lisichka]

If you already made your final payment I don't think you can transfer anymore.

[txlnghrn79]

If you already made your final payment I don't think you can transfer anymore.

 

This is true.

SOURCE: I am a Travel agent

[mycomputer]

Thank you to all responses, guess we're good with what we have. No complaints just trying to get educated on the cruising ins and outs.

[love my grandkids]

Very often just before sailing we have opportunities to either upsell ourselves or get obc from ES.

 

Much easier if we are able to contact cruise line directly.

[cruzeluver]

We have a marvelous TA who has always, at minimum, given us some OBC. We have also received complimentary specialty dining as well as paid gratuities from her in the past. She also is also very well equipped to go to bat for us with a cruise line when needed and is incredibly knowledgeable (while she is a full service TA, she specializes in cruises).

 

We just transferred a booking to her this week and received $100.00 in OBC from her.

[love my grandkids]

We have a marvelous TA who has always, at minimum, given us some OBC. We have also received complimentary specialty dining as well as paid gratuities from her in the past. She also is also very well equipped to go to bat for us with a cruise line when needed and is incredibly knowledgeable (while she is a full service TA, she specializes in cruises).

 

We just transferred a booking to her this week and received $100.00 in OBC from her.

 

I thought a TA was only allowed to give $ 25 obc per person. Has this changed?

[cruising maniac]

If you book with Carnival yourself and then switch to a TA, it has to be within 90 days. We always use a TA for the OBC. This cruise is $250 so it is well worth it to me. If she is not in the office, one of her co-workers will help me with whatever I need. Unfortunately, there have been no price reductions since January so that has not been an issue. I can't imagine that she would lie about a reduction to make more commission but I can see how that could happen. I check the prices so nobody would be able to get away with that anyway. The only disadvantage is that you can not ask Carnival specifics about your booking but they will answer general questions. Using a TA helps her make a living and I get much appreciated OBC.

[esdoorn]

We use our TA for all of our trips including cruises.

 

Any trip we book whether it is airfare, hotel, cruise, packaged deal etc, all that is needed is $100.00 down payment and the trip paid in full 30 days before we travel.

 

If we run into issues while on our trip ( and we have ) our TA has always gone to bat for us and worked things out. I wouldn't take a trip without using them!