Just wondering if anyone has heard of this regarding travel agents. ...

[laginog]

We booked 3 cabins through Royal Caribbean. Two were single occupancy & one was double. We received several offers of Onboard credit from travel agents & decided which was best to go with. I completed the transfers online & got confirmation within an hour that the booking had been transferred. I emailed the travel agent & told him. Now he says he needs another $250 toward the deposit for each of the single cabins. If we don't pay it, our onboard credit goes down to $50 per cabin. We have cruised 25+ times but have never heard of this. We have booked with this agency one other time, but not this guy. It's not just about the money....it makes me wonder if I can trust him. He never told me about the additional deposit prior to the transfer, but said we had talked about it. I reread every single email with no mention of it.....and he had copies of our bookings. Couple of questions---

Is this the normal way things are handled?

If not, can I get the booking back somehow....or do I just pay the deposit & hope it turns out ok.

Frustrated!!!!!!!

[flczr]

Sounds fishy to me.

[foxgoodrich]

You might be able to get your booking back, but the TA will have to agree to it and initiate the process I believe. (Others may have more first-hand knowledge of this as I'm passing on what I've learned here.)

 

We use a TA, and when I give her a credit card number for deposits, the charge is always paid to Royal, not to the travel agency. So my TA is like a middleman just passing along my payment. I'm guessing your travel agency must have a specific policy requiring bigger deposits on single bookings??? Nevertheless, anything additional you pay as deposits should go directly to Royal, not to the TA or his agency. (He'll get his commission after the cruise is fully paid.) So it should be okay.:)

Judy

[tgnorton]

Ask to speak to a supervisor. It may be to get the full OBC, the deposit has to be for double occupancy.

[Fouremco]

We booked 3 cabins through Royal Caribbean. Two were single occupancy & one was double. We received several offers of Onboard credit from travel agents & decided which was best to go with. I completed the transfers online & got confirmation within an hour that the booking had been transferred. I emailed the travel agent & told him. Now he says he needs another $250 toward the deposit for each of the single cabins. If we don't pay it, our onboard credit goes down to $50 per cabin. We have cruised 25+ times but have never heard of this. We have booked with this agency one other time, but not this guy. It's not just about the money....it makes me wonder if I can trust him. He never told me about the additional deposit prior to the transfer, but said we had talked about it. I reread every single email with no mention of it.....and he had copies of our bookings. Couple of questions---

Is this the normal way things are handled?

If not, can I get the booking back somehow....or do I just pay the deposit & hope it turns out ok.

Frustrated!!!!!!!

I've neither experienced nor heard of a TA demanding a higher downpayment than accepted by a cruise line, let alone threatening to reduce OBC if you don't fork over the extra. As RCI is satisfied with your downpayment, it seems pretty clear that the TA plans on keeping the additional funds until final payment.

 

Given today's interest rates, you aren't going to make enough on $500 for this to be a financial issue, particularly compared to the lost OBC. Whether you want to fight it on principle is a different thing. Based on what you've said, you have pretty solid grounds to fight this.

 

Either way, this would be my last time using this particular travel agent, although I might consider using the same agency if the powers to be resolve the issue in your favour. I had an issue with an agent who failed to secure beverage packages that we were to receive as a booking perk. We finally had the agency resolve the issue to our satisfaction, but we moved our business to a different agent.

[laginog]

It is the principle. Plus....I had mentioned the cruise to a few friends and told them they needed $250 deposit whether they booked a single cabin or $250 each on a double.

 

I'm wondering if this TA reads Cruisecritic. Right after posting this, I got the following email...

 

"I will go ahead and honor the onboard credit for you even though the deposit requirement isn't met to receive the group onboard credit. Invoices will be sent shortly."

 

And they were.....!!! So....why argue with me & get me worked up....and then do it anyway???!!!! Aaarrrggghhhh!!!

[Clarea]

They should have told you up front, but it is normal that the travel agent needs to have the full deposit (not a discounted deposit from one of Royal's promos) in order to put you in a group.

[whitshel]

I have had a T/A tell me that if I wanted to be part of the group booking( lower price and/or OBC) that we would have to pay a full deposit even tho we did a next cruise deposit of $100, the group rate was only minimally lower and the obc was the same so we opted to not be booked as part of the group. So who ever you are talking to is probably right.

 

The reason why your OBC probably goes down if you didn't fork over the money is you would come out of the group booking. Just the way things work I thnk

 

Again this is just my experience that happen to me.

 

P.S. I think I am using the same website you do to get many different quotes and offers from different T/A's and then I can compare. You do get lots of choices but you really need to know how each one works and all the different cancellation rules.

Edited June 3, 2016 by whitshel

[jamesr3939]

We use the largest cruise booking agency in Northern CA and have never had an issue with deposits or OBC.

 

Once there was some miscommunication between Carnival (who our agency stopped handling) that resulted in less OBC than promised. The agency ate it and gave us the full OBC we had expected.

 

There is nothing like having a long term relationship with your TA. We have used this same TA for +30 years and it pays off every time we book any vacation.

 

BTW: our final payments and deposits always go directly to RCCL and not the agency. If they go to the agency I would be a little concerned about a Ponzi scheme going on.

 

Back when we were a little less educated about group cruises another TA our friends used "stole" the "free" cabin for herself and husband. The group would have been entitled to OBC for the amount of the "free" cabin, but she took it and never told us about it.

 

Subsequently, we have used the other TA who always fairly divides up the OBC among the group. Many times we get lumped into a "group" being handled by the agency so we can later qualify for the "group" OBC.

 

That's why you use a TA.

Edited June 3, 2016 by jamesr3939

[Fouremco]

It is the principle. Plus....I had mentioned the cruise to a few friends and told them they needed $250 deposit whether they booked a single cabin or $250 each on a double.

 

I'm wondering if this TA reads Cruisecritic. Right after posting this, I got the following email...

 

"I will go ahead and honor the onboard credit for you even though the deposit requirement isn't met to receive the group onboard credit. Invoices will be sent shortly."

 

And they were.....!!! So....why argue with me & get me worked up....and then do it anyway???!!!! Aaarrrggghhhh!!!

I'm very happy that it worked out for you, whatever the reason. :)

[Merion_Mom]

They should have told you up front, but it is normal that the travel agent needs to have the full deposit (not a discounted deposit from one of Royal's promos) in order to put you in a group.

 

Exactly. The TA made offers to you based on putting you in one of his "groups". That requires a larger deposit.

 

Heck, I just booked a similar cruise and she asked for $500. I didn't argue. I just gave her my credit card number. I'll have to pay it eventually anyway.

 

(disclaimer: She is a friend, and I have complete faith and trust in her. "Your" TA should have told you this up front. But it is standard.)

[Merion_Mom]

It is the principle. Plus....I had mentioned the cruise to a few friends and told them they needed $250 deposit whether they booked a single cabin or $250 each on a double.

 

I'm wondering if this TA reads Cruisecritic. Right after posting this, I got the following email...

 

"I will go ahead and honor the onboard credit for you even though the deposit requirement isn't met to receive the group onboard credit. Invoices will be sent shortly."

 

And they were.....!!! So....why argue with me & get me worked up....and then do it anyway???!!!! Aaarrrggghhhh!!!

 

Don't be angry. Be happy. Seriously.

[OSULabRat]

I have had a T/A tell me that if I wanted to be part of the group booking( lower price and/or OBC) that we would have to pay a full deposit even tho we did a next cruise deposit of $100, the group rate was only minimally lower and the obc was the same so we opted to not be booked as part of the group. So who ever you are talking to is probably right.

 

The reason why your OBC probably goes down if you didn't fork over the money is you would come out of the group booking. Just the way things work I thnk

 

Again this is just my experience that happen to me.

 

This is correct, and it has happened to me as well. If you transfer your booking to a TA who has a group booking for the sailing, which is how you get the OBC, then the group reservation requires that you pay the full deposit (regardless of how you initially booked it).

 

It sounds like this TA should have done a much better job of explaining it in advance, and in the very least a better job of explaining it after the fact!

Edited June 3, 2016 by OSULabRat

[TargetsMom]

Back when we were a little less educated about group cruises another TA our friends used "stole" the "free" cabin for herself and husband. The group would have been entitled to OBC for the amount of the "free" cabin, but she took it and never told us about it.

 

Subsequently, we have used the other TA who always fairly divides up the OBC among the group..

 

FWIW, your agent did not "steal" YOUR free cabin. An agent is entitled to a free "berth" (which is ONE bed in a double occupancy cabin) for booking x number of cabins (which can vary based on the circumstances). It is up to her to decide if she wants to use that berth herself, book it as well and then lower the fare for each person in the group, or whatever. She is not required to discuss those financial arrangements with members of the group nor is she cheating anyone if she takes advantage of this perk offered to her by the cruise lines for selling their product.

 

Just saying ...

 

k.

[laginog]

I'm very happy it all worked out. I was mostly frustrated that he said he "told" me, when we had only corresponded by email.....and nothing was mentioned at all. I've transferred bookings several times but this has never came up. Thankfully....it's straightened out now! Thank you for your help!

[Royalty X]

I'm an agent and it makes sense to me. Depends if they're getting the obc as part of a group. Some groups don't have the same reduced deposit amounts that may be part of a current RCI promotion, therefore in order to get you into the group, they would need a higher deposit. If they can't put you in the group, they won't be able to give you the extra obc.

[belmontcrew]

Group bookings with Royal do require a $500 per room deposit. We had booked a promo last year that had a reduced deposit of $125 per person. Since then we have had a group of friends decide to join to where we had enough rooms to do a group booking direct through Royal. To add our booking to the group we had to pay an additional $250 for one room and an additional $125 for the second room to reach the $500 deposit. Your situation sounds normal to me.

[Desert Cruizers]

For our July 2017 cruise, we are part of a group booking, and paid the regular deposit for a 7 day cruise. This went directly to the Cruise line and not the TA. We normally use our own TA but our friends who have set this cruise up are using their TA for all the bookings so we went with her agency. When I call our TA or the one for July, I call our TA, who in turn calls the cruise line to have any payments made toward the cruise. I receive an updated invoice showing the payment and balance.

Edited June 4, 2016 by Desert Cruizers

[JenGang]

I have had a T/A tell me that if I wanted to be part of the group booking( lower price and/or OBC) that we would have to pay a full deposit even tho we did a next cruise deposit of $100, the group rate was only minimally lower and the obc was the same so we opted to not be booked as part of the group. So who ever you are talking to is probably right.

 

The reason why your OBC probably goes down if you didn't fork over the money is you would come out of the group booking. Just the way things work I thnk

 

Again this is just my experience that happen to me.

 

P.S. I think I am using the same website you do to get many different quotes and offers from different T/A's and then I can compare. You do get lots of choices but you really need to know how each one works and all the different cancellation rules.

 

We are looking at doing a group booking for one of our upcoming cruises and out TA also told us that we would have to pay the full deposit to have it part of the group. We're holding out to see if we will have enough cabins to make it a group before we transfer the reservation to the group booking. I guess this must be their requirement for groups.