book on board but TA has lower rate

[flifish64]

So here is my delima

 

a travel agent is offering the cruise we want for $100pp less

than what is showing on the celebrity web site. I "presume" it is a group rate.

 

I want to book on board so that I can have the lower deposit and any onboard credit offered.

 

Is there a way to have my cake and eat it too?

 

That is get the lower TA rate and associated TA benefits and the lower deposit and onboard credit.

 

Has anyone had success in doing this?

 

Thanks,

 

 

Carol

Edited September 6, 2016 by flifish64

[Wine-O]

Maybe you can book on board and transfer to your travel agent and get the revised price + OBC. I would call them and ask.

[Karynanne]

Book onboard, and then transfer it afterwards to your TA.

 

 

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[midwestchick]

Book with your TA and then book on board too. You can always cancel the least best deal.

[JFontaine]

My TA has warned me repeatedly over the years that booking on board and then transferring to him does not get me his low rates - his low rates are for new bookings only.

[DrivesLikeMario]

That's weird. You can easily book onboard, then once you're home, transfer to your agent of choice.

 

IF the agent you want to use for the next cruise is the one that booked the cruise you're currently on, the new booking AUTOMATICALLY goes to your TA. They get a confirmation email.

 

It's incredibly easy to do either way.

[oneputt18]

You will probably need to pay the TA full deposit when you get home to get the group rate.

 

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[Iamthesea]

My TA has warned me repeatedly over the years that booking on board and then transferring to him does not get me his low rates - his low rates are for new bookings only.

 

My "big box" TA tells me that they will get around that "rule" by just working with Celebrity and transferring the reservation over to them (the TA). Doesn't matter if it's within the 60 days or not, as long as the transfer is done before final payment.

 

You will probably need to pay the TA full deposit when you get home to get the group rate.

 

BINGO. We booked a cruise the $25 pp deposit. The TA has a better deal on the rate, but we would have to pay the entire deposit.

[Beanb41]

Some TA's who do big volumes have more clout than a TA who only does one or two bookings a year.

[brockmom]

we always book on board and get the deals and Celebrity in the future cruise transfers it for us. it is no problem at all ! they see our agents name from who the last one was booked with....

no issues at all.

Brockmom

[Solution]

OP is not having an issue with transferring the booking to the TA, it is getting the TA to change the booking from prevailing to the lower rate (assume it is a group rate).

 

If your TA insists that the lower rate is for new booking only, then you can only pick one with a better value. Keep the on board booking until the right opportunity. I can't see your TA has a lower price on every sailing (for example Trans Atlantic).

[riclop]

So here is my delima

 

a travel agent is offering the cruise we want for $100pp less

than what is showing on the celebrity web site. I "presume" it is a group rate.

 

I want to book on board so that I can have the lower deposit and any onboard credit offered.

 

Is there a way to have my cake and eat it too?

 

That is get the lower TA rate and associated TA benefits and the lower deposit and onboard credit.

 

Has anyone had success in doing this?

 

Thanks,

 

 

Carol

TA sounds good.

[jelayne]

From my experience and what TAs have posted on CC the reduced deposits are not available with group rates.

 

We recently booked a B2B with a TA who had group space, only perks were those coming from Celebrity and no reduced deposit ( X was offering reduced deposits).

 

When we looked at the offering in total it made sense to go with the group pricing & pay the full deposit. The group pricing saved us $4,500 on the 2 cruises. Although we are not getting any OBC from the TA, the most any agent was offering was $2300 for the 2 cruises. So had we gone with the standard offering & reduced deposit we would pay $4500 more out of pocket in order to get $2300 OBC and we would have just deferred the paying of $900, the full deposit.

 

Group rates don't always work for us but in this case we feel like we made a good choice.

[MR_T]

When I've booked onboard and then transferred to my TA she's always adjusted the rate to her better offer, sometimes I've had to pay the full deposit sometimes not,

 

this isn't a big deal for me as I don't tend to cancel cruises I've booked and hey the money has to be paid at some point [emoji106][emoji4]

 

 

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[dirtgirl]

My TA has warned me repeatedly over the years that booking on board and then transferring to him does not get me his low rates - his low rates are for new bookings only.

 

I guess some TAs operate differently.:confused: It will all depend on if the TA can get a group rate as to whether or not the rate will be lower. Sometimes they can, and sometimes they can't if group space and rates are no longer available. But there are no problems at all in booking onboard, and then transferring (or having it booked with the TA directly onboard), and then moving that booking into a group rate (full deposit required). The rate can definitely be lower, and you can move a booking made onboard into a group rate, and keep your booking onboard perks.

[Miaminice]

Most TAs just give away part of their commission to offer a better price, a rebate or offer additional OBC.

 

Important to know is that they receive the same commission if you book directly with them or simply transfer the booking to them after booking on board.

 

If you TA refuses to offer you the same conditions just find one who will.

 

We book 90 % of our cruises on board and transfer them to our favorite TA. He gives us an additional rebate or OBC... so we get the best of both worlds.

[Flamencacha]

The only time I booked on board. I got the reduced deposit, the OBC. As soon as I returned I notified my TA he got my booking. When there was a price drop he sorted that out too.

 

 

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[davekathy]

You will probably need to pay the TA full deposit when you get home to get the group rate.

 

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That's been our experience also. Also by doing this we've been able to get the TAs OBC.

Edited September 7, 2016 by davekathy

[davekathy]

So here is my delima

 

a travel agent is offering the cruise we want for $100pp less

than what is showing on the celebrity web site. I "presume" it is a group rate.

 

I want to book on board so that I can have the lower deposit and any onboard credit offered.

 

Is there a way to have my cake and eat it too?

 

That is get the lower TA rate and associated TA benefits and the lower deposit and onboard credit.

 

Has anyone had success in doing this?

 

Thanks,

 

 

Carol

 

Have you discussed this with your TA? Maybe you can book onboard, have the booking transferred to your TA and then get the additional perks your TA is offering. I do this but our TA requires us to pay the full deposit. No biggie. Gotta pay it sooner or later.

[wrk2cruise]

To maintain your negotiating position with the TA my suggestion is to book onboard but make sure the reservation is NOT assigned to a TA. Once home contact the TA and discuss moving the reservation to them. Once you are satisfied with the price/perks transfer it to them. The transfer process is very easy and can be done online. Typically my agent does it for me as long as I send him an email telling him that's what I want to do.

[Fish Lover]

For the past two years I have booked on board to get maximum perks from Celebrity (this past week for booking 2017 trip we received 1/2 off 2nd person, 2 classic beverage packages, 2 pre-paid gratuities, and $250 cabin onboard credit.) I transferred to my TA when I got home and received an offer of a group rate ( $1250 less) PLUS an additional $300 onboard credit (on-refundable) with no additional deposit charged. Further, we are wait listed for AQ class (the cruise we chose is sold out for those class cabins thus far).

[CEOofVacation]

I posted this question on a more recent future cruise thread but did not see a reply. I checked out B2B cruises with a large TA and their group rates were a total of $3000+ less than CC published rates, plus additional OBC. It is a month away before I get on a CC cruise. Should I wait until I get on the cruise and then transfer the bookings to this TA? Is it dicey in that CC may not honor the future cruise additional OBC with the group rates? Would the discounted group rates go away once the TA has met the reservation quota? My head is swirling... I am thinking of just booking the 2 cruises now and be done with it...

[midwestchick]

I posted this question on a more recent future cruise thread but did not see a reply. I checked out B2B cruises with a large TA and their group rates were a total of $3000+ less than CC published rates, plus additional OBC. It is a month away before I get on a CC cruise. Should I wait until I get on the cruise and then transfer the bookings to this TA? Is it dicey in that CC may not honor the future cruise additional OBC with the group rates? Would the discounted group rates go away once the TA has met the reservation quota? My head is swirling... I am thinking of just booking the 2 cruises now and be done with it...

 

You probably won't get that group rate if you book onboard. I would book it and once on board go check with future cruise sales and act like it's a new booking and see what the prices are. You don't have to tell them you have a cruise booked. If the price onboard is less, you can cancel the booked cruise. By the way, this advice was given to me by my TA when I had a cruise already booked. It's your money...get the most bang for your buck.

[CEOofVacation]

You probably won't get that group rate if you book. I would book it and once on board go check with future cruise sales and act like it's a new booking and see what the prices are. You don't have to tell them you have a cruise booked. By the way, this advice was given to me by my TA when I had a cruise already booked. It's your money...get the most bang for your buck. If you have a really good TA, they can cancel one of the cruises.

Thanks for responding. I meant, if I book while on board, can I then transfer the future cruise OBC to a TA that has lower pricing? This TA has group / block pricing for the 2 B2B cruises that I am interested in.

[theriac]

Thanks for responding. I meant, if I book while on board, can I then transfer the future cruise OBC to a TA that has lower pricing? This TA has group / block pricing for the 2 B2B cruises that I am interested in.

I just did this. In January I booked a future cruise on the Silhouette and just a few days ago I transfered to a TA who had cheaper prices and the booking on board OBC is still on the invoice they sent me.

 

They key is making sure the reservation number stays the same as the one you booked while on board.

 

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