Changing travel agent

[holiday-shrek]

Hi,

if you are unhappy with your travel agent - is it possible to go back to Royal?

How does the process work?

Where do you call?

Thank you for the help!

Edited January 18, 2019 by holiday-shrek

[Clarea]

Your current travel agent has to agree to lose the booking.

 

Or, the current travel agent has to do something unacceptable, like being non-responsive for a long period of time.

 

You would call Royal customer service.

[holiday-shrek]

Thanks - so I have to tell my current agent that he is bad and I want him to give back the booking to Royal?

Or complain to Royal about him?

[gerif]

8 minutes ago, holiday-shrek said:

Thanks - so I have to tell my current agent that he is bad and I want him to give back the booking to Royal?

Or complain to Royal about him?

Pretty much. Some agents also charge a cancellation fee as well. 

[Clarea]

14 minutes ago, holiday-shrek said:

Thanks - so I have to tell my current agent that he is bad and I want him to give back the booking to Royal?

Or complain to Royal about him?

 

I'd try speaking to the agent first, maybe they will give up the booking willingly. 

[Beachin2]

If you are outside of final payment with a refundable deposit (and if the price is about the same) you can cancel the booking through the agent, then re-book directly with RC.  Note, you lose all original booking perks, etc.

 

We tried to fire our TA and it just doesn't work no matter how much you can "prove" to RC unless the TA opts to give up the booking (which they generally won't).  Did the cancel & re-book thing and wa-la, no more TA.

[holiday-shrek]

Thanks everybody....I guess I might be struck as I have the cheap fare with penalty!

Will try to get the best out of it and sure will not book with a travel agent again as you are stuck with them.

If you book directly you have a lot more options to get what you want!

[taglovestocruise]

7 minutes ago, holiday-shrek said:

Thanks everybody....I guess I might be struck as I have the cheap fare with penalty!

Will try to get the best out of it and sure will not book with a travel agent again as you are stuck with them.

If you book directly you have a lot more options to get what you want!

A good TA will get you everything Royal has to offer plus throw in a few added perks.  Even when we book directly with Royal we always switch over to a TA to pick up a few hundred in added perks. 

[John&LaLa]

14 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

A good TA will get you everything Royal has to offer plus throw in a few added perks.  Even when we book directly with Royal we always switch over to a TA to pick up a few hundred in added perks. 

 

Yep, I'm going to get around $600 on an upcoming trip.  I love my agent.  

[Thorben-Hendrik]

22 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Yep, I'm going to get around $600 on an upcoming trip.  I love my agent.  

How much are you spending to get that much?🤔

[Beachin2]

37 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

A good TA will get you everything Royal has to offer plus throw in a few added perks.  Even when we book directly with Royal we always switch over to a TA to pick up a few hundred in added perks. 

Found out the hard way that sometimes the extra "perks" just aren't worth it, even when they are several hundred $.

 

All it takes is one big trip to go just a little bit sideways......   Not worth it to me.

[GTO-Girl]

41 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Yep, I'm going to get around $600 on an upcoming trip.  I love my agent.  

 

I so wish I could find a good travel agent.  There are no brick and mortar ones in our hometown and I have yet to figure out which online agent I could trust.

 

So glad you have a good one!!

[Teacher42]

voila ! We spent $13063 to get $500.

Edited January 18, 2019 by Teacher42

[skiiergirl]

35 minutes ago, GTO-Girl said:

 

I so wish I could find a good travel agent.  There are no brick and mortar ones in our hometown and I have yet to figure out which online agent I could trust.

 

So glad you have a good one!!

I use a brick and mortar agency in another state!  Have used them for almost a decade.  A good brick and mortar agency doesn't have to be local to provide you with excellent service.  With today's technology you can use a brick and mortar agency located anywhere.  With email and telephone it works just fine! 

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, Thorben-Hendrik said:

How much are you spending to get that much?🤔

 

A lot, STAR Class on the Allure east TA next year

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, Beachin2 said:

Found out the hard way that sometimes the extra "perks" just aren't worth it, even when they are several hundred $.

 

All it takes is one big trip to go just a little bit sideways......   Not worth it to me.

 

Mine is working now on a refund for an Air2Sea booking I could not go on.  I didn't even ask her for one.  

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, Teacher42 said:

voila ! We spent $13063 to get $500.

 

Ours is in the 11K range

[taglovestocruise]

2 hours ago, GTO-Girl said:

 

I so wish I could find a good travel agent.  There are no brick and mortar ones in our hometown and I have yet to figure out which online agent I could trust.

 

So glad you have a good one!!

We use one of the big online agencies that throw in  pre paid tips , specialty dining and extra obc as well as everything the cruise line offers, right now they are even adding a extra obc for booking with Air2sea for flights. To bad we can't name names. Don't you have a big box warehouse near you. 

[Iamcruzin]

4 hours ago, Teacher42 said:

voila ! We spent $13063 to get $500.

Thank you for sharing that information.  For years on all of the boards that I follow members lead you to believe that you are missing out on hundreds of $$$ by not using a TA.  They never tell you what they had to spend to get it. I’m using my big box warehouse club for the first time. They ran a special and gave $250 in OBC. We are in a balcony room. I jumped on it because usually they only offer a gift card for the store for that amount. Fingers crossed that all goes well. I usually book direct with the cruise line.

[GTO-Girl]

2 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

We use one of the big online agencies that throw in  pre paid tips , specialty dining and extra obc as well as everything the cruise line offers, right now they are even adding a extra obc for booking with Air2sea for flights. To bad we can't name names. Don't you have a big box warehouse near you. 

 

We do have some big box stores near us, but I guess I am just too OCD to lose total control of my booking to them.  I tried an online travel agent one time and it didn’t go so well....

[Thorben-Hendrik]

8 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

A lot, STAR Class on the Allure east TA next year

Sounds like you found a good TA.....does not seem that easy and quite a risk

 

Oh you are on Allure east TA next year - we will skip that one WAY too cold for us!👎

Hope you get reserved window seating!😇

Edited January 19, 2019 by Thorben-Hendrik

[brillohead]

My TA is someone who was a friend that I met while cruising, who later became a cruise-specialist TA.  

He's now a top-selling agent with Royal Caribbean.  He's available by phone or email or Facebook pretty much anytime, anywhere.  When he cruises, he gets the internet package and handles bookings and the like from whatever ocean he's on.  

I book REALLY cheap rooms (rarely more than an inside) and he still kicks back a little bit of OBC to me out of his commission.  

Before he became a TA, I booked my own cruises directly.  And if I didn't know him personally, I don't know if I would have ever given a TA a chance for a simple booking like mine.  But he's proof that there ARE good, reliable, competent, knowledgeable TAs out there.  

[John&LaLa]

2 hours ago, Thorben-Hendrik said:

Sounds like you found a good TA.....does not seem that easy and quite a risk

 

Oh you are on Allure east TA next year - we will skip that one WAY too cold for us!👎

Hope you get reserved window seating!😇

 

Been using company since 2008, now on my 3rd agent, but I've had her 5-6 years. We're her 2nd best customer. 

 

I will not need window seating. 😇

[Thorben-Hendrik]

Are you on the westbound Allure TA? 🤔

We will most likely be on that one...

I also wanted the eastbound but since it is about 7 weeks earlier than the Oasis.... DW says it will be too cold and breezy.... 🙄

 

As for a TA - I think having your own say is worth something.... so far all TA's have been a bit of a struggle to work with... 🙄

[Paulxyz2004]

9 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Been using company since 2008, now on my 3rd agent, but I've had her 5-6 years. We're her 2nd best customer. 

 

I will not need window seating. 😇

 

So Super Mario is her customer as well.