Transfer booking to TA?

[johnandlinda]

Can this be done?

[terrydtx]

10 hours ago, Mr Beans said:

We do it within 2 weeks to also take advantage of the TA's travel insurance which has been cheaper than Viking

I always use a TA for booking any cruise because of the much better and independent insurance they have available.  I have read too many horror stories on CC of people who bought the travel insurance through the cruise line. When you have 12k or more  invested in a Viking cruise I want to make sure I have the right insurance.

[orchestrapal]

You are leaving about 10% or more on the table by not shopping TA’s.

We would never miss out on these savings.

[Carol From California]

Viking used to allow travel agents to give discounts/rebates but that changed a couple of years ago. A travel agent can give onboard credit as follows:

$150 per guest for seven-night sailings, $300 per guest for eight to 14-night sailings on a Viking vessel and $500 per guest for 15-night plus sailings $500 per guest.

That being said, I always have a travel agent handle my booking. We get rebates on all the other cruise lines except Viking because they strictly forbid it. 

https://www.travelmarketreport.com/articles/Viking-Cruises-Adopts-New-Travel-Agent-Commission-And-Advertising-Policy

[bbyost]

Yes, you can transfer your booking.  I booked directly through Viking and then decided that I wanted to use a TA for travel insurance.  I called the TA and gave them my booking information and they handled it from there on out!!

Edited September 13, 2019 by bbyost

[orchestrapal]

6 hours ago, Carol From California said:

Viking used to allow travel agents to give discounts/rebates but that changed a couple of years ago. A travel agent can give onboard credit as follows:

$150 per guest for seven-night sailings, $300 per guest for eight to 14-night sailings on a Viking vessel and $500 per guest for 15-night plus sailings $500 per guest.

That being said, I always have a travel agent handle my booking. We get rebates on all the other cruise lines except Viking because they strictly forbid it. 

https://www.travelmarketreport.com/articles/Viking-Cruises-Adopts-New-Travel-Agent-Commission-And-Advertising-Policy

 

6 hours ago, Carol From California said:

Viking used to allow travel agents to give discounts/rebates but that changed a couple of years ago. A travel agent can give onboard credit as follows:

$150 per guest for seven-night sailings, $300 per guest for eight to 14-night sailings on a Viking vessel and $500 per guest for 15-night plus sailings $500 per guest.

That being said, I always have a travel agent handle my booking. We get rebates on all the other cruise lines except Viking because they strictly forbid it. 

https://www.travelmarketreport.com/articles/Viking-Cruises-Adopts-New-Travel-Agent-Commission-And-Advertising-Policy

 

We were given our usual % rebate by our TA.

There is a way that their rules obviously do not apply.

[Carol From California]

26 minutes ago, orchestrapal said:

 

 

We were given our usual % rebate by our TA.

There is a way that their rules obviously do not apply.

Their rules apply and have strict consequences for the travel agent if they find out. My TA gives rebates on all the other cruise lines.

https://www.vikingcruises.com/terms-conditions/advertising-and-commissions-policy.html 

[CCWineLover]

7 hours ago, Carol From California said:

Viking used to allow travel agents to give discounts/rebates but that changed a couple of years ago. A travel agent can give onboard credit as follows:

$150 per guest for seven-night sailings, $300 per guest for eight to 14-night sailings on a Viking vessel and $500 per guest for 15-night plus sailings $500 per guest.

That being said, I always have a travel agent handle my booking. We get rebates on all the other cruise lines except Viking because they strictly forbid it. 

https://www.travelmarketreport.com/articles/Viking-Cruises-Adopts-New-Travel-Agent-Commission-And-Advertising-Policy

 

Interesting. There have been posts on this in previous forums.

I do wonder how many Travel Agents actually give in OBC's anything approaching these Viking upper limits.  I certainly have not heard of any.  If this is public knowledge, I would have to wonder what benefit a TA would have in this day of information exchange, to shortchange a customer and offer little or no OBC's?

[Carol From California]

2 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

 

Interesting. There have been posts on this in previous forums.

I do wonder how many Travel Agents actually give in OBC's anything approaching these Viking upper limits.  I certainly have not heard of any.  If this is public knowledge, I would have to wonder what benefit a TA would have in this day of information exchange, to shortchange a customer and offer little or no OBC's?

 

2 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

 

Interesting. There have been posts on this in previous forums.

I do wonder how many Travel Agents actually give in OBC's anything approaching these Viking upper limits.  I certainly have not heard of any.  If this is public knowledge, I would have to wonder what benefit a TA would have in this day of information exchange, to shortchange a customer and offer little or no OBC's?

We just got back from a Viking cruise and we did receive the amount of OBC specified from our TA.  Our OBC was $600.

[Vineyard View]

Our TA provided the OBC as outlined in Carol’s post above for our upcoming trip. 

And yes, we miss the time when our TA could determine how much discount they wanted to offer on Viking, but I am not holding my breath for a reversal on their policy

[orchestrapal]

I believe the hang up here is the OBC which I am not talking about, yes they have put a limit on those..

Viking can not control how the TAs give their other rebates.

[Vineyard View]

Well, that is absolutely a valid point orchestrapal. It most certainly is an avenue I believe we would all love to understand better, however we are limited in what we can discuss on CC. Too bad. I would sincerely  appreciate knowing the details behind your post - 

Edited September 14, 2019 by Vineyard View

[orchestrapal]

11 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Well, that is absolutely a valid point orchestrapal. It most certainly is an avenue I believe we would all love to understand better, however we are limited in what we can discuss on CC. Too bad. I would sincerely  appreciate knowing the details behind your post - 

 

I wish we could share this information as it has saved us a bundle over  30 years of cruising.

[OnTheJourney]

I have some mixed feelings on this. While I do generally transfer a booking made directly with a cruise line to my TA, in some cases I then find that I have so little control. Some cruise lines really don't want to deal with you directly depending on the scope of the question or concern. I can deal with that, since my agent is always on top of things, but it's just a bit inconvenient at times. Just booked an ocean cruise and noticed there is no OBC listed, so will have to see what happens when I transfer it. I don't do travel insurance through either the cruise line or TA, so that part of it is a non-issue. The agent I'm working with at Viking is great, so almost hate to take the booking out of his hands. 

Edited September 14, 2019 by OnTheJourney

[broker1217]

5 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

I have some mixed feelings on this. While I do generally transfer a booking made directly with a cruise line to my TA, in some cases I then find that I have so little control. Some cruise lines really don't want to deal with you directly depending on the scope of the question or concern. I can deal with that, since my agent is always on top of things, but it's just a bit inconvenient at times. Just booked an ocean cruise and noticed there is no OBC listed, so will have to see what happens when I transfer it. I don't do travel insurance through either the cruise line or TA, so that part of it is a non-issue. The agent I'm working with at Viking is great, so almost hate to take the booking out of his hands. 

I feel the same. We transferred our booking to a TA, but to me it just adds another layer of communication, which is frustrating. We also do not use TA or VO insurance.

We transferred to TA only for the OBC.

We book our own air and pre and post cruise extensions.

 

[Frenchberet]

So how does the TA benefit from taking over your booking?  I assumed they got a discounted price from Viking then passed some of the savings on to you (customer) in the form of OBC.  

 

We book the cruise directly with Viking, then do our own airline tickets and travel insurance,  I am a ‘control freak’ but wouldn’t mind some OBC!  

[Vineyard View]

You do give up control over your reservation when you transfer to a TA. Once you do this, all communication goes from Viking through the TA to you ( as it does with any cruise lime). It is a trade off. I think that my biggest concern has always been in if the cruise line (not just Viking) is offering an upgrade or upsell, whether this hinders the timely communication of that offer. I do not know if that is valid or not, but I do think it makes sense that it could. I think you have to weigh out the benefits of transferring and  the OBC received. The possible miss on upgrade opportunity is probably less likely than the guaranteed OBC. 🤷‍♀️

[pacruise804]

On 9/14/2019 at 12:32 PM, OnTheJourney said:

I have some mixed feelings on this. While I do generally transfer a booking made directly with a cruise line to my TA, in some cases I then find that I have so little control. Some cruise lines really don't want to deal with you directly depending on the scope of the question or concern. I can deal with that, since my agent is always on top of things, but it's just a bit inconvenient at times. Just booked an ocean cruise and noticed there is no OBC listed, so will have to see what happens when I transfer it. I don't do travel insurance through either the cruise line or TA, so that part of it is a non-issue. The agent I'm working with at Viking is great, so almost hate to take the booking out of his hands. 

 

When we did a mock booking, then closed out the window before finalizing, we received a call a day or so later from a Viking agent.  When I explained that I was just looking and would book with my TA when ready, she let me know I could book with her and then transfer to my TA.  My TA confirmed that this is best and both parties still get commission (so you aren't harming your Viking agent if you transfer).  The Viking rep also recommended that I keep her extension.  While she couldn't contact me directly and didn't want to step on my TA's toes, she could reply to communication that I started.  I'm sure there are some things I will still go directly to my agent for, but it is nice to have a direct contact for Viking specific questions (like Silver Spirits details).

[Virgo61]

I booked a cruise directly with a Viking agent. I happened to mention that I usually use a TA but my regular one doesn't deal with Viking. She told me that I could certainly transfer my booking to a TA of my choice. She was not allowed to recommend any but encouraged me to shop for one online. I was able to find one and was quite happy with the result. 

[Clay Clayton]

On 9/15/2019 at 10:02 AM, Vineyard View said:

You do give up control over your reservation when you transfer to a TA. Once you do this, all communication goes from Viking through the TA to you ( as it does with any cruise lime). It is a trade off. I think that my biggest concern has always been in if the cruise line (not just Viking) is offering an upgrade or upsell, whether this hinders the timely communication of that offer. I do not know if that is valid or not, but I do think it makes sense that it could. I think you have to weigh out the benefits of transferring and  the OBC received. The possible miss on upgrade opportunity is probably less likely than the guaranteed OBC. 🤷‍♀️

Our experience has been that once we submit our passenger information at MyVikingJourney, we have received direct emails from Viking about changes to upsells,etc.  Those tend to be followed later in the day by an email from our agent (whom we mostly use to get $OBC) with the same information.  I think the only thing you’re giving up by using an agent is $600-$1000 and the ability to call Viking direct if you have an issue. For me, the money is worth the risk and at least once, our agent went to bat for us after we had a major drop in price (due to Hurricane Maria) and we received additional OBC. 

[Clay Clayton]

Sorry. Left off the one. Check again

[RexMesiter]

This thread is a bit old, but couldn't find anything on this topic that's more recent.  I was thinking of transferring my Viking Ocean 14-day cruise booking to a travel agent and received an offer of $200pp in onboard credit.  From my internet research, this seems a little on the low end - what kind of perks should I expect?

[cccole]

I made a reservation last night to take advantage of the $50 deposit and today my TA called Viking and it was transferred to him.  First time on Viking, and first time using a TA for our cruise.  It is a 19 night Antarctica cruise and our TA is able to gift us $500pp OBC.  I'm happy and will watch possible price drops.  Really looking forward to this cruise.  Cherie

[MikeyB]

3 hours ago, RexMesiter said:

This thread is a bit old, but couldn't find anything on this topic that's more recent.  I was thinking of transferring my Viking Ocean 14-day cruise booking to a travel agent and received an offer of $200pp in onboard credit.  From my internet research, this seems a little on the low end - what kind of perks should I expect?

You went back three years, but couldn't find anything about what a desperate TA could offer?

Like $600 OBC for a 14 "night" cruise?

Wait, they shall arrive.

[KBs mum]

Not in the UK