Using TA vs. Direct

[CruisingAlong4Now]

I recently had a problem at a hotel that had been booked using a large online travel agency.  At the hotel, I tried to change the room and they wouldn't let me do it because the booking had been through the TA.  I understand not doing direct changes prior to checking in, but was surprised that I couldn't change the bed configuration at check-in. 

 

So, I am concerned that there might be some loss of direct functionality using the large online TA.  For example, Royal-up bidding for an upgrade.  If I use the TA, would I still be eligible to bid?  Would it be directly with Royal or through the TA?

 

Thanks.  Looking at Baltic June 2021 cruise. Already see Jewel, waiting for the rest of the itineraries. 

[Ourusualbeach]

There are 2 big box membership clubs that have opted out of the Royal Up program.  With the TA’s you do bid directly yourself. 

 

Find a TA with group space,  they are quite a bit cheaper. 

Edited November 17, 2019 by Ourusualbeach

[LeeW]

As Ken said, the TA forwards the offer to bid from Royal to you.   Also with a TA you can't change your dining option, arrange for transfers, cancel or make a payment directly.  If there is a cabin issue the TA handles it for you (for a bed issue onboard you just ask your steward).  If you need say a sofa instead of a pullman for a third person the TA should have the expertise to make sure you book the right cabin since you can almost never change onboard.  Ours seems to get prices I have never been able to match and gets us on sold-out cruises.

 

With most TAs your payment is made directly to Royal.  Avoid any where you pay them and then they pay Royal.

[stevea36]

3 minutes ago, LeeW said:

As Ken said, the TA forwards the offer to bid from Royal to you.   Also with a TA you can't change your dining option, arrange for transfers, cancel or make a payment directly.  If there is a cabin issue the TA handles it for you (for a bed issue onboard you just ask your steward).  If you need say a sofa instead of a pullman for a third person the TA should have the expertise to make sure you book the right cabin since you can almost never change onboard.  Ours seems to get prices I have never been able to match and gets us on sold-out cruises.

 

With most TAs your payment is made directly to Royal.  Avoid any where you pay them and then they pay Royal.

I have found that if a TA participates in the Royal Up program you will receive the offer to bid directly from RCI.  The TA has no part in the process.   (I have first hand experience on this from both sides).

[Ourusualbeach]

1 hour ago, stevea36 said:

I have found that if a TA participates in the Royal Up program you will receive the offer to bid directly from RCI.  The TA has no part in the process.   (I have first hand experience on this from both sides).

This has been my experience as well.  I have never been notified that they received the offers which is fine by me. I didn’t even get a notification when one was accepted.  

[tinkertwo]

Isn't there somewhere you can go to place a bid even if you don't get an offer from RCL?  I thought there was a spot on their website that allowed you to make offers at the 30 day mark.  No?  Did I get this wrong?  

[Ourusualbeach]

1 hour ago, LeeW said:

Ours seems to get prices I have never been able to match and gets us on sold-out cruises.

A definite advantage that TA’s who have group space have. 

[Ourusualbeach]

6 minutes ago, tinkertwo said:

Isn't there somewhere you can go to place a bid even if you don't get an offer from RCL?  I thought there was a spot on their website that allowed you to make offers at the 30 day mark.  No?  Did I get this wrong?  

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/booked/cruise-room-upgrade

 

 

[tinkertwo]

3 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/booked/cruise-room-upgrade

 

 

Thank you!  So there is no need to actually worry about if the TA is going to pass information along for Royal Up.  I can check myself.  

Again, thanks!

[Ourusualbeach]

1 minute ago, tinkertwo said:

Thank you!  So there is no need to actually worry about if the TA is going to pass information along for Royal Up.  I can check myself.  

Again, thanks!

No need to worry, the TA has no part in the bid process.

[AZSwissGal]

1 hour ago, stevea36 said:

I have found that if a TA participates in the Royal Up program you will receive the offer to bid directly from RCI.  The TA has no part in the process.   (I have first hand experience on this from both sides).

 

My experience has been the opposite.  I received my invite to bid on RoyalUp via my TA.  The TA sent me the following email:

 

"I'm excited to tell you that booking number xxxx is eligible for a special upgrade offer and I wanted to pass along the details for your consideration. As part of this offer, you'll have the opportunity to bid for discounted cabin upgrades.

Availability is limited, so please review the offer as soon as possible if you're interested in making a bid to upgrade your cabin.

To view the details of the offer, click 
In the event of a successful bid, your card will be automatically charged for the bid amount and I'll email you an updated confirmation within 48 hours."

 

So while the bidding process was all on me, the invite came through the TA.  BTW my bid was accepted 4 days before our cruise in September and we were already in Rome pre-cruise, so never received an updated confirmation which I didn't need anyway.
 

 

 

[stevea36]

20 minutes ago, AZSwissGal said:

 

My experience has been the opposite.  I received my invite to bid on RoyalUp via my TA.  The TA sent me the following email:

 

"I'm excited to tell you that booking number xxxx is eligible for a special upgrade offer and I wanted to pass along the details for your consideration. As part of this offer, you'll have the opportunity to bid for discounted cabin upgrades.

Availability is limited, so please review the offer as soon as possible if you're interested in making a bid to upgrade your cabin.

To view the details of the offer, click 
In the event of a successful bid, your card will be automatically charged for the bid amount and I'll email you an updated confirmation within 48 hours."

 

So while the bidding process was all on me, the invite came through the TA.  BTW my bid was accepted 4 days before our cruise in September and we were already in Rome pre-cruise, so never received an updated confirmation which I didn't need anyway.
 

 

 

Quite strange, as I am a TA and my clients have always received their invitation to bid directly from RCI.  

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, AZSwissGal said:

I received my invite to bid on RoyalUp via my TA. 

As long as your TA participated, you don’t need an invite- just go directly to the Royal Up page inside 30 days. 

[taglovestocruise]

5 hours ago, LeeW said:

As Ken said, the TA forwards the offer to bid from Royal to you.   Also with a TA you can't change your dining option, arrange for transfers, cancel or make a payment directly.  If there is a cabin issue the TA handles it for you (for a bed issue onboard you just ask your steward).  If you need say a sofa instead of a pullman for a third person the TA should have the expertise to make sure you book the right cabin since you can almost never change onboard.  Ours seems to get prices I have never been able to match and gets us on sold-out cruises.

 

With most TAs your payment is made directly to Royal.  Avoid any where you pay them and then they pay Royal.

We called our online TA two weeks ago. Changed our dining option, MTD to late traditional, and added pre paid gratuities to be added at final payment.  We also used the same online TA a few months ago to cancel a booked cruise and have the FCC from the deposit added to a different cruise, we just emailed a copy of the FCC when it came from Royal. No problem doing either. 

[gatour]

7 hours ago, CruisingAlong4Now said:

I recently had a problem at a hotel that had been booked using a large online travel agency.  At the hotel, I tried to change the room and they wouldn't let me do it because the booking had been through the TA.  I understand not doing direct changes prior to checking in, but was surprised that I couldn't change the bed configuration at check-in. 

 

 

It didn't matter who you booked the hotel room through.  If you booked a room with two queens, the hotel may have allocated a room with two queen size bed per your request.  Now lets say other people booked up all of the rooms with king size beds.  Now assume none of these people have cancelled prior to your arrival.  You show up at the hotel and now ask for a room with a king size bed.  They don't have any available so deny your request.  Doesn't matter how you booked the room, they just had other people who had booked a specific room type, that you now want.  None were available so you were denied your request.

[taxatty]

Our TA forwarded us our last RoyalUp bid about the same time as we also got it from RCI. The same happened when the bid was accepted.

[SRF]

On 11/17/2019 at 12:49 PM, stevea36 said:

I have found that if a TA participates in the Royal Up program you will receive the offer to bid directly from RCI.  The TA has no part in the process.   (I have first hand experience on this from both sides).

 

Same experience here.

 

Two cruises booked with TA, both of them I got the Royal Up email from Royal.

 

I contacted me TA about it, and was told they have nothing to do with it, but was willing to give advice.

[SRF]

On 11/17/2019 at 7:34 PM, gatour said:

It didn't matter who you booked the hotel room through.  If you booked a room with two queens, the hotel may have allocated a room with two queen size bed per your request.  Now lets say other people booked up all of the rooms with king size beds.  Now assume none of these people have cancelled prior to your arrival.  You show up at the hotel and now ask for a room with a king size bed.  They don't have any available so deny your request.  Doesn't matter how you booked the room, they just had other people who had booked a specific room type, that you now want.  None were available so you were denied your request.

 

This.

 

Had this happen in September.  I booked hotel directly.  Wanted to change at check in, and was not able to, due the hotel being FULL.

 

And I am the equivalent to Pinnacle with this hotel chain.  If they can do it, they WILL.

[TinkBellaMom]

We have always booked with an internet travel agency, always with great customer service.   We do get opportunities with Royal up.  

We recently booked the Baltic 2021 for July and saved $1200.00, from the RCCL price, plus our gratuities.

i know the Baltic cruises fill up fast.  I would be happy to give you info if you email me.

[johnjen]

Sorry about your experience, but I'd have thought that once you're at the actual hotel they could have changed a room for you, no problem at all. By then, you are the hotel's guest. I'd have thought their guest services could've moved in and just helped you out. Sounds like a hotel I'd avoid in the future!

[ShillyShally]

6 hours ago, SRF said:

 

This.

 

Had this happen in September.  I booked hotel directly.  Wanted to change at check in, and was not able to, due the hotel being FULL.

 

And I am the equivalent to Pinnacle with this hotel chain.  If they can do it, they WILL.

Yep, had this happen recently on my birthday/anniversary.  It worked out well for me since they didn't have what I had reserved I was comped a lesser room (I had booked a suite).  Since it had been a last minute getaway I was happier with free lol!  But I've often had issue changing rooms when a hotel is at capacity or expecting to be at some point at my stay and I've got the status I usually have pull.

[franncos]

With all travel I book directly with Air, Hotel,Car Rental,Cruise. For the simple reason if I have a problem I can go

directly to company and not the 3rd party online vendor. I have seen too many times,  when people have booked a 3rd party online vendor and when they had an issue, nothing but problems trying too get corrected. This is my opinion after working in the travel industry for almost 40 years. 

[spooky981]

I just booked an Aquatheatre Suite for a 2021 sailing direct through the website. But now I have 60 days to transfer that reservation somewhere else if I want to. Can anyone recommend a TA that gives the maximum on board credit?

[Clarea]

3 minutes ago, spooky981 said:

I just booked an Aquatheatre Suite for a 2021 sailing direct through the website. But now I have 60 days to transfer that reservation somewhere else if I want to. Can anyone recommend a TA that gives the maximum on board credit?

 

The rules of this website prohibit requesting, mentioning, linking, or hinting specific travel agent names.