Moving reservation from HAL a to travel agent.

[muffin]

Booked 4 cabins for alaska next summer on $1.00  deposit day.  Thinking of moving it over to a big box agent. Have never done this,  but seems people think it gets them a bonus, and with 4 cabins, that would be nice. Is there a time limit? Are there special things I should ask,or be aware of? 
We are doing HIA  and are 3 star is any of that matters.  Thanks for the education should you choose to reply. 

[BillderBo]

There is a time limit (in my experience). I don’t think you are close to it yet. 
 

I would ask the travel agent for a bonus of some sort for moving the reservation. I was offered that recently. 

[zgscl]

Assuming you are within 60 days of booking & have not made final payment you can transfer to a TA. You need to complete the form and email it in (google “Holland America TA Transfer Form” and you can download one (I can’t post because it is from various TA websites). But you fill it out with the main agency phone number (verify which number they are registered with, particularly for a large agency) and email in to world cruise reservations which will take around 10 or 20 days to actually process the transfer. 
 

if the conditions above are not met you can cancel and rebook assuming your reservations are refundable and assuming you don’t lose any valuable promos. Actually this may be better anyway because the 150 anniversary sale might be better than the last promo although it has a higher deposit. 
 

You can check what the agency is offering. Some big agencies give various types of credit either for onboard or in their own affiliated business. 
Smaller agencies/home based agents may not be able to buy business in the same way but may provide much more personalized and attentive service. Additionally note some agencies charge a service fee to work with them so double check that as well before transferring. 
 

When you transfer keep in mind you will have to work through the agency for any changes to your reservation. Anything from making a payment to trying to get a better promo or moving cabins or anything else - you can no longer do it yourself or by calling. The agency will have to do it for you. Depending on how responsive they are this can be good (as you don’t have to wait on hold you can just email them with your request) or bad (because you can never get a hold of them or they don’t move quickly enough to get you the current promo or snag the last of a  type of cabin you really wanted). 

[trixiee]

When I mentioned to my PCC that I wanted to transfer the booking, I was offered a price match - in OBC.  I was happy to do this. YMMV.

[boulders]

1 hour ago, trixiee said:

When I mentioned to my PCC that I wanted to transfer the booking, I was offered a price match - in OBC.  I was happy to do this. YMMV.

 

Same here. I think they want to keep the bookings in house.

[JeffElizabeth]

We used a PCC for twenty years and loved him, but get so much better benefits with our current travel agent. 

[SusieKIslandGirl]

We have transferred a number of directly booked cruises to a big box store travel agency. (Does it start with a "C"?) I think I found a form on their website. It is correct that it must be done within 60 days of booking, not paid in full and before final payment. I think it took about a week to hear back. While you no longer get OBC, you do get "shop cards" for future use 2 to 3 weeks after you get home. We're getting $405 on a card for our next 14 day cruise.

[mcrcruiser]

you should shop around for travel agents & not go with that big box store starting with a C  . Reason is out TA just gave us back over $ 600  on a $6200 cruise fare   plus we getting  $ the $500 on board credit from HAL & another  $250 for  being a share holder on our 19 night Hawaii cruise  . 

 

 We grabbed  the lowest VH handicap cabin & then after booking we used some cash to go to Club Orange upgrading us into a V category hsndicap cabin sandwhiched between 2  passenger cabin decks  ;which is what we wanted  .We also get all the Club Orange benefits for the entire cruise .Imo well worth the extra cost   

 

 We get personnel service from our TA  .We book all our cruises with them because they treat us very well 😁

 

 

 

 

Edited October 26, 2022 by mcrcruiser

[trixiee]

We used a "Cruise Specialist" company once and were not happy.  We got zero benefits, and I had to monitor prices, and email them to re-fare.  It was actually more work to deal with them.  

[Iamthesea]

We recently booked and are getting the normal HAL perks for their anniversary sale.  Reduced deposit and $300 in OBC.  Instead of booking with HAL and then transferring, we booked directly with our TA.  Not a big box, but another well known agent that starts with a "C".  From them, we are receiving another $700 in OBC!  

 

How do we look into getting Club Orange?  I have read that once booked, we may get an offer by email. 

[SusieKIslandGirl]

You can call to see if it's available for your cruise. There are only so many openings so call soon. Have your booking number available.

 

Club Orange-Upsell

206 626 7381

888 628 8107

[Iamthesea]

I should have said that we are not interested in paying the advertised rate as we will probably not eat dinners in there. The space does not look comfortable and warm for evening meals on the NS.  Others on here have reported that CO is not worth the advertised upgrade price...I believe $50 pp pd?  They have been given offers of anywhere from $15 to $25 pp pd.  

 

We would take advantage of some morning breakfast, but the main advantage would be Priority lines.  The reason I asked about CO was to see if we would get an email offering CO.  I saw nothing in the booking process when checking rates on HAL, and our TA did not mention it.