Courtesy Hold Cabin Change

[kiwinick]

I have searched the existing courtesy hold topics and not found an answer to this specific, slightly longwinded, question so please bear with me!

 

I have booked and paid for a Celebrity Suite on Solstice through a TA. When I booked the only CS I could get was the deck below the rest of my family who are in two adjacent cabins. When I checked today the CS I really wanted next door to our other two cabins had become available so I put it on courtesy hold.

 

When I contact my TA on Monday will they be able to use the courtesy hold reference # to move me from my booked cabin to the courtesy hold one OR as I fear, will I have to first release the hold then hope that they are able to change my cabin before it gets snapped up by someone else?

 

Any guidance would be gratefully received!

 

Thanks in advance.

[C 2 C]

When I contact my TA on Monday will they be able to use the courtesy hold reference # to move me from my booked cabin to the courtesy hold one OR as I fear, will I have to first release the hold then hope that they are able to change my cabin before it gets snapped up by someone else?

 

Any guidance would be gratefully received!

 

Thanks in advance.

 

You will have to release the "hold" or if your TA allows you to cancel your one booking with a full refund while transferring your new booking to the TA. Since this appears to result in reduced commission for your TA there may be a problem.. especially if you are within the final payment period. Good luck.

[kiwinick]

You will have to release the "hold" or if your TA allows you to cancel your one booking with a full refund while transferring your new booking to the TA. Since this appears to result in reduced commission for your TA there may be a problem.. especially if you are within the final payment period. Good luck.

 

Great thanks for taking the time to reply - I suspected this might be the case, so if its meant to be then I am sure it will turn out alright... Otherwise I will be perfectly happy in my original cabin!

[dmk]

I am a bit puzzled.

In the past, I have booked a cabin and when I've seen a cabin that I prefer "in the same category", I just call celebrity and ask for the change of cabin. No problem...no fuss.

Am I missing something?

[travelntreats]

I am thinking that the OP saw the stateroom become available, but the TA was not available !

 

I don't understand one response regarding a lower commission when the OP never stated that the fare was lower when checking stateroom availability.

 

OP... if your TA was not in when you saw that stateroom, you did the right thing in placing the courtesy hold. They should be able to move you over to the new stateroom w/out having to cancel the courtesy held stateroom, IF the res. agent they speak with is good at their job !

 

Good luck and keep us posted.

[C 2 C]

I don't understand one response regarding a lower commission when the OP never stated that the fare was lower when checking stateroom availability.

 

I misread the stateroom change as going from a suite to Concierge.. :o

[latjr]

I did the exact same thing --- put the preferred cabin on courtesy hold until I could get to my agent --- for my upcoming Solstice cruise. The my travel agent called Celebrity with me on the phone, I verbally released the cabin to him and the Celebrity agent made the switch on my reservatoin. It was before final payment, if that matters.

[Denny01]

There are reasons to book through a TA - OBC's seem to be the biggie - but this discussion points out why booking directly with the cruise line.

 

I've been booking directly for my last few cruises, and our upcoming, and just like having the direct control which would have allowed the OP to make the change without going through the hassle of getting everybody on line and basically managing the move.

 

So many of those that use this forum seem to really make pretty much all the decisions on what cruise, cruise line, private and ship tours an so on. And we use the TA to gain a few bucks of OBC. I assume a few have been helped by a TA when things got 'dicy' but haven't seen a lot of examples.

 

Not knocking TA's, just an observation.

 

Denny

[2sunny]

I have searched the existing courtesy hold topics and not found an answer to this specific, slightly longwinded, question so please bear with me!

 

I have booked and paid for a Celebrity Suite on Solstice through a TA. When I booked the only CS I could get was the deck below the rest of my family who are in two adjacent cabins. When I checked today the CS I really wanted next door to our other two cabins had become available so I put it on courtesy hold.

 

When I contact my TA on Monday will they be able to use the courtesy hold reference # to move me from my booked cabin to the courtesy hold one OR as I fear, will I have to first release the hold then hope that they are able to change my cabin before it gets snapped up by someone else?

 

Any guidance would be gratefully received!

 

Thanks in advance.

 

You will have to release it. No one can book it as long as you are "holding it". It appears the same to anyone on-line - even agents at Celebrity the same as if it were sold. Does your TA go directly on line with the TA version of "Cruising Power" and book for you? Or are you talking about a Celebrity TA? If the TA is going directly on line you can release it while you are on line with them it can take about 10-15 minutes for it to "show available" but it usually does not take that long. They can keep entering the Suite # you want and one of the times it will come up available and they can book it for you. There are not "usually" multiple agents trying for the same number at the exact same moment that you release it. You really should not have a problem.

 

Do NOT let them cancel your room until you are sure the other room has been confirmed!;)

[kiwinick]

Hi guys - Sorry I have been so slow in coming back to this thread. Thanks for all the very kind help and info - Celebrity changed my cabin but not until after the hold had been released. Part of the difficulty is that my booking went through NZ, we had to use a local travel agent who in turn had to speak to the local Celebrity agent who are a wholesaler. It often feels like by the time your request filters back through to Celebrity it has been Chinese whispered through so many people that they have no idea what you are talking about!

 

I am sure that it is in a large part due to the fact that the cruising market here is very small so unfortunately the TA's just don't have the depth of knowledge to be genuinely helpful. We are really new to cruising but for next year's trip I would definitely explore ways to either book directly with Celebrity or at least to use a US agent who knew how it all worked! At any rate all the problems are very minor, certainly nothing worth worrying about.

 

Thanks again for all your great advice.