Transferring Reservation to Travel Agent

[emeraldcitycruiser]

In the past I have simply booked directly through Celebrity and retained control of my reservation. For my next cruise, however, I am considering transferring the reservation to a travel agent before final payment to secure additional onboard credits.

 

I have consulted with a local travel agent as well as a national agency and will continue to shop around for incentives. Below are some questions I have been asking. For those of you who use travel agents or transfer your self-booked reservations to agents, is there anything else I should be thinking about or asking about?

 

Thanks.

 

 

• Whether the agency will honor price drops
  
• Whether the onboard credit or other incentives are tied to price (i.e., if there is a price drop, will the OBC be reduced)
  
• Whether there are fees to change the reservation (i.e., is there a fee if you request the agency to honor a price drop from Celebrity)
  
• Whether the agency/specific agent searches for price drops (although I still intend to do this myself even if I do transfer a reservation to an agent)
  
• General availability of the agent/ability to reach the agent if necessary
  

[kitty9]

It's not the agency that honors price drops, it's the cruise line. If you see a price drop, you call the TA and have them call X to get the better price. In some cases, the price drop is for new bookings only. Price drops should not be something an agency can refuse to you.

 

Another question is: If you have to cancel the cruise, does the agency charge a cancellation fee? Many agencies, especially online agencies, tend to do this.

[2sunny]

These are excellent questions. Kitty9 is correct, some agencies do charge a fee if you cancel the booking with them or if you cancel the cruise completely. It has nothing to do with them being an on-line agency it is because they are a "boiler-room" agency.

 

I think you should also ask "How many employees". If they have tons of employees they may have a high turn over and 6 months from now when you are ready to cruise and are concerned about document, etc. your original agent may no longer even work there. These large "boiler-room agencies" may be able to offer you the largest OBC but as an example: I own my own company and I am my only employee. But I am available to my clients 24/7. All of my friends that are TA's also own their own agency and are also their only employee. Most of them are available 24/7 in an emergency via voice mail. We all give great OBC and most of us 'always' discount the cruise line pricing. We watch the pricing for all of our clients and always get you the lower price. It does not matter that it lowers our commission, our clients ALWAYS come first. We treat EVERY client like a family or best friend, just as we would wish to be treated, EVERY TIME! We NEVER charge a service fee of any type, we often help you with bookings that we get no commissions from - just to help our clients. We are always available to you while you are traveling - so if you have a problem with a flight or hotel, that we did not book, you can still call us and we will help you. I only wanted to put a word in for the little guys.

 

So give a lot of thought when you choose a TA - bigger is not always better - it might be, it might not. It is, of course, your choice.

[Mysticks1]

I also asked if they were a brick and mortar agency and how long in business.

I searched the internet for reviews or articles on their agency, searched for the agents name and searched both through the Better Business Bureau in their city.

[dmpuszcz]

In the past I have simply booked directly through Celebrity and retained control of my reservation. For my next cruise, however, I am considering transferring the reservation to a travel agent before final payment to secure additional onboard credits.

 

I have consulted with a local travel agent as well as a national agency and will continue to shop around for incentives. Below are some questions I have been asking. For those of you who use travel agents or transfer your self-booked reservations to agents, is there anything else I should be thinking about or asking about?

 

Thanks.

 

 

• Whether the agency will honor price drops
  
• Whether the onboard credit or other incentives are tied to price (i.e., if there is a price drop, will the OBC be reduced)
  
• Whether there are fees to change the reservation (i.e., is there a fee if you request the agency to honor a price drop from Celebrity)
  
• Whether the agency/specific agent searches for price drops (although I still intend to do this myself even if I do transfer a reservation to an agent)
  
• General availability of the agent/ability to reach the agent if necessary
  

Thanks for your post. I was thinking about doing the same thing for our Oct 30th cruise but haven't got around to writing out a list of questions.

 

Thanks again!

[emeraldcitycruiser]

No problem, dmpuszcz. With respect to kitty9's post above, however, I have found that advice to be incorrect:

 

It's not the agency that honors price drops, it's the cruise line. If you see a price drop, you call the TA and have them call X to get the better price. In some cases, the price drop is for new bookings only. Price drops should not be something an agency can refuse to you.

 

One agency I have contacted so far indicated that it will not honor a price drop from the cruise line, period. Once you transfer your reservation to that agency, your price is locked in regardless of whether there are drops that otherwise would be honored had you kept your reservation with Celebrity directly. That agency also charged an exorbitant fee to cancel a reservation. Another agency indicated that they would honor price drops from Celebrity after a reservation is transferred, but there would be a reservation change fee associated with that request. Obviously I would not book with those agencies, because most agencies I have contacted told me that they would honor a Celebrity price drop without imposing any fees like a change fee.

[Mysticks1]

No problem, dmpuszcz. With respect to kitty9's post above, however, I have found that advice to be incorrect:

 

 

 

One agency I have contacted so far indicated that it will not honor a price drop from the cruise line, period. Once you transfer your reservation to that agency, your price is locked in regardless of whether there are drops that otherwise would be honored had you kept your reservation with Celebrity directly. That agency also charged an exorbitant fee to cancel a reservation. Another agency indicated that they would honor price drops from Celebrity after a reservation is transferred, but there would be a reservation change fee associated with that request. Obviously I would not book with those agencies, because most agencies I have contacted told me that they would honor a Celebrity price drop without imposing any fees like a change fee.

 

I would immediatly drop those from my list as well. I didn't have any of the ones that I contacted say that they wouldn't honor a price drop and none of them charged any fees at all for cancellation or for a change in your booking.

To add : also if you are to get OBC I would ask if they can immediately send you a copy of an invoice stating the amount.

[FinelyCruising]

I would immediatly drop those from my list as well. I didn't have any of the ones that I contacted say that they wouldn't honor a price drop and none of them charged any fees at all for cancellation or for a change in your booking.

 

To add : also if you are to get OBC I would ask if they can immediately send you a copy of an invoice stating the amount.

 

Donna regarding the OBC....my experience was such that an email documented the amount that was agreed to and was not part of the "invoicing". I did bring the email with me on board.

 

I was advised by the agent that the purchase of the amount would be made shortly before the sail date. Upon arrival in my cabin there was a card stating the gift amount and who it was from.

 

I also was required to sign for that gift in order to create a receipt for all parties, me, the agent and the cruise line.

 

It was on my account without any issue.