Should I transfer reservation to TA?

[dougt1957]

I have reserved a cruise next May on Oceania thru the website. I was curious as to what others thought about transferring the reservation to a travel agent, and if I did, what should I ask for, such as onboard credits, to make the change. I am comfortable making my own plans. I will be using air deviation, in order to stay in Paris for two nights. Would I still be able to make my own hotel plans in Paris, as well as train or plane reservations to Mersaille, my embarkation port.

[Leonid]

I would find a good TA and transfer your booking ASAP. Would probably get a good deal and maybe PPG and/or SBC. At least ask.

[LHT28]

I have reserved a cruise next May on Oceania thru the website. I was curious as to what others thought about transferring the reservation to a travel agent, and if I did, what should I ask for, such as onboard credits, to make the change. I am comfortable making my own plans. I will be using air deviation, in order to stay in Paris for two nights. Would I still be able to make my own hotel plans in Paris, as well as train or plane reservations to Mersaille, my embarkation port.

Unless you plan to take the hotel package offered by Oceania of course you can book your own hotel & get yourself to the port of embarkation.

 

You can even just take the air credit for Oceania & book your own flights.

See what the prices are for the same routing & how much the air credit is + deviation fee, differential fee (if any) then decide

 

Shop around for a TA, you can ask them for whatever you want whether you get it ....

Just as a side note you may want to read this thread on HAL ...buyer beware

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1025166

If it sounds too good to be true it may be ...

[meow!]

I am comfortable making my own plans.

If you need someone to guide you through the whole process, then you need a full service TA. But as you are comfortable making your own plans, do all the "leg work" yourself, and just before final payment, find a TA who will give you the maximum discount/goodies, and use that TA for this purpose, as a ticketing agent and not a travel agent.

[lovecruising3]

 

Shop around for a TA, you can ask them for whatever you want whether you get it ....

Just as a side note you may want to read this thread on HAL ...buyer beware

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1025166

If it sounds too good to be true it may be ...

 

 

One thing, if you do "compete" the cruise, make sure you look at the BBB rating of the TA you are thinking of going with. If the person in the linked thread had done her research, and used common logic, she would not have had the issue. Who, in their right mind, would pay 100% of the price over 1 year ahead of the cruise? Too many businesses are in trouble these days to take such a risk.

[LHT28]

One thing, if you do "compete" the cruise, make sure you look at the BBB rating of the TA you are thinking of going with. .

I have said before do not put much faith in the BBB ratings

[Bowie MeMe]

I use a TA and let her find me a bargain. I give her what I found and ask her to match or beat. She almost always does beat what I know about.

What I don't understand is why you pay deviation fee so early on. I find I can almost ALWAYS find air cheaper than and better suited to my plans than what someone in an office does a few weeks before my cruise. I also use a travel insurance that is not the cruise line or travel agency. If one of the travel providers goes under -- I have valid insurance.

[suec12]

I transferred my booking about six months out to an agent I found on the O website - I received $150 OBC - I wasn't overwhelmed. I did not really shop around - maybe you can do better. I did all the other details myself, air, hotels, port excursions, etc. Of course the agent wanted to "help" me with these details but I was confident I could find myself as good of deal as she could. I eventually received an upsell - the agent had told me that as a preferred O agent, she would receive these offers ahead of those who just booked off the website. I am not totally convinced of this - what od the other posters think?

[Bowie MeMe]

Hard to tell if TA is better or not but a major reason for using the TA is that they can get you a bottom line- this is it- ready for deposit quote. Some of the fares I have found on-line have "disappeared" or changed drastically by the time you get to the final booking. My TA also will give me the quote and put the room on hold for a few days to get the deal completely worked out. This hold time is where I usually price out the air fare (Almost never take included air because we like a week pre-cruise and another post-cruise). Sometimes the TA tells me she can not beat the price I gave and to go with the on-line agent that the cruise line has dumped last minute deals with. She gives me good advice and she knows that I am loyal to her if she match deal. I or my family and friends book 8 to 10 people per year with her and she works hard to work out details for me.