Transfering booking to a TA. Any issues to worry about?

We booked our first Azamara cruise a little over a month ago and we've been hearing we can get all kinds of extra OBC if we transfer our booking before the 60 day cutoff to an independent TA. We've never done this before, so we're curious if anyone has any suggestions as to what limitations, if any, might exist with transferring an Azamara cruise to a TA? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Uh, do it! We always transfer to our big online TA (same initials as this web site).

You can get up to 10% of your pre-tax cruise value, depending on your TA. We just got an even better deal this past Black Friday when we booked on board a Celebrity Cruise. We got $600 from Azamara and then our TA gave us black friday deals and some extra deals for being past customers, and some other perks. Total OBC for our 15 night Azamara cruise is $2700.

To us there is no downside. We never book a cruise unless we plan on taking it, we don't really need assistance, and we pick our own cabin and cruise. We just use the TA to get extra OBC. You'll get whatever the cruise line is offering PLUS their offer.

We never used one for our first few cruises, until we talked to some people on board who convinced us we were throwing money away. Boy were they right! We have been sailing Celebrity for 11 years now and have been getting all their perks (premium beverage package, unlimited internet, free gratuities and up to $1400 OBC). Our recent deal for our Azamara cruise is even better than that, and that's for a regular balcony cabin.

Often your TA will request final payment a few weeks ahead of time. They also have cancellation fees, but if you're planning on taking the cruise it probably won't affect you. We don't need personal "assistance" with our cruise. You still do your online check-in on the ship's website.

Try it - get a quote. No harm in seeing what they'll give you.

My experience has been about the same as Claudia's. A good TA can get you extra perks and amenities with no apparent downside. Ours does a good job of monitoring for price drops and re-books us if the price drops and it's still before the date of final payment.

Thanks Claudia and TV24! We're going to be calling a few TAs today, but have one more question. We read on Azamara's site that you can only rebook your cruise once, unlike some other cruise lines. Does transferring an Azamara cruise to a TA constitute a rebooking? The reason that is important is because we're watching for their sale where the veranda is the same price as the inside room and, of course, want to capitalize on that. Hate to miss out on that deal as we have a 31 day B2B2B we're going to be transferring. But then again if the TA perks are better than that sale, then it really doesn't matter.

Thanks Claudia and TV24! We're going to be calling a few TAs today, but have one more question. We read on Azamara's site that you can only rebook your cruise once, unlike some other cruise lines. Does transferring an Azamara cruise to a TA constitute a rebooking? The reason that is important is because we're watching for their sale where the veranda is the same price as the inside room and, of course, want to capitalize on that. Hate to miss out on that deal as we have a 31 day B2B2B we're going to be transferring. But then again if the TA perks are better than that sale, then it really doesn't matter.

Sorry, can't answer this question, Ken. Maybe someone else can help.

No, it doesn't. The initial transfer is just the same original booking. If you decide to move this cruise you'll contact your TA and you get one move. But all TAs aren't the same. One we use and many who are frequent cruisers use is a big online one, that has the same initials as Cruise Critic ;);)

I know on Celebrity we have changed cruises and kept the same booking number without cost penalty, only one time. It's the same on Azamara I believe, at least with my TA. We cancelled a cruise on Azamara and switched to another one and there was no penalty because we had the same booking number. Our TA had the booking, and we did it through them. But when we cancelled the cruise again, completely, we did have to pay a $50 pp cancellation fee. That was the second move and we did understand the payment cost, but everything else (our down payment) was refunded to our credit card.

HTH

No, it doesn't. The initial transfer is just the same original booking. If you decide to move this cruise you'll contact your TA and you get one move. But all TAs aren't the same. One we use and many who are frequent cruisers use is a big online one, that has the same initials as Cruise Critic ;);)

 

I know on Celebrity we have changed cruises and kept the same booking number without cost penalty, only one time. It's the same on Azamara I believe, at least with my TA. We cancelled a cruise on Azamara and switched to another one and there was no penalty because we had the same booking number. Our TA had the booking, and we did it through them. But when we cancelled the cruise again, completely, we did have to pay a $50 pp cancellation fee. That was the second move and we did understand the payment cost, but everything else (our down payment) was refunded to our credit card.

 

HTH

Thanks Claudia! I called Azamara and got the same answer. Basically, I can switch to a TA without changing the booking. We called about 5 different BB TAs today. One which I believe has the same initials in its name as this website offered $1700 (6.8%), but it would be in the form of a cash card which could only be used in their store; one credit card company offered a little less, but said they would match it; one offered only $300; and then one we get a lot of cruising email from offered $2550 (10%). The bottom line is once we did our do diligence today and came up with the 10% discount offer, it definitely would be hard now not to "do it". Thanks for the additional motivation! :D

I've never heard of a cash card, so maybe we're not talking about the same one?

We always just get OBC, and it's added to our account.

I've never heard of a cash card, so maybe we're not talking about the same one?

We always just get OBC, and ite's added to our account.

From what the lady I talked with said they just changed their policy. But, in any event we found a couple of 10% TA's so we're happy. :D

Hi fellow Canadians,

Can you please comment. Is it the same with canadian TAs? Can you suggest any - I always book directly with the cruise-line.

Oops!

Hi fellow Canadians,

 

 

 

Can you please comment. Is it the same with canadian TAs? Can you suggest any - I always book directly with the cruise-line.

It has always seemed to be the same procedure for us. Usually the future cruise officers on board know which travel agency has booked our current cruise and offer to transfer the relevant documents.

If you haven't already used an agent, it's a simple matter to look after the transfer yourself.

As for recommending a travel agent, I believe that would violate the rules on this board.

Good luck with your research!

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Hi fellow Canadians,

 

Can you please comment. Is it the same with canadian TAs? Can you suggest any - I always book directly with the cruise-line.

You can do the same as I did to find a few big box travel agencies in Canada. Just do an Internet search on Canadian travel agencies and start calling those that look promising. As I mentioned above, you will get various quotes so just keep calling until you get one you like.

OK. We've made the jump and now have a TA that we're happy with. However, we have to admit using a "proxy" now to find out if we qualify for new perks offered by Azamara after we transferred our bookings to the TA is a little tedious. We just saw this sale on Azamara and noticed our three 2018 B2B2B cruises are included in the list:

https://www.azamaraclubcruises.com/luxury-cruise-deals/online-booking-bonus?&_ga=1.58793709.137901205.1477447286#open-terms

I wanted to just call the Azamara 1-800 number to see if this additional OBC can be added to our bookings without loosing either our room or the "early booking" or "back-to-back" OBC we have already accumulated. But since we now have a TA, we're assuming we have to ask our TA to ask the question. So now we wait as he, of course, didn't know the answer when we called him this morning.

So our question is, do we have to go through our TA to ask this question or can we call Azamara's 1-800 number and ask the question, then relay that info on to our TA?

I'm sure our TA will eventually ask Azamara and get back with us with the answer, but the "waiting" part is definitely not one of the positive aspects of transferring a booking to a TA.

If you have transferred a booking to an agency then Azamara, or any other cruise line , will only dialog with that agency.

If you have transferred a booking to an agency then Azamara, or any other cruise line , will only dialog with that agency.

That's what I figured. Like I said, that's one of the downsides of transferring to a TA. But on the bright side, they sure give you a lot of OBC to do it, so I guess I'll just have to learn a little patience. :)

Hi fellow Canadians,

 

Can you please comment. Is it the same with canadian TAs? Can you suggest any - I always book directly with the cruise-line.

We use an Ontario based Travel Agent that has served us well for 10+ years. He provides us with some additional perks, like limo service to and from the airport and some other onboard benefits.

One of the reasons for using an Ontario based TA is the protection offered by TICO, to which Ontario TA's must belong. You can look up TICO, essentially you are protected if the travel company goes bust.

I have looked at the big box (with the same initials as the board) and they seem to offer some sort of credit on their website. I have not checked them out any further. I could probably save a bit more, but am happy with the service provided by our TA.

John