Switching booking from RC direct to Travel Agent

[oshkosh1]

We are considering changing the booking for our cruise in April from direct with RC to a large national travel agent in order to get a substantial onboard credit.

 

Other than having to go through the TA to make any changes, are there any other downsides?

 

Tim

[FLACRUISER99]

look out for a cancellation penalty. Get everything in writing. Online TA's have been known to just plain lie.

[Ashland]

Loss of Control would be the most important...however make sure you have contact info for this agency...as many have had some stressful weekends when price drops and they have no way to contact their agent...Double check what their policy is with reductions I would be very careful if this is an online agency... You might have to work with who ever is available........"Read the Fine Print".....Hope the OBC will be worth it....for me it might not be...Good luck

[patseacruiser]

Make sure your payment is going directly to the cruise line and not the agency. Also, make sure they will not charge penalty for cancellation or changes and honor price drops. Also, make sure you can contact someone on the weekends in case you do see a price drop. If they are paying your insurance make sure you are covered for pre-existing conditions as they usually do not make payment on insurance until final payment and you would likely not be covered for a pre-existing condition.

[Hobiecat01]

There are as many reasons to use or not use a travel agent. It is simply personal choice.

 

However, that said, I would only use a travel agent that 1) I trust, 2) I have first-hand knowledge of their service, i.e. a great track record (references) and 3) are local. DW and I have a great TA that we have used for 20 years. They have serviced us way beyond the call of duty and helped us out of several binds. And, yes, have gotten us refunds from cruise lines for particular issues that arose. And if issues arise, I can get in the car and drive right over to meet face to face.

 

In your case, to switch from RCL to a relative untested (at least to you personnally) on-line TA just to get a large OBC... well frankly, I smell a rat... and you should do as my DW does when she sees a rat... RUN AWAY!

 

Sure you can get promised wild discounts and OBCs from these on-line folks but remember, if it sounds too good, it probably is. And many of these promises are not kept. Buyer Beware!

 

Just the opinion of a fairly seasoned cruiser...;)

------------------------

Sea ya!

Ron and Lee

Canton, Ga

Proud RCCL Platinum Member

"In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom,

in water there is bacteria." – Ben Franklin

We are proud Oasis Camel Cruiser – April 17, 2010

The Oasis Camels Website

Previous Cruises – 59 Days at Sea!

Carnival Mardis Gras - 3 Day Bahamas - April 1982

Carnival Destiny - 7 Days Western Carib. - April 1998

Princess Grand Princess - 7 Days Eastern Carib. - April 1999

Princess Sea Princess - 7 Days Western Carib. - March 2000

Princess Grand Princess - 7 Days Western Carib. - March 2002

RCCL Navigator of the Seas - 7 Days Western Carib. - March 2003

RCCL Mariner of the Seas - 7 Days Western Carib. - April 2005

RCCL Freedom of the Seas - 7 Days Western Carib. - 6/18 - 6/25/2006

RCCL Liberty of the Seas - 7 Days Eastern Carib. - 7/19 - 7/26/08

Planned Cruises

RCCL Oasis of the Seas – Our Friends Cruise - April 17, 2010

RCCL Allure of the Seas – Our Neighborhood Cruise - 2011

The BIG One - Southeast Asia 14 day – 2012?

Princess Cruises - The Med – 14 day – 2013?

[patseacruiser]

To say that you advise using a travel agent because you had a bad experience with one gives us all a bad name. I wrote some of the things I think the poster should be aware of but to just say don't transfer to a travel agent is not right. And what if the initials of my agency was that and it wasn't me? That would be terrible to me.

[fodorspeter]

When you say a large OBC, how large is it. Sometimes TA's offer unrealistic OBC's just to get the business and then don't deliver. I think I read somewhere that the max OBC is 10% of the commissionable fare. So if the cruise is $2000 and the taxes and fees are $500 then the commissionable fare is $1500 and the max OBC allowed is $150. If someone offers you $500 OBC, maybe it is a rat. Just be careful.

[flagger]

Just know that I have been on cruises in the past year where I overheard more than one person asking Guest Relations about their promised onboard credit. They were told to contact their travel agent whom they had never met much less talked to.

 

There is no guarantee they will be around or available in an emergency.

[Hobiecat01]

Just know that I have been on cruises in the past year where I overheard more than one person asking Guest Relations about their promised onboard credit. They were told to contact their travel agent whom they had never met much less talked to.

 

There is no guarantee they will be around or available in an emergency.

 

Like I said... know your TA and know how to get in touch with them, face to face. Heck, I even took mine out to dinner a few years back! :D

----------------------------

Sea ya!

Ron and Lee

Canton, Ga

Proud RCCL Platinum Member

"In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom,

in water there is bacteria." – Ben Franklin

We are proud Oasis Camel Cruiser – April 17, 2010

The Oasis Camels Website

Previous Cruises – 59 Days at Sea!

Carnival Mardis Gras - 3 Day Bahamas - April 1982

Carnival Destiny - 7 Days Western Carib. - April 1998

Princess Grand Princess - 7 Days Eastern Carib. - April 1999

Princess Sea Princess - 7 Days Western Carib. - March 2000

Princess Grand Princess - 7 Days Western Carib. - March 2002

RCCL Navigator of the Seas - 7 Days Western Carib. - March 2003

RCCL Mariner of the Seas - 7 Days Western Carib. - April 2005

RCCL Freedom of the Seas - 7 Days Western Carib. - 6/18 - 6/25/2006

RCCL Liberty of the Seas - 7 Days Eastern Carib. - 7/19 - 7/26/08

Planned Cruises

RCCL Oasis of the Seas – Our Friends Cruise - April 17, 2010

RCCL Allure of the Seas – Our Neighborhood Cruise - 2011

The BIG One - Southeast Asia 14 day – 2012?

Princess Cruises - The Med – 14 day – 2013?

[delboy1145]

I'm related to mine can't get better than that

[oshkosh1]

Thanks for all of your responses.

 

To give you a little more information, I am considering the travel department of a large membership warehouse club that we belong to. They are offering a $237 OBC on a cruise fare (without taxes) of $2,667. They have weekend hours, and have the same cancellation penalties as do Royal Caribbean. In order to move my reservation, I would need to do so prior to making final payment. The only difference that I know of is that they would charge a $25 change fee in order to process a rate reduction if the rate would happen to go down.

 

Tim

[jonbgd]

We are considering changing the booking for our cruise in April from direct with RC to a large national travel agent in order to get a substantial onboard credit.

 

Other than having to go through the TA to make any changes, are there any other downsides?

 

Tim

 

You can usually look up a companies track record online I do that for any type of business i want to use I do it for hotels, restaurants, excursions anything

 

I have just changed my booking fron RCCL to an online TA, since i had booked on board my last cruise, to get prepaid gratuities

No hassles except you call the TA and they call RCCL so you have a longer wait to get things done so 15min for $140 IMHO well worth it

I have done this on my last cruise as well and the online TA called RCCL to change my booking from resident to military and got $300obc

[jonbgd]

Thanks for all of your responses.

 

To give you a little more information, I am considering the travel department of a large membership warehouse club that we belong to. They are offering a $237 OBC on a cruise fare (without taxes) of $2,667. They have weekend hours, and have the same cancellation penalties as do Royal Caribbean. In order to move my reservation, I would need to do so prior to making final payment. The only difference that I know of is that they would charge a $25 change fee in order to process a rate reduction if the rate would happen to go down.

 

Tim

I have booked thru the big COST Cutting store for many vacations

 

 

No Problems but they do charge that change fee

but I book for the amount im willing to spend now not for the possibility of price drops in the future

[cruisinfanatic]

Thanks for all of your responses.

 

To give you a little more information, I am considering the travel department of a large membership warehouse club that we belong to. They are offering a $237 OBC on a cruise fare (without taxes) of $2,667. They have weekend hours, and have the same cancellation penalties as do Royal Caribbean. In order to move my reservation, I would need to do so prior to making final payment. The only difference that I know of is that they would charge a $25 change fee in order to process a rate reduction if the rate would happen to go down.

 

Tim

The $25 fee is your red flag. You can get that amount of OBC from many TA's with a cruise costing that and they don't charge fees.