Online Travel Agency charges for price drops

[Dardreamer]

I just saw a price drop for my Silloutte cruise in March. I called my online travel agency and they called Celebrity and got the credit for me, but said any further price drops before final payment I would be charged $25 per drop. Has anyone else ever had this happen? Didn't think they could charge for this.

[judygund]

Yes, I had this happen. I was so angry, but there was nothing I could do at the time. You can take your booking away from an agent, but I didn't know that at the time. Did not seem fair.

[SusieV]

I've never heard of this. Now, our travel agent reduces the OBC she is giving us commensurate with the size of the price drop, but that is only fair since it is coming out of her commission which is being reduced.

 

I would not book with an agent that charged me fees of any sort- there are lots of good ones out there who don't (and I've got one I am very happy with!).

[RMSeadog]

I just saw a price drop for my Silloutte cruise in March. I called my online travel agency and they called Celebrity and got the credit for me, but said any further price drops before final payment I would be charged $25 per drop. Has anyone else ever had this happen? Didn't think they could charge for this.

 

Never heard of anything like that. We have had our OBC reduced because of their reduced commission, fair enough. But as tight as we are we would spend $25 to save $100 pp and of course never book another cruise with that TA. ~ Ric

 

[Italy52]

When we transferred our new reservation to an online TA (so we could get better OBC) we were told upfront that any changes to our reservations would cost us $25.

 

Karen

[Lsimon]

There are a lot of agents that charge for any work they do including a cancellation fee of their own if you cancel the cruise, even if it is within Celebrity's fully refundable period.

 

If you think their services are worth all the fees then stick with them. If you don't switch to a TA who has no extra fees (there are a lot who don't) or book direct with Celebrity.

[PartyAllDaTyme]

Every TA has advantages and disadvantages-- to me, charging a fee for changes, such as a price drop, is unacceptable, but the TA may make it up in larger than average OBC, prepaid gratuities and/or travel insurance, offering to check for price drops for you, or service above and beyond when there's a problem. If they do, you have to decide whether the other services they offer outweigh the occasional fee for changes. If they don't, let the marketplace determine whether they stay in business or not-- IOW, vote with your feet.

[Illini007]

How do you find a price drop on the cruise you booked? Do you just monitor the X site or is there an easier way?

[Dardreamer]

I usually go to an on-line site or two and enter info as if i were booking and see what the prices are. I usually

check daily - mine just went down $30 per person which isn't much but $60 is $60 and will buy a few bottles of wine!! Actually they credit your credit card if it is before final payment.

[sandyss]

I also have never been charged for changes made by our online TA. Her OBC is based on the cost of our cruise, so that gets slightly reduced if our cabin price is reduced. She has also made many changes in cabin type for us, without any penalty. If we get a more expensive cabin, our OBC also goes up.:D

 

Like others have suggested, my suggestion is to find another online TA. There are lots out there who want your business, and are very willing to make changes for you.

 

I do subscribe to a site that monitors price changes for my cruises. They charge $5 for monitoring up to 5 cruises. But, even with that, I need to check the X website to check for any residency sales :mad: (the site only monitors Florida currently).

[Cruise Junky]

Some of the online agencies do this, but they usually tell you before booking, or it's in the fine print. I know one agency I've used in the past will quote two prices for a cruise...the lower price comes with change fees. Seeing as they're rebating most of their commission I can see that doing extra work on the file will cost you.

[Eno]

I have been obtaining quotes from online TAs for a cruise I want to book in March. Everyone I check with is different - TA 1 will give OBC and pay gratuities but has a 10.00 booking fee, no cancellation if within celebrities time of no cancellation fee but if after final payment where there would be a fee, they will add on an additional fee of 50.00 for the cabin, TA 2 will give a higher OBC ends cheaper by 100.00 than the other TAs but will charge a cancellation fee of 50.00 per person starting now, TA 3 will pay basic trip cancellation insurance. TA4 same prices as TA2 and TA3 but no perks - no OBC, no prepaid gratuities and no payment of insurance but no

cancellation fees. The question I have to ask myself is do I feel lucky - if I think I won't cancel then TA1 is cheapest. Right now, still checking. Leaning toward TA2 as although 100.00 more she was the most helpful when I called, also said I could change cabins if price dropped with no fees. I have a spreadsheet going with the differences as it gets confusing.

[Jade13]

I just saw a price drop for my Silloutte cruise in March. I called my online travel agency and they called Celebrity and got the credit for me, but said any further price drops before final payment I would be charged $25 per drop. Has anyone else ever had this happen? Didn't think they could charge for this.

 

It should be clearly written on the online agency web site. We had one a few years ago that charged $75.00 pp for changes. We were charged the amount only once when my stepdaughter (3rd pax in cabin) canceled a HAL cruise 31 days before departure. We were just glad that HAL returned 95% back to our credit card for any reason cancellation with their platinum plan.

[iancal]

Yes, we have heard of this but we do not deal with those agencies. We have a great on line TA at the moment and have been working with her for the past several years. We will only deal with on line TA's who do not charge for repricing or changing cabins, do not charge a cancellation fee (ie an agency cancellation fee), have our cruise cruise charged to our credit card by the cruise company not the agency. So far, no issue. We have never yet cancelled a cruise. We do take advantage of price decreased, category consolidations hence it is not unusual in this economy for us to have 2 or 3 re pricings/changes.

[Redtravel]

Last year, I booked with what I thought was a smart price. When the price went down by $200pp, I contacted the TA. The adjustment was made, my OBC went down about $50 and I was told that I was only allowed one price decrease. That was after I had booked and had been told that the TA would match price drops. Even though I got a good price for that cruise, I wouldn't touch that agency again.

[iancal]

The OBC that some TA's offer is usually based on a percentage of the cruise cost net of taxes-ie the amount that the agency gets their commission on. So it makes sense that if the price goes down, the OBC should be adjusted accordingly. It is essentially a rebate of the agency commission to the client. We believe that we save anywhere from 8-12 percent, depending on the cruise, by booking with our TA.