Transfering Celebrity booking to TA

[jsf]

We booked a cruise on board and was told we had 60 days to transfer to a TA. I talked to a well known TA and they offered me an offer of $200.00 more OBC. I wonder how they can do this without any thing else about the original booking changing.Seems like a good deal for us but Celebrity must loose on this deal.

J.

Edited May 20, 2015 by jsf

[Kamloops50]

We booked a cruise on board and was told we had 60 days to transfer to a TA. I talked to a well known TA and they offered me an offer of $200.00 more OBC. I wonder how they can do this without any thing else about the original booking changing.Seems like a good deal for us but Celebrity must loose on this deaql.

J.

 

They do it thru their commission. They might have a block of cabins on hold as well.

 

 

Sent from my SGH-I317M using Forums mobile app

[ricflyer]

I did it in February with no problem. My agent added $350 OBC to mine!

Edited May 20, 2015 by ricflyer
spelling

[kenevenpar]

And they love it! You did most of the work, they get their commission, less the amount credited to you for OBC. =X= is the only one losing money in this scenario as they have to pay commission to the TA.

[luv2cruisecats]

And they love it! You did most of the work, they get their commission, less the amount credited to you for OBC. =X= is the only one losing money in this scenario as they have to pay commission to the TA.

 

Note this only works if you insist while booking onboard that the agent you booked the current cruise with is not listed on the future cruise booking; it must be directly with X and you need to sign a waiver. Also keep in mind that you now must go thru that TA for any future change whatsoever once you transfer it away from X. That has caused me to lose out on a $300 weekend fare reduction in the past.

[Flafun888]

Also be careful to get written proof/documentation when you submit transfer form. I faxed mine well within deadline and stood by machine to make sure it went through successfully. When I checked back after about a week, they told me it can take 10-15 days to process. I waited and checked back again. They then claimed they never received it. I was already past the 60 mark by that point.

[GottaKnowWhen]

Also be careful to get written proof/documentation when you submit transfer form. I faxed mine well within deadline and stood by machine to make sure it went through successfully. When I checked back after about a week, they told me it can take 10-15 days to process. I waited and checked back again. They then claimed they never received it. I was already past the 60 mark by that point.

 

 

By "they" I presume you mean Celebrity? The one time I have done this I filled the transfer form, then I sent it to the TA who sent it to X.

 

I don't think I will do this again, I would rather deal with X directly.

 

I called the TA phone center 10 days ago, authorized a $2500 charge against my card toward my upcoming cruise. Four days later the charge showed on my card (properly, as a charge to X, not to the TA), but I have yet to get a revised invoice from the TA showing the revised amount owed. Not even an email acknowledgement. They may be a often-awarded favorite of X but they don't give good service. And I don't like being totally out of the loop.

Edited May 21, 2015 by GottaKnowWhen

[ClaudiaB]

I found out about it by reading between the lines here and by asking some people on board. The one I use has the same initials as this web site and I can say that it's definitely a good deal. I hope that's ok to say. We initially book with either them or Celebrity. If we book with Celebrity we do have to sign a transfer form which takes all of five minutes to sign on line. That's it. You don't even have to commit - you can get them to tell you what they'd give you additionally and then decide.

 

We get what Celebrity is offering and then we get additional perks. We've been doing this for the last 4 cruises and every time we've ended up with all the perks and additional OBC. They also have a loyalty program so we get even more OBC for using them time after time.

 

On weekends or after hours if we want to change something we might miss out on something but they are starting to have weekend hours too.

 

You still can do all your online stuff with Celebrity, like booking things. You don't have to use the TA for that. You also fill out your express pass information. The only thing that's different really is your last payment date is usually a few weeks earlier and you pay to them, not Celebrity.

Edited May 21, 2015 by ClaudiaB

[gergles]

You can transfer a cruise with an online form. No need to fax anything, and you get an email confirmation that it went through.

 

http://rccl.force.com/directtransfers/DTTCelebrity

[wen_c82]

You can transfer a cruise with an online form. No need to fax anything, and you get an email confirmation that it went through.

 

http://rccl.force.com/directtransfers/DTTCelebrity

 

We booked a cruise a few months ago with X direct using 'Future cruise deposit' purchased in May 2014 and had it re-fared due to price drop on May 6, 2015. Is this consider new booking from May 6? reservation # remains the same which is the future cruise deposit #.

 

Our confirmation shows

booking date: 05 May 2014 (this is the date we purchased the future cruise)

Issue date: 06 May 2015

 

We've never transferred a booking before and just want to understand it better? thanks

[royalcruz]

CC?

I give up.

Is it a secret? Seems like this would be the place to learn the ins and outs of getting good deals on your cruises, no? Am I missing why you didn't just tell me the name?

 

Cruise Critic has a lot of rules. One is that we are not allowed to mention the name of travel agencies.http://boards.cruisecritic.com/faq.php?faq=guidelines

Edited May 21, 2015 by royalcruz

[purpletequila]

pt - were you able to find the info yet? A quick bing or duck duck search about cruise auctions might get what you are looking for quickly as well..

 

Not yet but I can do that. I'm just hesitant to transfer the booking to a company I'm not familiar with which is why I was hoping to get an actual name from some of you guys but I now see that isn't allowed in these parts. Lol Eh. I guess I'll either have to chance it or apparently lose out on what sounds like tips and more obc.

Does anyone know...if Celebrity gives me $100 obc...if I ever find an agency to transfer it to and say they are offering $300, will my total be 3 or 400 obc?

[jonsmum]

Do US citizens operate under a different system? When we booked our upcoming cruise onboard, we got OBC, + all of the 123 Go things and the booking was then transferred automatically to our TA, by Celebrity. Our TA always gives us a 10% discount on top of any other offers that are ongoing at that time, so the paperwork confirmation from our TA was waiting for us when we got home, showing all the perks and the discount.

 

If we are not onboard and want to book, we ring Celebrity, book what we want, getting whatever perks are available at the time and then have 48 hrs to confirm it all with our TA - again getting a further 10% discount. Not sure why they can transfer our booking directly, while on board but other countries seem to have to do it themselves.... or am I misunderstanding something?

Edited May 21, 2015 by jonsmum

[GottaKnowWhen]

Do US citizens operate under a different system? When we booked our upcoming cruise onboard, we got OBC, + all of the 123 Go things and the booking was then transferred automatically to our TA, by Celebrity. Our TA always gives us a 10% discount on top of any other offers that are ongoing at that time, so the paperwork confirmation from our TA was waiting for us when we got home, showing all the perks and the discount.

 

If we are not onboard and want to book, we ring Celebrity, book what we want, getting whatever perks are available at the time and then have 48 hrs to confirm it all with our TA - again getting a further 10% discount. Not sure why they can transfer our booking directly, while on board but other countries seem to have to do it themselves.... or am I misunderstanding something?

 

In my case, and I think also for the others mentioned here in this thread, a future cruise purchased onboard could and would automagically roll over onto your TA's books. However, I was dissatisfied with the TA who was my TA of record for the cruise I was on, and so I asked the sales person to not roll my new future booking over to them. Later, once ashore, I had 60 days from booking date to shop around and try to find another TA to which I could transfer the booking. I have yet to find a land-based TA in my neighborhood who can give me anything except a bill for services. So I went with one of the big TA's out there on the web (and am not totally convinced I made the right choice.) Many people here talk of a very satisfying long term relationship with their TA, sometimes including good service, sometimes additional perks, sometimes both.

[gergles]

Also, if you don't have a TA at the time you book a cruise onboard because you didn't know about the free perk shower that a lot of them are willing to pass out, you might book directly through X then want to move it.

 

If you booked the cruise you're sailing on with a TA then book another cruise onboard, it does automatically go to your TA.

 

As an example, one warehouse club TA adds about 10% of the price of the sailing as OBC in addition to whatever else you get. So on my next booking, I have 123go OBC, onboard booking OBC, and TA OBC, for a total of $750 of OBC on a $3K trip.

[purpletequila]

So does anyone know? I currently have a $100 obc on an existing booking. If I transfer to a ta who is offering $300, will I have $400 obc or do I lose the $100 from Celebrity?

Also, if the tips are already on my invoice due to select dining and they're willing to pay tips, will my invoice be reduced by the tip amount or do they obc the tip amount?

Thx!!!

[CanadianDee]

You can transfer a cruise with an online form. No need to fax anything, and you get an email confirmation that it went through.

 

http://rccl.force.com/directtransfers/DTTCelebrity

 

Yep, I just recently did this and it worked nicely. Took a week or so for Celebrity to process and notify my TA, and I believe it said somewhere on the documentation that it might take a week or two to process.

 

Much better than phone or fax, you have an electronic trail of what happened.

[CanadianDee]

So does anyone know? I currently have a $100 obc on an existing booking. If I transfer to a ta who is offering $300, will I have $400 obc or do I lose the $100 from Celebrity?

Also, if the tips are already on my invoice due to select dining and they're willing to pay tips, will my invoice be reduced by the tip amount or do they obc the tip amount?

Thx!!!

 

I transferred with 123GO perks, included $300 and gratuities in OBC from Celebrity and it all processed just fine.

[tgg]

So does anyone know? I currently have a $100 obc on an existing booking. If I transfer to a ta who is offering $300, will I have $400 obc or do I lose the $100 from Celebrity?

Also, if the tips are already on my invoice due to select dining and they're willing to pay tips, will my invoice be reduced by the tip amount or do they obc the tip amount?

Thx!!!

 

You'll have $400 OBC. I would assume that the tips would be removed from the invoice because they can't be paid twice.

[Semi Retired]

Because it is policy for cruiselines to have you pay gratuities upfront when you choose "MY TIME/ANY TIME/ CHOICE DINING, it will not be taken off. But, you can ask your agent to give you extra OBC in lue of their "pre-paid gratuities" offer.

I negotiate whenever possible. Our Hawaii cruise, I got 150 OBC, military discount. Then when transferred to agent, I got another 50 OBC from them, 250 OBC for military, and a price reduction "sale" & pre-paid gratuities "offer from cruiseline that the agent noticed before our final payment date.

[baldercash]

We have used CC as our TA for the past 14 years and about 40 cruises they give great service.

I try to book my cruises on board to get the extra on board credit and then direct to our agent.

They can transfer your cruise from X and Royal without you filling the transfer form they will do it for you and it is done usually within 24 hours in my experience.

 

I have transferred cruises well after 60 days but I was told by my agent recently that the cruise lines are tightening this up.

 

They now only allow a cruise booking to be changed to a different date once after that then there is a $50.00 a person fee.

 

They run on line specials every Tuesday .... this is sort of like playing charades : )

[Semi Retired]

I just camr from a RCCL Bermuda cruise and booked a 'next cruise' onboard for 2017 to get the 50% off 2nd passenger and 150 OBC. I said I didn't want to use the current agent, so they got me to sign a waiver to have the booking through RCCL. I then went home contacted my agent, (which I googled for a previous sail date and ship, 2016 on Celebrity, got many different online agents and picked one.) That agent transferred the booking from RCCL and gave me an extra 300 OBC and a 'specialty dining'. I look for an agency with long history and pays their agent a good commission. That way, they can afford to pass savings onto me. This one I found is so good, I'm keepin' him for all future cruises AND I've directed my brother and some friends to him.

Edited May 22, 2015 by Semi Retired

[Barry ATL]

I just moved my reservation from Celebrity to CC. It was a five day cruise so I was not expecting much. They agreed to pay my gratuities. This was great! I am pretty much self service so I just don't think about using a TA. From now on, I will.

 

I checked with three TA's before I decided on CC. I even did the "interview" thing that so many articles recommend doing. Also, I love a good negotiation.

 

Thank you so much to one of our fellow Cruise Critic members who walked me through this process.

 

You guys are the best!

[GottaKnowWhen]

I figured out what the TA, CC was but I didn't transfer it. ...In other words, she had no idea what I wanted ...

 

It has now been 16-17 days since I called CC and spoke to some random person ("random" because the person I was told would handle my account did not answer and then a few hours later somebody else called.) I wanted to authorize them to book a partial payment against my upcoming cruise.

 

It has now been 14 days since the charge was logged on my credit card. I still have not received an email acknowledgement, an updated invoice and summary of remaining charges, nothing. They don't seem to have an online system, you have to actually talk to someone which is a real challenge with their phone system and lack of actual people to talk with. It seems like a small mom-and-pop operation that grew too big and out of control. After my experience so far I will definitely not be back with them.

[Missymo]

I transferred to a T A after booking direct with celebrity. BIL - SIL using this TA No extra OBC with my TA but they were really pushing for me when prices on SS 2 went down over $1500 for the room after final payment. ,I was pretty annoyed Apparently a lot of suites were turned back in after the final payment, and of course,no refunds given. My TA took care of it and After going back and forth with celebrity, I ended up with CS (which costs more than I paid )and keeping my 123 perks. I usually book directly and enjoy putting it together. I don't think I would have been able to get this upgrade on my own. TA knew the right people to talk to at celebrity . First time using a TA that worked for me., not just hold the reservation. Will definitely use them again.

Edited May 26, 2015 by Missymo