Direct Booking Cost Discepancies

[PoppyandNana]

We do not like our TA at all and were thinking of booking directly with Celebrity for our next cruise. Now I'm not sure if that's a good idea. Would really appreciate any help. Thanks.

 

We have booked a number of cruises with a large online agency also. We have a dedicated rep who is very knowledgeable and easy to get ahold of. The company specializes in discounted fares buy buying blocks of cabins. We always get the best fare plus the company and the rep kick in a few bucks in OBC.

Edited November 6, 2016 by PoppyandNana

[PoppyandNana]

We do not like our TA at all and were thinking of booking directly with Celebrity for our next cruise. Now I'm not sure if that's a good idea. Would really appreciate any help. Thanks.

 

We have booked a number of cruises with a large online agency also. We have a dedicated rep who is very knowledgeable and easy to get ahold of. The company specializes in discounted fares buy buying blocks of cabins. We always get the best fare plus the company and the rep kick in a few bucks in OBC.

[GordonJasmine]

I appreciate all of your answers. I'd also like to mention that our present TA gives us OBC of $50, even for 2-week cruises. From what I've been reading, that seems low. Am I right in thinking that?

[Luvcrusn]

I appreciate all of your answers. I'd also like to mention that our present TA gives us OBC of $50, even for 2-week cruises. From what I've been reading, that seems low. Am I right in thinking that?

 

Yes. Our next cruise, 10 day we have 600, , tips and drinks. 300 of it is from the TA. Concierge class, same on our last Cruise in Feb a nine day. Shop around. 😊

[April29]

As I said we use a TA for our cruises. We have 4 cruises booked for next year. Our next cruise I worked on getting our 10 year visa'a for China. Booking pre stay in Hong Kong and going to Macau. Post stay at Disneyland Shanghai for the Chinese New Year. Last week I booked airfare for our May cruise. Now trying to figure out where to stay in Waikiki pre cruise. What I'm trying to say is I have enough planning to do on my own. Why not let my TA deal with Celebrity.

 

This sounds like a lot of work.

Why aren't you letting your TA do it ?

They're not a Full-Service Agency ?

[TMLAalum]

I appreciate all of your answers. I'd also like to mention that our present TA gives us OBC of $50, even for 2-week cruises. From what I've been reading, that seems low. Am I right in thinking that?

 

The TA affiliated with that I-71 & 82 location typically gives 7% of the cruise fare including taxes! Sometimes a dinner credit of $25 is included as well. $50 would be in the .01% range for our currently booked cruise on the Reflection:eek:.

[dkjretired]

My husband and I currently have a Bermuda cruise booked for next year.I've been monitoring the price and when I checked the Celebrity website the cost had gone down by about $120 pp. We booked directly with the cruise line so I called to have the price adjusted and through a very round about conversation was told the price we had already booked was better than the current promotion. I pulled up the website and described what I was seeing but kept being told why what I was seeing was not correct. I let it go and hung up the phone and proceeded to put a hold on a new stateroom in our same category at the reduced price. At that point I called Celebrity back and was connected with someone different. I described what I had done and he immediately changed our booking to reflect the lower price keeping our current stateroom.

 

This is our first time sailing with Celebrity and I have to say I'm a little frustrated about this situation though ultimately it was resolved. Is it normal for the Celebrity vacation planners to be inconsistent? And it just seems a bit odd that the first one saw different prices than the second. Did the first person I spoke with just not want to provide me with the lower cost?

 

Did you check to make sure you kept any perks you may have had, if any.

[CEOofVacation]

We use a TA affiliated with a warehouse (think Strongsville near I-71 & 83). Their hours are M-F 8am to midnight our time and Sa & Su 9am to 8:30pm. You won't have an assigned agent, but we've had no issues obtaining price reductions or moving cabin classes, etc.

 

This TA used to give refundable OBC but now have changed to a gift card for the store. I've been told that the gift card can be converted to cash by taking it directly to the store, but we haven't had a booking with the gift card, so IDK for sure.

 

Good Luck!

 

I think you are referring to the company whose hq is in WA? I think they have the best OBC/gift. I have not used them but have certainly done perks comparison and handsdown they are the best. An acquaintance referred his TA to me because he said this TA is better than this other company. I used him and he was reluctant to give OBC. Then I asked the TA to match this company and he did but that was like pulling teeth. Booking cruise is a commodity anymore, so just go for the best deal out there. I will use one of the large online companies (with phone) in future. No stress and no haggling.

Edited November 7, 2016 by CEOofVacation

[PoppyandNana]

Did you check to make sure you kept any perks you may have had, if any.

 

Originally Posted by Redgte View Post

My husband and I currently have a Bermuda cruise booked for next year.I've been monitoring the price and when I checked the Celebrity website the cost had gone down by about $120 pp. We booked directly with the cruise line so I called to have the price adjusted and through a very round about conversation was told the price we had already booked was better than the current promotion. I pulled up the website and described what I was seeing but kept being told why what I was seeing was not correct. I let it go and hung up the phone and proceeded to put a hold on a new stateroom in our same category at the reduced price. At that point I called Celebrity back and was connected with someone different. I described what I had done and he immediately changed our booking to reflect the lower price keeping our current stateroom.

 

This is our first time sailing with Celebrity and I have to say I'm a little frustrated about this situation though ultimately it was resolved. Is it normal for the Celebrity vacation planners to be inconsistent? And it just seems a bit odd that the first one saw different prices than the second. Did the first person I spoke with just not want to provide me with the lower cost?

 

Why don't you use their website? The price you see is the price you pay.

[PoppyandNana]

Yes. Our next cruise, 10 day we have 600, , tips and drinks. 300 of it is from the TA. Concierge class, same on our last Cruise in Feb a nine day. Shop around.

 

Your TA is giving you $300 in OBC totally from that company? Not a dime is any kind of X perk?

 

You say you got $600 in OBC, prepaid gratuities and beverage package. That is the full four promos offered by X usually at great cost or you're in a high cost suite

 

Was your fare at least equal to what you could have got from the website?

Edited November 7, 2016 by PoppyandNana

[PoppyandNana]

Did you check to make sure you kept any perks you may have had, if any.

 

My husband and I currently have a Bermuda cruise booked for next year.I've been monitoring the price and when I checked the Celebrity website the cost had gone down by about $120 pp. We booked directly with the cruise line so I called to have the price adjusted and through a very round about conversation was told the price we had already booked was better than the current promotion. I pulled up the website and described what I was seeing but kept being told why what I was seeing was not correct. I let it go and hung up the phone and proceeded to put a hold on a new stateroom in our same category at the reduced price. At that point I called Celebrity back and was connected with someone different. I described what I had done and he immediately changed our booking to reflect the lower price keeping our current stateroom.

 

This is our first time sailing with Celebrity and I have to say I'm a little frustrated about this situation though ultimately it was resolved. Is it normal for the Celebrity vacation planners to be inconsistent? And it just seems a bit odd that the first one saw different prices than the second. Did the first person I spoke with just not want to provide me with the lower cost?

In almost every case once you book with X fare and Y promos that is your reservation. If the fare goes down you normally have to cancel and rebook. That means that the promos you got with the first reservation may not be available depending on the time span between when you first booked and when you asked for the lower fare. Every situation like you describe has a footnote stating new bookings only.

 

Now on the flip side if the fare goes up $120 do you call and ask how you can pay for this new up charge. .

Edited November 8, 2016 by PoppyandNana

[Redgte]

Did you check to make sure you kept any perks you may have had, if any.

 

Yes, we did :) Exact same stateroom, Go Big Beverage Package and even got to keep our $25 pp deposit! I was expecting to have to pay an additional $450 for the deposit so I was quite surprised that did not occur!

[Redgte]

In almost every case once you book with X fare and Y promos that is your reservation. If the fare goes down you normally have to cancel and rebook. That means that the promos you got with the first reservation may not be available depending on the time span between when you first booked and when you asked for the lower fare. Every situation like you describe has a footnote stating new bookings only.

 

Now on the flip side if the fare goes up $120 do you call and ask how you can pay for this new up charge. .

 

I'm new to Celebrity but what you described goes against my understanding of their advertised 'Best Price Guarantee'. It specifically states that you can request an advertised lower fare or the addition of an 'added value offer' to a current reservation. When I spoke with the second vacation planner he had absolutely no issue with applying the lower cruise fare to my reservation and pointed out it was a nice savings :)

Edited November 8, 2016 by Redgte

[fleckle]

My husband and I currently have a Bermuda cruise booked for next year.I've been monitoring the price and when I checked the Celebrity website the cost had gone down by about $120 pp. We booked directly with the cruise line so I called to have the price adjusted and through a very round about conversation was told the price we had already booked was better than the current promotion. I pulled up the website and described what I was seeing but kept being told why what I was seeing was not correct. I let it go and hung up the phone and proceeded to put a hold on a new stateroom in our same category at the reduced price. At that point I called Celebrity back and was connected with someone different. I described what I had done and he immediately changed our booking to reflect the lower price keeping our current stateroom.

 

This is our first time sailing with Celebrity and I have to say I'm a little frustrated about this situation though ultimately it was resolved. Is it normal for the Celebrity vacation planners to be inconsistent? And it just seems a bit odd that the first one saw different prices than the second. Did the first person I spoke with just not want to provide me with the lower cost?

It can vary depending on where the agent happens to look as there are so many different possible pricing categories and different combinations of perks, which can be very confusing.

There is no simple answer.

 

It is unlikely that any agent is going to check out all the possible rate categories for which a passenger may qualify.

 

For any cruise that shows a price drop, one time you do best by taking the posted website price drop (depending on which promotion is being offered at the time),

 

but another time you may be better off keeping your original booking if it had better perks that you want to keep,

 

or yet another time you may be best off taking one of the discounted rates for which you may qualify (e.g., resident, senior, interline, travel agent, military, police/fire rate, or special sale discounted rate) which may come with reduced perks, or with no perks at all.

 

We find it best to check out the various options ourselves, decide which works best for us for any particular cruise, and then call the agent and state what we want.

 

 

If an agent gives you a hard time, what you did is exactly right -- call back and speak to someone else instead of arguing.

 

 

There can be trade-offs. When using a TA, the TA's commission will be reduced if you price drops a lot, so you may get the lower price but have your perks reduced.

 

 

When looking at the rate we want on a website, we find it best to have it open right in front of us at the time we call.

Then if the agent claims not to see it, or says he/she is seeing a different price, you can state exactly where you are looking and give the url or ask for the agent's email address and offer to email the link immediately.

 

So far this has never failed to work for us when an agent claimed that the price we wanted is not available. The reply has been "Oh, now I see it. There it is" whenever we did this.

 

 

[fleckle]

I appreciate all of your answers. I'd also like to mention that our present TA gives us OBC of $50, even for 2-week cruises. From what I've been reading, that seems low. Am I right in thinking that?

There is no easy yes or no answer to this question as it is all relative.

 

It depends on the category cabin you book and the price you pay and how much commission the TA is making on your booking.

 

If you book a suite or even a nice balcony cabin at regular price, then yes, generally that would be quite low.

 

But if you book a low priced inside cabin, or ov, or even a higher level category at a deeply discounted price, that may be an appropriate amount.

 

 

[PoppyandNana]

I'm new to Celebrity but what you described goes against my understanding of their advertised 'Best Price Guarantee'. It specifically states that you can request an advertised lower fare or the addition of an 'added value offer' to a current reservation. When I spoke with the second vacation planner he had absolutely no issue with applying the lower cruise fare to my reservation and pointed out it was a nice savings :)

 

 

That's great. There are so many permeations it is hard to keep on top. Everyone has their own thresholds and $120 buys a bunch of tee shirts.

Edited November 8, 2016 by PoppyandNana

[GordonJasmine]

One thing I know is not right - On our second cruise with this TA, there was "no" OBC from her. I mentioned it after getting back and she said she would make it

up on our next cruise. Guess what - it was still the miserly $50. No more. Even when we cruise in an Aqua Spa cabin - our favorite. We had already booked our next cruise with her, so isn't it true that we have to get air fare, etc. from her too?

[denatravels]

One thing I know is not right - On our second cruise with this TA, there was "no" OBC from her. I mentioned it after getting back and she said she would make it

 

up on our next cruise. Guess what - it was still the miserly $50. No more. Even when we cruise in an Aqua Spa cabin - our favorite. We had already booked our next cruise with her, so isn't it true that we have to get air fare, etc. from her too?

 

 

Not if you do not use choice air.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[bunnyette]

We do not like our TA at all and were thinking of booking directly with Celebrity for our next cruise. Now I'm not sure if that's a good idea. Would really appreciate any help. Thanks.

 

I'm using a Celebrity PVP for the first time (only because they phoned me when I put a hold on a reservation, and my usual TA took too long to get back to me)...so far I am happy, he gave me an upgrade from an inside to a balcony after I saw the price drop.

[PoppyandNana]

One thing I know is not right - On our second cruise with this TA, there was "no" OBC from her. I mentioned it after getting back and she said she would make it

up on our next cruise. Guess what - it was still the miserly $50. No more. Even when we cruise in an Aqua Spa cabin - our favorite. We had already booked our next cruise with her, so isn't it true that we have to get air fare, etc. from her too?

 

First of all you can get your air from wherever and whom ever you choose. We use miles for every trip as our lifestyle lends itself to huge purchases.

 

For regular air try kayak.com. Great way to compare fares. The only advantage to using the lines's air is I believe transfers are included. This may or may not be an advantage depending on your perspective and local. If you are flying to FLL it is a quick and cheap cab to the pier. Why wait an hour or more after deplaneing to get on a bus of 55 of your BFF's and their three tons of luggage?

 

We get a minimum of $75 OBC from our TA regardless. If it is a discounted group rate we get the $75. For all others we get a minimum of $100 and in some cases $250.

Edited November 8, 2016 by PoppyandNana

[Luvcrusn]

IMHO there is No advantage to booking direct. On every cruise we've taken since we've been using a TA we have not only gotten rates that sometimes beat those advertised by X and received more perks and OBC. The trick is shop around and find the best TA for you. The big online ones are harder to reach than a small brick and mortar, but offer better deals due to their volume. Everyone on here has their favorites, shop around and you'll find yours.

[CEOofVacation]

We currently have 2 bookings, one on Celebrity, TransAtlantic and we asked the TA to match the large TA OBC, which we got $365 OBC and another $100 from Celebrity. The other booking we got $1200 OBC from the TA to match. We use FF miles to book our air tickets.

Edited November 8, 2016 by CEOofVacation

[4774Papa]

IMHO there is No advantage to booking direct. On every cruise we've taken since we've been using a TA we have not only gotten rates that sometimes beat those advertised by X and received more perks and OBC. The trick is shop around and find the best TA for you. The big online ones are harder to reach than a small brick and mortar, but offer better deals due to their volume. Everyone on here has their favorites, shop around and you'll find yours.

 

We book early, usually a year and a half or two years in advance of the cruise. I don't use a TA. About 80% of the time I check a couple of the big online TA firms and my cruise is not even available through them.

 

I have compared rates with others on cruises that I am on and many times, I still got the lowest rate. Sure, a TA generally gives some OBC, but it is generally not that much.

 

I like having control over my reservation, being able to call when prices drop, which has happened on a couple of my 9 Celebrity cruises.

 

It has gotten more complicated since X started bundling its pricing with the drink packages, etc. that I don't want. X's pricing on the cruises that I was interested in have gotten too high. I did book a transatlantic some time ago for October 2017 that did not have the bundled pricing.

 

I wanted to do a NZ cruise and a TP cruise in 2018. Celebrity's prices were more that double Royal Caribbean's for a similar NZ cruise, although Celebrity offered a free beverage package. Still, considering the value of the beverage package to me, we are saving $2000 booking with RCI.

[Redgte]

That's great. There are so many permeations it is hard to keep on top. Everyone has their own thresholds and $120 buys a bunch of tee shirts.

 

Not t-shirts, but the $240 total will just about cover the Premium Celebration Package we plan to purchase so it's almost like getting it for free ;)

Edited November 8, 2016 by Redgte

[Redgte]

I know a lot of people prefer working through a TA but I fall into the camp that prefers to do it myself except for Disney cruises so I can get onboard credit (since they hardly ever have special pricing to speak of). I enjoy planning travel and would say I'm good at it, not to mention I also hate giving up control! One of the first trips my husband and I planned together was an 18 day trip to Eastern Europe (Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary) so we figured we could pretty much handle any trips after that and to date we have!

Edited November 8, 2016 by Redgte