Any Downside to Transfer a Booking?

[martyap]

I have five cabins booked on a 6/18 Allure. Already have $300 OBC per cabin via onboard booking and a recent RCCL promo........do not really need any more OBC.

 

I can transfer the booking to one of the big box TA's and they are offering their $240 gift card per cabin which will be sent a few weeks after the cruise.

 

Is there any downside? Can I still book my own dining, show, beverage packages on my CP? If a better price promo comes along, who do I contact? I rarely transfer bookings but for five cabins it would add up to a nice $$ return.

 

Thanks

[Clarea]

You can still book dining, specialty restaurants, excursions, etc., if your booking is held by a travel agent. However, you must contact the travel agent for price drops, stateroom changes, cancellation. Also, you cannot "un-transfer" without the consent of the travel agent.

[pcur]

I use that big box store for all my cruise bookings now. I just booked a b2b yesterday on the Enchantment. I got both the RCCL $50 obc and the big box obc for each cruise. Plus, they were going to have to charge me more for one of them due to RCCL's current promo, but gave me their lower price on one of the cruises (the other cruise was the same as RCCL's).

 

Last time the gift card arrived a few days after we got home.

 

They give gift cards for RCCL and Celebrity bookings, and obc for all other cruise lines. They are pretty generous with the obc, too. Our HAL cruise this October has a $190 big box obc for an ocean view cabin, plus HAL was giving free tips. The big box price was $3,158 for 15 nights, including tax and fees.

 

They have good service, too.

[silentbob007]

I've run into some worse cancellation terms with some of those types of agents. Other than having to go through that agency and not being able to make payments online through RCI's website, there's no difference for pre-trip planning on RCI's website.

[KMagz]

One other caveat ( - you may or may not be aware of - ) the transfer must happen within 60 days of the original RCCL booking.