Benefits of booking direct and transferring to TA

[ERIN123]

I've seen it mentioned that you can book directly with Celebrity and transfer your booking to a TA. What are the benefits of doing this vs booking direct with hour TA?

 

Thanks

[davekathy]

1 minute ago, ERIN123 said:

I've seen it mentioned that you can book directly with Celebrity and transfer your booking to a TA. What are the benefits of doing this vs booking direct with hour TA?

 

Thanks

If booking while onboard the ship you will get any perks being offered, OBC and reduced deposit for booking while onboard. Then you have 60 days to transfer your booking to your TA. Use your booking with Celebrity for negotiating any additional perks from theTA to take over your booking. 

[bikerunner]

I just didcthiscforcmy cruise and got an xtra 175 obc for transferring.  It’s easier dealing with a single travel agent then the celebrity help desk.  We have a small group 4 rooms and now they are all together.  Before a cpl ofcthe rooms where done thru the celebrity site and 1 called up and it’s two different teams at celebrity that handle those. A travel agent if there good answer quickly and much more clear on things I think. 

[helen haywood]

To clarify, I don’t think there are any benefits to booking direct with Celebrity and transferring to a TA unless you are booking onboard.  If you just book online or over the phone with Celebrity you might as well just book with your TA.  

 

Book onboard and you will pay only $100 per person for the deposit regardless of the length of the cruise (which otherwise could be $450 per person for a longer cruise) you will also get OBC for booking onboard and any additional offers Celebrity is offering at the time for onboard booking.  For example, we recently booked onboard and X was offering two perks for Concierge Class which they were not offering shoreside.

[ipeeinthepool]

2 hours ago, ERIN123 said:

I've seen it mentioned that you can book directly with Celebrity and transfer your booking to a TA. What are the benefits of doing this vs booking direct with hour TA?

 

Thanks

You hope to get free stuff

[cazzi]

You will usually get extra OBC or an extra perk from your TA

 

[NantahalaCruiser]

3 hours ago, davekathy said:

If booking while onboard the ship you will get any perks being offered, OBC and reduced deposit for booking while onboard. Then you have 60 days to transfer your booking to your TA. Use your booking with Celebrity for negotiating any additional perks from theTA to take over your booking. 

And of course you can spend some of the 60 days shopping around multiple TAs looking for the best deal - but leave a few days for the time to transfer the booking. Also be sure to check for any TA fees for changes or cancellations.

[Host Jazzbeau]

If you are a night owl, you can book direct and grab the cabin you want while your TA is asleep.

[SFCAcruiser]

Re:   booking on board and transferring to travel agent. I booked a future cruise while on a recent Eclipse cruise. The booking agent told me my reservation would automatically be transferred to the travel agent that had booked the Eclipse cruise that I was currently on. I do not recall being given any options, but perhaps I did not pay much attention because I was OK with using the same TA.

[ChuckL]

We booked direct and then found an online  retail TA that offered a substantial retail shopping card for their merchandise. Got Celebrity to price match and received a $375 OBC for keeping the direct booking. That later increased to $425 when we upgraded our cabin. We preferred the OBC. to a store card so it was a win situation for us. 

[Cruise a holic]

7 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

If you are a night owl, you can book direct and grab the cabin you want while your TA is asleep.

I prefer booking on board for that reason.  Also some TA's, especially the on-line TA's will charge a penalty if you cancel.  Direct doesn't until final payment is made. 

[davekathy]

10 hours ago, NantahalaCruiser said:

And of course you can spend some of the 60 days shopping around multiple TAs looking for the best deal - but leave a few days for the time to transfer the booking. Also be sure to check for any TA fees for changes or cancellations.

Not a problem doing a little research. I usually know within a couple of weeks of returning where my bookings will go.  I never use a TA that has any type of fees. They must also have a 1-800 number and I speak to an agent who will be taking over our bookings. I've used the same TA for our last few cruises but never let the bookings we make onboard automatically transfer to the TA. 

[davekathy]

8 hours ago, SFCAcruiser said:

Re:   booking on board and transferring to travel agent. I booked a future cruise while on a recent Eclipse cruise. The booking agent told me my reservation would automatically be transferred to the travel agent that had booked the Eclipse cruise that I was currently on. I do not recall being given any options, but perhaps I did not pay much attention because I was OK with using the same TA.

You do have the option of holding on to your booking you make while onboard. You have to make sure to tell the onboard agent no when they ask if you want the booking to go directly to the TA of record. I do it all the time. 

[davekathy]

1 hour ago, Cruise a holic said:

I prefer booking on board for that reason.  Also some TA's, especially the on-line TA's will charge a penalty if you cancel.  Direct doesn't until final payment is made. 

I can think of at least three online TAs (I've used) that have no fees at all. Booking or cancellation. I would never use a TA (online or brick and mortar) that has any type of fees. 

[Jim_Iain]

9 hours ago, SFCAcruiser said:

Re:   booking on board and transferring to travel agent. I booked a future cruise while on a recent Eclipse cruise. The booking agent told me my reservation would automatically be transferred to the travel agent that had booked the Eclipse cruise that I was currently on. I do not recall being given any options, but perhaps I did not pay much attention because I was OK with using the same TA.

I believe the default is that your reservation will be assigned to the travel agent that booked the cruise you are on.    I ask them to book it under Celebrity as I use a couple agents and give it to the one offering the best additional perks.   You are required to sign a slip indicating you chose to not send to your existing agent.

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, davekathy said:

I can think of at least three online TAs (I've used) that have no fees at all. Booking or cancellation. I would never use a TA (online or brick and mortar) that has any type of fees. 

I recently did a booking on one of the major online agencies that start with cruise  and when reading the fine print they have a $75 cancellation fee.    It was the first time I've seen this.   The agents I usually use charge no fees for changing or cancellation (U.S. Agents and Bookings).  

[Pennstateman]

15 hours ago, ERIN123 said:

I've seen it mentioned that you can book directly with Celebrity and transfer your booking to a TA. What are the benefits of doing this vs booking direct with hour TA?

 

Thanks

 

OBC

[phoenix_dream]

1 hour ago, davekathy said:

I can think of at least three online TAs (I've used) that have no fees at all. Booking or cancellation. I would never use a TA (online or brick and mortar) that has any type of fees. 

Your choice of course.  We use a TA that does charge fees, although they offer such better perks than other TA's (including extra $$ for loyalty alone) that the small chance of a small cancellation fee is worth it for us.  If I ever found a TA offering the same perks with no fees I would gladly switch TAs but so far that has not happened.  Too bad rules prevent us from mentioning names on these boards.

 

[davekathy]

1 hour ago, Pennstateman said:

 

OBC

Along with OBC some TAs also offer paid gratuities, specialty dining, wine, reduced cruise fare, BOGO offers. 

Edited December 24, 2018 by davekathy

[ERIN123]

2 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Along with OBC some TAs offer paid gratuities, specialty dining, wine, reduced cruise fare, BOGO offers. 

The best offer Im seeing is the 1 perk already included by Celebrity plus $230 obc. Would love to get gratuities included as well. Any suggestions who offers this?

[CEOofVacation]

7 hours ago, ERIN123 said:

The best offer Im seeing is the 1 perk already included by Celebrity plus $230 obc. Would love to get gratuities included as well. Any suggestions who offers this?

OBC offered by TAs varies by cost of the cruise.   A generous TA will pass back to the guest 8 to 10 percent of the cost of the cruise, in the form of OBC and/or perks.

Edited December 25, 2018 by CEOofVacation