TA service charge when your cruise is cancelled

[CaribbeanIsland]

Considering the TA doesn't have to do anything with most cancellations ---- this is excessive. They don't even have to cancel them in their system. Princess does this.

[caribill]

2 hours ago, gmjc2 said:

I would love to know the TA,s that do not charge fees. I wonder if it is hidden  the fares that they offer? 

 

We can't name TAs on Cruise Critic, but on your next cruise attend the Cruise Critic M&G and ask your fellow roll call members there for recommendations.

 

Never use a TA that charges more than if you had booked directly with Princess. If the price is the same as Princess, they have not added any hidden fees.

 

But as Coral said above, there are TAs that provide great service, do not have hidden fees, and give discounts off the Princess fares.

[caribill]

21 minutes ago, CaribbeanIsland said:

Considering the TA doesn't have to do anything with most cancellations ---- this is excessive. They don't even have to cancel them in their system. Princess does this.

 

I do not think that the TA was charging for the cancellation itself, just for all the work that had been put into the booking before Princess cancelled the sailing.

 

I am not sure how the TA would collect that cancellation fee from the OP. Any payments for the cruise should have been made directly to Princess even if the TA entered the payment for the OP, so any refund would go directly to the client and the TA would have to send a bill for the $150 to the client in order to get that cancellation fee.

 

If, on the other hand, the OP's payment first went into the TA's own account and then the TA paid Princess, then the refund would go though the TA on its way back to the client. No one should ever use a TA that puts the cliuent's payment into the TA's own account on the way to the cruise company.

[EllieinNJ]

I booked a cruise from a large internet TA back. In October because I was enticed by all the OBC they were giving.  I knew there was $100 cancellation fee but never in a million years would I think I would cancel.  My final payment is due August 23 but I'm not comfortable with cruising yet so will probably cancel.  They said they would give me a voucher to book another cruise but now their cancellation fee is $100 per person.  I'm so sorry I got involved with them.  I might just forfeit that $100 and use it as a lesson well learned.

[voljeep]

4 minutes ago, EllieinNJ said:

I booked a cruise from a large internet TA back. In October because I was enticed by all the OBC they were giving.  I knew there was $100 cancellation fee but never in a million years would I think I would cancel.  My final payment is due August 23 but I'm not comfortable with cruising yet so will probably cancel.  They said they would give me a voucher to book another cruise but now their cancellation fee is $100 per person.  I'm so sorry I got involved with them.  I might just forfeit that $100 and use it as a lesson well learned.

maybe they can pay that OBC by re-cooping funds from people who book, but then cancel ??

[SNJCruisers]

26 minutes ago, EllieinNJ said:

I booked a cruise from a large internet TA back. In October because I was enticed by all the OBC they were giving.  I knew there was $100 cancellation fee but never in a million years would I think I would cancel.  My final payment is due August 23 but I'm not comfortable with cruising yet so will probably cancel. 

Ellie...when is your cruise and which cruise line?

[cjmayes51]

Man what do you people do for a job. Travel Agents have been working their butts off for us the last 4-5 months for what?  No sailings mean no income, how many of your favorite agency’s/ agents will be around by the end of 2020? I hate to use the current cliche, 

These are unprecedented times for travel, I have only cruised 14 times in the last 32 years, never cancelled or changed anything, other than a room,  from my original Reservation and I can see the sudden costs being thrown out there as a way to try and stay afloat. This will get worse before it gets any better. Charlie

[caribill]

44 minutes ago, EllieinNJ said:

  My final payment is due August 23 but I'm not comfortable with cruising yet so will probably cancel.  They said they would give me a voucher to book another cruise but now their cancellation fee is $100 per person.

 

If this is with Princess and the final payment is due August 23, then, since final payment would be due 60 days before the cruise, your cruise is scheduled for 10/22/20 and all Princess cruises have been cancelled past that date.

 

Even if were set up to pay 90 days in advance, that would be for a sailing scheduled for 11/21/20 and it would also be cancelled already.

[caribill]

23 minutes ago, cjmayes51 said:

Man what do you people do for a job. Travel Agents have been working their butts off for us the last 4-5 months for what?  No sailings mean no income, how many of your favorite agency’s/ agents will be around by the end of 2020?

 

And when my dentist's office was closed for months due to the pandemic, he and his staff also had no income. But I did not have to pay a fee when he cancelled my appointment.

[Coral]

31 minutes ago, cjmayes51 said:

Man what do you people do for a job. Travel Agents have been working their butts off for us the last 4-5 months for what?  No sailings mean no income, how many of your favorite agency’s/ agents will be around by the end of 2020? I hate to use the current cliche, 

These are unprecedented times for travel, I have only cruised 14 times in the last 32 years, never cancelled or changed anything, other than a room,  from my original Reservation and I can see the sudden costs being thrown out there as a way to try and stay afloat. This will get worse before it gets any better. Charlie

What if the person with a cruise that is cancelled no longer has a job? You never know these things.

[Potstech]

45 minutes ago, cjmayes51 said:

Man what do you people do for a job. Travel Agents have been working their butts off for us the last 4-5 months for what?  No sailings mean no income, how many of your favorite agency’s/ agents will be around by the end of 2020? I hate to use the current cliche, 

These are unprecedented times for travel, I have only cruised 14 times in the last 32 years, never cancelled or changed anything, other than a room,  from my original Reservation and I can see the sudden costs being thrown out there as a way to try and stay afloat. This will get worse before it gets any better. Charlie

Many other people have been working their butts off also yet they can not charge a fee if their services are cancelled by a company. Sometimes life is great sometimes it sucks but it goes on. Sorry but if a TA tried to charge for a cancellation they would lose our business and anyone who we know that might use them. Many businesses are also trying to stay afloat but no one sees most of  them charging a cancellation fee.

[voljeep]

1 minute ago, caribill said:

 

I guess the TAs could also have applied for those loans.

facts and circumstances would determine for all ... are TA's 'employee's' or independent contractors ?

[pcur]

1 hour ago, san diego sue said:

Yes that is the one. Glad to hear they no longer charge a fee. When you pay for your cruise do they put the credit card through to Princess or do they have their name on the charge. I heard that they didn't pay cruise lines direct, could be wrong.

 

The charge comes through on the credit card as coming from the cruise line.  So, all the money going from or to you is to/from the cruise line.  Big Box just passes along the information.

 

I think their customer service is stellar.  Over the last 4 months I have talked to several of them working at home.  Hard situation for some of them, and they had a woman die of COVID19 in their WA office:  hard on the whole staff.

 

They must finish helping you and not hang up or call back, except if the cruise line is closed.  They are super nice people.

 

I started using them because their prices were sometimes lower, and the shopping card they give with every booking.  That's free gas or groceries.

[TeaBag]

4 hours ago, EllieinNJ said:

I booked a cruise from a large internet TA back. In October because I was enticed by all the OBC they were giving.  I knew there was $100 cancellation fee but never in a million years would I think I would cancel.  My final payment is due August 23 but I'm not comfortable with cruising yet so will probably cancel.  They said they would give me a voucher to book another cruise but now their cancellation fee is $100 per person.  I'm so sorry I got involved with them.  I might just forfeit that $100 and use it as a lesson well learned.

I think we use the same TA.They have saved us a lot with lower prices and extra OBC over the years.  We cancelled a Sept cruise, we were sure would be cancelled, a day before FP as we did not want to pay and then wait to get the money refunded.  The cruise was cancelled 5 days later.  They charged the $100 fee for 2 and sent a voucher for the same amount on a future cruise.  This is the second cruise we have cancelled with them and last time we got our money back via voucher the next time we booked.  So I don't mind the fee when this is their policy.  I have never had to pay for a change in cabin or price.

[ontheweb]

13 hours ago, TeaBag said:

I think we use the same TA.They have saved us a lot with lower prices and extra OBC over the years.  We cancelled a Sept cruise, we were sure would be cancelled, a day before FP as we did not want to pay and then wait to get the money refunded.  The cruise was cancelled 5 days later.  They charged the $100 fee for 2 and sent a voucher for the same amount on a future cruise.  This is the second cruise we have cancelled with them and last time we got our money back via voucher the next time we booked.  So I don't mind the fee when this is their policy.  I have never had to pay for a change in cabin or price.

It's an interesting pattern by Princess to cancel cruises just after final payment is due. We also cancelled a cruise that we knew would never sail before tying up more money by making a final payment. Princess cancelled it about a week after final payment was due. (Our TA does not and did not charge for the cancellation. The only thing that was done was warn us it would be a long time until we got our refundable deposit back. It ended up taking about a week short of 3 months.)

[Reader0108598]

46 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

It's an interesting pattern by Princess to cancel cruises just after final payment is due. We also cancelled a cruise that we knew would never sail before tying up more money by making a final payment. Princess cancelled it about a week after final payment was due. (Our TA does not and did not charge for the cancellation. The only thing that was done was warn us it would be a long time until we got our refundable deposit back. It ended up taking about a week short of 3 months.)

 

You have a good TA ! I have not been so lucky 😞 had to pull two cruises from TA's so after 30 cruises I book my own.

 

Edited July 26, 2020 by Reader0108598

[EllieinNJ]

19 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

Ellie...when is your cruise and which cruise line?

My cruise is on NCL Getaway for Jan. 3. 2021.  NCL wants final payment Sept 5 but the TA wanted it Aug. 5.  We got the TA to wait until Aug. 23.  In addition they automatically charge your CC which they have on file.  We told them NOT to charge anything until they hear from us.  I was just waiting until the last minute to see if the cruise line cancels.

[SNJCruisers]

56 minutes ago, EllieinNJ said:

My cruise is on NCL Getaway for Jan. 3. 2021.  NCL wants final payment Sept 5 but the TA wanted it Aug. 5.  We got the TA to wait until Aug. 23.  In addition they automatically charge your CC which they have on file.  We told them NOT to charge anything until they hear from us.  I was just waiting until the last minute to see if the cruise line cancels.

Have sailed on NCL four times, the last being two years ago on the Bliss, but they obviously have changed their policy since I never had to pay 120 days prior, let alone 150 days prior to a TA.

Is your current deposit refundable? That makes it much easier to cancel at the very last minute.  Some of the lines have been more flexible than others during the Pandemic regarding reducing the numbers of days prior to your scheduled cruise for final payment.  It certainly can't hurt to research NCL's website for anything in writing or place a phone call to them and act as if you currently do not have a current booking and you're just "gathering information ". 

Good luck.

[AF-1]

you could always dispute the credit card charge from the travel agent.  You said the travel agency opted to give you OBC instead of the $150 cancel fee;  hope things work out

[jagoffee]

5 hours ago, ontheweb said:

It's an interesting pattern by Princess to cancel cruises just after final payment is due.

Really.  So you are saying that Princess has been cancelling cruises almost every week?  My observations are that Princess is cancelling cruise in large batches with many different final payment due on the affected cruises.

Of course each time Princess cancels a large group of cruises there will be a week’s worth of cruises that are right after the final payment date.  My cruises were cancelled many months before the final payment due dates.

[voljeep]

1 hour ago, jagoffee said:

 My cruises were cancelled many months before the final payment due dates.

#metoo - our cruise cancelled 2 months before final

[PROCRUISE]

Have had two cruises cancelled, so far, and my TA certainly had no charge related to those cancellations. I'd seek a new TA if I were you.

[Coolmama_1]

On 7/24/2020 at 9:42 PM, Bgwest said:

Find a new TA. 

Absolutely!

[geoherb]

I used to book through a local brick and mortar TA. The agency had a cancellation fee, but it was disclosed up front. They waived the fee when we canceled one cruise but booked another. We booked several more cruises with them before learning to book online around 20 years ago after our favorite agent retired.

[Ombud]

On 7/25/2020 at 10:26 AM, skynight said:

Every sales person in every field has to work for their sales. Sometimes the work pays off, sometimes it doesn't. Our TA does not charge for changes, cancellations. Seems a charge is a little strange when it is the cruise line that cancelled the voyage. After all, T.A.'s are agents of the cruise lines. At least that is how the cruise lines like to think of them. I would find another agent or book direct.

and Princess is still paying their commission (according to the webinars)