Transfer Bookings

[chubbypiggy]

I booked a cruise with an outside travel company almost a month ago.  This is my first time using this travel agent, and I am very dissatisfied with her service.   The price for my cruise has gone down more than $100pp, and now also has $60pp OBC.  So I emailed her a week ago to refare.  First, she didn't even reply to my email.  Two days later I emailed her again, and her reply was she will work on it.  Nothing was done; yesterday morning, I emailed her again asking for the status and asked her to please at least let me know when she can work on my request.   No reply at all. Very unprofessional!!

 

Just want to know if I can transfer my booking to another outside travel company?  Or transfer the booking to Princess?  The price of booked EZ air has gone up $160pp.  If I am not allowed to transfer, is the only option left for me is to cancel with the current TA and rebook with another TA or rebook with Princess?  If so, then I will have to cancel my flights also, and rebook at the current $160pp higher airfare?

 

Thank you for any input or suggestions!

[Steelers36]

22 minutes ago, chubbypiggy said:

I booked a cruise with an outside travel company almost a month ago.  This is my first time using this travel agent, and I am very dissatisfied with her service.   The price for my cruise has gone down more than $100pp, and now also has $60pp OBC.  So I emailed her a week ago to refare.  First, she didn't even reply to my email.  Two days later I emailed her again, and her reply was she will work on it.  Nothing was done; yesterday morning, I emailed her again asking for the status and asked her to please at least let me know when she can work on my request.   No reply at all. Very unprofessional!!

 

Just want to know if I can transfer my booking to another outside travel company?  Or transfer the booking to Princess?  The price of booked EZ air has gone up $160pp.  If I am not allowed to transfer, is the only option left for me is to cancel with the current TA and rebook with another TA or rebook with Princess?  If so, then I will have to cancel my flights also, and rebook at the current $160pp higher airfare?

 

Thank you for any input or suggestions!

Sorry you are having these difficulties.  You have not characterized the agency (and I know you cannot name them), but is it a local "bricks & mortar" (B&M) outfit or a larger national or online agency?  If the former, I'd be on the phone to the owner/manager as let them know what is going on with lack of service.  You want some attention and is there another agent in the office who could look after you.  If it's a larger organization, I'd still call into their main number and get through to Admin or someone live and ask for a Manager and then layout your situation to them.  Not only ask for some service, but ask about getting another agent. 

 

It will take some finagling by Princess to change your Booking/Promo Code while preserving your EZ-Air.  It can be done, but the people working the file have to be aware and smart about it, so make sure they know.  You can run the numbers - if you are stonewalled and they cannot preserve flights, well don't let them cancel/re-book you and cost you money. 

 

If you are beyond 60 days since you made the booking, you cannot transfer it.  Within 60 days, you could fairly easily transfer back to Princess - but will need to tell them why and there is a form for that I believe.  That will lose you anything the Agency was giving you in terms of a fare discount or group OBC.  (If you weren't getting those, then I question why even use a TA in the first place). 

 

I have seen reports that it is more difficult to transfer from TA to a different TA (I mean different agency/company as opposed to an internal change I mentioned above).  You should detail your poor service experience to Princess as the reason for your request (not just that a new agency is offering you a lower fare or better perqs - that is my personal recommendation and I have not had to do this in the new protocols).  I'd get a move on because who knows how much time you have AFTER you make the switch to have the new TA make your booking change and get the better pricing?  If your category sells out, you cannot re-fare.

 

Good luck and hope you can find someone on your next cruise to give you a good referral or you could try searching on the internet for agencies that will compete for your business.

 

[Coral]

I am not sure if she is not being responsive to you or if she is having difficulties herself. When I speak with my agent, she literally is spending hours on the phone each day just with Princess trying to get bookings adjusted. Princess has a bunch of new employees and it is really hard for customers and agents to get anything accomplished. 

 

I had an issue I was trying to resolve and spent 12 hours on the phone with Princess on hold before I could get anyone to understand a basic issue. I can't even imagine what agents deal with each day.

[chubbypiggy]

Steelers36, thank you for your information and suggestions.

 

It is an online company that I used for 10+ years, and they offer a 8% discount off Princess price.  The agent who helped me in the past just retired, and I was given this new agent.

 

I booked the cruise less than 30 days ago, so it should be transferrable, but I don't want to take a chance of messing up my flights and ended up with a higher price.

 

I checked Princess EZ airfare on a daily basis.  One day after I booked, the airfare has gone up $100pp.  Then 2 days later, gone down $200pp, so I rebooked the flight myself on the Princess site and saved $100pp.  Last 2 days it has gone back up $250pp.  I will continue to monitor the airfare, if it drops back down to the price I booked, then maybe I will call the current agent to cancel my booking.  Then immediately book it again with another TA company (I got a response from another company through cruise compete and they offer about 6% off Princess price). 

 

The cruise is still about 9 months away, and I won't be surprised at all if there will be several more price reductions. With the way this agent works, I will continue to have problems asking her to refare.  So, I am willing to take a lesser discount and change to a different TA company.  My concern is, will my current TA be willing to cancel my booking immediately when I contact her so I can rebook with another TA.  

[chubbypiggy]

31 minutes ago, Coral said:

I am not sure if she is not being responsive to you or if she is having difficulties herself. When I speak with my agent, she literally is spending hours on the phone each day just with Princess trying to get bookings adjusted. Princess has a bunch of new employees and it is really hard for customers and agents to get anything accomplished. 

 

I had an issue I was trying to resolve and spent 12 hours on the phone with Princess on hold before I could get anyone to understand a basic issue. I can't even imagine what agents deal with each day.

Thank you for your explanation.  To me, even if she can't get through Princess phone line to refare, the least she should do is to let me know the status and not just ignore my emails.  

[cruzin4us]

I'd be pushing hard to speak to the TA's supervisor

[Coral]

13 minutes ago, chubbypiggy said:

Thank you for your explanation.  To me, even if she can't get through Princess phone line to refare, the least she should do is to let me know the status and not just ignore my emails.  

I completely agree.

 

I know sometimes they can re-fare online but there have been so many weird issues with Princess lately.

[mjmalino]

Honestly, a travel agent should refare your rate at least until final payment. 

39 minutes ago, chubbypiggy said:

Steelers36, thank you for your information and suggestions.

 

It is an online company that I used for 10+ years, and they offer a 8% discount off Princess price.  The agent who helped me in the past just retired, and I was given this new agent.

 

I booked the cruise less than 30 days ago, so it should be transferrable, but I don't want to take a chance of messing up my flights and ended up with a higher price.

 

I checked Princess EZ airfare on a daily basis.  One day after I booked, the airfare has gone up $100pp.  Then 2 days later, gone down $200pp, so I rebooked the flight myself on the Princess site and saved $100pp.  Last 2 days it has gone back up $250pp.  I will continue to monitor the airfare, if it drops back down to the price I booked, then maybe I will call the current agent to cancel my booking.  Then immediately book it again with another TA company (I got a response from another company through cruise compete and they offer about 6% off Princess price). 

 

The cruise is still about 9 months away, and I won't be surprised at all if there will be several more price reductions. With the way this agent works, I will continue to have problems asking her to refare.  So, I am willing to take a lesser discount and change to a different TA company.  My concern is, will my current TA be willing to cancel my booking immediately when I contact her so I can rebook with another TA.  

 

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, chubbypiggy said:

Steelers36, thank you for your information and suggestions.

 

It is an online company that I used for 10+ years, and they offer a 8% discount off Princess price.  The agent who helped me in the past just retired, and I was given this new agent.

 

I booked the cruise less than 30 days ago, so it should be transferrable, but I don't want to take a chance of messing up my flights and ended up with a higher price.

 

I checked Princess EZ airfare on a daily basis.  One day after I booked, the airfare has gone up $100pp.  Then 2 days later, gone down $200pp, so I rebooked the flight myself on the Princess site and saved $100pp.  Last 2 days it has gone back up $250pp.  I will continue to monitor the airfare, if it drops back down to the price I booked, then maybe I will call the current agent to cancel my booking.  Then immediately book it again with another TA company (I got a response from another company through cruise compete and they offer about 6% off Princess price). 

 

The cruise is still about 9 months away, and I won't be surprised at all if there will be several more price reductions. With the way this agent works, I will continue to have problems asking her to refare.  So, I am willing to take a lesser discount and change to a different TA company.  My concern is, will my current TA be willing to cancel my booking immediately when I contact her so I can rebook with another TA.  

 

Thanks for the details.  So, I would be calling in to the agency and requesting someone different.  They will have multiple agents.  Ask for an experienced one who is as good as the one you had who retired - bet the manager knows.  They may have just given all the retired persons portfolio to the new person.  

 

Even though I use a similar type agency as you do, I always handle EZ-Air myself online at Princess.com.  TA"s don't really want to deal with that - especially ones giving significant discounts - as they make nothing from air bookings.

 

Also, it has been a little frustrating for me last year because I switched to a different agency because my "go-to" really cut their discount (probably due to Covid-19 and lack of business).  TA's haave been swamped with cancellations in 2020/2021, return to sea bookings - all kinds of issues.  And we know from being on Cruise Critic that cruise lines are short-staffed, have newbies, etc.  So, it is hard for TA's to be as responsive as we would like and expect - and were used to.  So, here I am trying to "judge" this new guy against the fantastic woman I had from another agency.  But I would have had to pay at least $1,000 more to stay with her, so not pocket change.

 

Anyway, I have gone through EIGHT(!!) re-fares/re-bookings since our original in early FEB 2021.  These are four voyages totaling 39 days.  These adjustments have saved us net-net over $3,000.  My new guy has done the work, but I will admit I have been on tenterhooks a couple of times waiting for him to respond and do the work, etc.  But, it has worked out.  I know the conditions he is working under and work to do whatever I can to facilitate.  I am also gifting him some dollars as I know each change has cut his commission, so I am sharing a portion of my savings.  I do appreciate his efforts, but it has been a challenge for any of us to work with Princess over the past year+.

 

Now, you managed to slip in a reference we aren't supposed to explicitly name (wink-wink).  I found my previous agency that way and re-connected with my new one that way.  When you mentioned 8%, are you calculating that off the Princess quoted fare?  OR, is that off the commissionable fare?  The true discounting is off the commissionable fare.  There is a "hidden" non-comm fare portion which is typically $25/day.  You subtract that out of the Princess quoted fare and then apply the cash discount.  My previous agency/agent was giving 15% off - unheard of anywhere else (believe me as I have checked a number).  My current agency was still doing 12% - still very generous and second only to my previous.  IDK if my previous will ever go back, but I won't really know that until we have something else new to book.  (I did have occasion to ask her a while back as we were pondering a Winter 2022 Caribbean jaunt and their discount was still low).

 

I hope you can get this sorted out and get connected with a better TA.  Or, perhaps keep trying that website you mentioned and maybe you can land onto a different agency.  One that participates in there quite a bit is Orlando-based.  I do know they don't really make anything much at all from the referrals since that unmentioned website collects a fee, so it you have a low-cost voyage, there isn't much commission.  I should correct the record - one of our voyages got so low in price, the discount was changed to 10%.  He should have done that on one of the others (both 7-nighters) - and I told him to go ahead and do it - but he left it as-is.  

 

Edited May 11, 2022 by Steelers36

[chubbypiggy]

Steelers36.  Thank you for the information

I booked my own air through my Princess account using EZ air.  From the beginning working with that company, they already told me they don't handle air.

 

The 8% I mentioned, I calculated it based on the Princess site price I saw after I log in to my Princess account.

 

I got 5 companies replying for the "compete", and only one of those companies' quoted price was lower than the price I saw on the Princess website.  Two other companies quoted the price same as Princess, but offer a gift card AFTER completion of the cruise.

 

On the B2B cruises that I just completed, it was refared 6 times since I booked it a year ago from departure date.  The last final refare was after final payment, and the final price the TA gave me, was only $30pp less than Princess website price.   

 

[Steelers36]

8 hours ago, chubbypiggy said:

Steelers36.  Thank you for the information

I booked my own air through my Princess account using EZ air.  From the beginning working with that company, they already told me they don't handle air.

 

The 8% I mentioned, I calculated it based on the Princess site price I saw after I log in to my Princess account.

 

I got 5 companies replying for the "compete", and only one of those companies' quoted price was lower than the price I saw on the Princess website.  Two other companies quoted the price same as Princess, but offer a gift card AFTER completion of the cruise.

 

On the B2B cruises that I just completed, it was refared 6 times since I booked it a year ago from departure date.  The last final refare was after final payment, and the final price the TA gave me, was only $30pp less than Princess website price.   

 

Hmm .. I should think the agency I have our four current bookings with (see my signature block for particulars) would be among the ones you saw.  I just did the math the way you did using the Princess "list" price, but not the add-on port taxes that are a constant no matter who you book with and are listed as an extra charge on Princess.com quotes. 

 

My discount this way is now 10% on any longer or more expensive voyage and 9% on a cheaper/shorter one.  This is from the 12% discount on commissionable fare I mentioned earlier.  Imagine the deal when I was getting 15% in pre-Covid times.

 

(On our much higher fares back in 2021 - before most of the re-fares, the discount your way was 10.5% in some cases).

 

The second of our four voyages got so low at one point, the dollar discount is only $44/pp, but understandable with such a low fare and the discount percent was reduced (and I had no objection).  $44 will get me a dinner in the CG and a tropical drink from the bar.  At least it is something I wouldn't get from Princess.  I am grateful for whatever we do get, but I do try to maximize that opportunity.

[chubbypiggy]

12 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Hmm .. I should think the agency I have our four current bookings with (see my signature block for particulars) would be among the ones you saw. 

I don't know where to look for "signature block".  I clicked on your name, and it only showed your profile.

 

For all future cruises, I think I will book directly with Princess first, then contact those agents that reply to the compete, and transfer to the chosen agent before the 60 days transfer deadline.  This way, for the first 50 days or so, I can handle the changes myself as soon as it is needed (instead of waiting for the agent to handle it when they feel like it).  😁

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, chubbypiggy said:

I don't know where to look for "signature block".  I clicked on your name, and it only showed your profile.

 

For all future cruises, I think I will book directly with Princess first, then contact those agents that reply to the compete, and transfer to the chosen agent before the 60 days transfer deadline.  This way, for the first 50 days or so, I can handle the changes myself as soon as it is needed (instead of waiting for the agent to handle it when they feel like it).  😁

That sounds like a plan. 

 

If you look below each CC Member's postings on the threads, there is an optional "signature block".  Some have various sayings or quotes, some list all their cruise history, some have a name, etc.  I have "Upcoming" posted at this time.  Members setup their signature area as part of their Account Profile Settings.

Edited May 12, 2022 by Steelers36

[chubbypiggy]

Thank you Steelers36.

[AZjohn]

23 hours ago, chubbypiggy said:

Steelers36.  Thank you for the information

I booked my own air through my Princess account using EZ air.  From the beginning working with that company, they already told me they don't handle air.

 

The 8% I mentioned, I calculated it based on the Princess site price I saw after I log in to my Princess account.

 

I got 5 companies replying for the "compete", and only one of those companies' quoted price was lower than the price I saw on the Princess website.  Two other companies quoted the price same as Princess, but offer a gift card AFTER completion of the cruise.

 

On the B2B cruises that I just completed, it was refared 6 times since I booked it a year ago from departure date.  The last final refare was after final payment, and the final price the TA gave me, was only $30pp less than Princess website price.   

 

Hi,

It is tough when you loose a good TA and we recently went through the process of finding a new one.

The "compete" site use to be a good source but post covid I found out only a few good TA's were quoting there (and not regularly either).

 

We all have our expectations on the service we want from a TA. One of mine is I want a same day reply regardless of the topic. On the other hand, I know that sometimes it takes a lot of hold time for a TA to get through to Princess and I try to respect their time so, if it's <$200 savings I just hold off contacting her. But, this is just me and your entitled to figure out your own threshold.

 

Wishing you all the luck in the world finding a new one 🙂 

[chubbypiggy]

After no responses from her to my emails, yesterday morning I sent her another email.  I said it has been a week since my request to refare, and if she is super busy, please kindly reassign my booking to another agent.  So she finally decided to call Princess and refared my booking yesterday afternoon. Good thing Princess promo is still on;  saved $200pp (lower price and additional OBC).  

[Coral]

12 minutes ago, chubbypiggy said:

After no responses from her to my emails, yesterday morning I sent her another email.  I said it has been a week since my request to refare, and if she is super busy, please kindly reassign my booking to another agent.  So she finally decided to call Princess and refared my booking yesterday afternoon. Good thing Princess promo is still on;  saved $200pp (lower price and additional OBC).  

Good savings! I hope you do something fun with it!

[Steelers36]

5 hours ago, chubbypiggy said:

Thank you Steelers36.

 

2 hours ago, chubbypiggy said:

After no responses from her to my emails, yesterday morning I sent her another email.  I said it has been a week since my request to refare, and if she is super busy, please kindly reassign my booking to another agent.  So she finally decided to call Princess and refared my booking yesterday afternoon. Good thing Princess promo is still on;  saved $200pp (lower price and additional OBC).  

My email is active in my signature block for overnight and such as I am waiting to hear from a fellow cruiser on a Roll Call about an excursion we are doing independently.

Edited May 12, 2022 by Steelers36

[Steelers36]

<deleted>

Edited May 12, 2022 by Steelers36

[chubbypiggy]

 

When an outside agent calls Princess' phone line, can the agent request changes for multiple bookings of different passengers, or only can request changes to one booking per call?   Thank you.