How do I transfer to a travel agent?

[fluffybunny22]

Someone recommended I transfer to a travel agent and I found one. What is the process for transferring to one? Everyone saying how awful customer service is has me scared to call. TIA.

[jules815]

As long as you booked less than 30 days ago, you would call MSC and tell them you want to transfer your reservation to a travel agent. I tried doing this for the first time yesterday on an upcoming Celebrity cruise, and missed the cut off by one day. (Pretty sure 30 days is the standard, but I could be wrong.)

 

I read all the horror stories about dealing with MSC customer service, but honestly have never had an issue. Might be because there's the "if you're in the Yacht Club" option when you call? I always get thru pretty quickly and they've been helpful.

[JAGR]

While Jules815 is correct about you being able to call MSC, let the TA do the lifting.  Give them your reservation number, let them contact MSC, and the TA can send you the transfer form for you to sign.

[mscdivina2016]

7 minutes ago, JAGR said:

While Jules815 is correct about you being able to call MSC, let the TA do the lifting.  Give them your reservation number, let them contact MSC, and the TA can send you the transfer form for you to sign.

100% correct answer!

[jules815]

3 minutes ago, JAGR said:

While Jules815 is correct about you being able to call MSC, let the TA do the lifting.  Give them your reservation number, let them contact MSC, and the TA can send you the transfer form for you to sign.

 

11 minutes ago, JAGR said:

While Jules815 is correct about you being able to call MSC, let the TA do the lifting.  Give them your reservation number, let them contact MSC, and the TA can send you the transfer form for you to sign.

Ugh. I'll remember this. I've never used a travel agent before, but thinking we might start since we're newly retired and see more travel in our future.

 

JAGR, do you always use a TA? Do you have them book your flights and hotel as well? Even though it's too late for this TA to get our booking (it's a transatlantic next year on Celebrity), she wants to help us with our flights and post cruise hotel in Barcelona. Trying to decide if this is smart. Can TA's get better deals on flights (which are outrageous at the moment) and hotels? 

[fluffybunny22]

The TA said I needed to call MSC to do it. I called and was on hold for a while and didn't get through. Googling found me a form that I filled out and set to an MSC email but it bounced back. Does anyone have the correct email address. I emailed the TA but I'd just like to get this done.

[Luvtoeat]

I contacted the travel agent I have sometimes used in the past to see how much price reduction they will give if I transfer booking to them.  I got their amount and requested they contacted MSC to transfer the booking. They advised it takes MSC between 2-4 weeks to do the transfer. Sounds like MSC likes to take their time to make the transfer.

[JAGR]

2 hours ago, jules815 said:

 

Ugh. I'll remember this. I've never used a travel agent before, but thinking we might start since we're newly retired and see more travel in our future.

 

JAGR, do you always use a TA? Do you have them book your flights and hotel as well? Even though it's too late for this TA to get our booking (it's a transatlantic next year on Celebrity), she wants to help us with our flights and post cruise hotel in Barcelona. Trying to decide if this is smart. Can TA's get better deals on flights (which are outrageous at the moment) and hotels? 

Honestly, I don't use a TA to initiate bookings, unless we are doing a resort stay, where AA Travel or Delta Travel may have a good package deal.  I trust myself to find the best deal I want for air and travel (use points/miles, play with mixed itineraries, etc.  For MSC, I've found that I can get what I want. I then purchase it and just hand it off the to the TA to take it over.  They can run any post booking issues, and then can easily give me a share of their commission in OBC (at least it's usually hassle free for my agent, especially now post-COVID).  Hope you are enjoying retirement!

[jules815]

4 hours ago, JAGR said:

Honestly, I don't use a TA to initiate bookings, unless we are doing a resort stay, where AA Travel or Delta Travel may have a good package deal.  I trust myself to find the best deal I want for air and travel (use points/miles, play with mixed itineraries, etc.  For MSC, I've found that I can get what I want. I then purchase it and just hand it off the to the TA to take it over.  They can run any post booking issues, and then can easily give me a share of their commission in OBC (at least it's usually hassle free for my agent, especially now post-COVID).  Hope you are enjoying retirement!

Thanks about retirement. Enjoying...sort of. I'm still in the cleaning out all the closets phase of retirement. Amazing what you accumulate over the years. 

 

I also really enjoy doing our travel planning on my own. It's part of the fun for me actually, so handing over the job to another person seems odd to me. If I could do all the leg work like you mentioned, then just hand over the booking for a little obc, I'm good with that. 

[fluffybunny22]

It looks like I found the proper form and emailed and faxed it to the department for existing reservations. I got an auto generated response. How long does it usually take for MSC to transfer the booking to the TA?

[Joiseymom]

On 4/19/2023 at 8:53 AM, fluffybunny22 said:

It looks like I found the proper form and emailed and faxed it to the department for existing reservations. I got an auto generated response. How long does it usually take for MSC to transfer the booking to the TA?

Way too long. It can take a month or they can lose it. MSC reps and policies are horrible 

[fluffybunny22]

11 hours ago, Joiseymom said:

Way too long. It can take a month or they can lose it. MSC reps and policies are horrible 

Is there any way to check on the process? A certain department I should call? It's been a week. All I have is a confirmation they received my form.

[Phoenixfu003]

would you please post either the transfer form or a link to that form?

[Luvtoeat]

If you have a TA let them handle it. My TA had it transferred within a week.

[Phoenixfu003]

8 hours ago, Luvtoeat said:

If you have a TA let them handle it. My TA had it transferred within a week.

Thank you but not what I’m asking for. 

[fluffybunny22]

30 minutes ago, Luvtoeat said:

If you have a TA let them handle it. My TA had it transferred within a week.

My TA said the customer has to do it. They can't. You need to sign the form so I understand why.

[Luvtoeat]

10 hours ago, fluffybunny22 said:

My TA said the customer has to do it. They can't. You need to sign the form so I understand why.

My TA absolutely handled the request to MSC. I requested my TA to process the transfer and it was done.. Apparently my TA has plenty of experience as to how to get it processed as they give a price reduction based on cruise cost.

[Joiseymom]

On 4/26/2023 at 10:22 AM, fluffybunny22 said:

Is there any way to check on the process? A certain department I should call? It's been a week. All I have is a confirmation they received my form.

Off the top of my head no. I avoid doing these, as they are too time consuming.