Paid via TA, how to tell that Celebrity have received payment?

[Wookie01]

Hi all,
Just made final payment through our TA (in Australia) for our upcoming December cruise.
Does anyone know how/if I can see that final payment has been received by Celebrity and that we are all settled please?
thanks, Graham

[jelayne]

If you paid by credit card then your card statement should show the transaction going directly to Celebrity and in the amount of your balance.  

[Wookie01]

9 minutes ago, jelayne said:

If you paid by credit card then your card statement should show the transaction going directly to Celebrity and in the amount of your balance.  

The payment went to the TA's payments system via a direct debit, that avoided $250 in charges for using a credit card 🙂

[DaKahuna]

Your TA should send you a booking confirmation showing payments.  Ours sends us one every time we make a payment.m

 

[Wookie01]

1 minute ago, DaKahuna said:

Your TA should send you a booking confirmation showing payments.  Ours sends us one every time we make a payment.m

 

Yes we have a payment statement from our TA thanks.
I am just a little paranoid and want to see proof that Celebrity have received it also. I would hate for something to go wrong and miss the cruise because of a 'miscommunication' or some such 😉

[StopTheWorld]

If you head to the celebrity website and go to manage reservation, then manage reservation again for the particular cruise, you will see the outstanding balance to be paid (if any). 

Edited September 15, 2023 by StopTheWorld

[Wookie01]

1 hour ago, StopTheWorld said:

If you head to the celebrity website and go to manage reservation, then manage reservation again for the particular cruise, you will see the outstanding balance to be paid (if any). 

Thanks appreciate the assist, unfortunately that info doesn't show on our reservation, just says refer to your TA.
Seems that I will need to request a Celebrity confirmation from the TA. 🙂

Edited September 15, 2023 by Wookie01

[billc23]

You can ask your TA for the official "Celebrity Booking Conformation - Guest Copy". It will show all payments and OBC, perks, etc.

 

[Wookie01]

1 minute ago, billc23 said:

You can ask your TA for the official "Celebrity Booking Conformation - Guest Copy". It will show all payments and OBC, perks, etc.

 

Good to know, thanks for that 👍🙂

[alyssamma]

3 hours ago, billc23 said:

You can ask your TA for the official "Celebrity Booking Conformation - Guest Copy". It will show all payments and OBC, perks, etc.

 

This is exactly what we do. I only found one TA who would not give me this and I dropped them.

[rmedistro]

We booked through a TA for the first time on an upcoming X Ascent cruise, had always booked direct prior.

We received the TA's company receipt, and immediately received the official X guest copy. 

I did immediately log in to our X account, and did have to add the cruise to our account manually, but it added without a problem.

[joeyjeremiah]

If you are that concerned that your TA didn't properly process the payment you may want to look at using a different TA. I am a TA myself in Canada and would imagine things would be similar in Australia. I receive a guest copy of an invoice direct from celebrity. Personally I do not send this to my clients as there are legal invoice requirements I need to follow with my invoicing that the celebrity one doesn't meet so I just send my agency invoice to clients to make sure I am compliant and don't see the need for duplicate paperwork however if anybody was to ever ask me for a copy of course I would send it. Otherwise you can call celebrity and inquire on the balance of your cruise, they should be able to confirm that your TA did send the payment to celebrity. If you just made the payment through your TA and it was direct debit, keep in mind it may take a little bit of time for that to be sent from your TA to celebrity this isn't as instant as credit card payments. But ultimately as long as you have the payment confirmation from your TA saying paid in full with your reservation number stated then you are good, otherwise it would be considered fraudulent.

[Charles4515]

12 hours ago, Wookie01 said:

The payment went to the TA's payments system via a direct debit, that avoided $250 in charges for using a credit card 🙂

 

You took a risk having the payment go to the TA payment system. Generally not recommended. I know you wanted to save $250 but if Celebrity does not receive your payment have you no recourse with Celebrity. (my TA here in the US sends my CC info to Celebrity and there are no extra charges for using a CC.)

Edited September 15, 2023 by Charles4515

[Cruise Junky]

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

 

You took a risk having the payment go to the TA payment system. Generally not recommended. I know you wanted to save $250 but if Celebrity does not receive your payment have you no recourse with Celebrity. (my TA here in the US sends my CC info to Celebrity and there are no extra charges for using a CC.)

Different countries different rules.  UK for sure pay the agency, not the cruise line AU is likely the same.  

[Captain-John]

The agency I normally use is asking for the money well in advance of the cruise line final payment date and I'm getting fed up with it.

 

I have pushed back the last twice on this (it's just sitting in their account earning interest). I booked with another agent and payment is only due 30 days before departure and paid direct to the line(MSC Yacht Club, not Celebrity, but still - my original TA wanted the payment 4 months before the cruise!).

 

 

[DaKahuna]

1 hour ago, Captain-John said:

The agency I normally use is asking for the money well in advance of the cruise line final payment date and I'm getting fed up with it.

 

I have pushed back the last twice on this (it's just sitting in their account earning interest). I booked with another agent and payment is only due 30 days before departure and paid direct to the line(MSC Yacht Club, not Celebrity, but still - my original TA wanted the payment 4 months before the cruise!).

 

 

 

 If I encountered this, it would be the last time I used that agency.  

 

 My current and former TA's both adhere to the Cruise lines payment schedule.  I would not have it any other way. 

 

[Jeremiah1212]

1 hour ago, Captain-John said:

The agency I normally use is asking for the money well in advance of the cruise line final payment date and I'm getting fed up with it.

 

I have pushed back the last twice on this (it's just sitting in their account earning interest). I booked with another agent and payment is only due 30 days before departure and paid direct to the line(MSC Yacht Club, not Celebrity, but still - my original TA wanted the payment 4 months before the cruise!).

 

 

It may seem frivolous until you have a client that gives you an invalid credit card number, wrong cvv, closed the account, etc and has zero sense of urgency to return your calls and then is past the due date. But it’s still the TA’s fault. 
 

Just dealt with this earlier today on travel that was way more expensive than a cruise. 6 messages and 3 email follow ups and I’m still the bad guy. 

[downsmead]

3 hours ago, Cruise Junky said:

Different countries different rules.  UK for sure pay the agency, not the cruise line AU is likely the same.  

Yes but some agencies do not pay the cruise companies as soon as you pay the agencies! Some well known ones here in the U.K. ask for the balance ahead of the time when the cruise companies would but then don’t pay them until much nearer the departure date - obviously an agreement they have. However when cruises were being cancelled during Covid, because our balance was being held by the agency we waited far longer to get our money back than we would if we had paid direct to the cruise company.

[Captain-John]

1 hour ago, downsmead said:

Yes but some agencies do not pay the cruise companies as soon as you pay the agencies! Some well known ones here in the U.K. ask for the balance ahead of the time when the cruise companies would but then don’t pay them until much nearer the departure date - obviously an agreement they have. However when cruises were being cancelled during Covid, because our balance was being held by the agency we waited far longer to get our money back than we would if we had paid direct to the cruise company.

 

Not sure if we are discussing the same one or if there are a good few that do this. I have used my particular firm (VV) for over a decade but their service has declined recently, and payment terms have extended over the years so I don't think I will use them again. Very much a 'transactional' relationship whereas I expect an agent to represent my best interests with a cruise line, not just take my money and an admin fee.

 

'My' firm must do some kind of commission sacrifice and make money with the flat rate fee. Often their rates are competitive but to me it's a red flag they want the payment earlier and earlier and your example proves the risk.

 

My payments never fail, my card details are correct, my accounts are not closed - so that money is just sitting in a holding account until the TA decides to pay the cruise line.

Edited September 15, 2023 by Captain-John