Cancellation Fee?

[Elaine515]

Ok, please don't slam because I booked outside of Carnival with an on-line Cruise Only Agent.... thnx...

 

Have been booking with this company for a couple of years, always gives us the cheapest prices and have never had a problem with agent or company. Just today I had to cancel one of the four cabins we booked for our March 31st Liberty cruise. It is still outside the 76 day cancellation period.

 

She emailed me the cancellation form to fill out and fax back to her and I discovered a $50 per person cancellation fee or maximin $100 per cabin fee. Is this something that all cruise only agencies charge or just some of them?

 

My husband is so furious right now that he has already threatened to never book with this girl or agency ever again....

 

Has this ever happened to you? Is it a legal fee? Thanx again for not telling me I should have booked directly with Carnival....

 

.

[jerseygirl3]

Yes, it is legal. If you read your paperwork, I'm sure it's stated somewhere on the invoice that this particular agency charges a cancellation fee. I used an online agency one time, and when we had to cancel (the cruise was still a year away), I not only was charged $75 pp by Cunard (standard practice by Cunard), but the online agency charged me an add'l $75 pp. It cost me $300 to cancel. I was upset, but there was nothing I could do about it. It's clearly stated that they charge a cancellation fee. More and more TA's are beginning to do this, but usually the fee is more like $25 pp.

[serene56]

Yes it is legal and only a few agencies do charge this fee. Its very important that you ask. I stay away from companies that will charge me more then the cruiselines.

SOme agencies also charge 15.00 to take your booking. Some charge 25 to make changes. some even charge to mail your documents to you.

Also=next time you want to make sure the agency will give you a price decrease if the price comes down.

 

Every cruise you will learn something... this is a very valuble lesson I learned when I took my 2nd cruise. Lesson learned at a cost of 700.00.

 

PS-- your cruise is actually 66 days away. Penalty starts at 70. days with some sailings like holiday ones being 90. Be glad you didnt lose 250pp to cancel.

[sea_u_onboard]

Unfortunatly there are agenies that charge. Some of those same agencies will waiver the fee for good clients.

 

If you are a long term client I would ask to speak to someone higher up - explain that they really aren't out any money (since it's outside the penalty period) and you still have 3 cabins booked. Explain your displeasure with being charged. If they still insist on charging you then you can exercise your right to change agents next time and tell them so.

 

Lesson learned.

 

Unfortunatly - It doesn't pay to be loyal anymore.

[sea_u_onboard]

PS-- your cruise is actually 66 days away. Penalty starts at 70. days with some sailings like holiday ones being 90. Be glad you didnt lose 250pp to cancel.

:confused:

Cruise is March 31st

December 5 days left

January 31 days

February 28 days

March 30

Equals 94 days until cruise

[HeidiHo]

My TA charges these fees. It's a large cruise only agency. I knew that some TA' charge cancellation fees but in my excitement to book I forgot to check and found out later. It was in the fine print, plain as day. It turned out OK because we didn't have to cancel but I think I will try booking directly with the cruise line next time altho, I was happy with the TA I used.

[Elaine515]

 

PS-- your cruise is actually 66 days away. Penalty starts at 70. days with some sailings like holiday ones being 90. Be glad you didnt lose 250pp to cancel.

 

 

Serene,

 

My cruise is actually 94 days away so I knew I was safe there and according to the Carnival brochure, penalty starts at 76 days....It's the $50. cancellation fee that we weren't aware of but we will certainly ask from now on...

[ronrythm]

explain that they really aren't out any money (since it's outside the penalty period)

Yes they are out something. They had to have someone do the paperwork to book the cabin originally and now do the work to cancel it. They did the original work expecting to pay for that work and make a profit off of the commission. Since they are now not going to get a commission from the cruise line, they need to cover those costs and make a profit. If they are working on a slim margin, as the OP says their prices have been low, the fees are the trade off for the low prices.

Enjoy

Ron

[serene56]

:confused:

Cruise is March 31st

December 5 days left

January 31 days

February 28 days

March 30

Equals 94 days until cruise

 

 

doh-- I think I missed a page on the calender...I jsut want MY cruise to be here NOW... SOrry for miscounting.

[zqvol]

Cancellation fees like this are very common. As travel providers, cruise lines, airlines, hotels, etc. have reduced commissions the TAs, whether OL or brick and mortar have had to make up the lost revenue in order to stay in business.

 

Not too long ago a TA would book your airline tickets, research a trip, etc., without any charge to you because commissions were so high that they could make a living doing these things for you. Now with commissions being cut ALMOST all travel agents charge for routine tasks.

 

Whne you cancel a cruise the TA, even an OL one, has usually invested a good deal of time with phone calls, meetings with you, etc. Since the time they have spent cannot be regained they charge a fee for canceling.

 

If you are careful and look you will find these fees listed on all OL sites and will usually find a sign in any brick and mortar office.

 

The only way to avoid these fees is to book directly, with the service provider.

[lvtotrvl1]

Cancellation fees like this are very common. As travel providers, cruise lines, airlines, hotels, etc. have reduced commissions the TAs, whether OL or brick and mortar have had to make up the lost revenue in order to stay in business.

 

Not too long ago a TA would book your airline tickets, research a trip, etc., without any charge to you because commissions were so high that they could make a living doing these things for you. Now with commissions being cut ALMOST all travel agents charge for routine tasks.

 

Whne you cancel a cruise the TA, even an OL one, has usually invested a good deal of time with phone calls, meetings with you, etc. Since the time they have spent cannot be regained they charge a fee for canceling.

 

If you are careful and look you will find these fees listed on all OL sites and will usually find a sign in any brick and mortar office.

 

The only way to avoid these fees is to book directly, with the service provider.

 

It is not true that all online agencies charge these cancellation fees. You need to look or ask the agency that you are booking with what thieir cxl policy is.

[salty dingo]

As long as you were aware of the cancellation fee up front, there would be no problem. But, it sounds like the agency did not make that crystal clear to you. That is a shame, because the cruise lines do make their cancellation policy pretty darn clear. TAs should do the same.

 

I think it is fine to charge a fee, if agreed to up front, because the TA spent some time setting up the booking, and they deserve to be compensated for that.

[chrly]

Our TA charges a cancellation fee of $50.00. This was stated on the information for booking our group cruise in Feb. 2008 on the Carnival Destiny. We have only had one person cancell (grandmother paid her deposit), so cancellation fee was waived and placed on to the grandmothers booking as she is still going on the cruise. With the cancellation we still have 54 people sailing with us. We have requested that our TA not mail out any documents...we generally have a meeting when the documents come in that way if anyone has any questions...they can ask them at that time.

[sea_u_onboard]

Yes they are out something. They had to have someone do the paperwork to book the cabin originally and now do the work to cancel it. They did the original work expecting to pay for that work and make a profit off of the commission. Since they are now not going to get a commission from the cruise line, they need to cover those costs and make a profit. If they are working on a slim margin, as the OP says their prices have been low, the fees are the trade off for the low prices.

Enjoy

Ron

While what you are saying is true it seems a it bit much - JMO. You would think since they have used the agency in the past and didn't cancel all the cabins they would have cut them a break. Oh well - live and learn.

[Elaine515]

I also forgot to mention....

 

LETS REALLY ADD INSULT TO INJURY....

 

On the same phone call that I cancelled the cabin I also asked her to look into another cruise for next week, January 1st on the Fascination.

 

Needless to say, a quad cabin hasn't become available YET (one can always dream), but we already decided it won't be booked with this company should it become available.