Changing TA, midstream

[ninkb]

What experience have the rest of you who watch your pennies had in changing travel agents once a cruise is booked? I see that another online company has a much lower fare ($500pp) for the same category I already booked.

 

I'd love for the agent I booked with to match that fare and have a call in to him . . . But if the answer is no I'm ready to cancel (no penalties at this point) and rebook.

 

Is this a hassle? Is there a way to keep the same exact cabin and deposit since the cruise line already has the deposit?

 

If you've changed TA's before the penalty phase, I'd love to hear your experience! Thanks for any ideas.

 

:):):) ninkb

[firefly333]

The only way to keep the same cabin would be if the 2nd TA happens to be in a position to grab the cabin once the cancellation becomes effective.

 

Nope, havent done it. I could maybe save $100 by doing it, but not willing to chance giving up my cabin I have now. $500 I might consider it. Id also have to pay a cancellation fee to cancel, so the $100 becomes less attractive in my case.

[blindrid]

I'm not a big fan of changing TA's. My take is that you agreed to a price and evidently did not do your homework. It's not the TA's fault and would not switch. If the price of the cruise dropped, hopedully your TA can get a price reduction but I have found that cheaper is not always better as the advertised or promoted price isn't always the bottom line.

 

It's a tad bit unusual for the price to very this much but I'm gonna have to believe you on this. My thoughts are you will not have the same cabin as the TA probably has a block to offer that price and you will choose from them. But in reality who really knows???

[ninkb]

I do appreciate your input. I was able to get $200pp reduction thru the original TA. The cruise line had lowered the fare. The remaining price difference is still up in the air (I think it was a "membership" thing) but I'm not pushing it any further. I was glad that both the TA and cruiseline honored the fare reduction. The last time I ran into this, I got a "new fares only" story and had that bad taste still in my mouth . . . thinking it was the story all the time.

 

In terms of homework, I did plenty before booking. But things do change and I'm just learning the inner workings of this system. My question of the day: Do ALL travel agents get the same prices from the cruise line to offer their customers? Or are there some "special cases" ? What's your experience???

 

:):):) ninkb

[blindrid]

I need to apologize to a certain point as I did not take your post that the line reduced the price, just that another TA showed a significanlty lower price. Glad it worked out for you. R

[RoofingPrincess]

My question of the day: Do ALL travel agents get the same prices from the cruise line to offer their customers? Or are there some "special cases" ? What's your experience???

I have read on these boards that some cruise lines do not allow travel agents to discount their rates. That being said, there are other ways to get a cheaper fare, one of which is a group booking. From what I've read, TAs can book a block of rooms to get group fares and then pass the savings along to individual buyers - so these people are technically travelling as part of a group, even though they don't know each other!

The other thing to be careful of when comparing prices is whether you're being quoted the true bottom line price, after all taxes and fees are added in, so you can make an apples-to-apples comparison.