Transfer booking to TA benefits?

[nyold]

Hi, I booked a cruise from RC website directly a few days ago just because the price was so good, and the deposit is non-refundable. However, now I see that there are online travel agents offering pretty good incentives ($50 / $100 more OBC more than what I was offered, and a free night of specialty dining). I wonder what your experiences are in transfering bookings to a travel agent?

1. Is there any negative?

2. Does TA honor the incentive offers? Or can I get RC to match that incentive?

3. In this particular case, I also saw a TA that's an airline. I won't name the airline, but it's one of the 3 major US airlines. Part of the incentive is I would earn miles per dollar spent, so this is a huge amount of miles. If I do transfer booking this way, do I still get the miles? 

Also, I'm booked for Balcony GTY if that helps. Not sure if my chances for better room is affected by whether my booking is in a TA booking or from RC directly.

[Momof4crazytocruise]

I definitely think you'd have more luck asking the TA to honor their current promotion than getting RC to match it. It doesn't hurt to ask before transferring. I was able to secure a pretty sweet incentive that I didn't even know existed when I transferred over mine to MEI - and they offered it up, said I qualified, and applied it to my booking. 

[AnnetteJackson]

Every TA has different incentives for using them.  RC will not match them in fact many times RC will tell you to book and transfer to a TA for added benefits.  

Once it is transferred to an agent, you will no longer be able to make payments or changes to your reservation without the agent doing it for you.  Some people find that hard to handle, but for clients that transfer to us, we are working on offer days to check your reservation to see if the new promotion will benefit you (RC will not do this for you).  We do not charge a fee - some do - so Royal is paying us, not you.

Your booking being a GTY will not change whether you are booked direct or with the agent.

 

Hope this helps

[Matt]

When I first started using a travel agent, I was interested in just the benefits they could provide (i.e. onboard credit).

In the years since, I've learned the real value of a good travel agent is the service they provide you.  Essentially, they make my life easier and simplify the booking process, as well as being my advocate to Royal Caribbean if/when an issue arises.