Courtesy hold to a travel agent possible?

[AlmondFarmer]

Is it possible to put a hold on a cabin through Royal Caribbean website and then transfer this hold to a reservation with a travel agent?

Im asking because I have open bookings which got assigned to a travel agency whose open hours likely won’t be when new itineraries release. My goal is to find the cabins I want, put them on courtesy hold, then once open, have my travel agency call Royal and use my open booking to complete reservation. 
I regret not taking my agency off of my open bookings but line at next cruise to do this was prohibitively long. 
Thanks to anyone who knows the answer or has experience with this.

[OCSC Mike]

I would THINK so but I'm not sure. Hopefully someone else can help.

FWIW, I wouldn't want a TA who isn't ready and waiting to pounce on new releases. Mine has had my requests for the the 7N Caribbeans coming out this week since last week and will be putting the cabins/dates I'm interested in on hold as soon as they are released.

[asquared17]

what i have done before was put the cabin on hold with my TA before/during my current cruise — then i purchase the “open ended” next cruise credit from royal and immediately transfer it to my TA for the cabin i’d already chosen. 

works every time. 

edit: caveat being - make sure you know who you want the open booking transferred to. we once had it transferred to the TA who had booked our cruise on a one off (not our preferred TA) and it was An Ordeal moving from agency to agency. many phone calls, many emails, a lot of time spent fixing it. 

[smokeybandit]

I would say no in that case because an open booking has a reservation number.

[AlmondFarmer]

6 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

FWIW, I wouldn't want a TA who isn't ready and waiting to pounce on new releases.

I think I’ll give agency the option to have someone available for me to use my two open bookings assigned to them when itineraries release or I’ll transfer the assigned open bookings back to Royal and book direct. 

[twangster]

The open bookings are an actual cruise booking with a reservation number.  In the Royal system the ship assigned to an open booking is "Nextcruise" with a sail date many years in the future until you have it updated to the ship and sail date you really want.  

A hold you place on the Royal website is also an actual cruise booking but in an "offered" state.  It will have it's own booking number.

No one can take a hold and merge it with an open booking.  What you can do is to coordinate dropping the hold to free up your cabin selections at a time when your TA can work on the open bookings and change it to the ship and sail date (and cabin) that you had held.  

[AlmondFarmer]

Thank you @twangster. I was hoping you would respond to my question. 

[twangster]

There is a small risk when you cancel your hold that someone could find that cabin and secure it before your TA is able to select it on the open booking.  Making the changes at an off time during the evening or very early morning helps your cause.  Sometimes the system takes up to 15 minutes to free up a cabin so there can be some nervous wait time when attempting a move of this nature.

[Lovetocruise2002]

Another question about these open bookings from Next Cruise. How does the deposit work for these? Since I am a suite snob, what would 10% be on an open booking?

[AlmondFarmer]

1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Another question about these open bookings from Next Cruise. How does the deposit work for these? Since I am a suite snob, what would 10% be on an open booking?

The fine print on new form states that when selecting a sailing, additional deposits may be required. I’m expecting to pay an additional $800 on top of the $200 open booking when choosing a $10,000 suite. In this case no savings except the $300 Royal non refundable on board credit. 

[Lovetocruise2002]

2 minutes ago, AlmondFarmer said:

I’m expecting to pay an additional $800 on top of the $200 open booking

So on board, you initially pay $200pp for the open booking?

2 minutes ago, AlmondFarmer said:

In this case no savings except the $300 Royal non refundable on board credit. 

I am assuming there is fine print to adjust for this as well in the case that someone moves their open booking to a sailing that is shorter than 7 nights?

[AlmondFarmer]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

There is a small risk when you cancel your hold that someone could find that cabin and secure it before your TA is able to select it on the open booking.  Making the changes at an off time during the evening or very early morning helps your cause.  Sometimes the system takes up to 15 minutes to free up a cabin so there can be some nervous wait time when attempting a move of this nature.

If itineraries release when my TA is not available I will attempt to hold options via Royal website. Then have TA call in to access. If this is not allowed I will cancel hold on website while TA is on phone with Royal. I understand the risk of suite being picked up once it reenters available inventory. 
Lesson learned for me. Don’t wait till the last day to make open bookings. Line for next agent was an order of magnitude longer than line for next beer. Unwilling to wait to remove agency so I could book direct with Royal on phone 24/7 then transfer to agency before deadline.

[AlmondFarmer]

2 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I am assuming there is fine print to adjust for this as well in the case that someone moves their open booking to a sailing that is shorter than 7 nights?

Yeah the $300 Royal OBC is grand suite or above for 7 nights. Over 10 nights is more $. Shorter duration is less. These OBC values seem the same as before. Deposit still $200 total. Good for two guests. If certain cabin type or sailing length is ultimately chosen, additional deposit may be required.
 

I regrettably didn’t take a photo of new form. 

[AlmondFarmer]

I did take screen shot.