Booking question

[emilymad]

We are looking to book a 4 night on the Dream for next year. I want to book now and then see what the price is come January while we are on board. We will take advantage of the OBB discount if we can. Would you bother booking now through a TA assuming you will end up canceling? We always use a TA and would for the OBB as well. I am just not sure of the etiquette in this situation.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We are looking to book a 4 night on the Dream for next year. I want to book now and then see what the price is come January while we are on board. We will take advantage of the OBB discount if we can. Would you bother booking now through a TA assuming you will end up canceling? We always use a TA and would for the OBB as well. I am just not sure of the etiquette in this situation.

Even if you use a TA to make the booking, and then want to "cancel" in order to do an onboard booking, the onboard booking can have a TA assigned to it.

Or you can book direct now, and when making the onboard booking, designate the TA.

Be aware - recent changes to TA Onboard Credits have happened. You now typically get about get 50% of what the TA will give you if you book directly with them instead of booking onboard and designating a TA.

 

[emilymad]

Even if you use a TA to make the booking, and then want to "cancel" in order to do an onboard booking, the onboard booking can have a TA assigned to it.

Or you can book direct now, and when making the onboard booking, designate the TA.

Be aware - recent changes to TA Onboard Credits have happened. You now typically get about get 50% of what the TA will give you if you book directly with them instead of booking onboard and designating a TA.

Thanks. I was aware of the recent OBC changes which is just making it more confusing.

How does it work if we want to get the same cabin with the OBB as our existing reservation?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Thanks. I was aware of the recent OBC changes which is just making it more confusing.

How does it work if we want to get the same cabin with the OBB as our existing reservation?

It's my understanding, if you already have a reservation (room) and you reshop onboard, and find that it actually will save you money to change to the onboard booking (remember the discounts on the OBB will be on the prevailing rate, not the the rate when you originally booked), they can work it so you can remain in the same room, regardless of the fact that it's actually a cancellation and rebooking.

 

[Bree]

I just went through this. I booked the Fantasy 12/17/2016 a few months ago with my TA in a category 08A. I booked a new reservation in an 08A onboard to get the discount and OBC. I contacted my TA when I got home and she moved the funds from my first reservation to my second reservation. She was also able to change my room on the second reservation to the one I had on the first reservation. I'm not getting a reduced OBC from the TA, but that's because I booked onboard before their cutoff date.

 

[emilymad]

Thanks everyone! I am glad this sounds easy to work out.

 

[ajo]

I did it as well and it worked just like the PP said. We booked the same cruise, same category while on board. When we got back from the cruise our TA cancelled our prior booking and got our new booking moved to the original room we had. We were lucky that the price of our original cruise was the same price as when we booked. And like the PP, we got the full TA OBC because our OBB was made before the recent change.

 

[CM Dad]

I did it as well and it worked just like the PP said. We booked the same cruise, same category while on board. When we got back from the cruise our TA cancelled our prior booking and got our new booking moved to the original room we had. We were lucky that the price of our original cruise was the same price as when we booked. And like the PP, we got the full TA OBC because our OBB was made before the recent change.

My wife and I had booked a B2B and reshopped while onboard. This was before they stopped allowing booking discounts for both legs of a B2B and before the reduced commission to the TAs when booked on board. We ended up with two sets of reservations when we left they ship. Different rooms, and one of the legs was a different category since there whey no rooms left in the category we originally booked. After we finished the cruise, our TA was able to cancel the original reservations, and switch the new reservations to the original room and original category.