Can you book with DCL and then switch to AAA?

[adisneynut]

Please don't roast me for this question. Can I book directly with DCL and then switch the booking over to AAA so I can get their perks? DCL rates is less than AAA so I could save money and still get the AAA perks.

 

[albiats]

Yes, you can do this easily. It's perfectly acceptable to book thru DCL and then switch to a TA. It isn't perfectly acceptable to switch to a different TA. In the case where it is absolutely necessary, such as with fraud, you would have to have the reservation switched back to DCL first.

On two occasions, I booked a cabin thru DCL on the weekend and then went to AAA on Monday and gave them the reservation number. Everything stayed intact, such as cabin number, early seating for dinner, etc.

As an FYI, after you 'give' the reservation to AAA (or any TA), DCL will expect you to go thru the TA to perform anything associated with the reservation, including just verifying something.

hope that helps

 

[Señor Ferrari]

You may be able to do this. You'd have to see if AAA will give you the same rate. Their price may relflect the perks they give you.

I have transferred a DCL reservation to a travel agent before. I once found that Costco would give a %10 rebate on the cost of the cruise, so I called to try to switch the reservation. This was about 2 weeks before sailing and I already had my cruise docs. DCL was not very happy about this. I even had a reservations supervisor call me and try to talk me out if doing it. She said things like, "why would you give them a commission when you did all the work?" and "if you transfer the reservation to them, they will have control over it and be able to make changes." I asked why they would do that without my say-so and she admitted that it was highly unlikely that they would.

So I went ahead and did this, holding my breath each time I checked in (we had booked our air through DCL, which included a night at the Hyatt, so there were three different check-ins where I expected our reservation to be "lost"), but we had no problems, and Costco posted a refund to our credit card the week we sailed.

So, if you can get the AAA perks at the lower DCL rate, go for it. I'd be interested to hear of your experience, given how I was treated for trying this.