Question: Gifts from TA

What is the best gift(s) you have ever received from your Travel Agent in your cabin on a cruise?

Christina

Bottle of wine.

First pics of the undocking of the Jewel of the Seas:

http://community.webshots.com/album/125049819TVWuuS

Jewel of the Seas left Meyerwerft Shipyard

See Photos of River Ems passage

http://community.webshots.com/album/131001309cIkOdH

Jewel of the Seas - 05/28/04 Scandinavia / Russia / Baltic

Jewel of the Seas - 09/28/04 Canada / New England

09/2003 - Legend of the Seas Hawaii

06/2003 - Norwegian Dawn Florida and Bahamas

2002 - MS Columbus - Cruise to nowhere

2001 - Grandeur of the Seas Mediterranean and Transatlantic

2000 - Splendour of the Seas Transatlantic

2000 - Viking Star on the Danube River

1999 - Vision of the Seas Panamacanal cruise

1998 - Vision of the Seas Transatlantic

1997 - Crystal Symphonie to Mexican Riviera

1996 - Delta Queen on the Mississippi

1995 - Legend of the Seas to Alaska

A limo was sent to our house to pick us up and deliver us to the airport.

chocolate covered strawberries..........yum!

Rhapsody May 23rd 2004

once got a bottle of wine. once got a bouquet of flowers. also i've received nice scrapbooks when i got home. thats about it...

wish i got limo service!

jstducky!

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...til 9/04 - Jewel of the Seas - Canada / New England

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...til 7/04 - Zuiderdam - Western Caribbean

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7/03 - Zaandam - Alaska

4/03 - Norweigan Star - Hawaii

7/96 - Noordam - Alaska

7/96 - Golden Princess - Alaska

8/95 - Jubilee - Mexican Riviera

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Wine for dinner two night, RCCL robe, dinner certificate for Morton Steakhouse and a fruit basket. I have no complaints from Atlas Travel.

Can't wait to celebrate my 50th Birthday

A bottle of non alcoholic bubbly, and chocolate covered strawberries for our anniversay cruise. But, hope she didn't pay much for them, not the best quality (unripe strawberries, cheap chocolate, carbonated apple juice basically) on Rhapsody. I'm sure she did though judging from the prices I saw in their gift brochures. Hopefully, they give the TA's a price break!

Got a gift my very first cruise, a local TA. Found out right after that if you get a gift, you paid too much for your cruise.

Tropical 9/91

Ecstasy 9/93

Monarch 9/95

Sensation 9/96

Grandeur 9/97

Inspiration 9/98

Enchantment 9/99

Grandeur 9/00

Explorer 3/01

Grand 9/01.........Review!!

Victory 9/02........Review!!

Navigator 3/03....Review!!

Adventure 9/03....Review!!

Voyager 9/04

Email....Cruisinfanatic@AOL.COM

cruisinfanatic... i know what you mean there. as mentioned above, i have gotten gifts in the past from TA's. but the past 2 cruises i have been on, I have booked through the travel service of a major wholesale warehouse and we once asked why it was that we didn't get any gifts, and they told us the exact same thing, that if we wanted gifts, they could get us gifts, but it would cost us. basically saying that the reason their prices are so cheap are because they are basically no frills!

jstducky!

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...til 9/04 - Jewel of the Seas - Canada / New England

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...til 7/04 - Zuiderdam - Western Caribbean

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7/03 - Zaandam - Alaska

4/03 - Norweigan Star - Hawaii

7/96 - Noordam - Alaska

7/96 - Golden Princess - Alaska

8/95 - Jubilee - Mexican Riviera

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Roundtrip limo from our house to airport on our back to back RCI Hawaii cruise.

Also, wine and truffles in our cabin for Crystal Panama Canal.

Both from our AAA agent.

Radiance to Alaska

Jewel of the Seas

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Nothin...so I hope that means I've received good deals. I order and send to my cabin...a surprise for my family each cruise.

My first balcony on the Serenade - 4/16/05!!!

RCCL Majesty of the Seas - April 2004

Carnival Inspiration - June 2003

RCCL Monarch of the Seas - July 2002

I send my cruisers goodie boxes or bags with things like lanyards, coconut cups, champagne bubbles, picture frame, leis, highlighters, key chains, etc.. just fun tropical cruisey stuff. If we are doing a special pre night, like a party or dinner the night before I send them all invitations and then if we do a party on board I do the same thing. I also put together a booklet with all the info on the ports we are going to visit and a day by day itinerary and what to expect on board each day. I include a page with the name, phone, address, email and cabin numbers of all in the group. Just something for a keepsake.

Voyager of the Seas!

Voyager 10/04

Rhapsody 10/02 03/02 1/02 11/01

Elation 10/99

Grandeur 09/97

We just get good rates. If we ever get gifts, we paid for them.

Chuck & Phyllis

Doing Voyager on 5/21/04

Doing Empress on 9/18/04

i send my clients a gift regardless if there trip is a $10,000 booking or a $100 booking. it has nothing to do with over charging for the price of the trip but everything to do with trying to make the client have a great trip and hopefully remember me next time he has a $100 or $10,000 to spend. i also send them bonvoyage cards , welcome home cards, call them a couple days before their trip to see if there is anything i can do for them (even something as silly as going to pick up their dry cleaning for their trip) cuz i know pre holiday can be very stressful, send them birthday and x mas cards. for some of us TA's unlike some of you might think it's not always about the almighty buck! its all about helping them to have a great trip and hopefully to use me again next holiday

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by canuckcruiser68:

i send my clients a gift regardless if there trip is a $10,000 booking or a $100 booking. it has nothing to do with over charging for the price of the trip but everything to do with trying to make the client have a great trip and hopefully remember me next time he has a $100 or $10,000 to spend. i also send them bonvoyage cards , welcome home cards, call them a couple days before their trip to see if there is anything i can do for them (even something as silly as going to pick up their dry cleaning for their trip) cuz i know pre holiday can be very stressful, send them birthday and x mas cards. for some of us TA's unlike some of you might think it's not always about the almighty buck! its all about helping them to have a great trip and hopefully to use me again next holiday<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Now THAT'S customer service!! I bet your clients appreciate you

Navigator of the Seas 6/26/04

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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by canuckcruiser68:

i send my clients a gift regardless if there trip is a $10,000 booking or a $100 booking. it has nothing to do with over charging for the price of the trip but everything to do with trying to make the client have a great trip and hopefully remember me next time he has a $100 or $10,000 to spend. i also send them bonvoyage cards , welcome home cards, call them a couple days before their trip to see if there is anything i can do for them (even something as silly as going to pick up their dry cleaning for their trip) cuz i know pre holiday can be very stressful, send them birthday and x mas cards. for some of us TA's unlike some of you might think it's not always about the almighty buck! its all about helping them to have a great trip and hopefully to use me again next holiday<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

HERE, HERE! I whole heartedly agree. I practice the same thing at my agency! I bet online agencies don't put that much time & effort in caring about their clients as that!

Christina

Good Morning,

Wish more agents were like you. Haven't found any in the past few years.

Last agent I worked with booked my flights on completely different dates from my cruise. (Don't know how she managed to do that.) I had to plead my case directly to the airline to get them to make the appropriate changes and not pay the change fee. (TA Manager/owner was no help whatsoever.)

Also, after booking 5 cabins with her on one cruise, and spending close to $18,000.00 with her, we did not get any type of gift.

People in the Travel Industry need to remember that first and foremost, it's "Service, service, service!" That's what people want and are willing to pay for. With the advent of the internet and people making more arrangements on their own, TA's need to keep this in mind.

Keep up the good work!

Have a great day!

Leigh

The best thing my TA did for me was work around my schedule. She met me at a restaurant where I was eating dinner to set up the details of my last cruise and then came to my house to deliver all our documents. She called several times before the cruise to see if we needed anything. Then, right before we left for our last cruise she dropped off waterproof neck caddies that will fit the cruise id card, a charge card, and a few extras and a foldable carry-on bag that she said she knew I would need for all the things I would buy! (She was right because I used the bag on the way home). When we got home, she called right away to make sure everything went OK. For Christmas she sent us a card and a pewter ornament of a cruise ship. What really impressed me was when people on board our cruise were comparing what they paid, we had gotten a really good deal from her on top of everything else she did! Needless to say, I called her to book this cruise and she is again going out of her way to meet my needs and schedule. Of course, I have given her name out to several friends and co-workers because of it!

My favorite gift from my TA was a silver photo album engraved with the name of the ship and the sail date. It was a very thoughtful gesture.

UNTIL I SET SAIL ON THE JEWEL OF THE SEAS

Hmmmm

I think I should look for a new travel agent ...

December 15 Adventure of The Seas!!!

Rhapsody of the Seas

Rhapsody BIRTHDAY CRUISE - Happy Birthday To Me!

hello wrinkles,

you are very right it is all about service. because of the amount of people doing their own internet bookings and such we have to go out of our way to make them want to use our services. we should be doing that anyway. disposable income is becoming less and less all the time and if a client wants to take a little to spend on vacation then i make sure its money well spent. i always tell my clients to bring in any advertisement or print off from an online site about vacation prices and i will do my best to beat that price by at least 10%. and if you are spending $18,000 on a vacation your agent should have been jumping through hoops for you!

hi christina,

no i bet your right i doubt online agencies don't do things like that. actually the reason i got into this line of work was because of the poor service i was getting from a couple of local agents. on my second cruise i went to pick up my tickets and i was looking through them and didn't see the transfers so i asked her about them and she said she forgot to order them. we were three days before sailing and she told us that we would have to find our own way to the pier. had this been my first cruise i wouldn't have known to look for them and would have been panicking when i got off the plane looking for a ride. i was just a little thing but it really made me think.

hi phoenixcruiser,

i sure hope they do cuz i sure appreciate them!

I have a question for the agents that give gifts. Do you also rebate two thirds of your commission back to your clients? I'm not talking about online agencies. I'm talking about cruise discounters, who do online and live at the same price. I'll take the rebate.

Chuck

Chuck & Phyllis

Doing Voyager on 5/21/04

Doing Empress on 9/18/04

My TA always sends a gift, but my best was a dozen roses, a b-day cake in my cabin, and a robe. All for my b-day. I thought that was a lot from her, but I didn't mind. LOL

Kim

Dawn Princess

Regal Princess

Grand Princess

Mercury - Celebrity

Windward - NCL

Monarch of the Seas - RCCL

Voyager of the Seas - RCCL