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Carnival- is there something different?


Hsmama
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In my research, I've been looking at many different cruise listings,and noticed that not all agencies show carnival listings...is there a reason why? I've 'heard' various negatives about the cruises (it can be noisy and partiers etc) but nothing concrete, since they seem to have some decent prices, I'm wondering why I'm not seeing them everywhere like the other brands,and how they are generally viewed by the experienced cruisers. I've sailed once,on a HAL cruise.... and I'm looking at 7-9 day cruises only if that makes a difference

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Travel agents receive commissions for booking your cruise. (if you book directly with the cruise line, they keep the commission)

 

Travel agents often feature cruise lines that offer the highest commissions or incentives that will increase their payday.

 

Being a low cost cruise line likely means that Carnival has a commission structure that is not as attractive to the agencies you are exploring.

 

So, as is so often true....follow the money! :cool:

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I believe that Carnival has the highest rate of those booking cruises directly with them as opposed to through TA's.

 

With that said which ones TA's promote varies based on the customers that book with them and other factors such as what thinfool posted.

 

Keith

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In my research, I've been looking at many different cruise listings,and noticed that not all agencies show carnival listings...is there a reason why? I've 'heard' various negatives about the cruises (it can be noisy and partiers etc) but nothing concrete, since they seem to have some decent prices, I'm wondering why I'm not seeing them everywhere like the other brands,and how they are generally viewed by the experienced cruisers. I've sailed once,on a HAL cruise.... and I'm looking at 7-9 day cruises only if that makes a difference

 

 

 

We use three different agencies for our cruise bookings. Not a one of them does Carnival. Too much work for too little commission.

 

 

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We use three different agencies for our cruise bookings. Not a one of them does Carnival. Too much work for too little commission.

 

 

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How do you use three different agencies? for just one booking? or at different times? This is what I'm also struggling with, I don;t understand how/where to find a reputable agency that will both save me money and find the best deals available- also I don't understand the idea of switching a reservation from one to the other,after reading various posts it's confusing.

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How do you use three different agencies? for just one booking? or at different times? This is what I'm also struggling with, I don;t understand how/where to find a reputable agency that will both save me money and find the best deals available- also I don't understand the idea of switching a reservation from one to the other,after reading various posts it's confusing.

 

 

 

We almost exclusively sail on Oceania, which is a perfect fit for our preferences in food, lodging, itineraries, price, clientele, etc.

 

Over the years we have done much research online, chatting with other travelers/cruisers and through personal experience.

 

One very helpful reference is Conde Nast Traveler Magazine, which occasionally publishes "best of..." lists that include cruise specialists. One of the three TAs we use came from that list. She had previously worked as a cruise director for HAL but upon hearing about our preferences, suggested that we give Oceania a try. Her membership in the selective Oceania Connoisseurs Club (that cruise line's preferred partners' organization) would eventually become an important factor in looking at other TAs for O cruises.

 

The other two TAs we use, we found through repeated mention of them by other Oceania cruisers. Both are Connoisseur Club members also, with one of them being among the top ten sellers of O cruises. That's important because O pays TAs commissions on a sliding scale based on their total O sales, which translates to better sharing of their commissions with us. Also, if there ever is a problem with a booking, O's immediate response to one of their top producers is almost instantaneous.

 

As to our decision-making strategy about which TA to use: We almost always "book onboard" via the resident "Oceania Club" representative. This means a price break and low price guarantee, some OBC on the current cruise and a 30 day window for transfer to a TA. Once the cruise is booked, we e-mail all three TAs and ask what they can/will do to "sweeten the deal." That translates into offers of added OBC (beyond whatever "O Life" perks are coming from Oceania) and/or a rebate post cruise.

 

Because there are other factors (e.g., one of the three TAs agencies belongs to a particular consortia, which often has added perks on select O cruises while another may have a block of cabins on our chosen cruise), the e-mails back from our three TAs may (or may not) have significant differences. Then, within the 30 transfer window we will make the transfer to one of them.

 

BTW, we also do some quick online searching of other agencies (and may even exchange a few e-mails) before making our selection of which one of the three regulars to use just to keep our outlook fresh AND we're always asking fellow Oceania regulars what TAs they use and why.

 

This research intensive/data driven strategy may be more than you want to employ, particularly if you're talking about a few days cruise on a mass market line where the fare is so low that TA perks are meaningless (e.g., a bottle of cheap wine) or some TAs (like ours) won't even handle them. We usually do two cruises a year with durations ranging from about three to five weeks +\-. On a premium line like Oceania, that may translate to TA added perks easily exceeding $1k. Not bad for a couple of hours of "work."

 

One other tip: don't use "cabin cost" as the basis for cruise value comparison. Rather, look at "net daily rate" for all planned expenditures door-to-door for your trip. That higher Oceania fare includes airfare (or an air credit) plus all sorts of other things (internet, specialty restaurants and booze or excursions) for which you'd pay extra on a line like Carnival. Even if the "net daily rate" is still higher on a line like O, look at the quality of what you get (e.g., arguably the "best food at sea," first class cabin bedding and amenities) and look at what you DON'T get (e.g., thundering herds of passengers, art auctions, nickel-diming, smokers, chair hogs.....)

 

Again, do the research and you'll be rewarded.

 

 

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Edited by Flatbush Flyer
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In my research, I've been looking at many different cruise listings,and noticed that not all agencies show carnival listings...is there a reason why? I've 'heard' various negatives about the cruises (it can be noisy and partiers etc) but nothing concrete, since they seem to have some decent prices, I'm wondering why I'm not seeing them everywhere like the other brands,and how they are generally viewed by the experienced cruisers. I've sailed once,on a HAL cruise.... and I'm looking at 7-9 day cruises only if that makes a difference

 

Having sailed 4 lines from the US I will say that Carnival is actually our favorite. The TA's we have used in the past and the one I adore using now, actually has Carnival front and center in their info. But they are a rather high volume TA so this generally means better commissions anyways.

 

Now all experiences are subjective! You will always hear more bad things than good because how often do you go out of your way to make sure people know the really good things vs. what you think is bad?

 

Out of the mass market lines, I actually found Carnival to be the easiest one to get along with for us and our children at the time. Then again, I have NOT sailed the bigger Carnival ships! Pride/Legend/Spirit class which are some of the "tiny" ones in the mass market industry.

 

We have sailed on big ships though with NCL and RCCL. If I was to be given a RCCL cruise tomorrow, I would either totally decline, or even take just 1/2 of the "cash value" if possible, that is how bad our experience was. Others swear by them!

 

Being on the Breakaway and seeing how it all works, I wouldn't sail NCL without a suite or Haven room. We got lucky and got a total steal on ours, but just way to many people for us! I couldn't image being one of those lining up 20-45 mins before the comedy show hoping to get in....

 

Though for my preference, Carnival is always the first I look at. I wish they did more sailings outside of the US market, but eh.. we also can't afford airfare to Europe every year!

 

As for finding a good TA, it can be hard to do! We went threw 4 different ones before I found an agency we stuck with. Alas we can't give recommendations here or life would be easier, and since the agency I go with now have a loyalty/referral bonus pay for my upcoming cruise!

 

The best suggestion I can offer you is just take the time to find your TA "fit". If you have a clue where and when you want to go, start making phone calls or sending emails. If you click with an agency, go with them. Even if they don't offer you the best perks, just remember one thing, $100 OBC does not matter if you have a problem that takes weeks to solve vs nothing and a pain free travel experience.

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I also feel... it is extremely easy to book online yourself with Carnival and very easy to get price adjustments and change bookings/ upgrade with them yourself just with a quick call. Their drinks package and excursions signups are also very transparent and easy to understand which is very different from lines like RCCL. I often go to their website and see what itineraries they offer. We have got some great deals from incentives on NCL and Princess as well.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have sailed several lines, but prefer Carnival mainly because they provide a nice product for the investment. I have a relative who is a travel agent and she is always suggesting non Carnival cruises. Best I can tell, its because there is a higher commission. Carnival has a very user friendly booking site for guests and an equally straight fwd and quick site for agents (Ive used it). No reason other than profit that I can think of for an agent to avoid carnival.

 

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Going to think a bit out of the box. Like some frequent cruisers (with many lines) we shop around for the best deals...among high volume reputable agencies. Although we sometimes do book luxury upscale lines, we have never been impressed by the offerings of certain cruise agencies that target that type of customer. We are aware of one particular cruise agency (located in the Northwest) who is very popular with HAL cruisers and features higher end lines (and also excludes Carnival). But when we compare their deals to the higher volume agencies we prefer, the luxury agency does not compare. We have looked at a few other agencies (recommended by others we meet on our cruises) and none of them compare (deal wise). We suspect they simply want to attract a higher end cruiser and think that listing Carnival might drive away some of their "nose up in the air" base. Carnival does have a decent commission structure so that is not a reason some agencies do not list them. We also notice that some of those high end agencies are not listing MSC...and we think they are missing the boat (pun intended). MSC is the most interesting company to hit the mass market cruise industry in years. They will soon have 20+ of the most modern vessels and are in the process of building a US following. Their ship within a ship Yacht Club concept is actually a higher end product then offered by many other main stream lines such as Princess and HAL.

 

We have cruised on 14 lines (and have a 15th booked) and prefer to deal with high volume agencies that deal with all the cruise and river cruise lines. As a frequent cruiser/traveler I prefer to deal with agencies that do not do my thinking for me (as to which lines I want to book). And for the record, we have taken only 3 Carnival cruises (out of far more than 100) but the Carnival cruises were absolutely fine.

 

Hank

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Going to think a bit out of the box. Like some frequent cruisers (with many lines) we shop around for the best deals...among high volume reputable agencies. Although we sometimes do book luxury upscale lines, we have never been impressed by the offerings of certain cruise agencies that target that type of customer. We are aware of one particular cruise agency (located in the Northwest) who is very popular with HAL cruisers and features higher end lines (and also excludes Carnival). But when we compare their deals to the higher volume agencies we prefer, the luxury agency does not compare. We have looked at a few other agencies (recommended by others we meet on our cruises) and none of them compare (deal wise). We suspect they simply want to attract a higher end cruiser and think that listing Carnival might drive away some of their "nose up in the air" base. Carnival does have a decent commission structure so that is not a reason some agencies do not list them. We also notice that some of those high end agencies are not listing MSC...and we think they are missing the boat (pun intended). MSC is the most interesting company to hit the mass market cruise industry in years. They will soon have 20+ of the most modern vessels and are in the process of building a US following. Their ship within a ship Yacht Club concept is actually a higher end product then offered by many other main stream lines such as Princess and HAL.

 

 

 

We have cruised on 14 lines (and have a 15th booked) and prefer to deal with high volume agencies that deal with all the cruise and river cruise lines. As a frequent cruiser/traveler I prefer to deal with agencies that do not do my thinking for me (as to which lines I want to book). And for the record, we have taken only 3 Carnival cruises (out of far more than 100) but the Carnival cruises were absolutely fine.

 

 

 

Hank

 

 

 

It is easy to beat most of the deals with the agency I'm sure you're talking about. However, do remember that this agency is a member of a particular consortium that adds additional benefits in select cruises (usually in the form of gratuities or hundreds more in OBC). Also, as a preferred provider of several higher end cruise lines, they occasionally have unadvertised "preferred partner" cabin price sales that reduce cost by 5-15% (not always but often enough that we always ask them for comparison quotes).

 

 

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The cruise specialist agency we're talking about in the last few posts probably doesn't do Carnival. But, you'll often find them listed in a Condé Nast "best of..." list.

 

 

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I had an interesting discussion with one of that agency's reps while on a HAL Grand cruise. She was very nice and our talk was wide ranging. When she asked me if I had ever booked a cruise through them I told her no...although we are on their mailing list and routinely get e-mails about their group offers. I told her that their deals were just not that great and she was surprised and asked about the deal we had for that particular cruise (which was over 60 days). When I told her...she admitted that could not come close to matching that deal...but then laughed and said, "but you do get some cocktail parties and an excursion if you book with us." Our savings (over their price) was several thousand dollars. And you are right in that we have never noticed anything Carnival on their web site or in their direct e-mails.

 

We do keep looking at their offers since she was so nice I would love to give them some of our business. So far...no luck.

 

Let me be clear that we do not just book with a single agency. We currently use 3 different agencies (one of them always seems to have the best deal) but are always comparing the pricing to others and the cruise line's own site. In recent years we have discovered that certain cruise lines seem to have better deals with certain agencies. For example, we use one agency that usually has the best deals (by far) on RCI products (RCI, Celebrity and Azamara) but their deals on other lines such as Princess and HAL are not great. And lately we have been using a single agency for HAL....since they always seem to offer the biggest OBCs.

 

We have no loyalty to any agency and simply use those who have the best deals and give us great customer service. In most of the high volume agencies, the agents come and go...although we now are using specific agents...which could quickly change.

 

Hank

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