How much was your OBC from your TA?

[pacheco18]

We are booked for a 14-day Panama Canal cruise in a sky suite. We have a $300 OBC for booking onboard, which is slightly better than shareholder credit (which would be $250) and you can't combine the two any more.:( Our TA is paying gratuities ($15 per day per person in a sky suite - $420 for the two of us). Our cruise fare totals $7,000. Guess we could do better? Maybe I will look around next time.

 

I am getting much more and I am not booked in a Suite. You need to find a new TA LOL

[mafig]

$150 for a 2B with a Seniors Special ($699 p/p).

 

My usual TA offered $25 and a bottle of wine.:(

[Bet & Peg]

Two years ago sailed on the Summit 12 day Mediterranean cruise. TA was a friend of a friend. We did all the "work" (picked cruise, cabin, air, etc.). She booked everything and our "gift" was dinner in the specialty restaurant.

 

Then I found CC and read about some perks received!

 

This time we booked right with Celebrity and then contacted a new TA - right off the bat we received a $350 OBC. Now that's not 10% - about 5% - but I went with it since we were a new client.

 

Thanks all for your comments - next trip I may book with Celebrity and then shop around for an even better deal!!

[pacheco18]

How do you people do it ????

I know you cannot tell me who your travel agents are ..NO FAIR

I NEVER get OBC from anybody .I'm scared to try unknown agencies as so many have caved in

I DESERVE OBC ...a little hint please

I'm going on Milliin Nov Booked thru Celebrity ..Am I missing something????

 

Yes - you will never get anything from the cruiseline itself.

You should find a TA who will give you a healthy OBC and transfer the booking. We are talking anywhere from 10 - 12 % of the pretax price!

[roatan gardener]

in balcony cabin on equinox we got $300 for the cabin. i thought that was pretty standard but i guess i should be happy.

[LeeLee512]

I booked at a travel show for the Solstice cruise that leaves this Sunday. The TA at the show(with a Celebrity rep in tow) offered a balcony cabin deluxe veranda (booked the room number while we waited) on deck 7. We got it for 749 pp with a $200 OBC for the room and the TA pre-paid the gratuities (161.00). This was a "Show Only" special that had to be booked at the show. They even gave us each a tote bag and sun mat as well as a bunch of other freebies with their logo. They made us an offer we couldn't refuse and we do not regret!

[drakes2]

Why don't you try calling one of the large agencies that advertise on this board? I use them exclusively and always get great obc's plus wine, etc. They are very safe and being one of the largest online agencies in the US I don't think they are going anywhere anytime soon. I've always been happy with their services. You will not get much with any land based agencies in Quebec, maybe a plate of shrimp delivered to your cabin but that's about it. This board is your best bet for information. All it takes is a little research. GOOD LUCK!

How do you people do it ????

I know you cannot tell me who your travel agents are ..NO FAIR

I NEVER get OBC from anybody .I'm scared to try unknown agencies as so many have caved in

I DESERVE OBC ...a little hint please

I'm going on Milliin Nov Booked thru Celebrity ..Am I missing something????

[PartyAllDaTyme]

The raw numbers are meaningless. Depends on length of cruise and cabin choice. You are correct in calculating by the percent of the cost of the trip.

 

Yes, indeed. Also, IIRC, a TA's commission is based on a lower rate than the basic cruise fare. For example, on our docs from Celebrity, we show a "Total before tax" of $840pp, "NonComCruiseFare" (non commissionable portion of the cruise fare?) of $159pp, which totals the $999pp that would show up as you're booking anew online. This doesn't include taxes and fees. I don't know if this NonComCruiseFare component is a straight 16% off any overall fare or if it varies, but possibly you would need to look at only the commissionable portion of a fare to see the true percentage of rebate the OBC represents.

 

Due to a mixup (long story), our TA quoted us $175 OBC on what she thought was a total cruise fare of $2158pp. If the 84/16 ratio holds up, her commissionable portion would have been about $1813, or about 9.7%. When the price was corrected to $1998pp, her OBC dropped to $150 on about $1678, or about 8.9%. (She is honoring the higher OBC.) The small difference in percentage is due to rounding the OBC to the nearest $25.

 

If the 84% figure holds up for all bookings, it would be easy enough to disregard this and just base it on either the basic cruise fare or the total paid including taxes. I would choose the former, so I'd say we received $175 OBC for a $2000 fare, which would have been about 9% overall. It would have been 7.5% if it had not been for the error.

[Host Walt]

REMINDER

 

From our Community Guidelines

...Touting of your personal cruise agent or cruise line "personal cruise consultant" (or any other venue by which you purchase a cruise) is not allowed on our message boards. Postings that contain "tell them John sent you" will be removed without notice.

 

This means you should not ask about someone's travel agent, nor should you respond in kind. Offering to email someone your travel agent's name or info is also not allowed, nor is asking members to email you for the information.

 

It also means you cannot post links to travel agencies, no matter what the specific reason.

 

Cruise Critic will remove violations of the "third-party recommendation" guideline without warning. Additional posts will result in permanent suspension of your posting privileges.

[pacheco18]

REMINDER

 

From our Community Guidelines

 

Actually I think everyone on this thread has been very careful to follow the guidelines. Do you see a violation? Or are you just reminding us. LOL

[notl342]

I booked Mercury next year and my TA called to say they now had a group and were giving us $100 OBC.

 

Hope it won't screw up my shareholder benefit!

 

Robert

[jagoffee]

How do you people do it ????

I know you cannot tell me who your travel agents are ..NO FAIR

I NEVER get OBC from anybody .I'm scared to try unknown agencies as so many have caved in

I DESERVE OBC ...a little hint please

I'm going on Milliin Nov Booked thru Celebrity ..Am I missing something????

 

It may be too late for your November cruise unless you are willing to cancel and rebook, but you are obviously missing something. Especially if you do not really need the benefits of a full service TA. If you know what you want and when, you can do some basic research on the Internet and find lots of choices. Search for discount cruises, compete for price, etc. and you should find some options. You will find lots of suggestions on the criteria/guidelines to use when selecting a TA on cruise critic.

 

The bottom line is that the search function is your best friend.

[pacheco18]

I booked Mercury next year and my TA called to say they now had a group and were giving us $100 OBC.

 

Hope it won't screw up my shareholder benefit!

 

Robert

 

Robert - the $100 is meaningless unless you look at it as a percentage of the commissionable portion of the cruise.

 

If you booked a suite on a 2 week cruise that 100 OBC is awful - your TA is making too much money off you. If you booked an inside cabin for a 7 day Caribbean cruise it might be fair. Again, raw numbers for OBCs do not tell the story.

[ual flyer]

Just back from a B2B on Celebrity Solstice...after initial booking with TA the price dropped for each leg of trip plus TA offered an OBC plus booking early "X" offered OBC plus partial payment of tips (gave us $125 per leg for tips which were $161)! First leg we had an OBC of $525 and second leg an OBC of $565. I was one happy cruiser sitting on my 1C balcony!

After many cruises finally learned to shop around for best deal. Also learned the best way to secure the cabin you want is to book directly and early as possible with cruise line and then start checking online TA's for their offers and transfer the booking once you are satisfied with the perks.

Being a retired airline employee I often booked at the "interline" rate available to us...not anymore. Online TA's offer much more. Live and learn and thanks to the CC boards.

Happy cruising to all!

[njs]

For our upcoming Solstice cruise we received $200 OBC plus pre-paid gratuities for a balcony cabin. I thought that was very good.

 

I think we must have used the same online agency-exact same deal for a cc balcony:)

[Sandy24]

Received a $250 OBC for a 7 night category 1A, and will also receive another $100 for shareholder credit. Now just to figure out how to spend it...do not drink!!!

[PartyAllDaTyme]

Just back from a B2B on Celebrity Solstice...after initial booking with TA the price dropped for each leg of trip plus TA offered an OBC plus booking early "X" offered OBC plus partial payment of tips (gave us $125 per leg for tips which were $161)! First leg we had an OBC of $525 and second leg an OBC of $565. I was one happy cruiser sitting on my 1C balcony!

After many cruises finally learned to shop around for best deal. Also learned the best way to secure the cabin you want is to book directly and early as possible with cruise line and then start checking online TA's for their offers and transfer the booking once you are satisfied with the perks.

Being a retired airline employee I often booked at the "interline" rate available to us...not anymore. Online TA's offer much more. Live and learn and thanks to the CC boards.

Happy cruising to all!

 

I'm assuming these were 7 day cruises, you paid maybe around $1200pp per leg, and you received an average of $545 OBC and $125 towards tips?? This has to include the amount you received as a result of price drops, right? I think the topic thread refers to the OBC gained as a result of a TA's incentive, so your OBC doesn't really compare.

[CaroleSP]

even after asking very sweetly, I was told "no way" you already got a great price, UGHHHHH sure could have used some OBC

What a rip! T/A's are not allowed to discount; that being said, you could have gotten the same price by calling the cruise line. Definitely shop around, you can do much better.

[CaroleSP]

I booked at a travel show for the Solstice cruise that leaves this Sunday. The TA at the show(with a Celebrity rep in tow) offered a balcony cabin deluxe veranda (booked the room number while we waited) on deck 7. We got it for 749 pp with a $200 OBC for the room and the TA pre-paid the gratuities (161.00). This was a "Show Only" special that had to be booked at the show. They even gave us each a tote bag and sun mat as well as a bunch of other freebies with their logo. They made us an offer we couldn't refuse and we do not regret!

What a great deal. We go to any travel show that is in the Philly area. I never saw a deal like that. I think I am moving to MA.

[LeeLee512]

What a great deal. We go to any travel show that is in the Philly area. I never saw a deal like that. I think I am moving to MA.

 

It was funny because there were other TA's at the same show offering the same cruise for $200 more with a smaller OBC and no pre-paid grats. You really have to shop around. Apparently, not all TA's can offer the same packages. Felt like we were shopping for a new car.

[DCguys]

We are taking our first cruise this fall on the Solstice. I shopped around quite a lot and got several quotes from TAs. The best I could get and what we went with was $130 OBC for a cat. 2A balcony room. That's 10% of the pre-tax price. I thought that was pretty good and tried very hard to find something better (I really wanted prepaid grats), but didn't.

 

Our trip is about 6 months out so I'm really hoping for a price drop or OBC offer from X to add to our current one. Since we're going at the tail-end of hurricane season I'm hoping that helps with this.

 

It seems others are getting better deals :(

[OhioDogLover]

I always shop around and if you book enough in advance, you can get an onboard credit on X. As stated, it varies, depending on the agency, and I know we can't mention which agency does what. That is unfortunate. We have a couple of family members who insist on using the same TA all the time, but we ALWAYS get a better deal than they do. That is true whether is in an onboard credit on X or a cruise discount on another line. So, shop it and do it as far in advance as you can.

Ohiodoglover

[oceanbear]

Yes, indeed. Also, IIRC, a TA's commission is based on a lower rate than the basic cruise fare. For example, on our docs from Celebrity, we show a "Total before tax" of $840pp, "NonComCruiseFare" (non commissionable portion of the cruise fare?) of $159pp, which totals the $999pp that would show up as you're booking anew online. This doesn't include taxes and fees. I don't know if this NonComCruiseFare component is a straight 16% off any overall fare or if it varies, but possibly you would need to look at only the commissionable portion of a fare to see the true percentage of rebate the OBC represents.

 

Due to a mixup (long story), our TA quoted us $175 OBC on what she thought was a total cruise fare of $2158pp. If the 84/16 ratio holds up, her commissionable portion would have been about $1813, or about 9.7%. When the price was corrected to $1998pp, her OBC dropped to $150 on about $1678, or about 8.9%. (She is honoring the higher OBC.) The small difference in percentage is due to rounding the OBC to the nearest $25.

 

If the 84% figure holds up for all bookings, it would be easy enough to disregard this and just base it on either the basic cruise fare or the total paid including taxes. I would choose the former, so I'd say we received $175 OBC for a $2000 fare, which would have been about 9% overall. It would have been 7.5% if it had not been for the error.

Celebrity used to break out the "Port Charges" separately, but now they are included in the "Base Rate" the customer sees, but they are not commisionnable.

[testifyoncruises]

Some of the comments crack me up:

 

"Your TA is making too much money!"

 

"You got too little OBC."

 

"My TA gave me 50% of their commission."

 

With the average commission 9-11% of the total cruise price when you factor in non-commissionable parts and the taxes, a TA is not making that much on cruise sales unless they are dealing in volume. The model just will not sustain itself for long. But you get what you pay for.

 

I wonder how many of the posters here would give up 50% of their income? None of you DESERVE an OBC. I don't blame you for chasing it, but just know I know for a fact that Royal and Celebrity will soon be following Carnival's lead. Soon if you book direct, you will no longer be able to switch to a TA after 30 days of your booking date.

[ccletzgo]

Some of the comments crack me up:

 

"Your TA is making too much money!"

 

"You got too little OBC."

 

"My TA gave me 50% of their commission."

 

With the average commission 9-11% of the total cruise price when you factor in non-commission-able parts and the taxes, a TA is not making that much on cruise sales unless they are dealing in volume. The model just will not sustain itself for long. But you get what you pay for.

 

I wonder how many of the posters here would give up 50% of their income? None of you DESERVE an OBC. I don't blame you for chasing it, but just know I know for a fact that Royal and Celebrity will soon be following Carnival's lead. Soon if you book direct, you will no longer be able to switch to a TA after 30 days of your booking date.

 

 

Just what I was thinking!! I don't know how much people think a TA makes but the cruise fare is not all commissioned, and the cruise lines are getting away with making even more of the fare non-commissionable now days. They are also unwilling to answer the question from TA's as to just what these non-commisionable parts of the fare are. There are tax's and port fee's but that does not explain the entire non-commissionable part of the fare.

If you are getting 10% OBC then the TA is making 2% to maybe.. 5%, if they are really big. Would people give up that much of there paychecks? I understand giving a larger OBC for a costly booking, but $1,000.00 pp. fare does not warrant 10% OBC from an agent in my opinion. :rolleyes: