Travel Agent Fees????

[hotcarib]

My husband wants to use his travel agent for an RCL Thanksgiving cruise. The cost to us if we book directly with RCL is $2100.00 (USD), the agent wants to charge us $2600.00 (USD).. She's charging 20% commission and a bunch of fees listed as NCCF. My husband seems set on using this agent, but I think she should be charging us what the RCL site lists. Am I wrong?

TIA!!!

[Keith1010]

Find another agent.

 

The cruise fare you pay to RCI by booking on your own should be the same that you pay an agent. The agent gets a commission when you book from them that is part of the cruise fare. The only difference when you book directly with the cruise line is that instead of reducing the fare to offset the commission they retain if you will the commission for themselves.

 

On top of this a travel agent should be able to give you some amenities such as an on board credit and/or something else.

 

Bottom line is if RCI charges $2,100.00 then the agent should be charging no more than $2,100.00. Sometimes the cruise fares do not include port charges and taxes so be sure that this amount has been factored into the RCI fee as this will also be what the agent should show as well.

 

Also, before you use an agent make sure you understand if there is a fee with them from canceling or changing the cruise after you have booked.

 

Keith

[KirkNC]

Something is not right here, either you are looking at two different class rooms or the agent is taking advantage of you. We usually save 5-10% off the cruise lines pricing by using an agent.

 

Kirk

[patseacruiser]

Hhave you done the booking online all the way to the end where it includes taxes, fees and port charges and her quote is still $400 more? Then ask her why. If it then isn't the same leave. Also make sure she doesn't charge change or cancellation fees and that payments go directly to the cruise line.

[isujim]

There also could be an insurance charge the agent is trying to throw in.......ask for an itemized invoice or list of charges. If you haven't included port charges, insurance etc.......that $400 might be in the ball park. Of course you would need to decide if you wanted insurance. Not saying that is what it is.........but something isn't adding up.

[Krazy Kruizers]

don't know why your husband wants to stay with a TA that charges more

 

you need to stay form and get another agent

[kitty9]

If the higher price the TA quoted doesn't have a simple explanation, such as she added travel insurance and the port taxes and fees, I would directly tell her that you're going to report her to Royal Caribbean about her shady business practices. She already gets a commission from the cruise line, as it's built into the fare, so she should not be padding her commission. Ask for a detailed bill and see what these charges are all about. If things don't seem right, you need to have a face to face talk and find out why she's charging you so much.

[Greghouseo]

If the higher price the TA quoted doesn't have a simple explanation, such as she added travel insurance and the port taxes and fees, I would directly tell her that you're going to report her to Royal Caribbean about her shady business practices. She already gets a commission from the cruise line, as it's built into the fare, so she should not be padding her commission. Ask for a detailed bill and see what these charges are all about. If things don't seem right, you need to have a face to face talk and find out why she's charging you so much.

 

Report the TA for what exactly?

 

The basis of a contract is acceptance of a quoted price.

If you don't like the quoted price, don't accept it. There is nothing to report, the TA can try and make whatever profit he/she chooses presumably (that is if UK and US laws are the same) so I don't really see what grounds you have for reporting them?

Or am I missing something?

[PattyG12]

Greg ... RCI does not allow any travel agent to price lower (or higher) than their published fares. They will, however, let a TA add incentives, but they are using part of their commission to do so. If the base price is $400 less, I would also report this TA to Royal Caribbean.

[Greghouseo]

Greg ... RCI does not allow any travel agent to price lower (or higher) than their published fares. They will, however, let a TA add incentives, but they are using part of their commission to do so. If the base price is $400 less, I would also report this TA to Royal Caribbean.

 

Ah, ok gotcha!!!!!

 

Seems like there is more to this than meets the eye. Surely a TA wouldn't put at risk his dealership with RCI and over price to that extent?

[DanJ]

Not sure what NCCF stands for, but I'm assuming it's something along the lines of non-commissionable fees. I can sort of see adding a service fee for booking flights, as they don't pay commission anymore, but those fares you are talking about for Thanksgiving week don't appear to me to be for airfare, just for cruise. Maybe the TA is also adding commission on the taxes and fees portion of the RCI quote, which RCI doesn't pay commission on. I would ask her what service she is providing that she thinks she's entitled to be topped up by you to 20% commission? It's my understanding that the cruise lines have a sliding scale on commissions and the busier agencies get a bigger commission, so maybe she needs to work on the service aspect of her business to get herself into the higher tier from the cruise line.

 

I recently had an issue with my regular TA. Her office joined a larger regional TA firm. That company has a $25 booking fee on all bookings. I told her I found that to be nickel and diming considering the amount of the commission she makes off our family of 4 bookings, not to mention the many friends and family that use her based on our recommendation. Not to mention I do all the legwork, telling her exactly which cabin on what cruise I want, I book my flights, rental car and hotels. I said basically I like the fact that when I spend my vacation money outside the country, at least a few hundred dollars of it stays home and supports the local economy, but now I have to pay $25 for the privilege? The only thing that saved her our last booking was being able to book it in US dollars, where I couldn't do that booking direct.

[MCC retired]

The TA quote should never ,ever, ever be more $$$ than booking a cruise direct. More often less with a amenity like OBC added.

 

The only fee's that some TA's charge would be a small booking fee, cancelation fee or change fee (which should be explained to you in advance)

That in mind , many TA's charge no fee at all . They make all their $$ off of comm. from the cruise line.

 

A TA that's quoting more than the cruise line has not properly qualified you for a better rate which you may qualify (past guest, senior, resident , ect.) In that case , find a TA that works for you.

[cruiseco]

Greg ... RCI does not allow any travel agent to price lower (or higher) than their published fares. They will, however, let a TA add incentives, but they are using part of their commission to do so. If the base price is $400 less, I would also report this TA to Royal Caribbean.

 

A TA can add $1000 per person to their invoice total if he wants to -- as long as it is not described as part of the cruise fare but instead as some sort of agency booking fee. Nothing wrong with that as long as everything is disclosed properly. Dumb business practices aren't automatically against the rules.

 

And if any time a price quoted is $400 less than what RCI is quoting it could very possibly be the result of the TA holding some discounted group space. And since group fares are sometimes pretty inflexible it's possible that the TA is selling group space at the contracted fare when the individual res rate has gone down. This would result in a perfectly "legal" fare that happens to be $400 more than what's quoted on the RCI site. Again, dumb but not against any rules.

 

In either case, there's nothing that RCI could or should do about it. My opinion, one of the quotes does not include ALL the NCFs, taxes, etc. Apples to apples.

[Waynetor]

Another posibility here is the agent reserved a group of cabins months ago at the $2,600 price which at the time was the best avaiable but now RCL has dropped the price. If this is the case the agent would still be paying RCL the $2,600 as that is the price on the group contract. If the agent wanted to they should be able to redo the price with RCL.

Otherwise even adding port charges on a Carribbean cruise, plus transfers and insurance the $500 difference seems excessive.

[pms4104]

If the bookings are identical in every way, as to cabin category and insurance and transfers and such, except for the price, the T/A is overcharging by at least $500. Is she, perhaps, a corporate travel person unfamiliar with leisure bookings? The cruiseline pays commission ... it is not assessed additional to the cruisefare. Further, T/A's are secretive, and rightly so, about the commi$$ion they earn ... and I would guess 20% would be for a very hgh-volume agency.

 

If it were me, I'd simply tell the T/A that her quote is $500 above the actual cruiseline fare and that unless she can match it I would book directly with RCI. My aim is to find value and fair pricing ... and not to enrich someone else unnecessarily.

[kitty9]

Report the TA for what exactly?

 

The basis of a contract is acceptance of a quoted price.

If you don't like the quoted price, don't accept it. There is nothing to report, the TA can try and make whatever profit he/she chooses presumably (that is if UK and US laws are the same) so I don't really see what grounds you have for reporting them?

Or am I missing something?

 

Many cruise lines do not allow TA's to either undercharge or overcharge for their product. That's what I meant by reporting this TA.

[imsulin]

If the bookings are identical in every way, as to cabin category and insurance and transfers and such, except for the price, the T/A is overcharging by at least $500. Is she, perhaps, a corporate travel person unfamiliar with leisure bookings? The cruiseline pays commission ... it is not assessed additional to the cruisefare. Further, T/A's are secretive, and rightly so, about the commi$$ion they earn ... and I would guess 20% would be for a very hgh-volume agency.

 

If it were me, I'd simply tell the T/A that her quote is $500 above the actual cruiseline fare and that unless she can match it I would book directly with RCI. My aim is to find value and fair pricing ... and not to enrich someone else unnecessarily.

 

I worked as a TA (1999-2004) and NEVER saw a commission rate of 20% from ANY cruise line. (Or tour company). The highest our agency ever got was 16%, and that was from Carnival, due to high volume bookings. The highest we ever got from RCI was 15%- again, due to high volume bookings. We NEVER charged a "booking fee", but DID charge a $50.00 per booking cancellation fee, and this was explained to the client, and they signed our form. We were NOT allowed to include cruise insurance without the clients' permission in writing. I know it's been years, but that's the way off-line bookings were done at that time. Just saying!

[pms4104]

I worked as a TA (1999-2004) and NEVER saw a commission rate of 20% from ANY cruise line. (Or tour company). The highest our agency ever got was 16%, and that was from Carnival, due to high volume bookings. The highest we ever got from RCI was 15%- again, due to high volume bookings. We NEVER charged a "booking fee", but DID charge a $50.00 per booking cancellation fee, and this was explained to the client, and they signed our form. We were NOT allowed to include cruise insurance without the clients' permission in writing. I know it's been years, but that's the way off-line bookings were done at that time. Just saying!

The OP mentioned being assessed 20%, apparently on top of the commi$$ion being paid to the T/A by the cruiseline ... and I thought, wrongly, that there are times when super-super high volume agencies might earn 20%. In the scenario outlined by the OP, I would not do business with a T/A who either doesn't know where her commi$$ion comes from, or who might feel it's OK to collect both from the client and the cruiseline. It seems almost criminal.

 

I can understand nominal booking fees, as some client can be extremely high maintenance and time-consuming to service. The one time a T/A tried to charge me something like $35 because, as she stated, that's the way it's always been ... I asked her to pull our past travel files and verify. Well, oops, she realized we had never been assessed such a fee. She got her manager to waive the $35 ... and that's the last time I gave them any business. Also, a cancel fee may be legitimate because the T/A has invested time and energy in the booking, with absolutely no return at all ... time is money.

 

Insurance never has been part of any agency quotes we've gotten ... if anything, the T/A has asked about it and when I told her we buy 3rd party, she then made note of that to protect herself ... certainly there are clients who would have benefitted from insurance coverage and later get into a he-said-she-said and claim it was never offered. So, even tho many agencies may prohibit insurance being included automatically, makes sense to get the client to either accept or deny coverage ... in writing, if possible.

 

I wonder the outcome of the OP's situation ... and whether she or her husband won the bgooking battle.

[imsulin]

The OP mentioned being assessed 20%, apparently on top of the commi$$ion being paid to the T/A by the cruiseline ... and I thought, wrongly, that there are times when super-super high volume agencies might earn 20%. In the scenario outlined by the OP, I would not do business with a T/A who either doesn't know where her commi$$ion comes from, or who might feel it's OK to collect both from the client and the cruiseline. It seems almost criminal.

 

I can understand nominal booking fees, as some client can be extremely high maintenance and time-consuming to service. The one time a T/A tried to charge me something like $35 because, as she stated, that's the way it's always been ... I asked her to pull our past travel files and verify. Well, oops, she realized we had never been assessed such a fee. She got her manager to waive the $35 ... and that's the last time I gave them any business. Also, a cancel fee may be legitimate because the T/A has invested time and energy in the booking, with absolutely no return at all ... time is money.

 

Insurance never has been part of any agency quotes we've gotten ... if anything, the T/A has asked about it and when I told her we buy 3rd party, she then made note of that to protect herself ... certainly there are clients who would have benefitted from insurance coverage and later get into a he-said-she-said and claim it was never offered. So, even tho many agencies may prohibit insurance being included automatically, makes sense to get the client to either accept or deny coverage ... in writing, if possible.

 

I wonder the outcome of the OP's situation ... and whether she or her husband won the bgooking battle.

 

There's also the possibility that this TA does not have contractual commissions with the cruise line, but does have booking privileges. BIG difference! So - they charge their own commission! I do agree that cancellation fees are legitimate (we charged $50.00 per booking-not per person-because it really did take up our time!) Especially with the University kids with their on-again/off-again romances!. As far as trip insurance, we were required to OFFER either the cruise lines' insurance or private trip insurance but it was NEVER included in the cruise cost. The client had to sign in writing that they either declined or accepted some type of trip insurance. If they accepted, they had to designate WHAT trip insurance they wanted and paid for. We always made sure everything was IN WRITING!! That's the way it was back then, but we were a land-based agency.

[njhorseman]

There's also the possibility that this TA does not have contractual commissions with the cruise line, but does have booking privileges. BIG difference! So - they charge their own commission! I do agree that cancellation fees are legitimate (we charged $50.00 per booking-not per person-because it really did take up our time!) Especially with the University kids with their on-again/off-again romances!. As far as trip insurance, we were required to OFFER either the cruise lines' insurance or private trip insurance but it was NEVER included in the cruise cost. The client had to sign in writing that they either declined or accepted some type of trip insurance. If they accepted, they had to designate WHAT trip insurance they wanted and paid for. We always made sure everything was IN WRITING!! That's the way it was back then, but we were a land-based agency.

 

I used to own a travel agency and I never heard of an arrangement like that. Are you aware of any such arrangements? Anyone else who is currently in the travel business?

 

I'm voting with the likelihood of the OP making an apples to oranges comparison, such as one quote including all taxes and fees and the other not, and perhaps one including trip cancellation insurance and the other not.

[shippmates]

I am currently in the travel business and all my commission is paid by either the cruise lines or the suppliers I use. We also get forms signed for travel insurance and do not charge cancellation fee. I have never heard of adding commission other than on flights.

[smeyer418]

On occasion TA's have access to rooms which they have bought and paid for. these are called NET fares. The cruise line has agreed to accept this net fare as payment in full. NCF(or NCCF) is non-commission-able fare is that fare over the base fare that the TA will not be paid commission on. It normally includes pass through charges like Port charges fuel surcharges and other things that the TA will not be paid a commission on. Then there is the tax- the US charges about 1/4 of 1% as a tax on cruise fares. The commission is normally paid by the cruise line but in the NET fare scenario its not- the TA can sell the room for whatever they want and they can keep any extra as profit(sometimes they will list it as commission). Finally TA's sometimes have access to group fares that are less than the cruise line is currently charging. When the Cruise line says no discounting they normally exclude the net fare(which not all cruise lines sell) and the group fares which are an authorized fare but not the current fare on its website.

One of the continuing issues is that while the cruise lines show the NCF as part of the fare on their websites, TA have different systems which show this amounts differently...confused enough now?

[imsulin]

Waaay back when, we showed (in writing) the breakdown of :

 

cruise rate PLUS

port charges PLUS

taxes EQUALS total cruise fare

 

We had many clients walk into our office saying things like, "Hey..XXXX cruise line says I can cruise for XXXX days for XXXX dollars!" We then had to explain what a cruise rate was, the mandatory addition of port charges and taxes, the advertised cruise rate was for a certain cabin category, the advertised rate was per person, and not for the cabin, there were the factors of trip insurance/driving or flying to the Port/3rd and 4th passenger rates, included and non-included amenities, tips, etc. It was a real eye-opener for many clients who had never cruised before! I once had a Mom, Dad, and two kids come into our office. Dad threw down $229 cash onto my desk and asked for all of them to be booked on a 4-night Carnival cruise on the Fantasy to the Bahamas from Port Canaveral. (2000 or so). Carnival had apparently advertised this cruise (during early June - summer vacation). Well, after explaining the breakdown and additional charges and price per person and cabin category....ad infinitum...the guy scoops up his cash (after cursing at me), and he, wife, and kids stormed out of our door. What got me was that one of the kids grabbed the glass jar containing Werther's Originals (which I paid for) right off of my desk before dashing out of the door behind his Dad! Yeah - the whole jar....not just a hand-scoop! True story!!

[mitsugirly]

I really wish they'd change the rules and cruise lines show the TOTAL price of a cruise. It would be so much easier to understand and would avoid a lot of confusion. Just combine the amount of the cruise, taxes, port charges, any fees AND daily service charge, because this is what you are actually paying for the cruise. I know it's probably a marketing thing to make it seem like cruising is so cheap but it all adds up. :)

[smeyer418]

I really wish they'd change the rules and cruise lines show the TOTAL price of a cruise. It would be so much easier to understand and would avoid a lot of confusion. Just combine the amount of the cruise, taxes, port charges, any fees AND daily service charge, because this is what you are actually paying for the cruise. I know it's probably a marketing thing to make it seem like cruising is so cheap but it all adds up. :)

actually the cruise lines are required to advertise the total cost less taxes only. Its only the TA's that aren't covered by this rule. It is confusing but not unlike the same thing for airlines. The airline website show all the costs less government taxes. the TA's show it less surcharges(like fuel) and government taxes...its hard to compare until you get all the info(including on the airlines whether there will be luggage fees as well)