Do travel agencies not like to sell Carnival?

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Recently I was a little shocked when I called my TA of 15+ years to book my Carnival cruise. She no longer offers CCL cruises through her agency. She had a problem with several clients calling CCL after they booked with her company to price compare. These clients reported back to her that CCL had made them a better offer if they went direct with Carnival (after CCL asked them what price they were quoted by the TA).

 

Problem was, my TA said she was charging the CCL stated price. This happened repeatidly so she decided to break ties with Carnival after many years of working with them.

 

I was sad to hear this because she is a great TA! I ended up calling CCL direct for our 2013 cruise. While the booking process went smoothly with the Carnival PVP, I still miss turning everything over to our trusted TA.

 

Will miss the nice 'Thank You' gifts my TA always gave.:(

 

What your TA said makes my BS meter go off. I have never seen anyone ever say CCL undercut their TA with price.

 

Something just doesn't ring true.

 

How long after the TA booked these guest did these clients call CCL to see if they'd beat the price?

 

Was it an hour later, a week later?

 

If they called a week later maybe the price had decreased and they told them what the going price was at that time.

 

Not doubting your story but the TA's story.

 

Bill

[novalab]

What your TA said makes my BS meter go off. I have never seen anyone ever say CCL undercut their TA with price.

 

Something just doesn't ring true.

 

How long after the TA booked these guest did these clients call CCL to see if they'd beat the price?

 

Was it an hour later, a week later?

 

If they called a week later maybe the price had decreased and they told them what the going price was at that time.

 

Not doubting your story but the TA's story.

 

Bill

 

She didn't fill me in on timelines or indepth details. She did say that her problems with Carnival had been going on for some time. I figure she just got tired of spending so much time on the paperwork, etc. for CCL cruises for her clients that eventually switched to Carnival directly & cancelled with her.

 

Something told me there was more to the story but I didn't ask. I have to inject here that she was always very good about honoring lower posted prices on all my Carnival cruises.

[halos]

This all must be new because I never ran into this TA-hatred of CCL thing :confused:

I do recall for years that AAA didn't work with NCL. have no clue why that was so either.

 

She didn't fill me in on timelines or indepth details. She did say that her problems with Carnival had been going on for some time. .

 

Does the 'timing' coincide with Cahill taking over by chance???

 

Believe it.

 

 

 

A TA that I used to use exclusively stopped selling Carnival over ten years ago. I haven't given them any business, cruise or otherwise, since.

 

 

 

They are a dying breed, you just do not need them anymore. And if CCL can reduce expenses by cutting out TAs, that's good for the bottom line. Good for Carnival, good for me.

 

While that makes sense, could that not backfire?? There are still people out there that look to TA's for advice, especially people new to cruising that feel they need direction.....If you have TA's steering people from Carnival, wouldn't that be bad???

[Mulege]

Some TAs. Love it. Let the buyer be the judge. I will book with another co. If I get the same price and a great OBC!. $100 and pp gratuities are worth it to change lines!

 

CCL continues to think they are the only ships on the seas. What does the Grand Poobah,

J H think?

[capitalbarry]

This might answer a few questions WHY!!

 

Carnival Cruise Lines on Aug. 1 will no longer allow travel agents to offer cash-equivalent booking incentives to customers, saying that many of its travel partners view the practice as another form of rebating.

 

Carnival said that the reason for the new policy is to assure travel agents that their rates will not be "undercut by competitors."

 

The new rule means agents will be banned from offering onboard spending credits, prepaid gratuities and free or discounted shore excursions.

 

Carnival said that it would limit value-added incentives to items that have a value of $25 per passenger or less, such as tote bags, beach towels and sunglasses.

 

Agents who support the move said the practice of offering cash-equivalent incentives undermines pricing, and gives volume sellers an advantage because of their higher base commissions and override bonuses for exceeding sales thresholds. Volume sellers can kick back some of that money to clients while not cutting margins to the bone, they said.

Joni Rein, Carnival's vice president of worldwide sales, said, "If you are small or medium-size, you don’t have to worry about larger agencies being able to fund promotions that you can’t."

 

Rein said a number of incentives were being offered that did not fit with the spirit of the existing policy. Under the new policy, she said, agents can be confident that they can compete on the basis of their abilities as a knowledegable travel agent and salesperson.

Carnival has long enforced limits on how agencies could use cash-equivalent incentives. Such incentives could not exceed more than 10% of the cruise fare, and they had to be part of a Carnival-approved sales and marketing plan. Cash-equivalent incentives could not be permanent offers; there were limits on how long and how often they could run.

 

Carnival’s latest move is an evolution of its Advertised Price Policy, which it introduced in 2005. The policy aimed to ensure a level playing field for all agents, requiring them to sell cruises at Carnival’s prevailing rates. At the time, Carnival said it wanted to "minimize consumer confusion over price."

 

However, Carnival did permit discounting in one-to-one communications, a policy that Carnival revised in 2010 by prohibiting discounting in face-to-face conversations, telephone conversations and emails.

 

In the latest iteration of the policy, Carnival no longer requires pre-approval to offer value-added items, but does reserve the right to review offers to make sure they conform with the brand’s guidelines.