Do You Really get a price reduction through a TA versus Cruise LineQuestion

[lilbit chick]

I keep going to all kinds of discount reputable sites online that pop up here on CC, and other than some OBC some as much as $300 for AQ, which is what we do, there seems to be no difference at all in the basic prices. Am I missing something here?

What is the advantage? Thanks :confused:

[paul929207]

Princess allows travel agent to discount the fares. They do not require them to do so. By search around, over time I found some that give me 10 to 15% off.

[waltd]

Not sure if you have contacted the on line agency via email or just checked their website. Sometimes the website has a different price then what they will quote via email.

[Pam in CA]

I've gotten as much as 20%. Discount amounts depend on the ship, itinerary, date, cabin category, and when you book. You are far more likely to get a big discount if you book over a year in advance than two months before sailing. I usually book at least a year ahead and get a 10-20% discount. There's no flat rate or percentage discount due to the variables.

 

If you're doing research, be aware that Princess doesn't allow TAs to advertise or promote discounts so if you're checking prices on the Internet, you'll see the same price as on Princess. You have to request a quote. When you request a quote, ask the TA how many Princess cruises a day (or a week) do they book? The high-volume (20-40/day) TAs get the best pricing to start with and then give their customers group rates, even if you're not in a group of people sailing.

 

TAs have a choice of whether to discount and give perks or not. Some prefer not to; others work on volume. When you're on a cruise, ask your fellow cruisers at the Meet ^ Greet for recommendations. That's a good way to find a discount TA.

[rachelfran]

I got a discount and OBC from an online retailer through the cruise compete site. They also reduced twice when prices went down though the second time instituted a fee for doing so -- even so - price is still cheaper than the going rate for the cabin we got -

[magandy]

I keep going to all kinds of discount reputable sites online that pop up here on CC, and other than some OBC some as much as $300 for AQ, which is what we do, there seems to be no difference at all in the basic prices. Am I missing something here?

What is the advantage? Thanks :confused:

I can only talk about the UK.

Recently I made enquires for a cruise to the Caribbean advertised in the recent Royal Princess Sale. I contacted Princess direct first who gave me prices including flights to the US, hotels, transfers and cruise.

I then contacted quite a number of TAs that I generally use, all came back with the same price as Princess and all saying the same thing 'That is the price, as Princess do not give any further discounts to TAs'.

One TA that I have used a lot and give you cruise miles, would not even allow me to use the miles that I had accumulated with them against a Princess Cruise, stating that they would loose money on the cruise if they did. I have since argued that with them up to CEO level, they have now agreed that I can use them.

I think that it since a Big Cruise TA went under in the UK a couple of years ago, so Princess peg the prices in the UK.

[runnerodb83]

While you may save by booking with a TA, sometimes they have cancellation or change fees, regardless of whether the booking is withing the princess cancellation penalty time. Not sure how insurance treats it either.

[hubofhockey]

I keep going to all kinds of discount reputable sites online that pop up here on CC, and other than some OBC some as much as $300 for AQ, which is what we do, there seems to be no difference at all in the basic prices. Am I missing something here?

What is the advantage? Thanks :confused:

 

You are missing something and that something is the right TA.

 

With a $75 OBC, my TA, which is one many regulars on the Princess boards use, saved me 15.5% on Royal Princess Baltics for July 9, 2014 ($6,306 vs $7,368 for a DD deluxe balcony). That's $1,137 for the two of us, including OBC. We had wanted to do Baltics and were in between Celebrity and Princess. When you combined the new ship with this savings, there's no way we could pass it up. Celebrity veranda pricing on its Solstice Class ship was about the same as the non-discounted Princess price. So, yest the TA makes a huge difference.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

You have to ask ..

[PlanoDebbie]

A lot will depend on where you are going, when you are going and how many empty cabins are available. If you are able to book something with barely 4 - 6 weeks notice, you may be able to get a great price, especially to Alaska.

 

To give you an example, we are leaving next week Saturday on the Sapphire Princess for 14 days. At the time we booked, Princess was asking $2700 pp. We only paid $799 pp through our online discount website. That saved us a total of nearly $4000 had we gone through Princess directly. I can order a lot of adult beverages and go on a lot of really awesome excursions for that kind of money.

 

If you are trying to go to the Caribbean during the summer when everyone else also wants to go there, you probably won't get much of a discount anywhere else. I would certainly recommend that you shop around on some of the more popular cruise websites before you book. That way you can make an informed decision. Alaska is always dirt cheap if you can book a Gty OV cabin with less than 6 weeks notice. That's the only way we can afford to keep going back there so often.

[geoherb]

I usually book last-minute cruises for us. On some of them, our TA can get us a better price than going through the cruise line directly. On some of them he can't. Occasionally he'll send his a bottle of wine on board. Even when he's not saving us any money, though, he has still given us great service. His suggestions last year for our Alaskan cruise tour made the trip much better than it would have been.

[caribill]

To give you an example, we are leaving next week Saturday on the Sapphire Princess for 14 days. At the time we booked, Princess was asking $2700 pp. We only paid $799 pp through our online discount website. That saved us a total of nearly $4000 had we gone through Princess directly.

 

Was the Princess price what you saw on the Princess web site or by speaking with a Princess agent.

 

When Princess has a flash sale to fill up the cabins, the web site will not reflect the lower price, but a call to Princess can get the flash sale price.

[cherylandtk]

Lilbit, I see from your prior history that you primarily have sailed on Celebrity, is that correct? You will find that they prohibit TA's from discounting as well as offering anything more than a limited amount of OBC based on price of the cruise. Whereas Princess does not have those rules. As noted above, you should be able to find quotes of 10-15% off. Not advertisements, quotes, like Pam said.

[chamima]

I keep going to all kinds of discount reputable sites online that pop up here on CC, and other than some OBC some as much as $300 for AQ, which is what we do, there seems to be no difference at all in the basic prices. Am I missing something here?

What is the advantage? Thanks :confused:

 

 

I don't know if you realized it but you posted your question on the Princess board.

Your statement that you sail in AQ tells me you are talking about Celebrity.

As the previous poster said, Celebrity does not allow TAs to discount fares They can only give you OBCs (some of which are very generous).

 

Princess does allow TAs to discount fares (and give OBCs at the same time).

 

So if you are only checking Celebrity that's why you aren't seeing any discounts.

The Celebrity boards are here.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=28&order=desc

 

 

Also, as the previous poster said, make sure the TA doesn't charge change or cancellation fees

[Genessa]

You are missing something and that something is the right TA.

 

 

you are 100% correct.

we found a fabulous TA on here and have stuck with the same agency, but check prices against the agency quotes for every cruise.

 

we could never find anyone who could even come close, even a personal friend who is a TA who told us, book with them - I can't do that price. We have gotten prices from driving clubs, big box places, big name internet sites, and they all have come back on the same cruises with the same prices, while the agency we use gets us lower prices and OBC.

 

I just recently booked a deeply discounted cruise - less than $100 per day, and the agency was still able to get us a discount on top of that.

[paul929207]

I have booked cruises thru Princess while on a ship. Got home. Transfered to a TA for a 10 or 15% savings.

[jpthomas27]

I noticed you posted the same question in the Celebrity forum so be very careful about not confusing yourself further. You will get different answers in the different forums because different cruise lines have different policies regarding TA discounts.

 

Princess does allow TA's to offer discounts so, YES, you can absolutely get a cheaper price, plus OBC in most cases when booking a Princess cruise through a TA.

 

Celebrity does not allow TA's to offer discounts so, NO, you are not likely to see cheaper prices through a TA with that cruise line. However, there are other financial perks to using a TA even with Celebrity. refer back to that thread for the details.

 

That being said, I have never found a reason to go directly to Princess to book a cruise. I'm not nearly as experienced as others that have responded but the discounts (cheaper prices plus OBC) have always been significant enough for me to book with a TA.

 

I would even goes as far as to ask; Why would anyone book directly with the cruise line? A good TA can offer any and all promotion that the cruise line offers plus often times can give you a little more incentive on top of it.

[Tapi]

10% off for our booked Royal cruise through the TA we selected. We paid a reduced deposit and we are not being charged TA booking, cancellation or other hidden fees.

 

There was another TA that offered a slightly lower price ($25pp lower) plus a $50 OBC, but they charged a much higher deposit. Another TA had the absolute lowest price, but they had a hefty cancellation fee.

 

Shop around. As someone mentioned above, the website that allows TA's to compete is a useful resource.