Travel Agents - Generic Discussion

[JEDMELK]

OK, first, thanks for starting this thread GH-- it is interesting to see others thoughts and feelings even if only to validate how we think.

 

We have been cruising for many years and way back in prehistoric times (before the internet) we always booked with one local TA who usually sent us a bottle of wine, we paid the brochure price and we were content. Fast forward a few years, thank Mr Al Gore for inventing the internet and almost everyone is always looking for a better bargain. (OK, sorry but I just could not resist)

 

As I said, over the years we have changed how we book and with whom. Local TA, internet bidding site, cruise line direct, TA in a distant state, etc. and I think we have finally found a happy medium. Keep in mind, right now we usually only cruise once per year and always in December to celebrate our anniversary and because the timing works for us. That enables us to book a year in advance and be pretty sure the booking will not change.

 

What appears to work best for us is to just book while on board for the following year (providing there is an itinerary that suits our taste and timing) and simply transfer over to a TA.

 

What we have done for the past several years is just contact the agent we have been working with for the last few years (she does work for an agency we found years ago from one of those bidding sites) History is that we keep all the perks from booking on board and receive additional on board credit from the agency that usually amounts to 9.5-10% of the fare less the NCCF fees and taxes. Additionally, if I happen to find a price drop or some other interesting change, I just send her an email and she will take car of it. Sometimes she is busier than others but I usually hear back within the day. If I am particularly anxious about something and have not received a reply to my email, and if I have the time I will pick up the phone just to make sure she has seen my note. Never a problem with price changes, etc and, I am pretty sure they do not charge a cancellation fee. There have also been times when something comes up and she is on vacation but, there is always another agent that will cover and take care of any concerns without issue.

 

Thats simply my opinion on this EXCEPT--- I am also very glad that we can not mention specific Agents or Agencies so we do not have to wade through unsolicited ads.

 

Jed

[Flafun888]

I'm impressed at the number of people who say they get 8-10% of the fare back as obc with TAs that don't charge cancellation penalties. Has anyone received this on a lower cost 7 day Caribbean balcony fare in the $900-1000/pp range or is it usually only on higher priced bookings?

 

I've called around and used comparison sites - but didn't find any agency that beat the cruiseline's rate or offered an obc more than $25/passenger. Maybe it was just bad timing - will try again next time I book.

[JEDMELK]

So, work is a bit slow today and I have some time to look back into my records and here is some additional food for thought.

 

From my records (yes, I am somewhat obsessive and have an excel sheet listing our cruises with cost info, etc. Gives me something to do when I am bored!), it appears that the first year we received any on board credit, etc was 2007. Before that it was possibly a discounted fare or group booking and maybe a bottle of wine.

 

In 2007 we took a 7 day Princess Caribbean cruise in a balcony cabin for the cost of $813.52 per person and received a whopping $50 OBC-- not even sure if that was from agency or Princess (I would guess Princess). After that year, OBC has ranged from $60 to as much as $720 (combination of cruise line booking on board bonus, post thank you offer and agent obc). Note that majority of our bookings have been 10 or 11 night sailings and usually balcony or Concierge Class Cabins- nothing too extravagant but, from looking at my notes, I still stand by my % savings stated previously.

 

Hope this information helps someone.

If there is a question I can answer, ask away

 

Jed

[Merriem]

I have used an assortment of TAs, but the one I have now works for a big agency, and I get a flat 10% OBC, no hassles, no cancellation penalties. Very nice, and stays on top of things.

 

Couldn't be more pleased. That 10% is in addition to any promos with the cruise line and OBC with them also.

[WestCoastFlyer]

Sorry, ignore the quote above. But the answer to why disclosing a TA name is not allowed is advertising. Advertisers pay a lot of money to advertise here and Cruisecritic is not going to give free ads away.

 

I believe it started around the time CC was purchased by its current owner. They accept advertising from agencies and didn't want TAs being plugged for free.

 

I understand that nobody wants to read a forum where every post has travel agents popping up offering there services. I understand that CC is here to make a profit.

 

The truth is we all talk about a number of services other than travel agents that advertise or potentially advertise here. Just one example, why are we allowed to promote private shore excursions by company name - it competes against the cruise lines. The private excursion companies might advertise.

 

Wouldn't it be nice to have one forum on CC where people could post deals that they find. TAs are still not allowed to post. I follow a different travel community message board and there is a single forum where members can post - I found a killer deal / last minute booking on a flight from A to B for $x.00. Book through the airline name or the site abc.

 

It's great to read all the tips about the ships and find assistance with booking questions. But being able to share a fantastic deal, and how to book it (if not directly through the cruise line) would really make this a much more valuable community. Again, just one forum.

 

If you agree with this maybe it's time to send CC a nice note asking for a single forum as at least a test - just my opinion.

[mafig]

Actually when I first joined Cruise Critic you were allowed to mention TAs.

 

I don't recall there being a big problem with them advertising their services.

 

I found a good one that I used for many years; unfortunately she passed away.

 

I do have a theory why CC stopped. Although you could name TAs that were good, you could also name those that were bad. One, in particular, was always threatening to sue whoever posed anything bad about their agency. Maybe CC chose to not get involved in her threats. Just my opinion, but I remember the ban did happen after a series of "do not book with ****" threads.:eek:

[richstowe]

For years I used a local TA . The service was great but she always complained about not making any money on cruises. On a cruise we were referred to an internet agency by some fellow cruisers. Their service was great at first and also offered 5-6% OBC or a check. Would book during a cruise or by phone to X an then turn over to TA. Their service eroded after time and just gave up on them even though we were quite pleased with the perks. Have tried another large internet TA on our next cruise an hope this one works out. Seems like whatever business you deal with lately,customer service is a thing of the past!:eek::eek::eek:

So is customer loyalty ! I am not criticizing you as I have absolutely no loyalty to either TA's or cruiselines . Reading the other posts our lack of any loyalty is more then common .

What I don't get is all this complaining about nonexistent service when today's customer is often rude inconsiderate and certainty willing to dump their TA for a couple of bucks .

[diesel1973]

I was very loyal to this travel agent booking all my travel with her. But every time I wanted to book a cruise with her she kept complaining about how she wasn't making any money on cruises and she was the only local TA still bothering with cruises. It seems like I was a bother to her so I decided to venture elsewhere! The TA I was referred to was great at the beginning with her service and the extra OBC was a bonus. But when you call someone numerous times and E-mail them also and get no response I would say that was poor service. Evidently some agents think they have you in their pocket after dealing with someone after a long period of time. When this happens that is when loyalty is eroded!!!

[Hlitner]

We have never understood this entire "loyalty" thing. Booking travel is simply a business transaction...although some folks seem to get-off on hand holding and coddling. We have an excellent business relationship with the 4 agencies with whom we do business...and they are "loyal" to us to the extent that they make money off our bookings. We know they also appreciate we do not "jerk them around" or waste a lot of their time. When we call (and we often just do things online without any calling) we generally know what we want and just want the best deal. Our favored agencies know we shop among several other agencies....so they do have an incentive to sweeten our deals to the extent possible. It also helps that we are often booking over 100 days of cruising per year and tend to go on longer (over a month) voyages. A can handle a 60 day booking as quickly as a 7 day cruise....but the longer cruise generates a lot more commission.

 

Our "loyalty" to any agency is only as good as their last booking. As long as we get good customer service, good deals, and great service...they will have our "loyalty." We do not want our cruise agent to be our "friend" but simply a cruise expert that gets us what we want...and advises us if there are better options.

 

Hank

[QE2_Fan]

I'm impressed at the number of people who say they get 8-10% of the fare back as obc with TAs that don't charge cancellation penalties. Has anyone received this on a lower cost 7 day Caribbean balcony fare in the $900-1000/pp range or is it usually only on higher priced bookings?

 

 

 

I've called around and used comparison sites - but didn't find any agency that beat the cruiseline's rate or offered an obc more than $25/passenger. Maybe it was just bad timing - will try again next time I book.

 

 

 

Just did a quite online with TA I regularly use for 7 day Carribean, lead in balcony cabin and automatically offered $125 obc per cabin plus other perks. They can normally do a little better when dealing with an agent.

 

 

So yes, the deals can be had on the shorter/cheaper ceuisws too, obviously the amounts won't be as large still being a % of the (lower) actual fare.

 

 

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[Host Walt]

Not really. Back when Cruise Critic was part of AOL in the late 90's the boards started to get swamped with posts promoting travel agents. Not only were many of the posts made by agents, many were posted by happy clients. The boards were beginning to look like the yellow pages. Another concern was the serious possibility of unsupported negative commentary directed toward agencies.

Reminder...posting requests for TA referrals or offering referrals are prohibited. Also, keep in mind that most cruise lines follow he practice of regional pricing where some fare deals are offered only to people with addresses in a limited range of zip codes so some discussions of fare deals may not necessarily be available to everyone.

 

Here's an article that may be helpful: Finding A Cruise Travel Agent

Edited February 4, 2017 by Host Walt

[Croooser]

Interesting to read the various opinions and experiences. FWIW, here's mine. We fall into the 8-10% OBC category on our Celebrity and other mainstream cruises with the TAs that we have used.

 

Finding a good TA first requires that you determine your priority. To wit:

 

1) CONTROL - the ability to maintain complete control all day, every day to manage category and/or price changes as well as other booking details. For this one should book directly with the Cruise Line and bypass the TA. You will give up some $ but will maintain the ability to avoid that middleman.

 

2) EXPERTISE and ADVISE - the ability to solicit knowledgeable and objective advice on the various cruise lines, specific ships, itineraries, land and air arrangements, etc. For this one needs to find a very experienced individual and build a relationship. One must go through the TA for changes and should not expect the very best inventives. That expertise comes at a price. Best way to find such an agent is through client references. CC does not permit that but other sites do. Fellow cruise passengers are another source but one should be careful to validate recommendations.

 

3) BEST $ DEAL - the ability to obtain the best deal when taking into consideration group rates, OBC, added percs, etc. For this the large online TAs, the sites that allow you to have TAs bid for your booking and the large warehouse clubs can all be sources. Booking and cancellation fees can be evaluated along with the incentives, available hours, etc. We have used all three of these sources to find a TA for a cruise with success. The warehouse club that we used offered a little less in incentives but was available 7 days a week with whoever answered the phone able to work on our existing booking.

 

Although this is a Celebrity focused thread, I will add one other thought. When you move from the mainstream lines to the more upscale lines, rebates can come into play and the % of incentives can increase.

 

On our upcoming Oceania cruise, we will receive from the TA approx. 20% of the fare less taxes/fees. That is a combination of rebate check, refundable OBC and prepaid gratuities. In addition, we will receive free unlimited internet, and $900 nonrefundable OBC from Oceania. So, our Oceania per diem still comes out higher than Celebrity by quite a bit but the incentives do get quite a bit better. No intention here of adding a debate about mainstream vs upscale. Just thought that it was worth mentioning that the metrics change.

[Hlitner]

Reading the last post brings up a point. Despite having cruised for over forty years (well over 100 cruises) we have never understood this so-called "Control" issue cited by some here on CC. We have the same "control" whether we book online using a cruise agency, booking directly online with a cruise line, booking by actually talking to a cruise agent, or a cruise line agent. It makes no difference. In all cases we can choose our own cabin from the available inventory....but using a cruise agency generally means we will save 7-10% (when considering OBCs and other perks).

 

If we want to "reprice," rebook, change our cabin, category, etc...we can do that with our cruise agencies or direct with the cruise line. In fact, its often much easier to do with a cruise agent...as we simply send a short e-mail to our agent and it is done! Or we can call their customer service number and have changes done within minutes. If we try to call a cruise line it is more likely we will be on hold...

 

Another advantage of using high volume agencies is that they often have information you will not get from the cruise line. For example, our agencies will quickly tell us if there is some kind of AMEX Promo (which can get us a nice OBC). Or, this past fall while booking a Celebrity cruise it happened to be CLIA (a private industry group that represents cruise agencies) Month....which got us an additional OBC (not available by booking directly with the cruise line).

 

Hank

[jjh9]

Last year we booked a 11 night Celebrity cruise c3 cabin it was $1599./pp. We received free drinks free tips and $1000 obc from cruise line and our ta..We always use a ta now.

[teecee60]

 

We have never understood this entire "loyalty" thing. Booking travel is simply a business transaction.

 

We generally know what we want and just want the best deal.

 

Our "loyalty" to any agency is only as good as their last booking. As long as we get good deals, and great service...they will have our "loyalty."

 

We want our agent to be simply a cruise expert that gets us what we want...and advises us if there are better options.

 

Hank

 

 

Finding a good TA first requires that you determine your priority.

 

1) CONTROL - the ability to maintain complete control all day, every day to manage category and/or price changes as well as other booking details. For this book directly with the Cruise Line. You will give up some $ but will avoid that middleman.

 

2) EXPERTISE and ADVISE - the ability to solicit knowledgeable and objective advice on the various cruise lines, specific ships, itineraries, land and air arrangements, etc. That expertise comes at a price.

 

3) BEST $ DEAL - the ability to obtain the best deal taking into consideration group rates, OBC, added percs, etc. For this the large online TAs, the sites that allow you to have TAs bid for your booking and the large warehouse clubs can all be sources.

 

 

Great comments that brings the discussion down to the brass tacks. :cool:

 

Being retired and having more time than money, I do all of my own research on cruise lines, ships, itineraries, perks, prices, air fares, hotels, transfers etc. I consider shopping for cruises an enjoyable hobby and it is an exceptionally rare case that anyone else can beat the deals that I seem to get on a regular and continuing basis. :D

 

I only use online travel agencies that offer lower prices, more perks and better service than the cruise lines themselves. People who want to pay more and get less so they can "control" their booking earn my appreciation as a stockholder. :)

 

I am almost exclusively value driven and thoroughly enjoy cruising the ships and itineraries of Celebrity, Royal, and Princess for $35pp/night to $50pp/night while others enjoy their experience in balconies and suites for five to twenty times what I pay. :rolleyes:

 

I very much appreciate an industry/system that allows almost anyone to travel and experience the world in beautiful/comfortable surroundings with food, service and entertainment that was, until recently, reserved only for the wealthiest few percent of the population. ;)

Edited February 5, 2017 by teecee60

[BonnieSte]

I actually started a Facebook group for "review your travel agent" so people can discuss agents, how well they have done for them, etc. I can't post the link to a Facebook Group here but you can search for it. It's very hard to get good information about the online travel agents.

 

I have never found the great deals in OBC everyone talks about. I did fine one cruise that was about $800 less than X's website and all the other cruise sites for our upcoming Alaska cruise. But that particular site charges $25 booking fee and then a $100 change / cancel fee. But for $800 I figured the risk was worth it!

 

Found the group. Thank you!

[jrs101]

I've always booked all my travel arrangements, as I don't see any added value of using a TA, and have always done quite well. My dad and new-mom decided they wanted to join and he insisted on using his TA, or "my guy" as he refers to him. Long story short, I called my dad yesterday to complete his OLCI, and when I logged onto his res it was 100% completed. Might be a routine offering of TAs, but I still applaud this, especially for my 80 yr old dad who avoids computers.

Edited February 6, 2017 by jrs101
Missed words

[NantahalaCruiser]

Recently compared a large online TA's quote with my regular TA's quote. The online TA had a slightly higher OBC give back, but failed to give me the loyalty 1-class upgrade that I was entitled to - more than made up for the OBC difference.

[Cruise Junky]

Recently compared a large online TA's quote with my regular TA's quote. The online TA had a slightly higher OBC give back, but failed to give me the loyalty 1-class upgrade that I was entitled to - more than made up for the OBC difference.

 

Did they have your captains club numbers? They would have done it in a heartbeat if you brought it to their attention.

[pinkylee315]

Interesting!!!

 

I use an agent in another country that I know is very popular on CC. She does tremendous volume which translates to discounts or OBC for me. Because of her high volume the cruise companies like to keep her happy which also benefits me. No cancellation fees.

[wally8]

I recently booked directly with Celebrity and subsequently came across a TA that looked interesting so he and I talked. He was very up front about a $100 cancelation fee yet quoted me a price for my particular cabin that was 33% less than the direct Celebrity quote. He stated that he contracted, not sure that is the right word, with Celebrity on this cabin type. Anyway, I went ahead and transferred my booking to him. It was too good a deal to pass up even if I lost the $100 which I don't intend to do. He has also been very responsive o any inquiry.

 

Bob fr TX

[Beanb41]

Are these TA's USA based because down under whilst I have found a TA who will discount his commission a little his reaction time to requests etc is so pathetic that I wont be going back. Whilst it seems common place for TA's in the USA to give something for the business it is most uncommon in our part of the world.

[TRadle]

I've used a TA that had her own agency, a local shop, and a big box and found that I preferred having complete control over my booking. Unless I'm doing a land vacation outside of the USA I don't use a TA. When I need to talk to Celebrity I just start with the Captain's Club and they have been awesome.

[Luvcrusn]

Are these TA's USA based because down under whilst I have found a TA who will discount his commission a little his reaction time to requests etc is so pathetic that I wont be going back. Whilst it seems common place for TA's in the USA to give something for the business it is most uncommon in our part of the world.

In the US there are a number of large online TA's who do a tremendous volume of business with the cruise industry, some do a large amount of business with a particular line. I have been unable to even match the fares offered by my TA with X directly, and on the rare occasion that the fare has been the same as X's fare, the TA offers much more in the form of perks and OBC. X has been unwilling to even match, (despite their price match guarantee) hence many of us in the US use these TA's.

[Jade13]

I would be happy to cancel for $100!, On this side of the pond, if you cancel you loose your deposit. In October i booked a Cunard cruise, total cost £6198, the price is now a mere £3698! Cunard will do nothing about it, and I will loose my deposit (£930) if I cancel and re book.

 

 

 

We have had 40 cruises, and this is the third time we have had substantial price drops, P&O did it in 2009, and Celebrity in 2012, both for around a £1000, and I thought that was bad!

 

 

Use a US agent next time

 

We use a ta that has group rates and does not charge any cancellation or transfer fees.

 

 

 

 

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