No More TA.

[Russell21]

I've just completed booking 3 cabins for our regular group of 6 on our next cruise with Princess to Fiji in November 2019. We decided that I would do the booking after our normal TA made more mistakes than usual on our last trip.

Having just been through the process, we are all Platinum, I now realise that our old TA was an incompetent fool because it took me no more than 10 minutes, and that included me asking and getting the answers for about half a dozen questions, and I ended up with what we've always wanted without any hassles. Talk about money for nothing.

 

Just an example, she completely overlooked the way ships number their cabins and simply asked for consecutive cabin numbers, when our request was for the cabins to be next to each other, you can imagine the mix up.  the actual numbers, without deck prefix should have been 615, 619, and 623.

Edited December 21, 2018 by Russell21

[NSWP]

We generally book direct with Princess, easy to deal with on the internet and make bookings thereon.   However, also check the TA prices around, we got a big reduction, like 20% on Majestic Princess by going with a big Qld T/A who 'block books at launch fare'  instead of  Princess direct.

 

You done good.

[MicCanberra]

Good job, I find that we use a TA only while they can get us better deals, if they cannot, then we do not.

[Brisbane41]

I gave up on them 11 years ago because they excelled in nothing but incompetence, poor product knowledge, failure to follow instructions and generally poor service and an expensive waste of money. 

[bvm49]

On 12/21/2018 at 1:53 PM, NSWP said:

We generally book direct with Princess, easy to deal with on the internet and make bookings thereon.   However, also check the TA prices around, we got a big reduction, like 20% on Majestic Princess by going with a big Qld T/A who 'block books at launch fare'  instead of  Princess direct.

 

You done good.

Any clues to help identify business?

Thanks

Brian

[NSWP]

3 hours ago, bvm49 said:

Any clues to help identify business?

Thanks

Brian

I would get Cleaned up, sorry Brian.

[bvm49]

9 minutes ago, NSWP said:

I would get Cleaned up, sorry Brian.

Got it, thanks.

[Docker123]

 

I did some online research, including with the line direct. The cruise line gave me a fare.

 

I wandered down the street to my friendly associates in travel and had a chat.

 

Booked through them as the total fare is $200 less, plus the gratuities are now included ($350), plus $100 off voucher as I went to a presentation they hosted.

 

As with any business , being a loyal customer can have big benefits — and being $650 better of is a nice loyalty benefit. Also, the staff are cruisers and know the business.

 

[NSWP]

1 hour ago, Docker123 said:

 

I did some online research, including with the line direct. The cruise line gave me a fare.

 

I wandered down the street to my friendly associates in travel and had a chat.

 

Booked through them as the total fare is $200 less, plus the gratuities are now included ($350), plus $100 off voucher as I went to a presentation they hosted.

 

As with any business , being a loyal customer can have big benefits — and being $650 better of is a nice loyalty benefit. Also, the staff are cruisers and know the business.

 

Good deal, well done.  Staying loyal rewarded you well.  Enjoy.

[By The Bay]

I am happy with my TA. On our last 13 day cruise to NZ we were rewarded with the following from the TA. OBC of $70, dinner for two in Share and two bottles of wine. And the quoted price was also less than Princess.

[Russell21]

4 hours ago, Docker123 said:

 

I did some online research, including with the line direct. The cruise line gave me a fare.

 

I wandered down the street to my friendly associates in travel and had a chat.

 

Booked through them as the total fare is $200 less, plus the gratuities are now included ($350), plus $100 off voucher as I went to a presentation they hosted.

 

As with any business , being a loyal customer can have big benefits — and being $650 better of is a nice loyalty benefit. Also, the staff are cruisers and know the business.

 

Lucky you. As for loyalty we have done 5 cruises with the TA, sometime 6 of us sometimes 9, about 40 fares all told. They have just changed their name to that of the parent company which has recently been in the news regarding their employment practices and pricing manipulation.

[MicCanberra]

10 hours ago, Docker123 said:

 

I did some online research, including with the line direct. The cruise line gave me a fare.

 

I wandered down the street to my friendly associates in travel and had a chat.

 

Booked through them as the total fare is $200 less, plus the gratuities are now included ($350), plus $100 off voucher as I went to a presentation they hosted.

 

As with any business , being a loyal customer can have big benefits — and being $650 better of is a nice loyalty benefit. Also, the staff are cruisers and know the business.

 

Good job, and it goes to support some locals as well I hope.

[MicCanberra]

We sometimes use an agency and sometimes go direct, but we always compare and give the TA an opportunity to compete, they often can..

[castaway01]

TA's are not your friend

[MicCanberra]

1 minute ago, castaway01 said:

TA's are not your friend

Depends on the TA but then they are a business and need to make money as well.

[cruisine21]

My niece is a TA but when I booked with her a few years ago I discovered she was more expensive than the cruise line.

[MicCanberra]

Now that should never happen.

[Lanwood]

On 1/10/2019 at 6:51 PM, castaway01 said:

TA's are not your friend

I would class my TA as a friend 😀 As would most her clients that I've met on various cruises over the years. Reading this thread, I think we're just lucky to have found a good one.....and then held on for dear life ever since...😉

 

Its nice when we actually (by chance), find ourselves on the same cruise. She will always invite us to dinner on several nights and introduce us to other clients on the ship.

 

Is always able to get us good deals..ie next cruise she got $320 better than what I could on the internet (I always check just in case), and more OBC than I could get. Don't ask me how? And that's on top of the little gifts we always find in the cabin. She also gets exclusive deals and obc during periods from the cruise lines on top of promos at the time. She also gets exclusive cabin availability on cruises from our home port that will show as sold online but available for her to sell....etc etc..

 

But the reason we stick with her is the quality of her service and experience in the industry for over 30 years. And she goes in strong and gets results with the line whenever there is a problem.

 

So I think we're just lucky to have a very good one in our back pocket....they are out there....

 

 

[MicCanberra]

Keep hold of that TA.