Travel Agent or Book Direct

[holech]

I am considering a Viking Ocean cruise.  Is there any advantage to booking direct with Viking as opposed to using a travel agent?

Thanks.

[molymoo]

Strictly what works for you.  If you have an agent that you trust book with them.  Booking with an agent can be helpful and they might extend some minor perks along the way but Viking is easy to deal with on your own.  We always book directly with Viking as we have no relationship with any travel agents in our area. I’m also a control freak so there’s that too. 😉

[Heidi13]

I do all the research and planning myself, even to the point of making a provisional booking directly with Viking. I then provide the paperwork to our TA to confirm and pay the depsit.

 

Our TA then provides the max OBC that Viking permits.

[Squawkman]

I also book direct and have been using the same Viking agent for almost 4 years. As he knows us well, the level of service is impeccable especially given the number for bookings and cancellations we had to deal with (not all covid related). 

[Dukefan]

We actually follow the same method that Andy (Heidi13) follows for exactly the same reason.  Even when we book on-board, we still have them list our TA - that way we get both the Viking on-board booking benefits and our TA booking benefits.

Edited June 25, 2021 by Dukefan

[MikeyB]

I agree with the previous posts.  Who doesn't want additional OBC?

It should be added that the "downside" for transferring your booking to a TA is that from that moment forward you "must" contact your TA to resolve any problems with your booking.

But, of course, the Viking agent you originally booked the cruise with always seems happy to talk to you.

 

[Sunflower & The Scientist]

We used to do our own, then we used a TA for something and realized how wonderful she is.  We had a few issues on our last cruise, one ship and one air, and she picked it up and took off with it and we ended up with a refund from both! She can always get right through to people to get information when I have to hang on and wait. A TA carries more weight with everything, they listen to TA's.  We've gotten more OBC sometimes.  There have been other little perks.  The nicest thing is she keeps track of everything and when it's got to be done and notifies me, or does it if she can.  We've had to cancel two cruises now, and all I've had to do is notify her and she does everything including taking care of insurance. She notifies me and forwards all the information.  

 

If you get a good TA and develop a relationship with them...they will bend over backwards for you.  

[Shelley34]

When our cruise was cancelled, even with the 125 percent voucher we were basically breaking even,  if we rebooked the same cruise direct with Viking.   I luckily found out that Viking had a travel agent only promotion going on.  I saved 2 thousand dollars per person for the two week ocean cruise by booking the same cruise with the travel agent.   It paid for a room upgrade, tips, shore excursions, and ssbp, with some onboard credit left over.  Pays to have a good TA.  TAs do have access to special deals at times, plus they should give some onboard credit.  

[Clay Clayton]

1 hour ago, Shelley34 said:

, plus they should give some onboard credit.  

IMHO, it shouldn’t be “some”’it should be Viking’s max allowable, otherwise find another TA. 

[dottythecat]

39 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

IMHO, it shouldn’t be “some”’it should be Viking’s max allowable, otherwise find another TA. 

Hi Clay. Can you expound on OBCs? How much/what to expect when booking direct? When booking with TA? Thanks.

[Dukefan]

4 hours ago, MikeyB said:

It should be added that the "downside" for transferring your booking to a TA is that from that moment forward you "must" contact your TA to resolve any problems with your booking.

 

This is why you want a good TA.  A good TA can resolve problems faster than you can on your own and lets you know things you never thought about because they have experienced it with ay other travelers.  An agent works for you - a Viking employee works for Viking (but I must say the Viking representatives are some of the best I have worked with).  

[DaveSJ711]

I’ve done 4 Viking cruises, but almost 50 land-based international trips — including the one I’m on right now (in Iceland). I’m used to, and enjoy, all of the planning and preparation. And I enjoy dealing directly with Viking. At this point, I can’t imagine retaining a TA even if I do leave some money on the table.

[Clay Clayton]

8 hours ago, dottythecat said:

Hi Clay. Can you expound on OBCs? How much/what to expect when booking direct? When booking with TA? Thanks.

It’s been reported on these boards that Viking caps the incentives that an agent can provide a customer at $150 pp for a cruise of 7 nights or less, $300 pp for a cruise of 8-14 nights and $500 pp for a cruise of 15 nights or more.  This has been our experience with our TA who provides those amounts as refundable shipboard credits which we use to cover gratuities and our bar tab-whatever is left is sent to us via a check from Viking a week or two after the cruise. 

Edited June 26, 2021 by Clay Clayton

[dottythecat]

34 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

It’s been reported on these boards that Viking caps the incentives that an agent can provide a customer at $150 pp for a cruise of 7 nights or less, $300 pp for a cruise of 8-14 nights and $500 pp for a cruise of 15 nights or more.  This has been our experience with our TA who provides those amounts as refundable shipboard credits which we use to cover gratuities and our bar tab-whatever is left is sent to us via a check from Viking a week or two after the cruise. 

Thanks.

[Clay Clayton]

6 minutes ago, dottythecat said:

Thanks.

Just paying it forward! I found ours and the shipboard credit from someone who shared information. 

[jmfdr]

1 hour ago, Clay Clayton said:

It’s been reported on these boards that Viking caps the incentives that an agent can provide a customer at $150 pp for a cruise of 7 nights or less, $300 pp for a cruise of 8-14 nights and $500 pp for a cruise of 15 nights or more.  This has been our experience with our TA who provides those amounts as refundable shipboard credits which we use to cover gratuities and our bar tab-whatever is left is sent to us via a check from Viking a week or two after the cruise. 

We recently booked our first Viking cruise (14 nights) with Viking, then transferred it to our TA who is providing $600 OBC.

[Squawkman]

8 hours ago, Dukefan said:

This is why you want a good TA.  A good TA can resolve problems faster than you can on your own and lets you know things you never thought about because they have experienced it with ay other travelers.  An agent works for you - a Viking employee works for Viking (but I must say the Viking representatives are some of the best I have worked with).  

I disagree that the Viking agent doesn’t work for you. The degree of working for you vs. the company is dependent on the person you work with. That’s why we use the same Viking agent who truly works for us as much as any travel agent can. The trade off is no additional SBC from Viking in exchange for ease and success of changing bookings, compensation for problems, etc. Not every Viking agent will give you this service just as not every travel agent will give you SBC. Using our Viking agent is like additional insurance.

[-Lew-]

From time to time I have booked directly with a cruise line and then had the booking transferred to my TA.

 

I learned very recently from my TA that some cruise lines do not pay her agency full commission when she takes over a direct booking.  From now on I intend to ask her to secure bookings rather than book and transfer.

[Jchivers]

My credit card (Amex) offers incentives to book directly with the cruise line--multiple points, OBC etc.  However, that's for many cruise lines ... but not Viking.  So am I hearing that if I'd gone through a TA I might have received incentives that I didn't get by booking directly?

[Heidi13]

3 hours ago, jmfdr said:

We recently booked our first Viking cruise (14 nights) with Viking, then transferred it to our TA who is providing $600 OBC.

 

For a 14-night cruise, the guidelines are $300 per person, so a total of $600 meets the policy. Here is a link to the document confirming the numbers Clay posted.

 

https://www.vikingcruisescanada.com/terms-conditions/advertising-and-commissions-policy.html

[Heidi13]

3 minutes ago, Jchivers said:

My credit card (Amex) offers incentives to book directly with the cruise line--multiple points, OBC etc.  However, that's for many cruise lines ... but not Viking.  So am I hearing that if I'd gone through a TA I might have received incentives that I didn't get by booking directly?

 

Yes, most TA's will provide part of their commission in way of incentives. Viking's advertising & commissions policy limits this to the numbers that Clay posted earlier and are also included in the link on my previous post.

 

By using a TA, you can receive OBC, or other acceptable marketing alternatives. This is in addition to any benefits we receive for using credit cards.

[MSEm]

I agree with many.  Find a great TA and you will get "extra" benefits.  When our New Zealand to Australia cruise was terminated mid cruise in March 2020 because of Covid-19 my TA really helped. While many were waiting to get to the computers to rebook air flights , cancel land tours, etc. or waiting inline to work with Viking personnel on book;  I just send a text message to my TA.Within  30 minutes she had rebooked our air flights and cancelled all of the land tours and post cruise arrangements.

We also get and OBC and she waives the agency fees for booking air flights for a cruise.

[duquephart]

Sounds like one should go TA shopping.

[NeilP57]

From a UK perspective, Viking pays some commission back to the TA which funds a real cash discount given to us by the TA so that our upfront cash cost is lower than if we dealt direct with Viking. 

This varies by cruise and on these Welcome Back cruise it’s lower than normal.

 

We are on a two week cruise next year with Viking and we received circa 5% cash discount by booking with a UK TA. There is no easy read across to the US situation as the Viking marketing strategy varies by country. 
 

 

 

[kate7047]

Huh. This is an eye opener. I have never used a travel agent (for anything) and have never used a Viking agent either, so far as I know. The entire concept is foreign to me. I go to the web site, click around, find what I want and buy it. Have never done anything else, unless I was booking a cruise on some line that required a phone call. And requiring a phone call would be a serious disincentive for me to book with that line.