Cruise Consultant, or Travel Agent

[ChrisB123]

I don't know if I posted this on CC bofore or not, sorry if I did.  I've only ever booked on line. I'd like to know if it's better to go through a Princess Consultant/planner or a TA.  The answers I've received elsewhere tell me about a 50/50 opinion but not really the reason WHY people have chosen who they end up with.  Can going through Princess Planner give you more bang for your buck seeing as they work for the company?  Are TA's the answer as the company wants to keep them happy?  I'll be booking along with 2 other couples who are 1st timers and would love to WOW them with the right choice.  

[Lady Arwen]

It depends on the TA or the CVP.  Different experiences, good and bad, happen with both.  Some TAs offer perks and OBC over and above what Princess offers.  Some have proven to be disastrous.  CVPs can’t give bigger perks than what Princess offers, but they can get you in on sales and promos almost immediately after they’re offered.  CVPs will answer the phone quickly or respond to your voicemail message within 24 hours.  No waiting on hold.  We can’t give out the names of the good TAs or CVPs that we use because it’s against Cruise Critic rules.  How you can wow your friends is not an easy task!  It may take more than one or even two TAs or CVPs before you click with the right one for you.  Good luck!

[ontheweb]

A TA works for you; a travel consultant for a cruise line works for the cruise line.

 

The cruise lines definitely want to keep TAs in business. If they did not, they would reduce or eliminate the commissions paid like the airlines have done.

 

One hint, call TAs for quotes rather than go by what is listed on their websites. Often they are not allowed to post their discounted prices. As an example, we once found 3 cruises on our TA's website that met our time frame and itinerary needs for an Alaskan cruise. The Princess ship we ended up sailing on was listed as the most expensive, but ended up after he discounted it, the least expensive.

[Potstech]

TA's  can handle much more on a trip then just the cruise portion.  Also if there is a problem while traveling a good TA can help solve many problems. 

[Rllyfun]

I'll 2nd what Lady Arwen posted.

 

 Like the OP, I have always liked booking with Princess online, that way I can see every option & cabin, prices, and then make my own decisions, at my own pace!

I had the same questions/reservations about using a CVP years ago... but gave my booking to one who was helpful on the phone at some point, and while i still do my own research and then booking hold, I now contact my CVP and let him do the booking.

 

  This has really paid off for us in our most recent pending cruise... our CVP has cheerfully re-fared us after final payment, ...moved cabins for us to assure we had adjoining balconys with relatives,... sent several nice emails advising us about our upcoming cruise.... including an in-person phone call to say thank you!

    But the best was,  just yesterday afternoon, after a month of 6 failed attempts via fax, then email and phone calls, online chat... to obtain my shareholder credit on our rapidly pending cruise... I finally CCed a 7th email to our CVP also, just to let him know in case he had any ideas...  

 

    And within an hour or so... got a response back, that he was going to look into it !  (... And his email reply was sent after 5pm!!!)

Even better yet, ...I then got another email from him about 10 minutes later, saying my shareholder credit was posted!!! 

 Checked my account & sure enough, it was there! (it wasn't an hour before!)

 

I'm impressed with that kind of service and care! Pretty impressive work, especially at the very end of most peoples work day!

And, now we are a little less stressed, since the said cruise is less than 2 weeks away!

 

I'm sure there are great TA's, ...infact we have met several on our cruises, that will do the same for you!  And over the years, I had at least one CVP that was worse than a dud, so we had to call Princess and switch.

 

Either choice you make, with the right TA or CVP, will be great!

 

..

 

[Potstech]

Not to dispute others who have had great experiences but have tried to work with 3 CVP people in the past.  Not sure why but they were terrible.

[voljeep]

10 minutes ago, Potstech said:

Not to dispute others who have had great experiences but have tried to work with 3 CVP people in the past.  Not sure why but they were terrible.

why - didn't respond immediately, or return calls? ... other than that ???

[Rllyfun]

2 minutes ago, Potstech said:

Not to dispute others who have had great experiences but have tried to work with 3 CVP people in the past.  Not sure why but they were terrible.

 

      I won't argue with that... I went thru a couple of them!

but I'm hoping that Princess is realizing the importance and value in having GOOD people employed as CVP's, maybe thru rewards and better hiring?  Very important in these hard times!

 

I also wanted to add...

   I guess probably the bottom line is, do you like having a person who has hands on experience, lots of ideas, works with multiple lines and types of vacations... Then probably find a good TA.

 

    If like me, you just need some help on the Princess end, but like to sort and pick out everything yourself, like to do your own research, (that's not everyone's cup of tea!), then maybe finding a good CVP might suit you!

 

..

[1emerald1]

I got an e-mail from my CVP this morning stating that he could save me $750 on an existing booking, but would lose $100 in OBC.  Of course I said yes.  Also this category is sold out.  He has always returned my calls and e-mails within 24 hours or less.

[wallyj]

Hi @ChrisB123, I am assuming you have sailed with Princess previously?

 

If so, make sure you take advantage of their referral program since you say you are booking with 2 other couples who are ‘first timers’ Hopefully no one else has referred them to Princess previously.

 

See the Princess website for more details, essentially for each referral that books and actually take cruise you and them get $25 OBC. You would receive on the cruise you are sailing together. So if you are referring 4 people, they each get $25 OBC and you would get $100 total.

 

You need to do and get referral confirmation before ‘any’ bookings are done.

Edited June 8, 2022 by wallyj

[ChrisB123]

I ended up using a TA.  So far, so good.  He even found a room location that the web site said was full. I had no idea about the credit, $100 would come in handy. 😅  We are platinum, but always booked on line, this is a first using a TA.  Should have done it sooner. 

[Kineticoh20]

12 hours ago, Potstech said:

Not to dispute others who have had great experiences but have tried to work with 3 CVP people in the past.  Not sure why but they were terrible.

Same experience for us, travel agent not only better pricing but better service.

[travellovers2]

We just tried to book with a CVP and he was not able to get us anything different than what we got booking online on our own. Actually his quote was a bit higher than what we were getting online for the same type of cabin, same deck.

 

The worst part is dealing with the pushy attitude and the arrogance when we don't like something and want to change it. We decided to cancel it and book it on our own if we decide to stay with Princess. He didn't even bother to respond to our cancellation request to say it was done, or thank you but call me if you change your mind. From now on we will continue to book online with Princess.

 

We have an amazing CVP on HAL that finds a lot of good savings and options for us. Even after being booked she will contact us if there is a better option we can change to or a good package that comes up. This is what has kept us booking with HAL for the last couple of years.

 

We thought we try Princess this year, but if we do, from now on we will do it on our own. We have never used the medallion, but there are a lot of videos on youtube that are very informative.