TA and on board credit

[byanks7]

My friend told me I should book my carnival cruise through a travel agent. He cruised on another cruise line and said the agent gave him a generous on board credit for booking through him. Has anyone booked Carnival through a TA and gotten onboard credit?

[Elaine5715]

30 minutes ago, byanks7 said:

My friend told me I should book my carnival cruise through a travel agent. He cruised on another cruise line and said the agent gave him a generous on board credit for booking through him. Has anyone booked Carnival through a TA and gotten onboard credit?

First you need to find a TA who is willing to give it to you

[vwrestler171]

The TAs giving you an OBC are usually giving you a cut of their commission.  The ones I've found giving OBC are usually more expensive than what I can find on my own.

[Illbcruzn4life]

7 hours ago, vwrestler171 said:

The TAs giving you an OBC are usually giving you a cut of their commission.  The ones I've found giving OBC are usually more expensive than what I can find on my own.

How are they more expensive? Do they charge a fee for booking?

 

I have used a lot of different TA’s over the years to book cruises and have never had one that charged more. I certainly wouldn’t have any incentive to book with somebody who is charging more.

 

 

[Butterbean1000]

I've never been charged for using a TA.  They get their money from the cruise company.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, Butterbean1000 said:

I've never been charged for using a TA.  They get their money from the cruise company.

Yes, they get their money from the cruise line, and at the same time work for you as opposed to a cruise line employee who gets his money from the cruise line and works for them.

[notscb]

12 hours ago, byanks7 said:

Has anyone booked Carnival through a TA and gotten onboard credit?

 

I'm currently in the process of booking for December '23 and have found a TA who is giving double the OBC that Carnival is offering while also giving us the same price Carnival is quoting for the same category room. There's a certain website where they can compete that I've always used to compare overall offers and see if I can get more.

[notscb]

2 hours ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

Do they charge a fee for booking?

The good ones don't. Some of the websites that act as TA's have booking fees  that, in my experience, aren't worth it in most cases. I did use one of these websites once and they charged a $25 fee but the deal I was getting was well worth it for a one time thing.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, notscb said:

The good ones don't. Some of the websites that act as TA's have booking fees  that, in my experience, aren't worth it in most cases. I did use one of these websites once and they charged a $25 fee but the deal I was getting was well worth it for a one time thing.

And make sure that they will not surprise you with a fee for changing something, such as taking advantage of a fare reduction.

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

Some travel agencies charge a "booking fee." Done don't. I'm doing one of each for our upcoming cruises. You have to do the math.

 

The TA with no booking fee was the same rate as carnival.com,  but with money back. This was best for our 3 cabins on Glory.

 

The one with a booking fee was a $50 fee, but included $250 OBC, and the TA paid gratuities for all guests in cabin, and it's a 5 person family suite on Horizon. However, to get this bonus, I couldn't book a vifp rate.  Carnival.com would have been a lower fare, but i forget exactly how much. After doing the math, this TA deal was the best deal. 

[Kuevan]

mizLORInj - I used a travel agent as well and have an OBC for my upcoming cruise. The TA says the OBC has already been ordered - do you know where I can find this on the carnival website? Is there a way for me to verify that it's there before I sail? Thanks!

[groundloop]

18 minutes ago, Kuevan said:

mizLORInj - I used a travel agent as well and have an OBC for my upcoming cruise. The TA says the OBC has already been ordered - do you know where I can find this on the carnival website? Is there a way for me to verify that it's there before I sail? Thanks!

 

How it works with my travel agent (I'm guessing they're all similar, maybe I'm wrong) is that the travel agent on-board credit is given to me in the form of cruise cash.  I always have a note to this effect waiting in my mailbox when I get on the ship.  This won't show up on your booking information.

 

Also, their price is always the same as on Carnival's website.  I chose the cabin I want, chose the offer code I want to use, and then call my travel agent with that information.  They've been fairly generous with on-board credit and very responsive on the rare occasion I've had any questions or needed to make changes so they'll keep getting my business.

[groundloop]

15 minutes ago, TreyB said:

What is the difference between this with a TA and using the VIFP booking code on Carnival?  I always have an offer for OBC, I have $200 on Panorama for a seven day cruise in October. 

 

On Board Credit / Cruise Cash from my travel agent is always in addition to any OBC offers from Carnival.  

[groundloop]

7 minutes ago, TreyB said:

So you are saying your travel agent can book you the exact same VIFP rate and cabin category/deck/location with OBC from Carnival, and then they will give you extra OBC on top of that?

Yes, exactly.  The travel agent is sharing some of their commission in order to ensure customer loyalty.

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

49 minutes ago, TreyB said:

So you are saying your travel agent can book you the exact same VIFP rate and cabin category/deck/location with OBC from Carnival, and then they will give you extra OBC on top of that?

Yes. This is correct.

 

However, the TA may have rates in addition to what you can find on carnival.com. These rates could be better.

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

2 hours ago, Kuevan said:

mizLORInj - I used a travel agent as well and have an OBC for my upcoming cruise. The TA says the OBC has already been ordered - do you know where I can find this on the carnival website? Is there a way for me to verify that it's there before I sail? Thanks!

This OBC will not be seen anywhere until you board. It could be as cruise cash, or as OBC.

[Sunnyin IA]

I have used agents in the past. We used a PVP last time, and had a great experience. 

[Elaine5715]

7 hours ago, groundloop said:

 

How it works with my travel agent (I'm guessing they're all similar, maybe I'm wrong) is that the travel agent on-board credit is given to me in the form of cruise cash.  I always have a note to this effect waiting in my mailbox when I get on the ship.  This won't show up on your booking information.

 

Also, their price is always the same as on Carnival's website.  I chose the cabin I want, chose the offer code I want to use, and then call my travel agent with that information.  They've been fairly generous with on-board credit and very responsive on the rare occasion I've had any questions or needed to make changes so they'll keep getting my business.

Price is always the same.  TAs can't charge more or less than the same Carnival rate offer you are eligible to book 

[n6uqqq]

9 hours ago, TreyB said:

So you are saying your travel agent can book you the exact same VIFP rate and cabin category/deck/location with OBC from Carnival, and then they will give you extra OBC on top of that?

What I often do is book with Carnival and then my big box store travel agent takes over the booking so I get the Carnival rate and then a nice addition from the agent in the form of a shop card. On a 14 day cruise the value of the shop card on one cruise was 330 dollars, which is as good as cash for me. Occasionally the big box agency has rate codes I cannot find on Carnival, so the savings go up even more.