Negotiations before committing?

[pbinpp]

We’re planning a cruise to/from South America soon.  We have a quote, but wondering if we can hold out for extras/benefits, before making the deposit?  The cruise is on NCL, and the agent is one referred by the NCL site.

Thanks 

[leaveitallbehind]

Most mass market cruise lines - NCL included - do not negotiate their stateroom fares.  They are the same to you as published directly from them or through a travel agent.  Any deviation in price from a TA would typically be based on a group rate for which he or his agency has blocked staterooms, but this would already be reflected in his quote to you.

 

Other perks or benefits from the TA would come out of their (agency / agents) commission, not from the cruise line, and would typically be offered at the time of the booking.  To "hold out" for any extras would be better managed as a discussion with the TA to see there are additional perks he is willing to offer.  But, again, that would be from their commissions.  So in essence they would be willing to earn less income to provide you an additional perk.

Edited October 10, 2023 by leaveitallbehind

[pbinpp]

Awesome!  Thank you 😊 

[leaveitallbehind]

13 minutes ago, pbinpp said:

Awesome!  Thank you 😊 

To be clear, the point I am trying to make is that cruise fares are not like buying a car - the agencies don't have pricing that is negotiable from the cruise lines.  There are several ways agencies can make their base fares appear more competitive to you (" discounting" the up front fare but backloading it in the fees / taxes / port fees portion, etc.)  But the cruise line's published pricing is what - in the end - needs to be charged by the agency.  So perks and additional booking benefits not advertised directly from the cruise lines will come from their commissions.  Many are willing to offer some level of perks to secure a booking but it will come from their earnings.

 

As a side note IMO it is always recommended to see a total net invoice from the TA with a booking quote, and with the booking, the cruise line confirmation to confirm pricing. But TA's are a valuable resource with strong partnerships with the cruise lines.  We have used them many times over the years and appreciate the service they can offer.

Edited October 10, 2023 by leaveitallbehind

[sanger727]

You won't get anything additional from NCL. However, different TAs offer different pricing and/or incentives. You can shop around to a few TAs and may find one offering a better deal. As @leaveitallbehind said, pricing will be based on their access to group rates. But you may find one TA offers nothing extra and other offers extra OBC.

[Szt]

We have found different TAs package it differently, but the total remains the same. 
For example- NCL has their sail away rate. It is stripped down basic fare. That allows you to pick and choose which extras matter to you. We never have the cruise line book our air. We like fist class and they won’t offer that. The shore excursion credit almost never saves us any money. The dining and drink packages come with extra gratuity costs. So depending on who we are traveling with and to where we take different combinations. 
I would be a bit suspicious of a site “recommended” by NCL. Since they have their own cruise consultants, why would they recommend someone else. Or did you mean the NCL board on Cc?

[leaveitallbehind]

4 hours ago, Szt said:

I would be a bit suspicious of a site “recommended” by NCL. Since they have their own cruise consultants, why would they recommend someone else. Or did you mean the NCL board on Cc?

Most cruise lines will offer to "recommend" a TA from their website.  There is no advantage to them for a customer to use their internal representatives v an independent TA - fares are the same and having an outside TA do the work is advantageous to them and allows their internal reps to focus on other customer support issues.  As 75% of all cruises are booked via TA's the cruise lines are happy to direct a customer to one they can use - they basically are their independent outside sales staff.

Edited October 10, 2023 by leaveitallbehind