Cruise Booking Poll

[CINDON]

With all of the discussions and debates about the recent announcement from RCCL that T/A's are no longer allowed to discount Celebrity established pricing, How will you book your next cruise?

 

 

I will book my cruise directly with Celebrity.

 

I will call many different Travel Agents to see if they will somehow give me a discounted cruise rate, or some other "freebie".

 

I will book with another cruise line that does not have this policy.

 

I will not be taking any cruises until this policy is changed.

[sueclark]

I will do as I always do.... price my choices on the internet and then call my TA.

[CINDON]

Sue,

There won't be many choices if the prices are the same. Every time I see you there's a glass of wine in your hand. LOL

[lisiamc]

If it costs the same to go through a travel agent or to book directly with Celebrity, I'll use a travel agent. I'd rather let someone else worry about the details.:)

 

Lisa

[jealdaka]

There should be a choice for " I will book with my travel agent who always takes good care of me". None of the ones offered fit our family.

 

As I understand it, there will still be different prices as some agencies have better rates with Celebrity than other do.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

I agree with Sue (as usual!!!). I will also research on the web and then call my TA. I do feel, however, that I will probably be considering a new line. I believe that this latest manuver is just another bold faced attempt by RCI to maximize profits.

 

A large number of us (cruise line watchers) predicted that RCI would head in this direction after the purchase of Celebrity. There were too many former "airline executives" being hired by RCI. Their only focus is on the bottom line. Their knowledge of the great traditions and customs, that have been handed down over the centuries to cruise line companies, is non-existant.

 

We have seen services cut and a giant increase of "nickel and diming" in recent years. Sure...the RCI stock will hit an all time high this year and this will mean bloated bonuses for all involved...And the newbies will continue to pour in at record rates because they don't know any better.

 

My Grandfather always said..."There is always someone who will come along that will be better than the last guy". I predict that there will be another premium cruise line that will come along and fill the void that has been left by the new monopoly/oligopoly. The new RCI pricing policy will only succeed to squeeze the little TAs and force the pax to pay more directly to RCI.

 

RCI is deluding themselves if they think that they can avoid new competiton. RCI is setting the stage for new competition by intitiating this new pricing policy. It will be fascinating to watch what happens in the near future. I think and predict that RCI will come to realize that their business is driven by price and not blind customer loyalty.

 

ROSS

[chessbriar]

First off, I agree wtih Jealdaka. I will deal with my current TA who has always taken great care of me and has my interest in mind.

 

Ross,

 

How does this maximize profits? Their aim to to ensure all agents will be offering service first. Too many non internet agents were doing all kinds of legwork only to their customer run off to the first advertized cheap price. It was putting small service based agents out of business. Those practices shrinks your sales force.

 

Basically, all TA work for RCCL/X. By allowing your sales forces to slash prices on each other, your sales people will cease to work for you.

 

Try this, go to your local Ford dealership. Work your best deal with the salesman, then grab one of the other salesmen and tell him to work you a deal. He won't, it's bad customer service and if the salesmen in the company work against each other instead of together, you will lose your sales force and no one will work for you.

 

I work in sales and as a company when we work with a supplier, we do everything we can ensure we are not going to compete with the same products by the same manufacturer in our market. We can and will compete with other manufacturers material, but not our own. Royal Caribbean wants to compete with Carnival not Royal Caribbean.

 

People say they will go to other companies that to not do this. Well Carnival and all their subsidiaries will be doing the same thing. NCL will be automatically charging you account with a service charge of $10/day/person, even if service sucks, no option. So where can you go? Other premium lines charge much more than X.

 

You option is to compare one line and product against another and decide based on that which cruise you really want.

[isujim]

I also will book with my local t/a who has booked every cruise in the past for me. Great service and she works her tail off for me.

[Sky Sweet]

My husband and I are probably unusual because we value quality, loyalty, and service more than getting the cheapest possible price. We have used the same insurance company for our home and autos for 13 years. From time to time, another company will give us a quote that is slightly lower, but we still keep our current company because they are excellent. I just got bids to have the exterior of our house painted and did not go with the lowest bidder. I went with one in the middle because that painter did such a good job for us the last time he painted our house. With that said, I feel the same way about travel agents. I don't like being exploited, but I do feel that people who do their job well deserve to be adequately compensated for it. I have also been on the other side of the fence. I am now retired, but owned a real estate appraisal firm for many years. Even though some of my competitors charged considerably less than I did, I always had more business than I needed. That is because I had loyal clients, that were very concerned with quality, who had experienced problems when they used cheaper appraisers that they never had with my appraisal firm.

[Randyk47]

I wish there was an "all of the above" choice for the poll. Quite frankly I don't know what I'm going to do the next time. But, for what it's worth, I haven't thought much about the next cruise after our Galaxy cruise. We'd like to do the Med but are kind of reserving that for my retirement gift in 3-4 years. Doesn't mean we won't take a cruise between the Galaxy cruise and the Med, just don't know right now. Guess that allows me to sit back and watch how all this discounting/no discounting business sorts itself out. We love cruising but we're not addicted to it. One of the attractions was the value relative to other vacations opportunities. If the price increases to the point where it's the same for a cruise or a shore based vacation then we'll have to make that choice on a case to case basis. In other words, cruising will no longer be our primary vacation choice, it'll be one of the options.

[seahorse]

First off, I agree wtih Jealdaka. I will deal with my current TA who has always taken great care of me and has my interest in mind.

 

Ross,

 

How does this maximize profits? Their aim to to ensure all agents will be offering service first. Too many non internet agents were doing all kinds of legwork only to their customer run off to the first advertized cheap price. It was putting small service based agents out of business. Those practices shrinks your sales force.

 

Basically, all TA work for RCCL/X. By allowing your sales forces to slash prices on each other, your sales people will cease to work for you.

 

Try this, go to your local Ford dealership. Work your best deal with the salesman, then grab one of the other salesmen and tell him to work you a deal. He won't, it's bad customer service and if the salesmen in the company work against each other instead of together, you will lose your sales force and no one will work for you.

 

I work in sales and as a company when we work with a supplier, we do everything we can ensure we are not going to compete with the same products by the same manufacturer in our market. We can and will compete with other manufacturers material, but not our own. Royal Caribbean wants to compete with Carnival not Royal Caribbean.

 

People say they will go to other companies that to not do this. Well Carnival and all their subsidiaries will be doing the same thing. NCL will be automatically charging you account with a service charge of $10/day/person, even if service sucks, no option. So where can you go? Other premium lines charge much more than X.

 

You option is to compare one line and product against another and decide based on that which cruise you really want.

Wow:) this is the best post and analogy that I have seen on this subject.

 

Very adult and dispassionate.

 

Thanks:D

[CGTNORMANDIE]

HI CHESSBRIAR,

 

"How will this maximize profits?" It will make it easier for the pax to just call RCI directly and deal with them directly...which is just what RCI wants you to do. The new policy takes away the competitive edge the TAs have enjoyed in the past. This will certainly put the squeeze on the small TAs.

 

The small TAs will not be able to buy up cabins in large numbers as some of the large online companies will be able to do.

 

The pax might not realize it but...RCI has just increased the cost of your cruise to the rack rate. Most pax are used to enjoying a 10%+ discount. If you deal with RCI directly you will not get the % discount...which does, indeed, maximize RCI profits.

 

ROSS

[Bruin Steve]

I'll still book through my TA (and she's not local...she's 3000 miles away!) because:

1) I can count on her to take care of all the details, deal with the line on my behalf, suggest alternatives, give me input into ships, cabin categories, itineraries, watch for price drops and negotiate on my behalf, be aware of specials and deals that may still exist and to always know what's going on...

2) If there's any way to get around the rules and get me some sort of discount, rebate, bonus, benefit or upgrade, I am certain she will find it for me...and be willing to do it...for precisely the same reasons she "discounted" up until now--to build a client base and to earn customer loyalty...

 

And, for giving me those discounts over the years...and for giving me great service...she still deserves that loyalty...

 

The cruise lines would have to give me a discount to book direct...and it would have to be a substantial discount...and they're not going to do that...they still need the TAs...

[chessbriar]

Ross,

 

I hate to tell you this, but if everyone starts using RCI travel agents, first off they will have to increase the size of their customer service department greatly. They are not set up to handle a large number of bookings. I'm sure they want the added expenses of having to add a large number of employees. The added cost of salaries, benefits, taxes and everything that goes with staffing your location. The loads of money you are saying they'll make will go to these employees. If it was purely a matter of making money, they could cut commissions to all agents or do what the airlines did, not pay any commissions.

 

If you have ever dealt with the customer service staff at RCI, you would be well aware they are incapable of handling any problems you may have. Read these boards and you will find an endless supply of posts about the RCI emplyees that have no clue about the ships or how to handle any problems. RCI customer service cannot handle what is required of agents. All that is going to do is send more passengers to other lines.

 

Second, deals are out there on slow moving cruises and prices flucate on the cruises. An agent can rebook for you as prices change. I booked a my next cruise at $1500/pp. When the price dropped, my agent rebooked at $1160/pp. She then called to let me know about the savings. That is the kind of service both Carnival and RCI want the passengers to get.

 

It saves them the time and trouble of getting repeated calls from thousands of people each day after all if you figure on an average of 2400 per ship. Carnival owns over 60 ships and RCI nearly 30. For Carnival, one call from each passenger would give them a volume of 24,000 calls per day. For RCI that would mean 12,000/day. How often do agents talk to their customer just once for a booking. You have the intial call for cruise information, a call for pricing once they decide on where and when they want to go, then a call to book, a call to make deposit, a call to make final payment, let's say a call to rebook because the price dropped, two calls for information about special requests and further infromation, a call to find out when they can expect to receive their docs, and maybe a call to correct a wrong booking or maybe to upgrade. Let's say on average it boils down to just 5 calls.

Than means Carnival is now looking at 120,000 calls/day and RCI 60,000/day. Their customer service is open 10 hours a day, so 12,000 calls/hour. If the calls average 8 minutes which is on the low side, figure 15-20, that mean to handle that volume Carinval would need a service department of 1,600 people with salaries, benefits, and taxes. Plus the facilites to handle that many people and all the phone lines required and the training needed between the product and the computer system.

 

So I really doubt it's so these lines can make an extra buck.

[Cruisinita]

Some food for thought. On a recent Carnival cruise the rate dropped several times in the weeks before the cruise. If we had booked directly through Carnival, they would have honored the rate drop. Because we used a TA, once we made the final payment, our rate was locked it. 100% true.

[chessbriar]

There are always stories of this sort. For example, My wife and Mother in Law booked a category 9 inside cabin on the Century. In talking with my agent a week before, as we were talking about the cruise, she told me hold on while I check on something. She bumped them from the Cat 9 to a Family view outside cabin. There was no additional charge. If I tried this with X there would have been charges applied.

 

Meanwhile it did not happen to you. So why do you say this is true? Where did you hear that Carnival would have dopped your price?

[pjsugg]

Rick, (and everyone else)

 

 

I have booked direct with NCL, Princess and now Celebrity (1/22/05 Century). I just did not have a very good T/A here anymore so I took the chance of going direct.

 

With this said, I am an insurance salesperson and have been for over thirty years. All of my health insurance carriers give the exact same rates to every broker in town for any and every client. The only thing I have to sell is my service. I have been fortunate to keep about 98% of my clients throughout those years because I feel I am very service oriented and care a great deal about my clients.

 

If I find or hear of a T/A here, I will probably give it a try, as I would prefer to work with someone locally and if they do a good job, I would gladly support their industry.

 

I also like to save a $, but I love to cruise a great cruise line. So, if Celebrity turns out to be as great as I have heard, I would probably may a little more to go with them again.

 

Thanks all. This is a very good post. CC is a great place to be.

 

Patti

[Shaco]

Hooray for all of you who have money to burn. I don't. The only thing that enables us to cruise twice a year (always on Celebrity) is my ability to find the least expensive price. I don't need a TA to hold my hand or "tend to the details." So, all of you who don't care what a cruise costs, go ahead and patronize Celeb's new system. But if enough people feel as I do, and go elsewhere, Celeb might just have to rescind its new policy.

[chessbriar]

Shaco,

 

The only line not using this policy is Nowegian. Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Carnival, Princess, Costa, Holland America, P&O, Seabourne, Windstar, Cunard, and some of Carinval's smaller divisions. Leaves little choice. The only other one you may check on would be MSC, they have expanded recently and have plans on entering the US market

[sueclark]

The only line not using this policy is Nowegian. Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Carnival, Princess, Costa, Holland America, P&O, Seabourne, Windstar, Cunard, and some of Carinval's smaller divisions. Leaves little choice. The only other one you may check on would be MSC, they have expanded recently and have plans on entering the US market

Celebrity and Royal Caribbean started the policy Aug 16 (with a 5 day grace period) all of the Carnival lines will begin it on January 1, 2005.

[Shaco]

Hi Chess,

 

Thanks for your suggestion. But if the value goes out of cruising, we'll excercise other options, such as all inclusives. It's a big world with lots of places to spend discretionary dollars. Maybe the cruise lines need to learn that lesson.

[bob278]

This is turning in to one of the better threads on this subject.

 

First to the poll question. My choice isn't there. I would stay with my current agent. Even if the price is the same, I get value from her in other ways. Sure, I like the lower price, but in perspective, the discount only one piece of the total package (maybe 8-10% which is very nice, but not the difference between going/not going). We get help with cabin selection (we like particular locations and she has always been able to get it for us) and insight on various aspects of the trip based on her extensive personal experience. Plus, I have confidence that she will ultimately save me money because she is a volume producer and will get authorized discounts.

 

Now to some of the points raised.

 

Chessbriar, in my opinion, RCL expects profits to increase because MANY, but by no means ALL people will call direct, saving the commission. I believe (and I stress this is just my opinion) that RCL has made a business projection that the increased volume will be within their capacity or within reach with attainable growth and that the extra revenue of commissions saved will more than offset the cost. I do agree with you that their land-based customer service is lousy and I think they have miscalculated on this point.

 

Your analogy of the Ford dealer looks very good, but I think it is off by one level. Of course one salesman at THAT dealership would be foolish to undercut a co-worker. But take the best deal they offer you to another dealer and see how fast they try. The Atlanta papers are full of adds saying "We'll beat any deal or pay you twice the difference" or some other similar offer. I think the agencies relate to dealerships, not salesmen at one location.

 

In my opinion, the move is, indeed, intended to increase profits. Any other motive would be bad business. The survival or failure of small agencies is not on their priority list and they are not even being good managers if their goal was simply to level the playing field if there wasn't something in it for them. It doesn't make them evil. I just don't like it because it will cost me money.

 

Patti, like you as an insurance salesman, travel agents are selling the same product with the same base cost. However, they have had the advantage of being able to sacrifice some margin in the hopes of making it up with volume along with that elusive "service" to create loyalty. Now, if all they have is service, we will get some benefit. And I (along with others) have said that we'd pay a little more for better service. But most people were talking about on-board the ship and I don't think this will help that at all.

 

If nothing else, all of this has provided a good bit of entertainment for a few days. I'll bet the policy that is actually in force 6 months from now will be different from how it is perceived today. I don't see how it could be any less consumer-friendly so I look forward to seeing what evolves.

[Sky Sweet]

It is only in recent years that cruising has been a good value, even at Celebrity's website prices. Years ago a cruise was considerably more expensive than a comparable land vacation. Today it is just the opposite.

[chessbriar]

Sky Sweey,

 

Go back even further and the prices of cruises were so much higher that 10 years ago what my wife was paying for one person was more than what we pay for two. She has been floored by prices the cruise lines now offer. So do to knowing where the prices have been makes me a little less willing to criticize.

[Kami's pal]

Have spoken to my TA. She isn't concerned at all about this policy. What she seels is service, and always at very competitive rates. I'll continue to use her services. I like the backup. She has the skills and experience to get me what I want at the price I can afford.