Best bonus you've got booking with a TA

[cs]

I'm looking into booking either a balcony or a JS. Apparantly the JS is leaving more room for the TA to give perks for booking with them. If I book a balcony, they can give me $100 value and if I book a JS, they can give me around $500.

 

What's the best bonus you've ever got by booking with a TA? And what category was your cabin?

[Hypo]

8 bottles of wine in a junior suite. Plus a Royal Romance package, special breakfast in bed menu one morning, chocolate covered strawberries, formal picture and silver picture frame, canapes two evenings. I think that was all. (After drinking the 8 bottles of wine things became a little fuzzy:rolleyes: )

 

Hypo

[CruiseKeeper]

$325 Obc

[Micknmin]

We have three rooms booked on the Liberty for next year. They were booked during the One Day Sale a few weeks back, so we got a $100 OBC per room from RCCL. Our TA gave us an additional $200 OBC for our balcony rooms and $100 OBC for the interior room. On top of that, she is paying all of our gratuities. I was pretty happy with that!

[Legalgal]

Free travel insurance.

[duncanmaria]

I've told this story before but. . .

 

The best bonus we've received by booking with our TA was a free upgrade from a JS to a Royal Family Suite on our January 2007 Grandeur sailing. I called the day I was making the final payment and inquired about possible free upgrades. The TA called back after speaking with RCI and offered the free upgrade. It was a great suite and an offer that will probably never be repeated for us! We are now spoiled and had to book two connecting D1s on our upcoming Mariner cruise just to come close to what we had in the RFS!

[daisysheridan]

:mad: Nothing! I am definitely going to pay close attention to this thread!!

[Sue L]

All I have gotten was lousy TA's. If I could find some like the above I might consider using one. I wish recommendations of TA's were allowed. :rolleyes:

[gaileeh]

Up comming cruise, $200.00 pp OBC (cat E1 cabin)

[Cruisegirl6]

Using the same travel cruise agent for the past 7 years got nothing!!!! I will be using Royal Caribbean directly from now on, at least I will have control over my reservations if I need to make changes and such.

[TNT]

:mad: Nothing! I am definitely going to pay close attention to this thread!!

 

Me too, Jenni. I have used the same TA for several years, sent him several clients (thousands of dollars) and even have my onboard bookings transferred to him. I've never received anything, but him telling me what a great client I am. I do all the leg work before I call...know what cabin I want, etc. Really, I am "easy money"!:D

 

I'm thinking 1-800-New-TA

[chris2597]

We also booked the recent WOW sale and got a reduced dep, 100 obc, and the TA offered pre paid gratuities.

[takeavacation]

We have three rooms booked on the Liberty for next year. They were booked during the One Day Sale a few weeks back, so we got a $100 OBC per room from RCCL. Our TA gave us an additional $200 OBC for our balcony rooms and $100 OBC for the interior room. On top of that, she is paying all of our gratuities. I was pretty happy with that!

 

 

I am a TA and I would love to know how they offered an extra $200 OBC! :confused: Unless they had group space blocked and used the points to offer a great OBC. Commission on cruises is so small now that we don't get much more than $200 total (remember it's only paid on cruise fare - not total cruise cost) - for balcony cabins.

 

So - good for you, I'm glad you got that great offer!:)

[duncanmaria]

I guess I'm in the minority. I love my TA - he has come through for me on every booking. We call him often and I'm sure we bug him to death, changing cabin selections and inquiring about the latest price reductions and OBC specials. So far, no reason to jump ship (so to speak) and book directly. He has always gone to bat for us.

[FreewayFortune]

We love our TA she always does a great job finding us the best deals possible. She only gives us free wine and things like coffee mugs and stuff. But we feel like we are visiting a friend when we go to talk to her. Her company gives airmiles and now if any of her clients don't have airmiles she uses our number and gets us the extra points:)

[mother of twins]

we didn't get anything either,,,,i'll have to do some asking for friends that us her alot for travel and see if they get something...good question!:)

[Cruisegirl6]

I got nothing just got off the Liberty of the Seas with a group booking of 15 people and got not one thing from her. That tells me its time to loose her and go on my own. Disappointed as family members made comments she made a nice commission on all our rooms not to give us a bottle of wine for dinner is purely cheap on her part.

[FreewayFortune]

we didn't get anything either,,,,i'll have to do some asking for friends that us her alot for travel and see if they get something...good question!:)

 

 

Are the dogs your twins? They are very cute:)

[CruiseMor]

Free Travel Insurance including our airline tickets with an inside PR cabin.

[unowho6]

Been using the same travel agent for 25 years. When booking any holiday she gives me $200 cash after final payment. Not much room for her to work on a cruise but I get great service and I can call her from anywhere in the world and she will fix any problem that comes up. I have got some great sell off prices for other holidays over the years, the best would have been 6 or 7 years ago, a free condo in Hawaii for 2 weeks, all I had to do was buy airfare for the wife and I.

 

I like having a good agent!

[FreewayFortune]

Been using the same travel agent for 25 years. When booking any holiday she gives me $200 cash after final payment. Not much room for her to work on a cruise but I get great service and I can call her from anywhere in the world and she will fix any problem that comes up. I have got some great sell off prices for other holidays over the years, the best would have been 6 or 7 years ago, a free condo in Hawaii for 2 weeks, all I had to do was buy airfare for the wife and I.

 

I like having a good agent!

 

 

yes my TA will fix any problem if we call her too. She gives us her schedule before we leave and we know who else to speak to if she's not there. I like having a good agent too:)

[Toddcan]

I got 2 fridge magnets with her name and phone number on them.

 

Oh yeah, and $150 OBC with a balcony.

[riteonglor]

Everyone that got something is lucky. I booked 2 JS with an online travel agent for Nov. on Freedom of the Sea's and she offered nothing. Will have to get a different agent next time or do it directly with FOS.

[akayf]

The online agency we used to book our 8/19 cruise included free prepaid gratuities if you booked a balcony or suite...so we booked a balcony...we owuld have booked one anyway but it was a nice little extra.

[Mysticks1]

Me too, Jenni. I have used the same TA for several years, sent him several clients (thousands of dollars) and even have my onboard bookings transferred to him. I've never received anything, but him telling me what a great client I am. I do all the leg work before I call...know what cabin I want, etc. Really, I am "easy money"!:D

 

I'm thinking 1-800-New-TA

 

That sounds like me, the easy money part anyway. I do all of the research beforehand and usually she learns something new from me each time I book something. This time when switching from Carnival to RCI she learned about the oversized balcony on the aft corner E1 cabins.

I have my current one booked with her and last year booked 4 cabins for 1 cruise for all of my family, booked a Vegas trip that I took last week and have inquired about a Disney vacation for February as soon as the 2008 rates come out. I have not received anything from her so far. :( On my first cruise with another TA I received a bottle of champagne and a photo coupon but I suspect that was group booking perks rather than a gift from the TA.