Direct or agent?

Hi

After reading a number of threads, both P&O and others, some always book via TA,whilst some book direct with the line.....pro and con please, genuinely interested if it makes a difference.

I can speak only for P&O, but having used both methods, direct and TA, I can now see no advantage whatever to going direct.

Pros (TA):

Extra discounts can be negotiated, over and above any discounts offered by P&O.

Much, much nicer and more efficient people to deal with, and much better customer service.

A good TA will take your requirements in advance of 'opening' days like today and make a firm booking only if they can be matched exactly. P&O will simply not do that, even though they plainly could, and will just make a firm booking for a particular cabin/suite type - all you know is that you have a definite booking but you don't know exactly where. My TA made a booking for me as soon as bookings opened this morning - but for a particular suite.

Cons (TA):

I can think of none - though you do need to make sure you have a good, reputable TA.

I have a related question if I may, I've cruises currently booked through both a TA and direct, is it possible to merge the two with my TA?

Although most people who post on here prefer ta, we are the opposite.

This is due to 2 bad experiences with different, supposedly reputable, cruise specialist ta’s who effectively lied to get our bookings...

P&O direct have always been helpful and honest with us, so no plans to change.

Perhaps we have just been lucky.....

Over the past 18 years I have booked 2 or 3 cruises a year, mainly with TA and usually found them to be perfectly fine and reliable. Having said that more recently I have tended to book straight with the cruise line sometimes never speaking to anyone and doing it all on line. Naturally I do a bit of homework first by checking the prices on say the P&O website then comparing them with a few TAs. These days rarely does the price vary much between the two and there can be subtle differences for example the size of the deposit required and the latest date by which the balance must be paid. Also you can find that two on line TAs are in fact the same company. If you prefer physically visiting a TA shop to do business then fine, but I only did that on our first cruise.:)

Over the past 18 years I have booked 2 or 3 cruises a year, mainly with TA and usually found them to be perfectly fine and reliable. Having said that more recently I have tended to book straight with the cruise line sometimes never speaking to anyone and doing it all on line. Naturally I do a bit of homework first by checking the prices on say the P&O website then comparing them with a few TAs. These days rarely does the price vary much between the two and there can be subtle differences for example the size of the deposit required and the latest date by which the balance must be paid. Also you can find that two on line TAs are in fact the same company. If you prefer physically visiting a TA shop to do business then fine, but I only did that on our first cruise.:)

To get the best price from a TA you have to phone them, from what I've seen most TA's websites either show P&O's website price or maybe a small discount. Some on here get a discount by phoning P&O direct, I've never been successful when I've tried that. Of course price isn't everything, but a 5% discount can be a handy sum. For me it's a TA every time.

To get the best price from a TA you have to phone them, from what I've seen most TA's websites either show P&O's website price or maybe a small discount. Some on here get a discount by phoning P&O direct, I've never been successful when I've tried that. Of course price isn't everything, but a 5% discount can be a handy sum. For me it's a TA every time.

Agreed.

TA base prices are always identical to P&O prices, as are the standard discounts, OBCs etc.. What you can get from a TA over and above that, though, is a smallish but nevertheless useful individually negotiated additional discount which you can never get from P&O.

For me, that's a deal breaker - but even apart from that a good TA offers a level of customer service P&O can only dream of. Crazy, really, because it costs P&O commission (I'm guessing around 7-10% on average, depending on circumstances) every time they 'lose' a booking to an agent, and if they cleaned up their own act they'd keep more of that for themselves.

A TA every time. Have had fantastic service from the one I use. This time, he was booking 2 cruises on Arcadia on the day the Caribbean tier was allowed to book. He got the cabins we wanted on one but the other he couldn't get, so immediately telephoned me and we chose another cabin. All those that preregistered with P&O would have to wait to see what cabin they were getting and then try to change if it was still available. We also got our usual discount on top of the P&O discounts.

I agree with Jean. Particularly if booking when a cruise first goes on sale, which we usually do, booking through a good Cruise Agent means you can choose the specific cabin you want, or at least give the agent a list of cabins from which to choose. On Monday our TA phoned me at 9.20 and had managed to secure my first choice of cabin for a summer 2020 cruise. It's very rare that she's not been able to secure one of my first three choices, usually the first choice. If people pre-register with P&O all they get is an assurance that they will get a cabin in the grade they want. That's not good enough for me. We get all the usual P&O discounts plus our TA's discount and this time a Double Discount from our TA was on offer so that made things even better, plus it was a Peninsular cruise so that was the icing on the cake - yes I know anyone booking direct with P&O would have got the Peninsular discount too. I have always had good service from my TA so will continue to use them.

What a shame you cannot name the good TAs.

We now use P&O direct after terrible service from 2 of the biggest ‘Cruise Specialsts’...

We are very easy going people, but blatant lying to get your order and then offer no customer service to resolve the issues is not acceptable...

On both occasions P&O resolved the issues with no fuss...

Thanks for all your replies. The reason I asked is a lot of people say/hear /read, get a fantastic deal from so and so TA, but I have never been given that much even from a "specialist" agency. Not just in terms of discounts but of actual service.....good but I expect that, that's what I'm paying for, but not above and beyond.

I suppose in general terms if nothing goes wrong with booking or have special requirements all they have to do is give you cabin availability, price and then payment details if you go ahead and book and that should be standard practice and not be called excellent service. If anything goes wrong after initial bookings or circumstances change then that is when the excellence of the TA should kick in. Saying that a TA is excellent just taking a booking and deposit and at a later date payment and being polite should be standard company practice and IMO isnt excellent service.

A TA every time. Have had fantastic service from the one I use. This time, he was booking 2 cruises on Arcadia on the day the Caribbean tier was allowed to book. He got the cabins we wanted on one but the other he couldn't get, so immediately telephoned me and we chose another cabin. All those that preregistered with P&O would have to wait to see what cabin they were getting and then try to change if it was still available. We also got our usual discount on top of the P&O discounts.[/quote

 

 

Hi....as a previous post said just wish you could name the TA. All the TA's that I tried didn't offer anything above what P&O were quoting...10% for past passenger so there didn't seem any point in using an agent. I phoned P&O on the morning they went on sale....before 10 o' clock ....and chose the exact cabin that I wanted but just wish I was " in the know" as to which TA offers extra discount above & beyond P&O's 10% before the go onto fluid pricing

Try going to Facebook and asking there.

Try going to Facebook and asking there.

Thank you Jean....will try it

We are doing our first ever cruise in Nov 2018 and my wife is disabled and uses an electric wheelchair, we used a TA that specialises in Disabled passengers and i was so glad i could talk to them about what was best for us. they advised about what route would be best and that if tenders would be used or not. In our case i couldn't book online as the disabled rooms don't show and ringing direct i'm not sure if they would have thought about how a disabled passenger would cope with different routes. i have read that the cruise industry is the only travel industry where the companies (cruise Lines) prefer you to go through a TA as that makes it more cost effective on call centre staff numbers so they give TA's more discount options to pass on to customers that you get ringing direct. or so i have read.

We will always use a TA as it currently stands.

We are doing our first ever cruise in Nov 2018 and my wife is disabled and uses an electric wheelchair, we used a TA that specialises in Disabled passengers and i was so glad i could talk to them about what was best for us. they advised about what route would be best and that if tenders would be used or not. In our case i couldn't book online as the disabled rooms don't show and ringing direct i'm not sure if they would have thought about how a disabled passenger would cope with different routes. i have read that the cruise industry is the only travel industry where the companies (cruise Lines) prefer you to go through a TA as that makes it more cost effective on call centre staff numbers so they give TA's more discount options to pass on to customers that you get ringing direct. or so i have read.

 

We will always use a TA as it currently stands.

Which cruise are you going on in November?

A TA every time. Have had fantastic service from the one I use. This time, he was booking 2 cruises on Arcadia on the day the Caribbean tier was allowed to book. He got the cabins we wanted on one but the other he couldn't get, so immediately telephoned me and we chose another cabin. All those that preregistered with P&O would have to wait to see what cabin they were getting and then try to change if it was still available. We also got our usual discount on top of the P&O discounts.[/quote

 

 

Hi....as a previous post said just wish you could name the TA. All the TA's that I tried didn't offer anything above what P&O were quoting...10% for past passenger so there didn't seem any point in using an agent. I phoned P&O on the morning they went on sale....before 10 o' clock ....and chose the exact cabin that I wanted but just wish I was " in the know" as to which TA offers extra discount above & beyond P&O's 10% before the go onto fluid pricing

We booked with an online cruise TA and got the 10% past passenger discount and were offered a further 2% which I managed to get up to 5% after haggling. I have to say that that the agent stopped offering more than an extra 3% so I said no thank you I will go elsewhere and about 45 mins later another agent (who I had booked a previous cruise with) from the same TA rang and said she was sorry that I was dissatisfied with her colleague's earlier offer but that she could offer us 5 % on top of P&O's 10%. It pays to be prepared to walk away if you don't get what you want, if you have a price from one TA you can use that price to try to get s little more from another TA.

Which cruise are you going on in November?

we are on Ventura for 23rd Nov for Bruge and then saying on for 26th to Canaries giving us a total of 16 nights.

I prefer to book direct over the phone and to have control over my booking and to be able to deal with the company direct with any questions or issues.

I have never yet had a good experience with TAs - in fact quite the contrary. I have invariably ended up in direct contact with the holiday company correcting wrong info or omissions and have never yet received a better deal or treatment than booking direct.

Knowing my booking is all correct is far more important to me than getting or haggling for a small discount. However I wouldn’t book on line with P&O as they don’t show all cabins available.

It is clear from the replies that our personal experiences with P&O and TAs is mainly what dictates our preference.

I have never found that dealing with the first line customer service staff on P&O has been entirely successful, but e-mails to Chris Edgington are answered promptly by someone able to make decisions, but I don't think using this route would be sensible for new bookings.

Conversely my experiences with the consultant I always deal with at my TA have been excellent, and she navigates her way around the P&O CS minefield far better than I could, and at less stress to me.

There are 2 additional benefits, she can handle all my bookings with other cruise lines as well, and with the same efficiency, plus I receive the maximum amount of discount on all my bookings that the TA permits.

It is clear from the replies that our personal experiences with P&O and TAs is mainly what dictates our preference.

I have never found that dealing with the first line customer service staff on P&O has been entirely successful, but e-mails to Chris Edgington are answered promptly by someone able to make decisions, but I don't think using this route would be sensible for new bookings.

Conversely my experiences with the consultant I always deal with at my TA have been excellent, and she navigates her way around the P&O CS minefield far better than I could, and at less stress to me.

There are 2 additional benefits, she can handle all my bookings with other cruise lines as well, and with the same efficiency, plus I receive the maximum amount of discount on all my bookings that the TA permits.

I fantasise about these ‘efficient’ TAs, I have found myself banging my head against a brick wall with so called ‘Cruise Specialists’ who will tell you anything to get your booking!!!

I fantasise about these ‘efficient’ TAs, I have found myself banging my head against a brick wall with so called ‘Cruise Specialists’ who will tell you anything to get your booking!!!

Never, ever found that with mine - big firm, but they've always been a joy to deal with (unlike P&O). Lovely staff, efficient, friendly, honest, and the advantage of an additional discount over and above anything P&O are offering.

Can't see any reason not to use them - and as for control over the process you get to see exactly what's going on anyway via the P&O website.

Never, ever found that with mine - big firm, but they've always been a joy to deal with (unlike P&O). Lovely staff, efficient, friendly, honest, and the advantage of an additional discount over and above anything P&O are offering.

 

Can't see any reason not to use them - and as for control over the process you get to see exactly what's going on anyway via the P&O website.

I wish I knew who these mythical creatures were....

We have to do what is right for us, if I had found a fantastic TA then I would be banging that drum as well.

I agree - we use a local agency and after trying them once and finding a knowledgeable and very efficient agent, have been regular customers since. If you can develop a relationship with someone who you can pop in and see if you have queries or any issues I think it's very reassuring. Ours will ring P&O whilst we're there and we can talk through the options with her. We always get an email confirmation from her, then another from P&O for any details which we agreed or have changed. And if she can't get an answer there and then will chase it up and ring us back.

We have a good relationship and often just pop our heads through the door as we walk along the High Street to say how much we enjoyed the last trip or just to say we're looking to book the next one and will be in soon - and 'when's you day off' so we know she'll be in. Having said that all the other agents we've seen in the store have been good too.

It was just pot luck we found this agent - it's just a matter of finding one you like and is efficient, knowledgeable and will do the job well. A bit like searching for a hairdresser who suits.

You have nothing to lose by trying a local store, just say you'd like to check out a particular cruise (perhaps just not ready to book) and just ask questions and listen to their responses. You'll get an idea how knowledgeable they are and perhaps pick up a vibe as to whether you think you'd develop a decent relationship with them. Of course you can't know about the after service until you've booked or more especially if there is an issue and see how it's dealt with. But you can ask at the time if they offer an Agent's discount. Ask around friends and see if they have recommendations. We found ours by chance but have recommended her to several cruising friends.

Good luck - I hope you find one soon!