Booking through Celebrity vs. TA

[Bridge Maven]

That is not true. They will deal with you and most are very helpful as some of them have worked for Celebrity for years and have toured many of their ships. They just do not discuss anything financial but they have answered all of my questions to my satisfaction and believe me, I have lots of questions as it's our first time sailing with this line. This particular TA approached me via an e mail, got me a great cabin location and honoured a large OBC that I had received online from another TA. So, all in, all, I felt I got a great deal as this category has now sold out.:):)

 

While they will answer general questions, if you book your cruise through a TA you lose the right to make any changes to your reservation directly with the cruise line. If someone has a TA who is readily available, will request price reductions when they become available, and do not charge fees that the cruise line doesn't that may not be a big deal. However, there are many TA's who are hard to reach, do not take action in a timely manner, and charge fees that the cruise lines does not charge.

 

One other thing to be careful about is that sometimes a TA will form a group where the price is firm but slightly lower than the regular price at the time. However, if the regular price subsequently decreases to one that is lower than that group rate they may wind up paying more. Frequently , people who book through a TA don't even realize they were part of a group booking until this happens.

[PartyAllDaTyme]

We're planning on our second cruise, and I decided to shop around for a new TA, just to see what's out there. So far, their quotes for the cruise have been EXACTLY the same as what I got when I went on X's website to see their final booking price. Only difference is one TA quoted me a price of $880 pp where X's price is $1039, but her quote included "Port Charges" of $159 that brought the price up to $1039 (both the TA and X also list taxes and fees of $99.21) X does include a line about their price not including other government fees and taxes, so possibly this TA is getting us a lower price that, by coincidence, happens to equal the $159 "Port Charge". I can't remember from our last cruise if this would be a hidden charge that we would otherwise have to pay above and beyond the $1138.21 if we did book through Celebrity; maybe someone can help me. Seems freaky, though, that the other TAs have all quoted $1138.21, total cost, as well. No mention by any one of them of getting OBC, even though I specifically asked what the best deal they could get for me would be, including OBC. I understand TA's often can't do anthing about the price of the cruise itself, but can thus compensate you otherwise.

 

I asked each TA to find the best value hotel in Ft. Lauderdale for us to stay in the night before departure, asking for at least a 2 1/2 star out of 5 and factoring in cost of cabfare if there's no free shuttle from FLL or to the Port. So far, I have quotes of $128 and $239:eek:. Maybe I'll go with the $101 I found on Expedia, but I'm waiting to see if they have a lower overall price for an air/hotel combination. So far, the only savings I've seen from the TAs is an airfare quote that's $22 lower than what I could get on Expedia. The same TA that wants us to pay $239 for a quick overnight stay also is quoting airfare that's $148 more:eek::eek:!

[Bridge Maven]

Maybe even beyond creepy! I would hope another explanation is feasible as I would like to know how they would implement that "cyber stalking"..

 

I am not sure how that travel agent was able to monitor my cruise searches on Celebrity's website, but I now do something that would make it impossible for any travel agent to do that. Whenever I am doing research on a cruise, or for any other product I am planning to buy, I set my computer to its private browsing mode.

[smeyer418]

I have always found through the TA to be cheaper. They either provide OBC's out of their commission(this is why the cruise line can't compete with them-most cruises are sold through TA's and as soon as they compete head to head the TA's would have a well deserved fit-remember what happened with the airline TA's). Also TA's have access to both group fare and other fares that a cruise line's staff agent doesn't normally have access to. Some cruise lines allow TA's to add people to a group even if they aren't affiliated with the group. Also some(not all) cruise lines sell blocks of rooms to TA's. The only drawback on these rooms is that you have bought them at a set price and there may or may not be the ability to get a price reduction. As for dealing with a cruise line directly, most of the time the TA who books many rooms has more clout than any single cruiser ever will.

I do many of things on line myself, airfare hotels etc. I know more about the cruise lines than most TA's but for cruises I always use a TA and have not been disappointed yet...

[drakes2]

We also find TA's to be cheaper. On our last cruise early this year, we were part of a group discount so had OBC's from that as well as our TA kicked in an additional amount out of his own pocket plust 2 bottles of wine (We did a B2B). For our upcoming cruise next March, I was in the midst of booking, when I was approached by a TA wondering if I wanted to book a cruise anytime soon. I said I did and he basically took the OBC that was being offered by an online agency and reduced his commission by that same amount. He got a sale he would not have had otherwise. NO - I've had no dealings with him since, but then I don't need to as everything is in order and the cabin category I chose is now sold out, so all in all, we're happy. I love our location, at the rear of the ship, where it's nice and quite, lots of walking as we're not close to the stairs, but we look at it as good exercise. Happy Sailing ! :)

I have always found through the TA to be cheaper. They either provide OBC's out of their commission(this is why the cruise line can't compete with them-most cruises are sold through TA's and as soon as they compete head to head the TA's would have a well deserved fit-remember what happened with the airline TA's). Also TA's have access to both group fare and other fares that a cruise line's staff agent doesn't normally have access to. Some cruise lines allow TA's to add people to a group even if they aren't affiliated with the group. Also some(not all) cruise lines sell blocks of rooms to TA's. The only drawback on these rooms is that you have bought them at a set price and there may or may not be the ability to get a price reduction. As for dealing with a cruise line directly, most of the time the TA who books many rooms has more clout than any single cruiser ever will.

I do many of things on line myself, airfare hotels etc. I know more about the cruise lines than most TA's but for cruises I always use a TA and have not been disappointed yet...

[Xoe]

I've recently booked our 2nd-ever cruise with Celebrity, Equinox in the Eastern Med next October, and did so directly with Celebrity because everywhere I checked, the prices were identical. When that happens, I book direct.

 

If the difference between direct-booking and using an agent is small, I still will book direct. But sometimes there is a major monetary advantage to booking through an agency.

 

Case in point: next summer we are taking a 35-day northern transatlantic cruise, R/T Boston. This is a big change for us -- our longest cruise to date is 13 days. Price to book directly with the cruise line was $3,500 HIGHER than booking through an on-line agency that I have used before -- about a 20% savings. We also get an on-board credit and a complimentary dinner at a specialty restaurant.

 

We already knew our preferred stateroom category and location on this ship, thus needed no help on that, and we'll handle our own air and ground transfers, resulting in an uncomplicated booking.

 

Easy choice!

 

(Footnote: Since we booked on Equinox for 10/10, the price has gone UP $300 -- sort of a reverse "savings", being able to celebrate having booked when we did!)

[ubdkjrb]

So the upshot of everything written on this thread so far?

 

If you are lucky enough to have a friendly and helpful TA, then a TA is the way to go. If not, then do it yourself. Try to get recommendations from friends.

 

It's a shame we can't say who we use here (although I understand why not), because I love my TA. If you look at my list of cruises below, she has booked us on every one since 2000; plus some other non-cruise trips.

.

 

I don't understand why not! There are actually several TA's on these boards that include their agency name in their signature. Seems to be a bit unfair?

[Bridge Maven]

I don't understand why not! There are actually several TA's on these boards that include their agency name in their signature. Seems to be a bit unfair?

 

I've also noticed that there a quite a few travel agents that include the name of their travel agency in their signature and one is even a former cruise critic host. It appears that they are allowed to include the name of their travel agency in their signature as long as it does not include a link or any advertising.

[kitty9]

For our upcoming Solstice cruise we received $200 OBC, bottle of wine, two free dinners in any of the specialty restaurant, paid gratuities. You don't get that by booking directly. Oh, and our price went down and we got the lower price from the agent.

[pamkev]

All travel agents are not unlike for my coming cruise on the Solstice this agency I am using for the first and last time will not honor any price drops at all. We could move from a 1B to a C1 and it has been stated by the agent she would have to get special permission from Celebrity as they don't allow it, when I kindly pointed out to her that other agency have done this and I have had it happen to me before she stated they must be doing something wrong as they can't do it.:(

 

Pam

[Bridge Maven]

All travel agents are not unlike for my coming cruise on the Solstice this agency I am using for the first and last time will not honor any price drops at all. We could move from a 1B to a C1 and it has been stated by the agent she would have to get special permission from Celebrity as they don't allow it, when I kindly pointed out to her that other agency have done this and I have had it happen to me before she stated they must be doing something wrong as they can't do it.:(

 

Pam

 

Is this a travel agency that does a lot of business with Celebrity? If so, I would recommend telling Celebrity about your negative experience with them.

[pamkev]

Is this a travel agency that does a lot of business with Celebrity? If so, I would recommend telling Celebrity about your negative experience with them.

 

I plan to when we get back

[Papa T]

Picking a cruise travel agent should be like choosing someone to sell your house - interview several agents and never choose on the basis of friendship. A good cruise only agent can be a valuable asset if they are efficient, always available, and willing to provide aggressive assistance when problems arise - and they do arise from time to time. As others have stated - plan to do much of the research yourself to find price drops, etc. There are so many daily price changes in the cruise industry that no agent can be expected to match every price reduction with their book of business. Remember if you book directly (especially booking online) you're not dealing with one person - every time you call to get a question answered or problem solved you talk to a different person - they work for the cruise line not for you and the reps you get often give out incomplete or inaccurate information. Getting OBC or other perks from a TA is great, but the additional support and knowledge an experienced TA brings to the table is more important.

[ubdkjrb]

For our upcoming Solstice cruise we received $200 OBC, bottle of wine, two free dinners in any of the specialty restaurant, paid gratuities. You don't get that by booking directly. Oh, and our price went down and we got the lower price from the agent.

 

This is almost too good to be true! Let's see, $200 plus $15 bottle of wine plus $50 free dinners plus $150 free gratuities equals $415. Commissions to the agency are 14% on average so let's say half of that went to the agent who is doing the gifting. That means for the TA to break even with the $415 gift the cruise without taxes and fees would have to be approximately $6,000. Pretty pricey cruise - but possible.

 

My point would be if you are the average cruiser whose cruise without taxes and fees is about $1600, you could expect OBC or perks of around $100. Then my question would be is it worth it to lose control of your reservation and rely soley on your TA to find price drops, etc. And don't forget that many TA's charge for things like cabin changes and price drops, so that $100 might not go so far afterall.

[ubdkjrb]

Picking a cruise travel agent should be like choosing someone to sell your house - interview several agents and never choose on the basis of friendship. A good cruise only agent can be a valuable asset if they are efficient, always available, and willing to provide aggressive assistance when problems arise - and they do arise from time to time. As others have stated - plan to do much of the research yourself to find price drops, etc. There are so many daily price changes in the cruise industry that no agent can be expected to match every price reduction with their book of business. Remember if you book directly (especially booking online) you're not dealing with one person - every time you call to get a question answered or problem solved you talk to a different person - they work for the cruise line not for you and the reps you get often give out incomplete or inaccurate information. Getting OBC or other perks from a TA is great, but the additional support and knowledge an experienced TA brings to the table is more important.

 

I hate to contradict, but I have several different views than you. You state that customer service is the important thing and yet you advise not to count on them to check for price drops. There is nothing more important to a cruiser than the price they pay therefore there is no more important customer service than to watch out for your clients wallet. Unless, of course, you are valuing the TA's commission more important. After all, price drops reduce the commission which in turn was used to lower the base RCCL pricing. TA's are not economically motivated to find price drops, in other words.

 

Secondly, RCCL PCC's are assigned to cruisers and are then their one point of contact for those that book direct. Should price drops occur, a direct booker calls their PCC and the discount is applied while you're still on the phone.

 

Third, many TA's (even the good ones) have an agency policy that they charge for changes to include price drops, cabin changes and cancellation.

 

Yeah PapaT, same response to same post over on RCCL!!

[emptynest1]

This is almost too good to be true! Let's see, $200 plus $15 bottle of wine plus $50 free dinners plus $150 free gratuities equals $415. Commissions to the agency are 14% on average so let's say half of that went to the agent who is doing the gifting. That means for the TA to break even with the $415 gift the cruise without taxes and fees would have to be approximately $6,000. Pretty pricey cruise - but possible.

 

My point would be if you are the average cruiser whose cruise without taxes and fees is about $1600, you could expect OBC or perks of around $100. Then my question would be is it worth it to lose control of your reservation and rely soley on your TA to find price drops, etc. And don't forget that many TA's charge for things like cabin changes and price drops, so that $100 might not go so far afterall.

Wow, I didn't realize they had an average of 14% commission!!! I am thinking that my TA can take good care of us for that amount.

[Bridge Maven]

I hate to contradict, but I have several different views than you. You state that customer service is the important thing and yet you advise not to count on them to check for price drops. There is nothing more important to a cruiser than the price they pay therefore there is no more important customer service than to watch out for your clients wallet. Unless, of course, you are valuing the TA's commission more important. After all, price drops reduce the commission which in turn was used to lower the base RCCL pricing. TA's are not economically motivated to find price drops, in other words.

 

Secondly, RCCL PCC's are assigned to cruisers and are then their one point of contact for those that book direct. Should price drops occur, a direct booker calls their PCC and the discount is applied while you're still on the phone.

 

Third, many TA's (even the good ones) have an agency policy that they charge for changes to include price drops, cabin changes and cancellation.

 

Yeah PapaT, same response to same post over on RCCL!!

 

I have also wondered the same thing when I hear about very large gifts in the form of an OBC etc. It is one thing if a TA is doing it for someone who books a penthouse suite where they are getting a very large commission, or even an average suite where they might break even, but it appears that the TA would lose money when they give very generous gifts for the average booking.

[Bridge Maven]

I don't think you can compare the advantages of a travel agent with a real estate agent because it is very easy for a passenger to deal directly with a cruise line but much more difficult for buyers and sellers of real estate to deal directly with each other.

 

If I was selling my house I would want to know how solid the buyer is, if he/she really could afford it, if he/she was pre-qualified for a mortgage and for how much, etc before I entered a sales contract and took it off the market. While a few homeowners have the real estate knowledge and ability to that for themselves, it is very time consuming for those who do, and very difficult for the majority of people to do without something important falling through the cracks. Similar arguments can be made for people who are looking to purchase a house as well.

 

I think a better analogy would be between a travel agent and an insurance agent because it is also very easy to deal directly with insurance companies and you are similarly facilitating communication by eliminating the middle man. Even so there are some people who prefer having an insurance agent just like some people prefer having a travel agent.

[smeyer418]

This is almost too good to be true! Let's see, $200 plus $15 bottle of wine plus $50 free dinners plus $150 free gratuities equals $415. Commissions to the agency are 14% on average so let's say half of that went to the agent who is doing the gifting. That means for the TA to break even with the $415 gift the cruise without taxes and fees would have to be approximately $6,000. Pretty pricey cruise - but possible.

 

My point would be if you are the average cruiser whose cruise without taxes and fees is about $1600, you could expect OBC or perks of around $100. Then my question would be is it worth it to lose control of your reservation and rely soley on your TA to find price drops, etc. And don't forget that many TA's charge for things like cabin changes and price drops, so that $100 might not go so far afterall.

 

 

Peter I don't think anything write will convince you but your numbers are way off. I just booked about two months ago the Celebrity Infinity. The amenity given to me for an outside was they will pay ALL the gratuities. Its over $300 alone. It actually is slightly more than that. You can see for your self what I paid but it was signiifcantly less than $6000 for two- in fact its under $2000 each(the price is up now if you price it) without airfare(on which no commission is paid anyway).

[smeyer418]

Peter I don't think anything write will convince you but your numbers are way off. I just booked about two months ago the Celebrity Infinity. The amenity given to me for an outside was they will pay ALL the gratuities. Its over $300 alone. It actually is slightly more than that. You can see for your self what I paid but it was signiifcantly less than $6000 for two- in fact its under $2000 each(the price is up now if you price it) without airfare(on which no commission is paid anyway).

 

 

Also its illegal in most states for an insurance agent to rebate part of its commission but generally not for a real estate agent to do so.

 

Also as I pointed out in another thread, the November Travel and Leisure has a article on this issue on page 28 and it concludes that a good TA is better(than an internet agent anyway)...

[Bridge Maven]

Also its illegal in most states for an insurance agent to rebate part of its commission but generally not for a real estate agent to do so.

 

Also as I pointed out in another thread, the November Travel and Leisure has a article on this issue on page 28 and it concludes that a good TA is better(than an internet agent anyway)...

 

 

I am a retired SRA who owned a real estate appraisal business for many years and was the regional operations manager for a company that bought and sold the properties of transferred executives before that. If a property is sold for less than its full asking price the seller can negotiate a lower real estate commission to compense for it, but that lower commission would be specified in the sales contract that is signed by all parties and given to the bank where the buyer is applying for a mortgage. A real estate agent can also agree to pay some of the buyers closing costs but that would also need to be specified in the real estate contract. However, if a real estate agent ever rebated part of their commission directly to a buyer without disclosing that fact in the real estate contract, it would constitute bank fraud because the buyer would be paying less than the contract indicates and that information is used to determine the loan to value ratio.

[ubdkjrb]

Peter I don't think anything write will convince you but your numbers are way off. I just booked about two months ago the Celebrity Infinity. The amenity given to me for an outside was they will pay ALL the gratuities. Its over $300 alone. It actually is slightly more than that. You can see for your self what I paid but it was signiifcantly less than $6000 for two- in fact its under $2000 each(the price is up now if you price it) without airfare(on which no commission is paid anyway).

 

Actually, my math would calculate your total trip cost at $300/.07 = $4200 and you say it's just under $4000. Pretty close. Your TA is giving away 8% (instead of the 7% I was using) of the 14% commission in perks.

[smeyer418]

Actually, my math would calculate your total trip cost at $300/.07 = $4200 and you say it's just under $4000. Pretty close. Your TA is giving away 8% (instead of the 7% I was using) of the 14% commission in perks.

 

You know they aren't paid the commission on the total cost, taxes and NCF are excluded. and the cost without taxes was more like $3500...

 

Commissions paid be as high as 20% with incentives and hold backs.

 

But the point is that you never get these with the Cruise line so even with a couple of fees it is still worth it to both get the amenity and to have someone who can use more clout than an individual cruiser will ever have.

 

I'll keep the extra money thank you and you can keep what is clearly a prejudice against TA's-IMO.

[Bridge Maven]

In my opinion, it really comes down to this. People who have had very positive experiences with a travel agent prefer using them, while people who have had bad experiences with several different travel agents would rather book directly with the cruise line. Ironically, if I hadn't had so many bad experiences with travel agents I probably would have never even tried booking directly with the cruise line. However, now that I have booked all of our cruises during the past four years directly with five different cruise lines and never had a problem with any of them, I have no interest in trying another travel agent.

[ubdkjrb]

One of these days the cruislines will wake up and realize that the travel agencies are taking the commissions they receive and basically splitting them with the cruiser. They will take that business model and convert it to one without any commissions, upgrade their computer systems to create an easier interactive booking process and then hire some more customer service people who know what they're doing. This will shave 15% of sales off their cost structure leaving them ample room to staff appropriately and reduce prices in these difficult economic times which should result in a competetive edge in the vacation business.

 

As I've said many times, this is all about money. You can throw out there all of the service elements you want to, but in the end, it's all about the price of the cruise. If the cruiselines were to eliminate commissions, the travel agencies would have nothing left to sell than service. A fee upfront for consulting, a fee for any changes like price drops and switching cabins, etc. (wait a minute, some are doing that now!!). At that point, those that swear by their TA's would have to ask themselves whether paying a couple hundred more than booking direct is worth it. Hmmmn.