Booking through Celebrity vs. TA

[Bridge Maven]

Business isn't all about taking every penny in profit. It is give and take with others to achieve the ultimate job. The cruise industry still needs the TA's or they would not use their services.

 

That is true but when a Celebrity booking employee encourages people to transfer their booking to a TA they are implying that they are better off doing so, which is not in Celebrity's best interest. Traditionally, the role of a travel agent was to give advice and handle reservations that could not be done directly through the cruise line, but that is no longer the case. It certainly does not make any sense for Celebrity to pay a full commission to a travel agent when their paid employee did the hard part of selling the cruise and booking it. The purpose of an in house booking agent is for the cruise line to save money on commissions, but this way they are paying more than if people booked their cruise through a travel agent to begin with.

 

Booking a future cruise while on a cruise is different though because there are a lot of people who book future cruises that way that would have either changed their mind or booked one on a different cruise line if they waited until they got home. While this board has a lot of people who book all of their cruise on Celebrity most people are not as loyal to one cruise line and have a few that they like equally.

[neilrr]

I'm pretty new to all this, so I'm not really sure if I would be 'entitled' to anything but....we recently booked an inside cabin thru a TA, then later I saw an offer from Celebrity (their one day Oct 27 sale) that for $100 pp more you could have an obstructed view cabin. I contacted our TA but he said that offer was for new bookings only. Now I see that the cost of our cabin has gone down $100pp - should I contact the TA again, even tho this offer says it's for new customers only? I would expect that most of these price reductions have this disclaimer, yet many people have said they were upgraded or got OBC. Or does this just apply to cabins above a certain price level? Maybe at our 'bargain' rate there's no incentive for our TA to help??? :confused:

 

Umbria Lover - You should contact the TA again. As long as it is not a Happy Hour special, you should get some type of credit. I have received multiple price adjustments on cruises, as the prices decreased. Go for the adjustment or OBC. Sometimes you do get TA's who do not want to adjust it, as it affects their commission. My feeling is -- if you have a reputable agent they will adjust it, if possible (i.e. not a happy hour special). If not, go to another agent in the future or if you are within the time frame, you can transfer the trip to another agent/agency who will make the adjustment.

 

I stay in touch with the TA because as you go along questions will come up. Do not hesitate to call them -- that is what they are earning their commission for. Good Luck!!:)

Neil

[ubdkjrb]

Business isn't all about taking every penny in profit. It is give and take with others to achieve the ultimate job. The cruise industry still needs the TA's or they would not use their services.

 

So let's see....you're the original poster wondering what the advantages are of booking thru a TA, you have over 1,000 posts and in this post you are staunchly defending TA's. Hmmmm.

[neilrr]

So let's see....you're the original poster wondering what the advantages are of booking thru a TA, you have over 1,000 posts and in this post you are staunchly defending TA's. Hmmmm.

 

ubdkjrb - Very good deduction my dear Watson... Sounds like a TA to me... We hunt those with gators here in FL.:) What time will the "Roast TA L'range" be ready for dinner? What wine shall we drink with it?

 

It is okay to defend a business, but good business people want to keep their clients. A travel agent has a repsonsibility to do right by their clients and provide them appropriate credits, if applicable.

Neil

[emptynest1]

So let's see....you're the original poster wondering what the advantages are of booking thru a TA, you have over 1,000 posts and in this post you are staunchly defending TA's. Hmmmm.

 

As you can see I have been on this forum since 2002 and have contributed to many a discussion, hence the high post #. As the old timers on this board know, I am not a TA, but work in the medical profession. I have always booked my own cruises (Elite Captains Club), but this time thought I would send some work to a local TA. You see I live in a rural NC town that has been hit hard by the rising unemployment. Since I live and work here I decided to help out the local economy. Now that is good business. I digress, I was curious about the benefits of using a TA since I have always done the work myself, and that is why I started this thread. Further, I would say I am not defending TA's as much as I am defending Celebrity's business model.

 

Neil, I agree a good TA has a responsibility to take good care of the customer. What I wanted to find out on this thread were how others were treated and what I could expect.

 

Thank you all for commenting.

[ubdkjrb]

As you can see I have been on this forum since 2002 and have contributed to many a discussion, hence the high post #. As the old timers on this board know, I am not a TA, but work in the medical profession. I have always booked my own cruises (Elite Captains Club), but this time thought I would send some work to a local TA. You see I live in a rural NC town that has been hit hard by the rising unemployment. Since I live and work here I decided to help out the local economy. Now that is good business. I digress, I was curious about the benefits of using a TA since I have always done the work myself, and that is why I started this thread. Further, I would say I am not defending TA's as much as I am defending Celebrity's business model.

 

Neil, I agree a good TA has a responsibility to take good care of the customer. What I wanted to find out on this thread were how others were treated and what I could expect.

 

Thank you all for commenting.

 

And you would represent that model to one where Celebrity would hire, train, equip and house internal employees to sell and book cruises and then recommend those internally booked cruises be transfered to a travel agency where commissions of 10-20% would be additionally paid. This is the model you defend?

[emptynest1]

I believe Celebrity and their marketing have far greater minds than I or, for that matter you. This is a huge corporation, and I am not going to bad mouth their business practices especially since, I do not have the formal training in business and it would look silly for little ole me to know more than the MBA's and engineers that work for Celebrity.

 

This thread has been hijacked from the original intent. All I wanted was input from those who use TA's. I respectfully disagree with your opinions, and I will leave it at that.

[Bridge Maven]

I believe Celebrity and their marketing have far greater minds than I or, for that matter you. This is a huge corporation, and I am not going to bad mouth their business practices especially since, I do not have the formal training in business and it would look silly for little ole me to know more than the MBA's and engineers that work for Celebrity.

 

This thread has been hijacked from the original intent. All I wanted was input from those who use TA's. I respectfully disagree with your opinions, and I will leave it at that.

 

Who is questioning Celebrity's engineers or marketing executives? I was merely verbalizing my opinion about the actions of a specific employee who books reservations which is a relatively low level position.

[Bridge Maven]

One of the biggest problems with threads about travel agents is that a significant number of the posts supporting them are from either travel agents themselves or someone who likes to give business to their friend who is a travel agent.

 

With this in mind, the best way to know which method is better for you is to book one cruise with a travel agent and another cruise directly through a cruise line and then decide which experience your preferred.

[rsquare]

Curious that no one has mentioned what might be the optimal compromise position - book the next cruise during the current cruise. We have consistently done this with Cunard and just started doing it with X (my wife refuses to pack for disembarkation until the next trip is booked). We get an OBC geared to the cost of the crossing or cruise, and since we have booked directly with the line, we have the advantages of controlling our own booking. For X/Azamara, those OBCs are $100 for 6-9 nights, $200 for 10-13 nights, $300 for 14+ nights - that's per booking, not per person.

[smeyer418]

One of the biggest problems with threads about travel agents is that a significant number of the posts supporting them are from either travel agents themselves or someone who likes to give business to their friend who is a travel agent.

 

With this in mind, the best way to know which method is better for you is to book one cruise with a travel agent and another cruise directly through a cruise line and then decide which experience your preferred.

boy your prejudice is really showing in this post. So anyone who disagrees with your point of view on this is either a TA or one who is giving business to one. I really for one wish you would stick to facts and not make things up.

For the record I am neither a TA or have suggested a specific TA to anyone.

[emptynest1]

One of the biggest problems with threads about travel agents is that a significant number of the posts supporting them are from either travel agents themselves or someone who likes to give business to their friend who is a travel agent.

 

I disagree with you. The biggest problem with this thread is that it was hijacked and turned into a somewhat vicious attack on Celebrity, TA's and anyone who tried to disagree with a few vocal posters.

 

Thank you to all who answered my original question.

[Bridge Maven]

Curious that no one has mentioned what might be the optimal compromise position - book the next cruise during the current cruise. We have consistently done this with Cunard and just started doing it with X (my wife refuses to pack for disembarkation until the next trip is booked). We get an OBC geared to the cost of the crossing or cruise, and since we have booked directly with the line, we have the advantages of controlling our own booking. For X/Azamara, those OBCs are $100 for 6-9 nights, $200 for 10-13 nights, $300 for 14+ nights - that's per booking, not per person.

 

I think that is a great idea :)

[zebra36]

RE: the OP's question.

 

If the TA can provide good service and enough of an incentive to book with them, give them a try.

 

Personally, I prefer to go direct with the cruiseline because my booking, generally in steerage, would not generate enough com. for a TA to relinquish enough as OBC to enoucrage my to give up my freedom with my reservation. I know I can transfer just before final payment is due but again the $'s involved are not worth the effort to deal with a third party.

[Bridge Maven]

I would like to respond to several comments that were made on this thread because it appears that a few people misunderstood my posts.

 

I did not make vicious attacks on Celebrity, but merely questioned the appropriateness of one of their booking agent's actions based on an experience that was shared by another poster.

 

Even though I verbalized that a significant number of pro travel agent posts on cruise critic have a tendency to be from travel agents or their friends, I never said that all pro travel agent posts are from them.

 

I never attacked travel agents as a group, but merely questioned the competence and business practices of a few travel agents that I have personally dealt with over the years.

 

Even though I prefer booking our cruises directly with the cruise line for various reasons discussed elsewhere on this thread, I realize that what is best for me may not be best for everybody.

 

One thing I have noticed is that some people ask a question to obtain as much feedback as possible, from all perspectives, so they can make a well informed decision, while others are looking for validation of a decision that they have already made.

[smeyer418]

And you would represent that model to one where Celebrity would hire, train, equip and house internal employees to sell and book cruises and then recommend those internally booked cruises be transfered to a travel agency where commissions of 10-20% would be additionally paid. This is the model you defend?

 

I won't defend the model but X has announced that its intent on using the in house people is NOT to replace TA's but to allow people choice. So that the suggestion to transfer to a TA is IN LINE with that announced policy. As I have previously posted, the cruise lines have decided that their model is not supported without TA's. So this transfer to them is in line with that and makes perfect sense. Since the TA's can offer the cruiser the rebate of the commission in the form of some OBC's that the in house people can't it makes perfect sense. Its almost like the movie Miracle on 34th Street where Santa at Macy's sends someone to Gimbels because it had a better deal(Gimbels is no more so it worked!). Its giving the cruiser the best of all worlds...and the TA gets to keep part of the commission and they have a happy cruiser...

 

yep and you would fire Santa Claus!

[ubdkjrb]

I won't defend the model but X has announced that its intent on using the in house people is NOT to replace TA's but to allow people choice. So that the suggestion to transfer to a TA is IN LINE with that announced policy. As I have previously posted, the cruise lines have decided that their model is not supported without TA's. So this transfer to them is in line with that and makes perfect sense. Since the TA's can offer the cruiser the rebate of the commission in the form of some OBC's that the in house people can't it makes perfect sense. Its almost like the movie Miracle on 34th Street where Santa at Macy's sends someone to Gimbels because it had a better deal(Gimbels is no more so it worked!). Its giving the cruiser the best of all worlds...and the TA gets to keep part of the commission and they have a happy cruiser...

 

yep and you would fire Santa Claus!

 

To be the same, it would be like the Santa at Macy's going to the cash register at Macy's and giving the customer $25 of Macy's money to go over to Gimbels to buy an identical item thereby making it cheaper for the customer.

 

The reason Celebrity offers direct booking may be to present customers with a choice; but once booked, they'd be idiots to encourage the customers to transfer to a TA.

[County Fair]

I received quotes from two TA's that were the same in price and cabin. When I checked with X they offered the same price but a lower deck cabin. When I asked consideration for Captains Club membership, they responded that the price they quoted was the lowest available so apparently on that cruise nothing was gained by Club membership.

[smeyer418]

To be the same, it would be like the Santa at Macy's going to the cash register at Macy's and giving the customer $25 of Macy's money to go over to Gimbels to buy an identical item thereby making it cheaper for the customer.

 

The reason Celebrity offers direct booking may be to present customers with a choice; but once booked, they'd be idiots to encourage the customers to transfer to a TA.

remember its a movie it ain't real. If you book while on board the TA that sold the original cruise is given credit. Its really the same thing. They actually do encourage the use of TA's. It gets TA loyalty which is more important to them then you are since they get 90% of the customers through the TA and the amount paid to the TA is already considered in the fare. Its only the people who don't use a TA to give them the extras that suffer.

[smeyer418]

I received quotes from two TA's that were the same in price and cabin. When I checked with X they offered the same price but a lower deck cabin. When I asked consideration for Captains Club membership, they responded that the price they quoted was the lowest available so apparently on that cruise nothing was gained by Club membership.

yes the TA's get preferential treatment because of all the booking they do...something the non TA people fail to realize but its been said to them but they don't believe it. Again those that don't use TA's won't be convinced about this. They want to go direct...no matter what the facts are as I said before.

[ubdkjrb]

remember its a movie it ain't real. If you book while on board the TA that sold the original cruise is given credit. Its really the same thing. They actually do encourage the use of TA's. It gets TA loyalty which is more important to them then you are since they get 90% of the customers through the TA and the amount paid to the TA is already considered in the fare. Its only the people who don't use a TA to give them the extras that suffer.

 

Odd you would say that. The TA's on this board would tell us that their loyalty is to the customer, not the cruiseline. The TA getting the transfer is going to assume that Celebrity had nothing to do with it; that the customer made the decision and that's who they will be loyal to. Your facts might be wrong; it's more like 85% of the customers come from the TA and 5% comes from the cruiseline but the TA gets paid anyway. You can argue the TA value thing all day long, but in the end its all about the money. Once the cruiseline gets the profit in the bank via a direct booking, the very last thing that they want is to withdraw it and pay it to a travel agency. If you were to look at the way their accountants book the transactions, that's exactly what they would have to do with the transfer: debit profit and credit commissions payable.

 

Debating with you is like trying to convince my 5 year old daughter that candy isn't good for her.

[Bridge Maven]

A number of people have made the point that they use a travel agent to save money in the form of on board credits or other gifts which I can understand. However, in this day and age, what are the other benefits of using one? This is a serious question because I can't think of any.

[smeyer418]

A number of people have made the point that they use a travel agent to save money in the form of on board credits or other gifts which I can understand. However, in this day and age, what are the other benefits of using one? This is a serious question because I can't think of any.

 

 

many of us have told you that when there is a problem, the TA has more clout than an individual cruiser who may or may not ever travel again on the same cruise line but the TA will book 100's of people. Who do you think they will try to please more.

 

County Fair above stated that the TA's got a better located room than he did direct.

 

I frankly question your ability to understand what people write. You deliberately disregard what multiple posters have told you.

 

If you are serious about this you need to reread all the posts with an open mind because its there for anyone to see.

 

The TA's get advance notice of sales. they have access to group rooms and fares. They may have access to net fares(fares where the cruise line has sold them rooms at a fixed price which they can sell for any price).

 

They sometimes have access to prebooked rooms at old lower prices...its all most too much to list...

[6502programmer]

However, in this day and age, what are the other benefits of using one? This is a serious question because I can't think of any.

I use one because she's my advocate. She will act in my interest, when needed, because my continued business is in her interest. She's nice, and has provided some OBC (from group bookings, mostly), and while I could get more OBC elsewhere, she's a vacation concierge. I love doing the research, but it's good to have her experience as an additional data point. Not only did she gladly handle a price drop, she suggested a strategy to have the senior fare apply to both cabins in our booking, saving an extra $400 (and dropping her commission as well).

 

I'd rather have a direct booking than a bad agent (I'm watching my co-worker go through a bad experience with one [adding charges after sending a zero balance invoice! :eek:]), but I'd rather have a good agent than a direct booking. I've called her at all hours, and she's handled everything quickly and professionally.

[smeyer418]

"Debating with you is like trying to convince my 5 year old daughter that candy isn't good for her".

 

Do you think the TA's are more loyal to the cruise line which pays them or the client?

 

I would question which one is the five year old. Have I attacked you personally? I have disagreed with you. This is a childish response not worthy of an "adult"

 

and I remind you it wasn't my report that was what the Cruise line employee did. You also don't even discuss the fact that the cruise lines will pay the TA for an on board booking that they had nothing to do with. Ren learned what happened when they ignore the TA...its a lesson that the cruise lines and their accountants have learned the hard way.

 

There are also multiple reports of people transferring their directly booked reservation to a TA to get the OBC....so the business model you doubt has multiple people reporting its existence.