Booking through Celebrity vs. TA

[smeyer418]

BTW I can give you a good example of how one TA treats one cruise line. One of the larger TA's demands additional payments from all the cruise lines to be that TA's preferred cruise line. I know of at least one cruise line who refuses to pay this extra tribute. They rarely appear on that companies website and individual TA's at that agency have been known to say that is a terrible cruise line take another and I suggest Y(as opposed to X)

 

so much for loyalty to the cruiser

[6502programmer]

BTW I can give you a good example of how one TA treats one cruise line. One of the larger TA's demands additional payments from all the cruise lines to be that TA's preferred cruise line. I know of at least one cruise line who refuses to pay this extra tribute. They rarely appear on that companies website and individual TA's at that agency have been known to say that is a terrible cruise line take another and I suggest Y(as opposed to X)

 

so much for loyalty to the cruiser

I fail to understand how one bad TA makes all TA's bad. This is like saying that because Bernie Madoff is a bad investment adviser, acting out of self-interest rather than the interest of his clients, all investment advisers are bad and you should just use etrade and do everything directly and on your own.

 

Travel agents aren't going away any time soon. It's easier for a cruise line to pay 10% (once you ditch the non-commissionable portion of a fare) of their revenue and have a lot of the marketing and all of the "front of house" duties taken care of. People that want complete control over every choice are going nowhere, nor are people who want to have an expert make all the decisions, and just leave the fun part.

[wildernesslady]

OK, Wow I hope this is the right place to ask this. I just received an email from cruise critic on the latest deals. The cruise I am looking at is offering free pre-paid gratuities. This will save us about $250. Is this legite? I'm assuming since it is sponsored by cruise critic it would be ok and they are a reputable TA. I would like to have control of my reservation, but the extra money is one person's airfare. Thanks for help.

[ubdkjrb]

BTW I can give you a good example of how one TA treats one cruise line. One of the larger TA's demands additional payments from all the cruise lines to be that TA's preferred cruise line. I know of at least one cruise line who refuses to pay this extra tribute. They rarely appear on that companies website and individual TA's at that agency have been known to say that is a terrible cruise line take another and I suggest Y(as opposed to X)

 

so much for loyalty to the cruiser

 

So at this travel agency, when a problem arises between the customer and the cruiseline, apparently the TA will side with the cruiseline, right? Of course, because you say their loyalty is not to the cruiser, right? But yet you use "advocacy" as a reason people use travel agencies (in one of your answers on this thread). This doesn't seem to make much sense. Can you explain? Oh, and by the way, the last three bullets on your reasons for using a TA are all the same reason, not three separate ones.

[6502programmer]

OK, Wow I hope this is the right place to ask this. I just received an email from cruise critic on the latest deals. The cruise I am looking at is offering free pre-paid gratuities. This will save us about $250. Is this legite? I'm assuming since it is sponsored by cruise critic it would be ok and they are a reputable TA. I would like to have control of my reservation, but the extra money is one person's airfare. Thanks for help.

I would have started a new thread, but that's just me. :)

 

Is it legit? Yes, the TA in the email is providing you with a rebate of part of their commission in order to earn your business. As long as they're not sending you a check, and are providing you with prepaid gratuities, an OBC "gift", or some other "in kind" consideration, it's all good, as far as the cruise line is concerned.

 

You still have control over your booking, just through a delegate that isn't a cruise line employee. You become dependent on that delegate to perform activity on your behalf.

 

I would NOT take that Cruise Critic relationship as a stamp of approval. If they received a lot of negative complaints, I have no doubt that CC would sever a relationship, but as long as a TA keeps paying for access to CC members, and they're not a complete bunch of muppets once they do have those customers, CC is happy to keep a TA around.

[smeyer418]

So at this travel agency, when a problem arises between the customer and the cruiseline, apparently the TA will side with the cruiseline, right? Of course, because you say their loyalty is not to the cruiser, right? But yet you use "advocacy" as a reason people use travel agencies (in one of your answers on this thread). This doesn't seem to make much sense. Can you explain? Oh, and by the way, the last three bullets on your reasons for using a TA are all the same reason, not three separate ones.

you misread loyalty to one line as not meaning that they will advocate for a specific client. Some TA's specialize in one cruise line only. That preference doesn't necessarily translate to blind loyalty. They do steer people to their preferred line. The preference can be because of higher commissions or preference for the product(they can also believe that cruise line will serve the clients need better). The TA understands that their clients have to be satisfied with the service they provide and that also means advocacy.

 

1. access to lower fares

2. better chance of getting a problem resolved(they won't always get satisfaction)=advocacy

3. access to better location of rooms.

4. rebate of commission(OBC- a bottle of wine- a free tour- free parking etc)

 

1 and 4 could be considered the same but may also be considered different

 

That is three-four separate reasons.

 

what is the reason that you want to go direct? control.

 

Do I have a problem with your going direct- I never said that what I said was you are leaving money on the table and losing the other benefits of a good TA. I actual agree that if you are merely using a TA that is a booking engine like Travelocity, you many be better off direct but I don't think so.

 

The difference between you and me, is I have good reasons for what I say. You merely want to argue.

[smeyer418]

I fail to understand how one bad TA makes all TA's bad. This is like saying that because Bernie Madoff is a bad investment adviser, acting out of self-interest rather than the interest of his clients, all investment advisers are bad and you should just use etrade and do everything directly and on your own.

 

Travel agents aren't going away any time soon. It's easier for a cruise line to pay 10% (once you ditch the non-commissionable portion of a fare) of their revenue and have a lot of the marketing and all of the "front of house" duties taken care of. People that want complete control over every choice are going nowhere, nor are people who want to have an expert make all the decisions, and just leave the fun part.

 

 

If you think I said all TA's are bad you misread what I wrote. I was responding to people who never use TA's. This is one large national TA. Its not most TA's. Its an example of what I think is over reaching. I have no problem with them asking for more money. I do have a problem with them then bad mouthing the cruise line who won't pay. Are all TA's bad- no are all TA's great- no of course not. But I still prefer going through a TA for all the reasons I won't repeat again(someone must be breathing a sigh of relief)

[ubdkjrb]

OK, Wow I hope this is the right place to ask this. I just received an email from cruise critic on the latest deals. The cruise I am looking at is offering free pre-paid gratuities. This will save us about $250. Is this legite? I'm assuming since it is sponsored by cruise critic it would be ok and they are a reputable TA. I would like to have control of my reservation, but the extra money is one person's airfare. Thanks for help.

 

You have to dig a little deeper and find out more about their fee schedule, if they have one. Some travel agencies charge for a variety of things like: upfront consulting fees, changing cabins, applying price drops and cancelling a booking. If they have these, they can add up and offset any OBC being offered. You just have to ask a lot of questions before you leap.

[Bridge Maven]

Last year we took a cruise from Barcelona to the Greek Isles/Turkey and booked our cruise directly with the cruise line, our pre and post cruise hotel in Barcelona directly through the hotel chain, and our flights directly through American Airlines. Our flight which was scheduled to leave JFK at 7:00 PM was delayed for a few hours and then we spent four hours on the tarmac. At 2:00 AM the plane came back to the gate and our flight was canceled. So I called American Airlines and was able to get the same flight for the following night but would be going directly from the airport to the cruise terminal in Barcelona instead of our pre cruise hotel. Then I was able to call the hotel chain's central booking department and cancel our pre cruise hotel without any penalty.

 

If I booked our flights, cruise, and hotels, through a travel agent what would I have done in the middle of the night when this happened? BTW - there were quite a few people on that canceled flight that had to catch up with the ship in Nice because there were only a limited number of seats available on the same flight for the following night and they weren't able to contact the airline soon enough to get them.

[Bridge Maven]

Just to clarify, I didn't say that I have never used a travel agent. What I did say was that I have booked all our cruises during the past four years directly through the cruise line, but we have been taking cruises for 35 years.

[smeyer418]

I never book rooms and airfare through the cruise line. Its way to expensive and they don't pay commissions to the TA on at least the airfare(I don't know about the hotel rooms).

 

The difference on my upcoming trip on x was the difference between $1200 pp(1000 plus taxes and the up payment for a deviation(difference in airfare)- there was no deviation fee I have been on X before) and 608 PP for airfare.

 

So I still could get the discount on the cruise and control the air portion.

[labeachcomber]

I usually book directly with the cruiseline, but now with all the online agents, it makes sense to me to book through a TA to get some kind of OBC that I otherwise wouldn't be. Why not? The couple hundred bucks to me is worth it, even though there may be a little less flexibility on my end in terms of now having to call the TA for everything.

 

My question is, I just booked directly with Celebrity and had the intention of transferring my booking to a TA. But I've already flip flopped on my cabin selection three times. Very easy to just make these changes myself on the Celebrity site. I'm realizing that this would have been a hassle if I had to call the TA three times already. What is the advantage of transferring the booking to a TA immediately, assuming that the promotions/OBC that the TA would give you are longstanding and will never go away?

 

Why not hold on to the booking until the week before final payment is due, and then transfer? That way I could ensure I get all the price drops, etc.

[Woobstr112G]

I used a T/A for my first several cruises. After that I use an online site for one or two. All three Princess cruises I did plus two out of three X cruises have been dirrectly through the line. To each his own, I just am a creature of habit and like booking directly through the line.....:):):)

 

Bob

[ggChewy]

Very interesting thread! I've been weighing the decision myself.

 

First, let me give some background. In 2008, a group of 10 friends (including me) decided to all go on a cruise together. One of the group members had a travel agent that she swore by. We had already chosen a cruise (RC in S Carib) and we booked early and we were promised that she'd watch for good deals. We paid same price as what was on the RCCL site and were offered no "extras" or "perks".

 

Flash forward 8 months with only 3 months remaining before the cruise, we hadn't heard anything from the TA. I had been casually checking prices once a month and had seen that our cruise price had dropped $330 per person (from $1030 to $700) plus 15% off excursions. Granted, it was for a guarantee instead of specific cabins, but is was a heck of a drop. We contacted the agent via our friend, and she got us adjusted to $720 per person with no extra credits. She also told us that we were now locked and we couldn't adjust again even if prices changed. It really made me wonder - why and the heck are we using an agent??

 

Well, we're in the same position now (up from 10 to 14 people traveling now, staying in Carib and looking at Celebrity Summit) and our friend is pushing for the agent again because she got us a "killer deal". I'm thinking to myself that if I hadn't initiated the change, we would have paid our original price!! Not only that, we paid more by using her than what we could have got on our own!

 

This group of friends is committed to trying to do some type of big trip like this every other year, and I've offered to try to find us a good deal. I've been thinking - what does it take to become a TA? Could I start a side business and do it out of my home and just use it to book these trips? Or is it not worth the effort? Seems silly that we have this middleman who's adding ZERO value! Would be great if I could do it myself (I'll be watching prices closely anyway) and pass along the perks to my friends.

 

Any thoughts?

 

TA's that are out there - I apologize in advance. I'm sure you're steaming right now. I'm sure some of you are awesome! But, please realize that my experience with a TA booking a cruise wasn't great and it's frustrating to know that she likely made $1000+ for limited amount of work that she did for us. And the work that she did is all something we're more than willing to do ourselves.

[dzcruisers]

Dealing direct is the easiest way to go, especially if you have monitored pricing patterns closely. On the other hand it is nice to give your agent a comission if the price is the same or better. My question is, if I book direct, and pay the cruiseline directly, can I then turn the booking over to the agent for her to get a comission?

 

You can turn your booking over to a travel agent anytime before final payment. In fact many book on line, monitor their own reservation for price drops, etc. and then shortly before final payment fax in the form for the transfer to their TA. They get the TA perks but basically have had control over their cruise until after final payment.

 

On our Oct. cruise I found a great price on a Sunday in May and booked it directly with the cruise line. I went back to look at it on Monday and the special price was no longer there so immediate access is extremely important.

[Bridge Maven]

You can turn your booking over to a travel agent anytime before final payment. In fact many book on line, monitor their own reservation for price drops, etc. and then shortly before final payment fax in the form for the transfer to their TA. They get the TA perks but basically have had control over their cruise until after final payment.

 

The only problem with doing it that way is that Celebrity cruise fares frequently decrease between final payment and sailing. So by assigning your booking to a TA you lose the right to call the cruise line directly if that happens, and you are at the mercy of your TA to do it for you.

[WineDown17]

To me it sounds like it depends on who your TA is...

 

My TA has saved me thousands, and goes out of her way to make sure we get what we want at the best price.

 

I can call her anytime, day or night....and she is there for me.

 

Having worked for X, she has a direct line to sr mgt if I ever have an issue and is on a first name basis with them and has been for years.

 

I watch for price drops myself.. clearly she has other clients...but I have never had an issue "missing" out on one b/c I have to rely on her to execute it.

 

Not all TA are of this caliber, but mine is, and I would not boook without her.

[labeachcomber]

The only problem with doing it that way is that Celebrity cruise fares frequently decrease between final payment and sailing. So by assigning your booking to a TA you lose the right to call the cruise line directly if that happens, and you are at the mercy of your TA to do it for you.

 

Yeah, I thought of this as well. But hopefully the TA would be able to get me those price drops, and if they miss one or won't honor it, then at least I have the several hundred dollars of OBC or free insurance or perks etc. to make up for it.

[Alliea]

Here is my take on Celebrity.. I would book directly through them.. and watch daily for price reductions..I have already saved an amazing 600.00! I can't believe it. I have never been on Celebrity yet..and am amazed I can take advantage of the decreasing prices.. I had a booking w/ an online TA..wasn't happy with him.. hard to get ahold of..etc. I can only guess I would never be able to get discounts through them , cause I could not get ahold of the guy who was assigned to my booking easily, I would bet by the time he called me back that lower fare would be gone. If you want the OBC offered.. which I still may do.. transfer your booking at the end.. You can keep you eye on it..and make changes.. up til the end easily that way.

[Alliea]

.....

[Alliea]

Sorry , I just read through all of these pages, and realise I have no new advice to offer that isn't already offered! You are all so with it.. I should have known!