Host Caroline Posted February 25, 2011 #1 Share Posted February 25, 2011 Is anyone else all of a sudden getting calls from what I guess are equivalent of Carnival "Personal Vacation Planners" re booking future cruises and "taking care of you.." While I do appreciate the effort, I am assuming they are pushing booking in-house to save on commissions? We like our online TA and it would take a lot to get us to switch to in-house planners for any cruise lines.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loonbeam Posted February 25, 2011 #2 Share Posted February 25, 2011 Are you sure they are in-house? I got a number of calls from an RC "affiliate" that turned out to be a call mill from an online agent. Is anyone else all of a sudden getting calls from what I guess are equivalent of Carnival "Personal Vacation Planners" re booking future cruises and "taking care of you.." While I do appreciate the effort, I am assuming they are pushing booking in-house to save on commissions? We like our online TA and it would take a lot to get us to switch to in-house planners for any cruise lines.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
granny49 Posted February 25, 2011 #3 Share Posted February 25, 2011 Hi Caroline, I have never received any of these calls, but I do have a question in regard to booking direct with princess. Do the agents get a commission.? I have a family member who booked a cruise directly. The price went down before final payment called the agent she received price reduction but the agent complained about her commission with her booking. She booked 3 cabins all for her family. I didn't think that dealing direct with Princess there would be a commission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul929207 Posted February 25, 2011 #4 Share Posted February 25, 2011 I have never gotten such a call, but we have always booked with the same TA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robgvic Posted February 25, 2011 #5 Share Posted February 25, 2011 I think Princess has a policy that even if you book onbaord , if you had booked with an agent the booking is automatically turned over to them. When I booked with Princess direct my Princess agent, who was excellent by the way, said they do not receive commission. I felt vey bad not booking with her but I saved about $500 on my Trans Atlantic with a discount agent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whoo Posted February 25, 2011 #6 Share Posted February 25, 2011 The only time Princess has ever called me was when they had a move-over offer. They have never called me with any kind of offers on other cruises. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minoushka Posted February 25, 2011 #7 Share Posted February 25, 2011 I only deal with a PVP from Princess She has given me discounts until sailing .My friends booked with a TA and DID not receive same prices as me BECAUSE a commission was involved .They got the first discount ...I got 4 in all I have had to switch to a TA because they had better prices once only but I stick with Princess When I had a problem on CB called my PVP directly ,left a message head office took care of it on their end ...much more than guy on board True some Ta give you OBC etc but I will stick to booking directly because when there IS a problem they are easier to reach Michele Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam in CA Posted February 25, 2011 #8 Share Posted February 25, 2011 I think Princess has a policy that even if you book onbaord , if you had booked with an agent the booking is automatically turned over to them. When I booked with Princess direct my Princess agent, who was excellent by the way, said they do not receive commission. I felt vey bad not booking with her but I saved about $500 on my Trans Atlantic with a discount agent.When you book a cruise onboard, the booking automatically goes to the TA that booked the cruise you're on unless you specify that you want it to be a Princess booking. If you book directly with Princess and then turn it over to a TA, the TA gives you their price and they get the commission as though you'd booked with them initially. You can almost always save, sometimes substantially, with a good TA over booking directly. There are many who reserve blocks of cabins when the itineraries are first released, which is often at a lower price, and they sell these to their customers at group rates. And then, those that do a high volume of Princess bookings take a smaller commission that benefits you. It's just not true that these TAs are hard to get hold of or unresponsive. Some, yes, but others, no. Caroline, no calls here. This is the first I've heard of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iancal Posted February 25, 2011 #9 Share Posted February 25, 2011 We have never book directly....and never had an issue that was not resolved in a timely manner. We generally use the same on line TA. Great service and very good pricing. We believe we save anywhere from 8-12 percent depending on the cruise. For us, that translates into a free cruise every 8-10 trips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sox Fan Cruiser Posted February 25, 2011 #10 Share Posted February 25, 2011 I've used a Princess agent for years now. When he first called me, I wasn't sure who he was. I came right to this board and found out they were legit. My guy takes amazing care of me handling all my requests. He is always looking for the price declines and calls me when they occur. He also checks in with me before our cruise and after. I just finished writing a letter to his boss about how great he is. I have his direct line and when I am ready to book another cruise, I just give him a call and done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astro Flyer Posted February 25, 2011 #11 Share Posted February 25, 2011 I have not received such a call & wonder if it's because my Cruise Personalizer's contact preference option is to contact me only by mail or email? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob & Beckys mom Posted February 25, 2011 #12 Share Posted February 25, 2011 I've used a Princess agent for years now. When he first called me, I wasn't sure who he was. I came right to this board and found out they were legit. My guy takes amazing care of me handling all my requests. He is always looking for the price declines and calls me when they occur. He also checks in with me before our cruise and after. I just finished writing a letter to his boss about how great he is. I have his direct line and when I am ready to book another cruise, I just give him a call and done. Darn rules!!! Would love to know the name...:mad:. I prefer to book with Princess, but I have also had to switch. A flash sale just can't be beat. Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gran2five Posted February 26, 2011 #13 Share Posted February 26, 2011 We did receive a call from a Princess sales representative sometime last summer but I think the call was in response to our request for a 2011 Alaska brochure. As part of the request, name - address etc. there was a box asking if we had a TA or not and if so, name of TA. We replied No as to TA. I think based on that information, they decided a call would be beneficial. The lady gave me her contact information and followed that up with an email reminding us that she would be our personal contact at Princess. Subsequent to that, we found a terrific price for a Baltic cruise and booked with a local online agency rather than booking the Alaska cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Host Caroline Posted February 26, 2011 Author #14 Share Posted February 26, 2011 We first got call to "check on us" about 10 days ago... definitely from Princess.. she was in Santa Clarita.. left name and number and said to call if we had questions or wanted to book.. I mentioned that we might go on Grand P some time this year on Aruba itinerary and have gotten 2 more calls this week following up on that and asking if we have questions, want to book etc.? Weird... I have "elite" status with Princess, use same TA and used to be a TA so I am pretty familiar w/ them (I thought)... wonder why we are on the radar all of a sudden.. maybe next call I will ask what proompted them to call! :confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dog Posted February 26, 2011 #15 Share Posted February 26, 2011 I've had such a call over a year ago. Fellow from Princess said he was assigned to take care of us, answer our questions. I think the call was in response from me trying to sign into both of our accounts on the Personalizer and I was having a problem with DH's account. And I told him I always do my bookings with my TA but he said he was still there to help me with questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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