Can Travel Agents Discount PG Prices?

[aaaaa]

Good day, Is the price of a PG cruise fixed or can a TA discount the price (apart from giving on-board credit)?

[D-ma]

Good Question!!!! I would really like to know the answer to that also.

[Emdee]

Yes they can . Some give you a bonus cheque some share their commission. TAs have their ways to do so.

[FlightMedic555]

From what I have seen you will not see a true discount from any TA. PG takes payment directly from the person cruising and process the payment directly via credit card to their bank. In this way they ensure that the full price is paid.

 

Once you have paid your TA is free to do whatever they want with their commission. Most earn a 10% commission so some will give you back some $$ or they will pay out of their own pocket for some on board credit but none will have a $7,000 cruise (as priced on the PG website) priced at $6,000.

[RNlovestocruise]

My TA accidently sent me final agency copy of invoice. On it shows that the TA received a 13% commission for cruise and 10% commission for the Land Package. For 2 of us this amounted to 1,375.22 US dollars. When I asked if I was to recieve on board credit I was told a firm NO! I also was charged a 50.00 service fee by the agency for doing the booking. I sought out this agency mind you, they did not court me, send me literature, or even have a PG brochure in their office. I based my decision to go on this cruise by all of you who are loyal to the PG and contribute to these chat boards on a regular basis. In my opinion it is all of you who deserve the commission. The TA did nothing but pick up the phone. I hope PG monitors this thread because the 5% Society savings that they tout is a pittence compared to what these TA's make. It is all of you and the PG crew that should be reaping such a hefty commision. Next time I will know better and book myself and eliminate the middle man.

[cruisingsfun]

That is really too bad that your TA won't give you a discount. The agency that I booked with for a cruise this coming October gave us about $1000 discount from the brochure 50% off and free air. So it can be done. I don't know how hard it would be to transfer to another agency. Gail

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I'm shocked that your agent wouldn't give you something. Is it too late to move the booking to another agency? There are agents who will give cash rebates and/or onboard credits, routinely.

[RNlovestocruise]

Final pay was in December. Cruise leaves March 14th 2012. Did not know this until final documents came in. Live and Learn. I have been on many cruises before and always did my own booking but because of the expense of this one thought it would be a good idea to use a agent. Most on the boards have talked about receiving OBC from their TA's in amts of 200-300 dollars. I was shocked also.

[Emdee]

Booking direct makes no sense. Another poster did so and got nothing from the PG. Do a bit of research and find an agent who gives you something in terms of OBC and or discount.

[tigger77732]

Final pay was in December. Cruise leaves March 14th 2012. Did not know this until final documents came in. Live and Learn. I have been on many cruises before and always did my own booking but because of the expense of this one thought it would be a good idea to use a agent. Most on the boards have talked about receiving OBC from their TA's in amts of 200-300 dollars. I was shocked also.

 

I totally agree with you. My TA also did nothing that I couldn't do myself. I kept asking her if we would get an OBC since so many people here talk about an OBC almost as it is expected, we got not a thing. Then when I asked her about airfare to LA and needing help, her help was to advise me to look for online fares around the hoilidays. I just don't see the point in giving someone that much money when she did nothing special to deserve it. I even tried to test her on knowledge of FP by asking questions that I knew the answers to (because of the great people here) and her answers were less than stellar. IE where's the best place for pearls? Answer: listen to onboard lectures.

 

Again, we chose her (well my husband did against the advice of myself as I was unhappy with her on our previous vacation) but next time I think we will book direct as there was no bonus in booking with our TA.

[Emdee]

Booking direct will not help either - find a TA who can help you and knows what they are talking about. Do youre research before you hand over your credit card!

I use special TAs for each type of trip - Africa specialist for Africa - South american specialist for Machu Picchu.

[Trend]

I have used a cruise specialist for the last 25 years and she always gives us something. It usually is an onboard credit sometimes a gift, but always something. She is part of a large agency and as a specialist of many many years in the field she is privi to specials that get sent out to large agents. My last cruise she notified us 2 times as she found us price reductions, I do not have the time or inside info to find that, she saved us in the end $1000 for my husband and I and another $700 for the cabin my son was in.

Also for the person who has never experience a problem I will share; we had all our luggage stolen on a cruise, that is to say many years ago our luggage never ever arrived. It was not know if lost in transit or cruiseline. Having someone in my home country able to contact and work from her end she immediately got an on board $1000 credit to buy some clothes at the ship shops.

She worked with the airline and cruise line to do her best to find it unfortunately it was not found but I did have the comfort that on my holiday I was not on the phone long distance chasing people. This taught us an important lesson deals come with sacrifice you never know when you need help.

[Leejnd4]

Sorry to hear that some of you worked with greedy agents. While no agent can "officially" discount the cruise (that's true across the entire cruise industry), a good one will give you at least some sort of financial incentive. Ours offers the option of on-board credit or a direct refund. We chose the direct refund, and ended up with a full 5% cash back, received in the form of a check after final payment.

 

Expensive lesson to shop around.

[AgentBob]

Hello Everyone,

 

I was reading over this thread and wanted to comment.

 

Generally if using a large travel agency the price will be the same with the exception of perhaps a small service fee some companies charge. Most cruise lines nowadays do not allow agencies to discount off the actual price that the cruise line sets out. The actual amount of money you're paying for a cruise though is going to remain relatively the same, but the cruise lines do pay these agencies a commission for selling the cruise for them.

 

@RNlovestocruise - You mentioned that you once saw an agency version of your cruise that indicated a comission of $1,375.22; please keep in mind that is the amount that the comapny as a whole made and your personal agent probable only saw somewhere between $137-$220 of that.

 

If you ship around you should be able to find an agency that will offer "something" addiditonal. Onboard credits, direct refunds, etc. It's usually easier to get them to give you something before you commit than after you commit. Be ready to give them the website of another agency that is advertising something they are not.