Cessation of princess travel agents commission

[ian moore]

I have cruised with Princess for many years and normally book through a travel agent in Belfast with a discount on the total cruise price being offered by the travel agent. They have now told us that they cannot offer us any discount as Princess have cut down the travel agents commission to a minimum. On this basis ,we may as well simply book directly with Princess.

 

Anyone else experience this issue?

 

Anyone aware of any travel agents in UK offering discounts on Princess Cruises?

 

 

Ian.

[-Lew-]

Cessation and cut down the travel agents commission to a minimum are two different things. Before I resign myself to booking directly with Princess and foregoing any possibility of a discount, I would check with other TAs.

 

Lew

[1025cruise]

Board rules prohibit discussions on specific travel agents.

 

In the US, travel agents can still discount, but they can't advertise it (or something like that). As I'm not a TA, I can't explain any specifics.

[LovesCruising]

Don't know about the UK but here in the US discounting of cruise prices on any line is not allowed. Therefore, any discount received comes directly from the travel agent taking it from their commission and passing it on to you. If your travel agent isn't making a good commission, there would be no money to pass on to you as a discount without them making something.

[thinfool]

Yes, it would be good to book directly with Princess if you like the idea of giving more of your money to a huge corporation rather than to a small business. (This may help Carnival with its costs to replace the Costa Concordia) :(

 

The price will be the same. Princess will keep the commission for itself.

[englishbird]

I am a TA in The UK and I can confirm that no Travel Agent or website in The Uk will offer a discount with Princess, P&O or Cunard

 

The commission was cut to 5% about a year ago. The only way to get a discount is the UK is to find a TA that has a group allocation on the cruise that you wish to book.

 

I have been a TA for over 15 years and the commission was set at 15% for a long time. When we were earning that amount, there was never a problem in offering a good discount. Unfortunately that is impossible when we only make 5%!:eek:

[-Lew-]

 

Don't know about the UK but here in the US discounting of cruise prices on any line is not allowed.

I don't believe that statement is correct. Some cruise lines will not allow their TAs to discount at all; others require TAs to advertise their cruises at full fair, but will allow discounting; and still others will allow the advertising of discounted pricing.

 

I booked a Princess cruise just last week and received a healthy discount from my TA.

 

Lew

[manxstaff]

I found this when we booked last year in the uk, my normal agent could only give us the same price as Princess. I tried many agents and all said the same thing.

I have booked direct with princess for my 2012 and for the Royal Princess next year, the advantage being Princess don't want final payment till 8 weeks before travel whereas the travel agents want it 12 weeks before travel.

[robgvic]

I have always booked with Princess and just booked a balcony on the Royal. I called an agent that had been recommended and their rate was about $500 pp less. My loyalty to my Princess rep has disappeared, but I won't turn my booking over to the agent until much closer as I like to have some control over it

[Pia1913]

Don't know about the UK but here in the US discounting of cruise prices on any line is not allowed. Therefore, any discount received comes directly from the travel agent taking it from their commission and passing it on to you. If your travel agent isn't making a good commission, there would be no money to pass on to you as a discount without them making something.

 

Not true. You are a Royal Carib cruiser and Royal Carib disallows discounts.

[AKman2495]

I have no idea what they are doing, but it would not surprise me in the least. Airlines did it years ago. I booked directly on Princess thinking they would follow airline practice and their website was clearly made up for easy "do-it-yourself" bookings.

 

I am sure that princess did not develop such as user friendly website if they didn't have eliminating commissions to TAs in mind.

[jollyjones]

I have no idea what they are doing, but it would not surprise me in the least. Airlines did it years ago. I booked directly on Princess thinking they would follow airline practice and their website was clearly made up for easy "do-it-yourself" bookings.

 

I am sure that princess did not develop such as user friendly website if they didn't have eliminating commissions to TAs in mind.

 

How I wish this were true and that I could book directly with Princess! But, alas, they will not allow me to do so as an international client, they force me to use a local travel agent, I'm not even allowed to book with US online agents. Needless to say, I have to pay a higher price than US pax, the Bda market is waaay too small for any such thing as a discount.

 

Fortunately, I have a very good local TA but it still niggles at me, it's the only thing I have to use her for, I do all my flights, hotels etc. myself online.

[Cruise Junky]

I found this when we booked last year in the uk, my normal agent could only give us the same price as Princess. I tried many agents and all said the same thing.

I have booked direct with princess for my 2012 and for the Royal Princess next year, the advantage being Princess don't want final payment till 8 weeks before travel whereas the travel agents want it 12 weeks before travel.

 

I just got my welcome and confirmation from Princess for the Royal Transatlantic and they specify final payment is about 10 1/2 weeks before sailing.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Board rules prohibit discussions on specific travel agents.

 

In the US, travel agents can still discount, but they can't advertise it (or something like that). As I'm not a TA, I can't explain any specifics.

 

Yes, you have that exactly correct. In the US, we can still discount. We just can't advertise that discount. There has been a lot of misinformation posted on this over the past 6-8 months.

[Beopthtuh]

I am a TA in The UK and I can confirm that no Travel Agent or website in The Uk will offer a discount with Princess, P&O or Cunard

 

The commission was cut to 5% about a year ago. The only way to get a discount is the UK is to find a TA that has a group allocation on the cruise that you wish to book.

 

I have been a TA for over 15 years and the commission was set at 15% for a long time. When we were earning that amount, there was never a problem in offering a good discount. Unfortunately that is impossible when we only make 5%!:eek:

evening eb.

if everyone is treat the same why are some uk prices lower between T.a,s

even with our royal booking we got offered different prices and obc .

[Cruise Junky]

evening eb.

if everyone is treat the same why are some uk prices lower between T.a,s

even with our royal booking we got offered different prices and obc .

 

Some travel agents probably made a group booking that gets some lower prices if they have a decent size group going.

[Loonbeam]

A couple reasons..

 

1> As noted, if an agency is willing to commit to selling a certain number of cabins they can get an improved rate (the flip side to that is if they don't sell enough they pay a higher rate and still have to honor what they quoted their customers)

 

2> Very high volume agents may be able to negotiate some extra commission.

 

3> Just deciding to give back 1 percent of that 5 percent can make a small difference.

 

4> There's also a mechanism where agencies can pre-buy OBC and other things in bulk at a small discount which can help.

 

evening eb.

if everyone is treat the same why are some uk prices lower between T.a,s

even with our royal booking we got offered different prices and obc .

[paddingtonbear]

How I wish this were true and that I could book directly with Princess! But, alas, they will not allow me to do so as an international client, they force me to use a local travel agent, I'm not even allowed to book with US online agents. Needless to say, I have to pay a higher price than US pax, the Bda market is waaay too small for any such thing as a discount.

 

Fortunately, I have a very good local TA but it still niggles at me, it's the only thing I have to use her for, I do all my flights, hotels etc. myself online.

 

In Australia I can book directly with Princess. And i dont have any "hide" siftware. Also when I ring princess I think I get transferred to a us call centre (not sure but it is not Australian business hours and they sound American - I will ask next time).

 

Maybe you need software like expat shield which stops the provider from knowing where you computer is located.

[englishbird]

evening eb.

if everyone is treat the same why are some uk prices lower between T.a,s

even with our royal booking we got offered different prices and obc .

 

 

As I said in my previous post. Some agents will have a group allocation on certain sailings. The price is allocated to the agent by Princess and does not require the agent to discount.:D

[jollyjones]

In Australia I can book directly with Princess. And i dont have any "hide" siftware. Also when I ring princess I think I get transferred to a us call centre (not sure but it is not Australian business hours and they sound American - I will ask next time).

 

Maybe you need software like expat shield which stops the provider from knowing where you computer is located.

 

I think the Australian punter is not handled in the same way as north of the equator non-US customers. Shielding the location of my computer is of limited value since they have my info (I'm Elite) and I use a credit card with a Bermuda billing address - I choose not to try and set up a fake US billing address, I know it can be done but I don't think it's particularly safe.

[paddingtonbear]

I think the Australian punter is not handled in the same way as north of the equator non-US customers. Shielding the location of my computer is of limited value since they have my info (I'm Elite) and I use a credit card with a Bermuda billing address - I choose not to try and set up a fake US billing address, I know it can be done but I don't think it's particularly safe.

 

Oh yes, sorry! I didn't think of the repercussions. Silly suggestion of mine.:o

[KWinSF]

Yes, it would be good to book directly with Princess if you like the idea of giving more of your money to a huge corporation rather than to a small business. (This may help Carnival with its costs to replace the Costa Concordia) :(

 

The price will be the same. Princess will keep the commission for itself.

Not all travel agencies are small businesses. I booked my upcoming Princess cruise with a company that happens to be a large corporation, and got (or rather will be getting) a bit of onboard credit and some rebate. :) Can't mention the name of this large corporation, as it is against Cruisecritic TOS to do so. :(

[kuldalai]

It is not that Princess have cut out the Agents commission. If Princess did not pay a commission why would a TA sell their product at all ?

 

What is more likley , is that Princess have told Agents in many countries that they cannot discount the cruise below the day to day fare set by Princess . This is a push generally on the part of the Carnival brands to attempt to have both their own outlets and TA's all selling at pretty much the same fare . This way Carnival group attempts to stop the discounting and achieve better margins (for Carnival group.)

 

In Australia however this practice is called retail price maintenance and it is totally illegal for a supplier to dictate or control the price of a product sold by any retailer . The supplier can control his sell price to the retailer, but the retailer can sell the product at whatever price he likes. Anyone caught practicing retail price maintenance in Australia will be very heavily fined by the ACCC .

[rugbypopsie]

You are totally correct Kuldali..I wonder what will happen in Australia if anything.

 

Sue

[hansi]

I have cruised with Princess for many years and normally book through a travel agent in Belfast with a discount on the total cruise price being offered by the travel agent. They have now told us that they cannot offer us any discount as Princess have cut down the travel agents commission to a minimum. On this basis ,we may as well simply book directly with Princess.

 

Anyone else experience this issue?

 

Anyone aware of any travel agents in UK offering discounts on Princess Cruises?

 

 

Ian.

 

That is correct. Agents now work on a very low commission basis and all( or nearly all) sell at the same price. We now always book direct with Princess because, the price is the same, it can all be done online with instant confirmation and there's no charge four using debit cards and a low credit card charge too.