Favorite Gifts from your TA

[O2Bcrusin]

Sometimes a travel agent will give their clients a gift for booking with them. Just wondering what different or unusual gifts have you received and what have been your favorite gifts?

[TM]

We have an awesome TA, who always goes the extra mile for us. Last fall we were sailing on the Star Princess to Hawaii to celebrate our 40th anniversary. As a surprise my husband had booked us into a mini, first time ever doing a mini. Our TA knew the reason for our trip and took it upon himself to talk with the powers that be and got us upgraded to a full suite. We sailed on a Sunday and found this out on Friday evening. We also had flowers waiting for us as well as a bottle of champagne to celebrate our anniversary. We took full advantage of the perks that went along with the suite knowing that it will probably never happen again. A wonderful way to celebrate a milestone anniversary.

[tip]

For many years, we never booked a specialty restaurant. As a matter of fact, each time that we would walk by one we would comment on how ridiculous it was to spend money for a meal when you could eat in the MDR at no additional charge. Then....our travel agent gave us a gift certificate to dine at one. We have a fantastic meal and experience. Now we dine in a specialty restaurant at least once on every cruise.

[Happy2cruise]

Did not know this.....have never received a gift from our TA after booking many cruises and many, many referrals!!

[pris993]

I favorite gift is an OBC. When we receive other gifts, i.e., bottle of wine for example, we exchange it for its dollar value and use towards a bottle of wine we like.

[CruisinChris]

I haven't had a gift, per se, from an agent in a long time. That said, I almost always get additional onboard credit from them and I know I am getting a good price.

 

Thinking back over gifts (not onboard credit), I would have to say complimentary specialty dining stands out, along with a time the agent sent a nice bottle of wine for me and one of the premium flower arrangements for my mother. (the latter was in 1997-8, the former probably around 2005 or so).

[Treven]

i generally get some OBC from my TA, plus occasionally she'll send me a bottle of Jack Daniels.

[SkyMaster]

Of course, my favorite gift has to be when my GREAT T.A. had my stateroom completely decorated to celebrate my birthday while aboard, along with a cake, in the dining room, etc. Other than that, she always sends along a very generous O.B.C., which is always appreciated. She is indeed, one of a kind!

Oh yes,,,on one other cruise, long ago, we sat down at the dinner table and began talking to this very nice couple, only to discover that they were indeed, my T.A., and her husband. We had talked for a year, but never met. Since then we do a cruise most every year together. :D

 

"SKY"

[Grammyluvs]

TA's send gifts!!! I guess it would be tacky to ask what they are sending me.LOL

[caribill]

TA's send gifts!!! I guess it would be tacky to ask what they are sending me.LOL

 

Some do.

 

On one cruise we had from our TA the following:

regular OBC

casino OBC (exchange voucher for cash at the casino)

bottle of wine

Spa obc (to only be used at the spa)

A free specialty restaurnt meal (for one person, not both of us).

 

The TA must have had a group of cabins. When that happens, Princess gives the TA "points" which can be used to get "gifts" for the TA's clients.

[Tropic5115]

We have had chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us in our room, OBC, sometimes a certificate for wine or a photograph. For our B2B wedding cruise our TA was able to upgrade us from a balcony to a full suite for both legs of the trip, that was awesome! We also recieved a balcony breakfast once as well. Its always a really fun surprise to get a little something when you arrive in your room!

[sunlover5]

OBC and big, plush bathrobes we got to take home!

[1025cruise]

The best gift I ever got from my TA was on HAL, not Princess, where she gifted us an evening at the Pinnacle Grill.

 

Unfortunately, while the gifts she has sent us for our Princess were appreciated (and thanked), they were just not my cup of tea. Once she sent us some chocolate covered strawberries that my wife tells me were good (I don't care for strawberries), and another time she sent us a balcony breakfast. Unfortunately, we were not notified of the balcony breakfast until we received a call from room service telling us we only had one more day to schedule it. As we really weren't interested in the balcony breakfast, they were kind enough to change it to OBC. Our reason for not being interested are simple, the menu does not appeal to us, and there is no way we could eat all that food. However, I am still appreciative of the effort.

[Lin336]

We have always received nice gifts from our TA but our last cruise on the Caribbean Princess we received the gift of the Ultimate Balcony Dinner. What a great gift and a wonderful experience!

[baldercash]

Our TA usually kicks in for pre-paid gratuities, my wife loves it as she does not have to calculate tips she just hands out extra money to the staff that impress at the end of the cruise.

We have received bottles of wine, flowers and gift baskets, ship board dinners and on board credits.

The best thing she did for us was not a gift. She called us first for a step aside. We pulled out of a cruise last minute, in exchange we went from a 14 day cruise to a 19 and were up graded from an inside to a balcony with a butler on a high end cruise line.

 

We have booked close to 30 cruises with her.

[cruiseryyc]

Wine, wine and more wine!!

[oceansandseas]

Our TA does not give gifts. With one cruise line we get free gratuities if we book around 1 year in advance, but this is given by the cruiseline.

[DesrtDrmr]

We received a bottle of wine on our first cruise on HAL. We then moved and have used both local and on line agents. We never received a gift or a discount from any of them. We now book directly with the cruise line and keep ourselves in charge of our vacation.

[Happy2cruise]

Question from those who have received gifts from you TA, do you also get a discounted cruise rate or is it the regular Princess rate with a gift from TA? Thanks.

[Colo Cruiser]

Question from those who have received gifts from you TA, do you also get a discounted cruise rate or is it the regular Princess rate with a gift from TA? Thanks.

 

We normaly get both. ;)

[caber]

I hope my TA is reading this. I have only ever had one bottle of wine, and that was from a different TA on our very first cruise. We are regular customers of our current TA - for the moment!

 

Are you reading this? You know who you are!!!

[baldercash]

Our TA usually gives a discount as well.

Last Oct we did the Emerald Fall Colour cruise, my wife was looking at a large last minute site with a 90 day ticker on cruises. I just clipped it and emailed it to her and she responded with a slightly cheaper price, ppg & $50.00 obc. We booked the cruise which dropped about $50.00 cheaper a week later but we were only 7 days out and did not bother to call or expect we would get anything if we did.

 

We recently booked a X cruise for next fall, she gave us a slightly better price then X with pre paid gratuities a dinner plus a ship board credit. This was for an expensive 35 day B2B trans-pacific in Aqua class. We had no future cruise credits, forgot to do them last cruise.

Our friends booked through X and then canceled and re booked with their X TA so they could use a $500.00 time sensitive offer by X. They then wanted to transfer it to our TA but she could not offer them what we had got because of the $1,000.00 OBC for a B2B they got from X. They could not combine stock option or standard future cruise deposits with the new X offer as well.

 

When the smoke cleared we got more then our friends and no hassle.

If the cruise drops in price she will match it but AC cabins are already 90% booked so it likely won't drop.

We got the cabin B2B we wanted, $200.00 cheaper for the cabin then booking through X and about $1,200.00 in benefits.

Best of all no stress, our friends have to change cabins for the 2nd leg which might change.

This was the 1st time we have ever booked a cruise that was not on sale and we wanted a specific cabin and level.

 

We just finished booking on RCI 2 weeks ago for April, 15 days N"Orleans to Rome. A balcony on the back $1,700.00 for 2 all in with ppg and a $300.00 future cruise obc.

 

 

Once we book we don't usually don't bother looking at prices again, that is the job of the TA.

[Happy2cruise]

I hope my TA is reading this. I have only ever had one bottle of wine, and that was from a different TA on our very first cruise. We are regular customers of our current TA - for the moment!

 

Are you reading this? You know who you are!!!

 

Sounds like we have the same TA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Andee]

We got a bottle of wine once.

 

If we were ever to get a gift again, I'd prefer OBC, so we could decide how to spend it.

[Putterdude]

The best gift we ever got was free insurance as they had negotiated in their group fare. But what I appreciate the most is the knowledge I have got a very good price.