Let the competition begin!

[beachbum53]

Did anybody else see this? http://www.travelmarketreport.com/articles/Carnival-Price-Match-on-Shore-Trips-Irks-Agents

 

Ladies and gentlemen! In this corner, the Carnival Shore Excursion agent. And in this corner, your friendly neighborhood travel agent. Let the battle begin! Ding!:rolleyes::D

Edited January 16, 2014 by beachbum53

[Mysticks1]

I wonder where they got this from?

 

"Agents said it is extremely rare that a third-party excursion is priced lower than a similar Carnival offering. Usually third-party excursions are equal in price or more expensive due to smaller group size, they said."

 

In my experience that isn't true.

 

 

[jimbo5544]

Did anybody else see this? http://www.travelmarketreport.com/articles/Carnival-Price-Match-on-Shore-Trips-Irks-Agents

 

Ladies and gentlemen! In this corner, the Carnival Shore Excursion agent. And in this corner, your friendly neighborhood travel agent. Let the battle begin! Ding!:rolleyes::D

From a TA perspective I thik it is a yawner. No impact.

[Phlybice]

And to think Bob Dickenson was brought back to appease the TA's.

 

Hmmmmm.....

[Jimmy Geegitz]

Who uses a travel agent anymore? You can do a lot better doing your own research and booking direct. TA's are dinosaurs.

[Vitamin_Sea]

incomplete post...

Edited January 16, 2014 by limoguy1

[rjrice1]

Don't Carnival is going to be able to give that more personel touch...

the private tours and etc.

Cathy

[Mysticks1]

Who uses a travel agent anymore? You can do a lot better doing your own research and booking direct. TA's are dinosaurs.

 

I used them for my first 2 cruises but quickly found out I know a lot more about it than even the "cruise specialty" company here in town. I would never book an excursion through a TA anyway. I didn't know that people did that. I have found a TA that gives me OBC on most of my cruises for switching to him so I do that just before final payment date after I get everything set the way I want it. Too bad he doesn't do that with Carnival. :(

[cruizinisthebest]

It's a business decision/revenue. Smart on Carnival's part IMO. However it's not going to effect how I do excursions one way or the other. It always depends on what we want to do and the distance, capacity, etc. as to whether or not we book through the ship or on our own.

 

One note: I use a TA who offers tour excursions as well. In my 4 cruises booked with them, they vaguely push their own excursions and the prices are not any lower than Carnival's. Now maybe other TAs do things differently. But for as much as I rave about my TA, their excursion offerings aren't any more or less appealing than what Carnival offers IF they bother mentioning them at all. The best prices I've seen are from companies that operated totally independent of Carnival or a TA.

[Tapi]

Who uses a travel agent anymore?

 

What's a TA? ;)

 

Seriously, we did benefit from booking through a TA on our last Holland America cruise because they allow TA's to discount prices (by going through a TA, we paid a couple hundred dollars less than booking direct).

 

But that's not the case with Carnival, Royal, and other major cruise lines. When sailing on one of these, we always book direct.

[guxu]

“I’m none too happy about this and don’t understand why Carnival would do this,” said Bob Zweig, owner of Cruiseland, a Cruise Planners agency in Cooper City, Fla. “Wouldn’t it just be easier to pay us commission on their shore excursions?"

 

I am speechless.

Edited January 16, 2014 by guxu

[Mysticks1]

I wonder what percentage of cruises are booked by travel agencies compared to those who book directly through the cruise line? Anyone have any ideas?

[MCC retired]

I wonder what percentage of cruises are booked by travel agencies compared to those who book directly through the cruise line? Anyone have any ideas?

 

I believe that the last time I heard the % from CLIA it was over 80% of new bookings use TA's.

 

Reading all the posts here on CCX you would think that it would be less ?

Fewer % of cruisers post on CCX than we realize.

Edited January 16, 2014 by MCC retired

[clarkrock7]

I'm interested to see the fine print of this guarantee. Carnival's excursions are always significantly more expensive than booking yourself with a third party vendor.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

What's a TA? ;)

 

Seriously, we did benefit from booking through a TA on our last Holland America cruise because they allow TA's to discount prices (by going through a TA, we paid a couple hundred dollars less than booking direct).

 

But that's not the case with Carnival, Royal, and other major cruise lines. When sailing on one of these, we always book direct.

 

Tapi,

 

On my upcoming RCI cruise I got $175 OBC from the TA and $125 off from Crown and Anchor.

 

When I book with CCL I do it myself online though.

 

Bill

[It's a Ship!!!]

Who uses a travel agent anymore? You can do a lot better doing your own research and booking direct. TA's are dinosaurs.

You can also do your own taxes, cook your own food instead of going out, change your own oil, and mow your own lawn. Some people just choose to use a professional. Since most travel agents don't charge you anything to book a cruise, and may save you money or get you a perk you otherwise couldn't get, why would you not use a travel agent?

 

As far as excursions, most travel agents don't try to sell them so this won't be a big deal.

[Butterbean1000]

We book with a TA who happens to be my nephew. We get the exact same deal as if we had gone straight to Carnival. I had a PVP that told us that TAs can't offer special deals or OBC anymore. PVPs don't make commissions either, but they get "points" for every booking.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

[Mysticks1]

I believe that the last time I heard the % from CLIA it was over 80% of new bookings use TA's.

 

Reading all the posts here on CCX you would think that it would be less ?

Fewer % of cruisers post on CCX than we realize.

 

Thanks, that is strange, I would have thought the booking direct number would have been higher.

[Fla Senior]

I believe that the last time I heard the % from CLIA it was over 80% of new bookings use TA's.

 

Was the last time you heard the % in 1980? Sorry, but I find this very hard to believe. If anything, that 80% number would be reversed.

[Georgiagolfer]

Did anybody else see this? http://www.travelmarketreport.com/articles/Carnival-Price-Match-on-Shore-Trips-Irks-Agents

 

Ladies and gentlemen! In this corner, the Carnival Shore Excursion agent. And in this corner, your friendly neighborhood travel agent. Let the battle begin! Ding!:rolleyes::D

 

Makes no difference to us, we never book excursions with CCL. We research and book with the companies direct thanks to the reviews of those here on CC.

[missypriss19]

We only book Carnival excursions if it an all day thing our it has a limited capacity. Otherwise we book through an independent. A good example is when we did a catamaran in Cozumel. We booked for half the price and there was only about 15 people on our boat. We saw the carnival group going out and you could not stir them with a stick. I don't know how they fit so many people on one boat.

[LWiening]

The difference with using a Travel Agent and directly. The agent is able to follow your cruise completely to make sure everything is Ok. If the price goes down they do all the work for you. If you didn't buy insurance they are able to help you what ever you need.

 

As far as excursions I was looking on our cruise on the Liberty Feb 1 and there are not that many independent things to do where we are going to worry about saving money. $4 difference is not worth it to me. I was almost going to book another excursion on Carnival site but nothing said buy me.

 

We are doing a private in St Thomas cause they offered more then a booze catamaran. We are in our 50's and want to enjoy this day on a private sail boat.

[Doug910]

I believe that the last time I heard the % from CLIA it was over 80% of new bookings use TA's.

 

Was the last time you heard the % in 1980? Sorry, but I find this very hard to believe. If anything, that 80% number would be reversed.

 

...Are you thinking that 80% of people book direct with the cruise lines? We here at Cruise Critic are a strange breed. We live to cruise. We imagine we're cruising when we're not. We research cruises until we fall asleep at our computers. Most know how many months, days and hours it is until we sail again. Our homes have cruise "stuff" all over. We will talk to anybody who even mentions the word cruise. And, we all get depressed when we step off of a ship.

 

...Yet, statistically, Cruise Critic members make up less than 2% of the cruising population. Just because we here know what it takes to not only book a cruise, but to get the very best rates and cabin selection, the vast majority do not. Most will need their hand held going through the booking process. And as a PP mentioned, they would rather leave the booking in the hands of a professional. As most know, there is no additional cost to using a TA. Some TA's (against Carnival's rules) will even discount their prices or add additional perks.

 

...And, NO, I am not a travel agent. And, YES, I book my own cabins with a Carnival PVP directly. See, I told you we're a strange breed.

[sprint180]

You can also do your own taxes' date=' cook your own food instead of going out, change your own oil, and mow your own lawn. Some people just choose to use a professional. Since most travel agents don't charge you anything to book a cruise, and may save you money or get you a perk you otherwise couldn't get, why would you not use a travel agent?

 

As far as excursions, most travel agents don't try to sell them so this won't be a big deal.[/quote']

 

 

Why not? Because I was charged over $100 by my TA to book my cruise. And the only thing she did was book it because I had everything already figured out. I booked on my own after that. People say shop around for a TA well, that TA was the only one within 110 miles. There is no shopping around. And if I'm going to book with someone over the internet I might as well do it my self.

[LWiening]

 

...Are you thinking that 80% of people book direct with the cruise lines? We here at Cruise Critic are a strange breed. We live to cruise. We imagine we're cruising when we're not. We research cruises until we fall asleep at our computers. Most know how many months, days and hours it is until we sail again. Our homes have cruise "stuff" all over. We will talk to anybody who even mentions the word cruise. And, we all get depressed when we step off of a ship.

 

...Yet, statistically, Cruise Critic members make up less than 2% of the cruising population. Just because we here know what it takes to not only book a cruise, but to get the very best rates and cabin selection, the vast majority do not. Most will need their hand held going through the booking process. And as a PP mentioned, they would rather leave the booking in the hands of a professional. As most know, there is no additional cost to using a TA. Some TA's (against Carnival's rules) will even discount their prices or add additional perks.

 

...And, NO, I am not a travel agent. And, YES, I book my own cabins with a Carnival PVP directly. See, I told you we're a strange breed.

 

Agents may add perks but they can't discount . Carnival prices are the same where ever you book.