I'm seriously considering to bypass my TA this time and had a question please

[Thrak]

I have never used a TA. Don't you have to pay them? Is the price usually offset by obc? Sorry if this comes across ignorant, but I have no clue how a TA works. I've booked our past and upcoming cruises through Princess directly

 

If a TA wants you to pay them look elsewhere! I want a TA to give me a lower price than Princess. I definitely don't want to pay them!

[Mapu]

Although there are a few TAs that will have a service charge for booking a cruise, almost all TAs will book a cruise without you having to pay anything extra.

 

Some TAs will always charge the same price as Princess.

 

Some TAs will give a discount to Princess pricing. (Never advertised or shown on their web site; must find out pricing by asking for a quote).**

 

Before booking with a TA learn if there will be any fees for making changes or any fee by the TA if you cancel the booking.

 

Also important is how accessible is the TA if you need to contact him/her. Reachable evenings or on a weekend if there is a true emergency? Someone you can contact when your TA is on vacation or out sick?

 

**Sometimes you can get OBC or other amenities from a TA that you cannot get from a booking directly with Princess. Sometimes these come by the TA giving up some of his/her cvommission, but more often they come from discounts Princess gives TAs for booking "groups" and from amenities TAs can chose from that Princess does give for those bookings.

 

Well said.

[Wavelet]

From the posts I can see shopping around can be beneficial. I, like many, don't know how to find a 'good' one and Cruise Critic's rules state you can't specify one on this board.

My question is this: has anyone used the TA's that Princess calls the Commodore status? I'm not asking for a specific recommendation, just are they merely mouthpieces for Princess since they supposedly are well versed w/Princess? Are they merely reciting what I could do by booking online myself?We have gone with another TA for the 2 cruises we've taken and thought we were treated well, but after reading these posts I think I should look around more to be sure.

Again not asking for a specific TA, so I hope this doesn't get deleted.

[Coral]

From the posts I can see shopping around can be beneficial. I, like many, don't know how to find a 'good' one and Cruise Critic's rules state you can't specify one on this board.

My question is this: has anyone used the TA's that Princess calls the Commodore status? I'm not asking for a specific recommendation, just are they merely mouthpieces for Princess since they supposedly are well versed w/Princess? Are they merely reciting what I could do by booking online myself?We have gone with another TA for the 2 cruises we've taken and thought we were treated well, but after reading these posts I think I should look around more to be sure.

Again not asking for a specific TA, so I hope this doesn't get deleted.

 

My TA is a Commodore but I would not book an agent based on that alone. My agent is a high volume cruise agent with most of her bookings being with Princess.

 

To be a Commodore, you have to take several tests (which I have been told in the early days people cheated by having other agents write/print the answers, not sure if this is still true) and I think now to maintain it, they must have a few bookings with Princess. In the past, I met several agents who were Commodores who had never booked a cruise before or been on a cruise and were doing the tests to simply get their graduation free cruise. I think the change to this last part was people coming on CC bragging that they had never cruised or booked cruises and got a free cruise by getting Commodore status. I think this new change is trying to get people who pretend to be agents from doing this.

 

So I would ask more about their cruising experience and how much they book along with the obvious other questions (fees for booking/cancelling, availability), etc...

Edited August 23, 2014 by Coral

[Wavelet]

My TA is a Commodore but I would not book an agent based on that alone. My agent is a high volume cruise agent with most of her bookings being with Princess.

 

To be a Commodore, you have to take several tests (which I have been told in the early days people cheated by having other agents write/print the answers, not sure if this is still true) and I think now to maintain it, they must have a few bookings with Princess. In the past, I met several agents who were Commodores who had never booked a cruise before or been on a cruise and were doing the tests to simply get their graduation free cruise. I think the change to this last part was people coming on CC bragging that they had never cruised or booked cruises and got a free cruise by getting Commodore status. I think this new change is trying to get people who pretend to be agents from doing this.

 

So I would ask more about their cruising experience and how much they book along with the obvious other questions (fees for booking/cancelling, availability), etc...

 

Thanks, Coral. This was exactly the info I was looking for.