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So what kind of perks does your TA give you?


zalusky

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I know we cant talk about specific Travel Agencies and I am not asking for that here.

 

In general though I am curious at what are the latest perks that can still be offered such as a bottle of champagne, or chocolates or prepaid tips and such.

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What a travel agent can and does give depends on several things. Some just give excellant service which is the most valuable of all; other give wine, fruit baskets, gift certificates for local restaurants or on board credits. if you are lucky you have a TA that give good service and a thank you gift. NMNita

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My previous TA used to send us a bottle of wine. Then I warned him (jokingly) that if he sent me one more bottle of cheap crap I'd smack him. Then he finally asked...so what do you drink?.... sadly, he retired, or moved on. Now I use an online TA that saved us about $800 - 1,000 on our last trip so I expect and will receive absolutely nothing...which would I prefer...a bottle of Korbel or an $800 savings....hmmmmm.

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I know we cant talk about specific Travel Agencies and I am not asking for that here.

 

In general though I am curious at what are the latest perks that can still be offered such as a bottle of champagne, or chocolates or prepaid tips and such.

Typically a ship's credit for a nice bottle of wine.
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When we picked up our tickets the TA gave us 2 plushy white Celebrity robes. We sail on Sept 12, we'll see if she sends something on board, in any case was happy to get the robes, though won't take them with us, suites have robes.

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I have gotten in no particular oder;

 

tiled coasters (water themed);

t-shirts;

room credit;

wine (which I can't have);

rest certificate;

choclates (which I can't have);

clock; and

tote bag.

 

When my noraml tA found out that I could not have what she sent, she asked what I was allowed.

 

Freedom trip 7 bottles of wine, lanyard and a magnet. The wine will be used at my daughter's wedding on board the Freedom.

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None, nada, zilch, zero!!!

 

After booking 5 cruises in a row with her and a sixth one booked for next year I think it's time for a new TA.

 

Besides I do all the work. We have been booking onboard to receive the credit and all it does is get transfered to her.

 

Anne Maria

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When traveling with our children my TA has gotten their cabin decorated in party streamers etc.

 

I have told her after getting the usual gifts (Wine etc.) that I would rather her just give us a discount on the cruise price than get us anything on the cruise.

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Our former TA gave us various things on the nine cruises we booked through her: bottles of wine, matching the cruiseline's onboard credit, photo coupons, gift baskets of travel goodies, and canapes. She retired at the end of 2003. I booked last year's cruise with an Internet TA. We received a great price and great service. I'd rather save $1,600 than get a cheap bottle of wine.

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Our online TA gave us the following for the upcoming cruise:

 

Free travel insurance!!!

Celebrity's Onboard coupon booklet

Celebrity's Celebration package

Celebrity Robe

 

The last 3 may have been offers from Celebrity at the time we booked 3/15/2005 for the 11/7/2005 sailing).

 

But the free insurance is a terrific offer.

 

In addition, she got us a CC guarantee at an outstanding price. Based on current prices for this category, we're going to end up with our air fare and shore excursions for free.

 

Remember, this was before Celebrity established their uniform pricing structure.

 

We're delighted!!! And pardon my bragging.

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When traveling with our children my TA has gotten their cabin decorated in party streamers etc.

 

I have told her after getting the usual gifts (Wine etc.) that I would rather her just give us a discount on the cruise price than get us anything on the cruise.

Fang, giving a discount is pretty tough to do these days; there are so many restrictions, but it certainly is a great idea. I like to give gifts based on my clients needs and personalities. I have one client that gives me so much business that I can book them on a cruise with only a small commission and still do something for him, plus he is really a nice person. He is happy with whatever I choose to give him; others do like certain things. I still say the most important thing an agent can do is give good service.

Anna Marie, I know how you feel, this is why I think I always want to reward my clients for loyal business: before I was in the business we never as much as got a thank you from any of our TAs. NMNita

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Anna Marie, I know how you feel, this is why I think I always want to reward my clients for loyal business: before I was in the business we never as much as got a thank you from any of our TAs. NMNita

 

Nita, You know I'm not evening asking for the world, but on our April cruise I got 5 other cabins to book through her. My sister-in-law used her to book a cruise for her entire family last summer to Hawaii and on our cruise in July it was our 20th Wedding Anniversary. She could have at least sent a bottle of wine. How much would it have cost her?

 

I was really upset after our last cruise, that's why now I'm in the market for a new TA.

 

Anne Maria

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Would appreciate getting via email (michuck@aol.com) names of TAs who have shown their appreciation for your bookings. I've booked about 15 cruises with my TA (all on RCCL and Celebrity), not including about 5 others for other people that travelled with us, and have yet to receive an acknowledgement of our loyalty. S'matter of fact, on our upcoming cruise, I found out about a senior discount, and had to ask for it. I've not yet once found out about a drop in price (perhaps there weren't any), but I'm now checking online myself.

 

Thanks!

 

Michele

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CruisingChick, I feel the same way. My sister and I have been booking through the same TA (one that the boards rave about) for many cruises. Her service is pretty good, not great, as it's sometimes difficult to get a response from her. We have booked several cruises with her, multiple cabins, and with the exception of one bottle of cheap white wine that we didn't drink (that was on one of our cheapest cruises too), we haven't received a thing. My last cruise on the Millennium was about $10,000 for 2 cabins, and I didn't get so much as a thank you card or a note asking if we had a good time and if everything went OK.

 

After our Dawn Princess cruise problems she never contacted Princess with our concerns. Considering she's one of the top Princess sellers you would think she would have called them and thrown her weight around a bit to get us a better compensation or moved to an unbroken ship. But she did nothing except tell us we were going to love our extra sea days!! Ugh! :(

 

While planning my Millennium cruise I had a few questions here and there, and she always acted frustrated, and told me Celebrity was so difficult to work with, made me feel terrible for choosing Celebrity and bothering her. The Millennium cruise was my very best, most outstanding cruise so far and she had me questioning my choice. Plus, it would seem a good TA wouldn't act like taking care of a small situation was difficult or unpleasant for her to do.

 

So, enough of her. I have used two different TA's for the upcoming booked cruises and I am pretty sure I am going to go back to a local TA who helped me a few years back with our first two cruises in the future.

 

I am far, far from a difficult client. I do all the research myself, pre-book ahead on the ships, and make all my own travel arrangements. What more could a TA want?

 

Can you tell I've been thinking a lot about this lately?? :rolleyes:

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None, nada, zilch, zero!!!

 

After booking 5 cruises in a row with her and a sixth one booked for next year I think it's time for a new TA.

 

Besides I do all the work. We have been booking onboard to receive the credit and all it does is get transfered to her.

 

Anne Maria

sounds like you have the same TA as we do,,only ours is a man....:(
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