T.A. discount?

[jbeth]

I recently had to change my travel agent. I just booked a cruise and my new T.A. quoted the same exact $$ as the Princess online site. I have always had somewhat of a discount in the past. Is this normal? I did book the cruise and will be getting on OBC and spec. dining, but I think this comes from Princess, not my T.A. Please, any comments? Thanks!

[chrysalis]

You "think" that it is coming from Princess and not your TA.

[Coral]

Not all travel agents discount.

[CruisinChris]

Or work for a "volume" agency that gets them preferred pricing. It's also possible that your previous bookings were done as part of group space reserved by the agency which will also enable them to sell space at a better rate with additional perks.

 

You don't say why you "had" to change agents, but you might have been better off with at least the previous agency, if not the agency. The common wisdom is that it's almost always possible to do better than Princess's online pricing, if you shop around. If you're content with what you're paying, I wouldn't spend more time thinking about it. You will make yourself crazy because pricing changes constantly.

[Colo Cruiser]

Find a TA that discounts.

[paul929207]

A travel agent is under no obligation to give a discount. They do it hoping it will increase business

[MCC retired]

Why did OP book with the new TA if he/she offered nothing more than what Princess is offering ?

That new TA is permitted to discount all Princess rates and didn't .

Took advantage of a non shopper I'm afraid .

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[Coveguy4]

On some of the discounted fares offered from Princess, the TA does not have more than a few $$ wiggle room. The same TA has saved me hundreds on some cruises, and then only $5.00 on a short get a way that Princess had heavily discounted....

[caribill]

I did book the cruise and will be getting on OBC and spec. dining, but I think this comes from Princess, not my T.A. Please, any comments? Thanks!

 

It probably comes from a combination of Princess and the TA.

 

When a TA has a number of bookings on a cruise, Princess allots "amenity points" which the TA may use to give benefits to the passenger. These benefits can include wide, OBC, specialty dining, casino credit, etc.

 

However, the TA can choose to keep the "amenity points" and turn them in for additional commission.

 

So Princess provided the incentives and the TA decided to give them to you instead of having a larger commission.

[skrodle]

I have two TAs that I work with, I will often book online myself, they put it out to the two TAs to see which will give me the better price. They are both aware of each other, and it usually comes down to if one has a Group booked on that sailing or not. I get EXCELLENT service from both my TAs and now have booked 3 cruises through them and have had all them discounted significantly.

[Av8tor]

I did book the cruise and will be getting on OBC and spec. dining, but I think this comes from Princess, not my T.A. Please, any comments? Thanks!

 

It probably comes from a combination of Princess and the TA.

 

 

I'd bet that the OBC and specialty dining is just from Princess as part of their 50th Anniversary Sale that's currently going on...

[AZbeachboy]

It does not make sense that they changed considering they did not get a better rate. It would be interesting to find out why.

[Pam in CA]

Princess allows all TAs to discount. Some choose to, many do not. Some TAs are super high volume and get preferred pricing to start with. They offer group rates and distribute the "free" fare among their clients, further reducing the fare. Then, some discount their commission because the work on volume. Some also offer OBC and other perks. When you book, the length of your cruise and cabin category can make a difference in how much of a net fare you're quoted.

[LabGuy64]

What percentage of your cruise price are you getting back in OBC and other perks?......Some OBC could be comming from Princess....depending on a cople factors...but you can see on the Princess website if they are offering OBC for your cruise and cabin choice...if you are getting extra it will be coming from the TA. I booked a curise in November and will be getting more than 10% of the price cruise in OBC. and if you don't like your TA shop around and you can transfer a booking to a new TA

 

 

I recently had to change my travel agent. I just booked a cruise and my new T.A. quoted the same exact $$ as the Princess online site. I have always had somewhat of a discount in the past. Is this normal? I did book the cruise and will be getting on OBC and spec. dining, but I think this comes from Princess, not my T.A. Please, any comments? Thanks!

[TomCruises]

My experience with Princess and T/A's is that I always recieve a discount toward the purchase price of 10%-12% based on my cruise category and $$ amount.However,a release control of my reservation with T/A.

Other cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean and Celebrity in my experience with a T/A only result in a stateroom credit based upon $$ amount of cruise as T/A speaks of no % discount with these two cruise lines.Who really knows??

[LabGuy64]

And, it seems that the full suites get offered less, if any discounts from the cruise lines and OBC as well. You can go to the say, Princess website and see offers of 200 OBC for a Balcony stateroom but, nothing offered for the Owners or Penthouse suites

 

 

My experience with Princess and T/A's is that I always recieve a discount toward the purchase price of 10%-12% based on my cruise category and $$ amount.However,a release control of my reservation with T/A.

Other cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean and Celebrity in my experience with a T/A only result in a stateroom credit based upon $$ amount of cruise as T/A speaks of no % discount with these two cruise lines.Who really knows??

[baldercash]

My experience with Princess and T/A's is that I always recieve a discount toward the purchase price of 10%-12% based on my cruise category and $$ amount.However,a release control of my reservation with T/A.

Other cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean and Celebrity in my experience with a T/A only result in a stateroom credit based upon $$ amount of cruise as T/A speaks of no % discount with these two cruise lines.Who really knows??

 

I just booked a RCI cruise through our TA last week and she got us a Balcony even though the Royal site shows all balconies sold.

I was assigned a cabin number and given additional OBC on top of the Royal OBC as we transferred a different cruise booked while on board.

With the Diamond+ balcony discount applied it priced out less then Royals or her sites quote for an Ocean view!

Apparently the ship is 98% sold out but it is an October cruise Quebec City to Ft Lauderdale so some balconies will free up but the price will likely stay high.

We did this itinerary on Princess a few years ago but it was disrupted by Hurricane Sandy.

 

A year ago we did Honolulu to Singapore 38 days on X and they easily beat X's price and added prepaid gratuities, large shipboard credit and specialty dinners plus matched a fare drop as they put a leg on sale though X didn't.

 

The agency put our Oasis TA eastbound on sail before final payment and they honored the new price and still gave us prepaid gratuities, OBC and a specialty dinner.

 

Our 14 day Caribbean Princess cruise this past Nov was a B2B2B booked 50 days out so it was heavily discounted but she still gave us OBC which when combined with our Princess OBC more then paid the gratuities.

 

She got us extra OBC on our Viking river cruise last October which most cruisers say is rare since we booked a special 1/2 priced venue which came with OBC and we had paid cash at time of booking to get an additional 10% discount.

 

How good a rapport you have with your agent may determine how hard she works for you as well as the agency.

I sent ours flowers and a bottle of wine for doing such a great job on our October booking usually one expects to get rather then give.

Edited February 5, 2015 by baldercash

[SoCal Cruiser78]

A travel agent is under no obligation to give a discount. They do it hoping it will increase business

 

And some that do discount upfront make it up on the back end by hitting clients with change and cancel fees.

 

My former TA started charging to refare whenever a cruise line lowers fares. There were several fare drops on my last cruise booked with that agency. By the time I sailed, I ended up paying MORE using a TA than if I had booked with Princess directly to begin with :eek:!

Edited February 6, 2015 by Ryndam2002
clarity

[SoCal Cruiser78]

And, it seems that the full suites get offered less, if any discounts from the cruise lines and OBC as well. You can go to the say, Princess website and see offers of 200 OBC for a Balcony stateroom but, nothing offered for the Owners or Penthouse suites

 

Often the largest amount of OBC will be given to balconies and minis on Princess. A longtime cruise industry exec once told me that there is an old industry adage that the least and most expensive cabins (insides and suites) tend to sell out first. The midrange cabins are the hardest to fill on most cruises.

[baldercash]

And some that do discount upfront make it up on the back end by hitting clients with change and cancel fees.

 

My former TA started charging to refare whenever a cruise line lowers fares. There were several fare drops on my last cruise booked with that agency. By the time I sailed, I ended up paying MORE using a TA than if I had booked with Princess directly to begin with :eek:!

 

If they charge to match a lower cruise fare they offer or Princess offers before final payment then it is time to move on.

When my Oasis fare fell by $750.00 dollars they reduced the amount of OBC they gave me by $50.00 as there commission was reduced I was more then happy with that.

 

The agency has now implemented a $50.00pp fee if a booking is moved to a different date or ship more then once. I am not pleased but I can see that they make a commission on the one booking and get nothing but frustration if you keep changing it.

 

On Royal last fall we were told the new policy for ship bookings is that if they think you are not serious with your bookings and you are just moving them or juggle them for some undetermined future cruise they will cancel them and return your deposit. You get more on board credit if you book a cruise while on board.

[waltd]

it's a shame the OP didn't say how long the cruise is. I've found on 3 and 4 day California coastal cruises my TA couldn't discount any further then what Princess offered direct.

[caribill]

You get more on board credit if you book a cruise while on board.

 

You get the same amount of OBC by buying Future Cruise Certificates while on board and book whenever you want when back at home.

[Pam in CA]

it's a shame the OP didn't say how long the cruise is. I've found on 3 and 4 day California coastal cruises my TA couldn't discount any further then what Princess offered direct.

That's correct. TAs make only about $15-20 on the short cruises yet they do the same amount of work as a much longer cruise.

[LabGuy64]

that's a bit low pam.......maybe for a 3 Interior they might pull in around that number.....but they are paid a percentage of the fare....and from what I have read....somewhere from a low of 7% to as much as 25% depending on several factors...more normal is 7-16%.....and for a short cruise they don't generally do much more than book the cruise...something you or I could do in minutes....

 

 

quote=Pam in CA;45517853]That's correct. TAs make only about $15-20 on the short cruises yet they do the same amount of work as a much longer cruise.

[always_cruisin]

that's a bit low pam.......maybe for a 3 Interior they might pull in around that number.....but they are paid a percentage of the fare....and from what I have read....somewhere from a low of 7% to as much as 25% depending on several factors...more normal is 7-16%.....and for a short cruise they don't generally do much more than book the cruise...something you or I could do in minutes....

 

 

 

 

On a 3 day Pacific Coastal on the Grand, most TAs would make a grand total of $33 for an inside cabin. If they are home based and work under a host agency, the host agency would take anywhere from 10-30% of that depending on what their contract states.