Question about NCL pricing versus cabin pricing through a travel agency

[Heather1972]

Hi all -

 

I know we can't mention travel agents on here. I'm just trying to figure something out. I just booked my Escape cruise yesterday and I'm trying to explain the pricing to a friend who is considering coming with her family. To get to the point, the travel agent was offering certain categories of cabins for about $100 less per person than NCL and then on top of that more OBC. How is that possible to get a much lower price through a TA? I can understand the little bit of OBC, but not a chunk off the price? Any thoughts?

[takeadip]

Hi all -

 

I know we can't mention travel agents on here. I'm just trying to figure something out. I just booked my Escape cruise yesterday and I'm trying to explain the pricing to a friend who is considering coming with her family. To get to the point, the travel agent was offering certain categories of cabins for about $100 less per person than NCL and then on top of that more OBC. How is that possible to get a much lower price through a TA? I can understand the little bit of OBC, but not a chunk off the price? Any thoughts?

 

Certain TA's who do large volume will get a block of rooms that they agree to pay NCL a certain price for. In exchange NCL will grant them OBC amounts that they can "rebate" or give offer as incentive to book through them. For our last cruise on 3/6/16 Breakaway...we booked through a TA and the entire time leading up to sailing we were always about $500 less then what the NCL site was offering... It does pay to shop around..but some of the OBC a TA can offer you are pretty tempting...

 

hope this helps..

 

Best,

Mark

[Demonyte]

To get to the point, the travel agent was offering certain categories of cabins for about $100 less per person than NCL and then on top of that more OBC. How is that possible to get a much lower price through a TA? I can understand the little bit of OBC, but not a chunk off the price?

 

Some TAs give the customer a part of their commission (money that NCL would pocket if the passengers booked with them directly).

 

Our TA always has given us about 10% of the total price (before taxes/port fees) either in OBC and/or discount.

Edited April 1, 2016 by Demonyte

[Into Cruising]

Cruiselines go out of their way to level the playing field between large and small agencies.

 

Think about it, if Expedia or Priceline was able to do what you said and get preferential pricing, no other agency could compete and everyone would go to the Expedia's and Pricelines of the world.

 

Pricing is standard and is set by the cruiseline. The cruiselines offer the agencies a commission rate based on their volume of sales. I have seen some agencies rate of 16% AND OTHERS AS LOW AS 8-10%. And commissions are not paid on full fare, but only a subset of the final price.

 

Agencies are asked to protect the brand and pricing by not doing heavy discounting. But they are free to discount via rebates of some of the commission. However, they are not supposed to advertise those discounted prices. That is why you see a lot of Call for pricing.

 

Another way it can happen is the agency forms Groups, and gets special pricing and perks for those group members. Now a days, few lines offer special pricing, but entice groups by the use of perks such as GAP points and TC credits. If a family forms the group through the agency, then the family can decide how to use the perks , GAP points and TC credits, but if you book into one that the agency set up, they get to decide how to use the GAP and TC credit. That gives them some $ that can be rebated as needed to make the sale.

 

Most agents/ agencies split the commission on any sales, but the agency keeps other incentives the cruiseline offer. In many cases the agency and the agent are in agreement and share the cost of the rebate. But do realize that they are giving up their money to you, not the cruiseline's money. Some Agencies will not participate, but allow the agent to discount their commission. Obviously if you find a company that is willing to rebate back to you part of their income, you are golden.

 

This process goes in and out of whack periodically through abuse. When a large section of Agencies/agents complain that they can not compete, and start pushing other lines, the process gets tweaked and more rules come into play.

 

Probably way more than you wanted to know...but bottom line is yes, they can discount from standard pricing, and if they offer you a great deal, be sure it is an apples to apples comparison, as offer they add on government taxes and fees, and other surcharges later when you actually book. But yes you can get some excellent deals, from agencies who believe getting some money is better than not getting the sale at all.

 

Hope this explains it.

[takeadip]

Cruiselines go out of their way to level the playing field between large and small agencies.

 

Think about it, if Expedia or Priceline was able to do what you said and get preferential pricing, no other agency could compete and everyone would go to the Expedia's and Pricelines of the world.

 

Pricing is standard and is set by the cruiseline. The cruiselines offer the agencies a commission rate based on their volume of sales. I have seen some agencies rate of 16% AND OTHERS AS LOW AS 8-10%. And commissions are not paid on full fare, but only a subset of the final price.

 

Agencies are asked to protect the brand and pricing by not doing heavy discounting. But they are free to discount via rebates of some of the commission. However, they are not supposed to advertise those discounted prices. That is why you see a lot of Call for pricing.

 

Another way it can happen is the agency forms Groups, and gets special pricing and perks for those group members. Now a days, few lines offer special pricing, but entice groups by the use of perks such as GAP points and TC credits. If a family forms the group through the agency, then the family can decide how to use the perks , GAP points and TC credits, but if you book into one that the agency set up, they get to decide how to use the GAP and TC credit. That gives them some $ that can be rebated as needed to make the sale.

 

Most agents/ agencies split the commission on any sales, but the agency keeps other incentives the cruiseline offer. In many cases the agency and the agent are in agreement and share the cost of the rebate. But do realize that they are giving up their money to you, not the cruiseline's money. Some Agencies will not participate, but allow the agent to discount their commission. Obviously if you find a company that is willing to rebate back to you part of their income, you are golden.

 

This process goes in and out of whack periodically through abuse. When a large section of Agencies/agents complain that they can not compete, and start pushing other lines, the process gets tweaked and more rules come into play.

 

Probably way more than you wanted to know...but bottom line is yes, they can discount from standard pricing, and if they offer you a great deal, be sure it is an apples to apples comparison, as offer they add on government taxes and fees, and other surcharges later when you actually book. But yes you can get some excellent deals, from agencies who believe getting some money is better than not getting the sale at all.

 

Hope this explains it.

 

Thanks for the clarification...this is exactly what i was eluding to but just didnt use your wording due to copyright protections..but i agree with you as well as admire your writing style. if i could just add one tidbit here: I guess pricing from a TA point of view as it relates to giving the customer the best price is in conjunction with how much commission the individual is willing to forego..like in baseball....the tie goes to the runner...and in this case irregardless (is this a word?) of what price you are paying..still means you are unplugging and disconnecting from your everyday life and going on a cruise!!! Its a great big world out there...you better get on board weather its through a TA or the website...just make sure you keep the wind at your back and the great memories in front of you.

 

here is a tip: "A leopard can carry two times his body weight into a tree...its true..look it up"..-Daniel Tosh

[Into Cruising]

The bottom line is you are looking at being at sea....no reason to make all of the planning and such a drag and frustrating experience to have it over shadow the trip and experience.

 

My advice is to always talk to a person.....even on the big box web sites, try to talk to a real live person. Be nice to them, as they have a lot of flexibility. Consider the rebate to be a gift from the agent, as it truly is. They are subsiding your vacation.

 

If you go in expecting great rebates as a matter of fact, you may insult the agent, and have them hold back. I would never say out loud to an agent that getting $200 is better than getting nothing. Implying that if they do not give you everything you want, you will do business elsewhere. Only the hungry agent will take that type of treatment.

 

There are definitely deals to be had, but you are more likely to get them with a little sugar rather than vinegar.

 

When I am confronted with a person who apparently thinks I get paid too much commission for the work I do, and they deserve it to be given to them, I will surely direct them to do business elsewhere. My clients get the rebates because of how nice they are, not because they think they deserve it more than I do. It's a gift from my pocket to theirs, because I appreciate them and their business.

 

We can always match a big box agency in price, but there is no doubt that we surpass them in service to the client.

 

And thank you for the kind words.

[Heather1972]

Thanks for the responses all. Imagine me trying to explain to someone who hasn't cruised before why prices are different and why some sales are not actual sales. I think I blew her mind!