Booking directly with Princess?

[subaru94]

We have always booked our cruises through a travel agent for Princess cruises, thinking of booking directly, just wondering pros and cons of booking directly with Princess or should be we go travel agent?

[CynCyn]

I book direct.  I don’t book expensive cruises so the OBC from a travel agent doesn’t matter much.  I like controlling my booking and have never had a problem.

 

I think I’m jaded because many years ago I had a TA book airline tickets for the wrong date (a month after I needed them) and another book me flying home out of an airport 90 miles away from my conference at 6am.  

 

If I knew a good one I might reconsider.

[memoak]

I book directly with Princess ever since a TA forgot to send on my final payment in the old non online world 

[culvercitycruiser]

My last couple of cruises I have booked directly with Princess. 
I had an issue with two different TAs not monitoring the price drops and asked how I knew about it. 
Another one wanted to charge me the same price for a window as the balcony. 
it depends on the deal. 
 

[Colo Cruiser]

My TA does not play the OBC game.

Just a straight 8% to 12% off the top.

Thats lost by booking direct.

For me its a no brainer.

[casofilia]

We use Princess direct as we have a direct line to someone who can do things for you not have to go through an intermediary.

[capriccio]

41 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

My TA does not play the OBC game.

Just a straight 8% to 12% off the top.

Thats lost by booking direct.

For me its a no brainer.

 

Mine too!  And sometimes she throws in some OBC or a specialty dinner too.

[pris993]

I have been booking direct for about 20 years... I also book hotels, air all direct... know exactly what I am getting and don't have to depend on someone else.  Works for me.  Princess actually has given me more than any travel agent every did.  

[Gwendy]

Booked last half world cruise through Princess direct. Service very poor, $100 OBC offered for a $20,000 plus booking and absolutely no follow up at all.  I queried something about a shore tour in New York, “i can’t tell you anything about that”!  

Back to travel agent for last cruise and the two booked since then.

[subaru94]

1 hour ago, Gwendy said:

Booked last half world cruise through Princess direct. Service very poor, $100 OBC offered for a $20,000 plus booking and absolutely no follow up at all.  I queried something about a shore tour in New York, “i can’t tell you anything about that”!  

Back to travel agent for last cruise and the two booked since then.

I think we are treated differently here in Australia to overseas, America, England and Canada seem to get really good deals with price drops etc. Can't believe you only got $100 OBC for a $20 000 plus booking, very poor.  Hmm you are making me think perhaps Travel Agent.

[Thrak]

Usually book with a local TA who gives us a discount off the price. Works out great. Last booking we jumped ship (didn't feel real good about it but..,) and booked with a major online/brick and mortar TA. This TA has a sale every year just before the Sip and Sail that Princess has. In addition to what Princess offers they also include gratuities and some OBC. Recently I asked this TA to "unlink" my B2B2B so I could book round trip airfare. I couldn't book round trip with the cruises linked and it was much cheaper to do so than to book separate "there" and "back" flights.

 

While the TA was checking to unlink the cruises she noticed a better price and got me more than $500 off the first leg. She was also able to (onher own initiative) add in the WiFi package from the BSE to all three segments with no extra cost. I consider this to be excellent service. I have the beverage package, gratuities, WiFi, and OBC - in addition to the shareholder OBC and the FCD OBC I already had - and my pricing is still good in comparison to what Princess is charging. For some of us booking with a TA is far better than booking directly with Princess. For the record, there are folks here on CC who say they get a much better discount than we get with our "regular" TA. I'm sure that's true but we get fantastic service from our regular TA and will be using him again soon. This one booking was an aberration due to an unmatchable once-a-year promo. (I will likely ask my regular TA about a matching offer next year. He is, after all, pretty dang great to us.)

[Gwendy]

1 hour ago, subaru94 said:

I think we are treated differently here in Australia to overseas, America, England and Canada seem to get really good deals with price drops etc. Can't believe you only got $100 OBC for a $20 000 plus booking, very poor.  Hmm you are making me think perhaps Travel Agent.

I was offered $100 OBC, I ended up getting more because I pushed and pushed, but it was hard work, calls backward and forward.

[leck57]

I use a TA mainly in the event something goes wrong with flights in particular. One of our trips to the US a few years ago had a delayed flight from Aust which would have meant us missing a connection, with a different airline to Florida. My TA sorted it and I had a text about new flights by the time we landed in LA. I'm not sure I would have had the same success had I tried to sort it last minute at the airport.  I find my TA often gets better hotel deals than I find on line.

So, in summary I guess I use them to fix things that might go wrong. My experience is that they generally cannot beat the cruise and airfare prices I get on line and down here they offer very little OBC.

[AF-1]

I use a travel agent who also is my good friend.  Normally get good price for our cabin; some OBC, plus he always gives us dinner in a specialty restaurant for the cruise.  Also I have his cell phone;  he lives a few miles from me.  He watches everytrip we go on;  he knows if our airline has been delayed; if the ship changes itineraries; and if we have a medical issue; he will take care of it.  To be fair;  I have never booked directly with any cruise line;  have always used a travel agent.

[Jetstreamer]

10 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

My TA does not play the OBC game.

Just a straight 8% to 12% off the top.

Thats lost by booking direct.

For me its a no brainer.

 

While not in the 8-12% category, if you click through to the princess website via a cashback website, you can usually get 4% back.  For anyone booking on the Princess website anyway, there is nothing to lose.

[New Cruiser Girl 2]

9 hours ago, capriccio said:

 

Mine too!  And sometimes she throws in some OBC or a specialty dinner too.

Mine is excellent as well. I like the way its all looked after in a nice neat pkg. She also fought for us when a portion of our return flight home was cancelled. $ back for us. 

 

[Iamcruzin]

I only booked one Princess cruise with a TA. When I had to call and remind them that final payment was due on the day it was due that was the last time I booked with a TA. I’ve been on this board for 10 years and still have not found that Unicorn high volume PrincessTA that discounts cruises. I don’t sail long itineraries or book top of the line staterooms so the $50 OBC that big box TA’s offer don’t interest me.

[PMGS247]

I use a TA who is a family member.  Kind of obligated.  I don't mind it and there's always a little bit of OBC through her agency but I would probably go direct if not for the family factor.  To me a TA would add enough value if they watched price drops and notified you.  Needless to say that doesn't happen for me, I'm on my own the same as if I booked direct. Despite that, she is very responsive and is willing to put up a fight with the cruise line when needed, so it works out.  It's just still on me to watch prices, know about promos, etc...and there are plenty of moments where it becomes obvious that I'm way more familiar with cruise related issues than she is.

 

I actually ran into a situation where it was to my disadvantage that we used a TA.  It had nothing to do with a lack of competency of the TA or human error, just the fact that a TA was involved at all nearly cost me $.

 

The situation: Apparently princess pays TA's their commission as soon as you make final payment.  When we requested a price adjustment they initially said they couldn't do it because the TA commission check had already been cut.  It was still 95 days out so final payment wasn't even due yet.  Would have been a no brainer for at least OBC without the TA commission check issue.  I had just made the payment because it was close enough and I wanted to check the box...lesson learned.  We ultimately did end up winning that argument and getting it adjusted, apparently along with a good deal of attitude and a pretty clear "don't ask again" to go along with it. I believe if I had been direct, 95 days out I could have gotten the adjustment easily, even with final payment in.  The complication was the TA commission.  I only know this BECAUSE of the family connection, I'm sure most TA's would not have been so forthcoming about it...but it's good to know.

[Sea Hag]

12 hours ago, subaru94 said:

We have always booked our cruises through a travel agent for Princess cruises, thinking of booking directly, just wondering pros and cons of booking directly with Princess or should be we go travel agent?

I book direct with Princess. Every time I say that here, I get scolded by people who tell me that I should be going through a TA. No thanks. I like to do all my own arrangements, so if anything's messed up it's entirely on me. I've never messed up our travel plans, but that did happen way back when with a TA. 

[Tak8]

I have done most through a TA.  Normally, the OBC or other extras are worth it.  For a few I book direct.  It depends on the sale.  I do like the direct communication aspect with booking directly.

[sttopmh]

If one does book directly with Princess, is there any advantage to booking through a Princess Vacation Planner? We get a few emails a year from one, but have never responded to her.

[memoak]

1 minute ago, sttopmh said:

If one does book directly with Princess, is there any advantage to booking through a Princess Vacation Planner? We get a few emails a year from one, but have never responded to her.

I use a Princess Vacation Planner and she is great   She has been known to call me on a Friday afternoon with a new lower rate. When we ask for a quote n a cruise she will block cabins for us within hours of getting the email. She has become more like a friend than an agent 

[voljeep]

I've gotten nada thru any PVP … nada … now granted, we've booked shorter 3-5 day cruises lately so there's not much they can do 'according to them' and I do the initial booking when the cruise comes out and check almost daily for price drops and new promo's … but not many promo's on those shorter cruises, but there has been a couple of really good, and I mean really good, lately

 

I contact various TA's and maybe $ 25 OBC for the cruise - not worth it to me

[Laurie S.]

I always have booked all my cruises myself online with the cruiseline.  I used to transfer them to my travel agent afterwards but stopped when I accidently was sent paperwork showing she was getting more than $200 commission and she didn't give me even a bottle of wine.  

[ronandannette]

It's a crapshoot - especially given that not all TA's are created equal.  I'd feel perfectly confident booking directly with Princess if the price was favorable; they also consider re-faring after final payment for category upgrades if applicable and that issue is important to us.  I've worked regularly with a Carnival PCP over the years, but every other line, including Princess, I've mostly always booked direct on-line.

 

Our last couple of cruises though we've booked through a giant, on-line TA because they block group space and sell it at prices below the cruise lines themselves.  Not sure how, but they do, and we made out very well with our latest booking as they also managed a major category upgrade when the prices dropped.  Friends who are accompanying us on the same sailing used another agency (through the local AAA club) and lost big.  The prices dropped over $1,000/pp and their agent would do NOTHING; even went so far as telling them Princess wouldn't allow it, which is bunk. They have no real recourse and I feel terrible for them. 

Edited February 25, 2020 by ronandannette