pgmrdev Posted April 28, 2004 #1 Share Posted April 28, 2004 If you were a TA would you sell Carnival or any other cruise line that also acts as its own selling agent? I've always thought this bad business. They are competing with their own selling agents. This is one reason I almost always book through a TA (be it internet or brick & mortar) and not Carnival. If Carnival (or any other cruise line that does this) undercuts its TA's with lower prices to its customers, should a TA sell their cruises? They need those TA's. I'm sure the percentage of the business they get from them is high. AT&T did this some years back and learned the lesson the hard way. Their phone center stores were competing too well against their third party vendors. The vendors couldn't compete and stopped selling AT&T phones. AT&T eventually closed its phone center stores to appease the sellers it needed. I can never understand this sales practice ...... <html> <head> <title></title> </head> <body> <font color="#FF0000">Grand Princess 2-2001</font> <font color="#0000FF">Grand Princess 12-2001</font> <font color="#FF8000">Carnival Paradise 3-2002</font> <font color="#FF00FF">Carnival Destiny 10-2002</font> <font color="#008000">Golden Princess 10-2003</font> <font color="#0000A0">Carnival Legend 6-8-2004</font> </body> </html> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noodle Posted April 28, 2004 #2 Share Posted April 28, 2004 I believe Carnival has agree to not undercut their TAs, meaning, they sell the product at the price that includes what they would pay a TA in commission. This way the TA then has the leverage to sell the cruise at a discount by cutting their own commission to get your business. I have always seen expedia.com prices exactly the same as Carnival prices but my TA is alway able to come in lower than both of them. I think he does this by making less commission, therfore I keep going back to him. So i don't think that this competition is bad. Pride 02/15/04 Spirit 05/11/05 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cotton Posted April 28, 2004 #3 Share Posted April 28, 2004 I thought ALL cruiselines have their own sales people. I have friends who have booked directly with Disney, Princess, NCL, RCL. Don't they all do this? Festivale 1987 Carnivale 1988 Mardi Gras 1989 Pacific Princess 1990 Norway 1994 Holiday 2001 Holiday 2002 Holiday 2003 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atonal1 Posted April 28, 2004 #4 Share Posted April 28, 2004 Noodle is correct--TA's discount by giving up a portion of their commission. All cruise lines have sales agents, but NCL does not have direct online booking for consumers. Inspiration 6/96, 12/01 Carnival Destiny 7/97, 11/00 Rhapsody of the Seas 11/98 Norwegian Sea 7/00 Norwegian Star 6/02 Paradise 11/02 Sovereign of the Seas 8/03 Serenade of the Seas 12/03 until Carnival Triumph 8/04 until Adventure of the Seas 11/04 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diane&4girls Posted April 29, 2004 #5 Share Posted April 29, 2004 Most agency's don't cut their commissions to sell cruieses, they actually get lower rates from the cruiseline so that the agency's rates are more competitive than the cruiseline's rates. CCL claims to not give special rates to ANY agency, I'm so sure that's true. If a PVP finds an option being held by an agency under a common client's name, they WILL back off. It was a HUGE problem when they first began using PVP's for a short time, but it was quickly rectified and if they are found to have spoken to a client that is knowingly speaking to travel agents, they can be fired immediately. Diane Check out our cruise pictures: http://community.webshots.com/user/thebowers 'Til the Navigator Again! Carnival Fantasy 7/28/2000 Carnival Triumph 9/22/2001 Carnival Imagination 4/21/2002 Carnival Triumph 5/29/2002 Carnival Legend 9/20/2002 (Inaugural) Explorer of the Seas 10/19/2002 Navigator of the Seas 12/10/2002 (Inaugural) Explorer of the Seas 12/14/2002 Navigator of the Seas 5/03/2003 Adventure of the Seas 7/27/2003 Serenade of the Seas 8/23/2003 (Inaugural) Mariner of the Seas 11/12/2003 (Inaugural) Mariner of the Seas 12/14/2003 (Golden Anchor Cruise!) Navigator of the Seas 4/10/2004 Mariner of the Seas 8/8/2004 Star Princess 11/21/2004 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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