TA commission?

[phabric]

Does TA get commission on only the cruise or also on EzAir and excursions?

[cr8tiv1]

From my TA, she does not receive a commission for EZ Air nor excursions.   So I am booking them on my own to be able to maintain control over changes.  

[Coral]

Only the cruise. 

[Steelers36]

24 minutes ago, phabric said:

Does TA get commission on only the cruise or also on EzAir and excursions?

And they don't earn it on the entire cruise fare that you see quoted.  There is a non-commission portion which is typically $25/day (this varies, depending on length of cruise).

 

[cr8tiv1]

They do get a small part of any pre-cruise hotel package with transfers that you have them book for you.  They "might" even get a share of the transfers and Princess Vacation Protection (insurance).  

 

Whatever my TA earns off of my cruises are well deserved.  She may not offer incentive OBC's but her service is impeccable.  There have been many cruises that I am my own worst enemy and she has saved me.  I remember once I was on my way out of the San Pedro channel when I called her to book a cruise for the next week.  By the time I returned, everything was done.  

[drsel]

And they don't earn it on the entire cruise fare that you see quoted.  There is a non-commission portion which is typically $25/day (this varies, depending on length of cruise).

The NCF rule is not there in all Cruise lines. It's there in Royal.

 

In all the major Cruise lines the travel agent gets 10 to 16 per cent of the basic fare only, excluding port fees and taxes.

 

This depends on their sales volumes, so the giant US online agents are in the 16% bracket.

 

They usually give 8 to 10% of the basic Cruise fare as a discount or OBC to customers

 

[CineGraphic]

Our TA sends us an email with details of excursions offered by other companies, and he earns a commission from them.

They are priced better than the ship's offerings. We normally opt to explore on our own, instead of group tours.

[CineGraphic]

5 hours ago, drsel said:

In all the major Cruise lines the travel agent gets 10 to 16 per cent of the basic fare only,

 

I believe that's the amount that goes to the agency. What the actual agent gets could be much less, depending on his/her arrangement with the agency.

[Ken the cruiser]

Anyone know if a TA gets any compensation, especially this year, when a cruise line cancels a cruise before the final payment due date?

[drsel]

Anyone know if a TA gets any compensation, especially this year, when a cruise line cancels a cruise before the final payment due date?

If the cancelled Cruise is paid in full, the agency will get the full commission.

 

if there was only a partial payment before the Cruise was cancelled, then no commission is paid.

[drsel]

 
I believe that's the amount that goes to the agency. What the actual agent gets could be much less, depending on his/her arrangement with the agency.

When I said travel agent, I meant the owner of the travel agency company.

Individual employees have their own salary + incentives based on sales

[drsel]

Our TA sends us an email with details of excursions offered by other companies, and he earns a commission from them.
They are priced better than the ship's offerings. We normally opt to explore on our own, instead of group tours.

Yes it's always better to form a group from your roll call and then share a minivan, minibus or taxi at the port

[Ken the cruiser]

9 minutes ago, drsel said:

When I said travel agent, I meant the owner of the travel agency company.

Individual employees have their own salary + incentives based on sales

Glad to hear the individual employees (in most cases) have a base salary as they could really be hurting with all the cancellations that have and continue to happen this year. 

[weedpindle]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Anyone know if a TA gets any compensation, especially this year, when a cruise line cancels a cruise before the final payment due date?

Not a cent if the cruise has not been paid in full.

[CRUISEWITHH]

Agents are not usually employees but independent contractors working on commissions not salary and therefore some have not earned anything this entire year. 

 

When they do earn commissions, that might only be a portion of the compensation earned by the agency.  Very little! 

[drsel]

Agents are not usually employees but independent contractors working on commissions not salary and therefore some have not earned anything this entire year. 
 
When they do earn commissions, that might only be a portion of the compensation earned by the agency.  Very little! 

But some large US agencies show a photo of all the employees wearing the company uniform on the website.

So does this mean that they are all individual consultants, who work only on a commission per case basis?

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, drsel said:

If the cancelled Cruise is paid in full, the agency will get the full commission.

 

if there was only a partial payment before the Cruise was cancelled, then no commission is paid.

 

1 hour ago, weedpindle said:

Not a cent if the cruise has not been paid in full.

 

Princess has been making exceptions this year with most of the COVID-19 forced cancellations.  In order to help both customers and TA's, the "Double the Deposit" promo and other incentives to take extra FCC instead of a cash refund also meant those special FCC's are commissionable when applied to a future booking.

 

[weedpindle]

39 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

 

 

Princess has been making exceptions this year with most of the COVID-19 forced cancellations.  In order to help both customers and TA's, the "Double the Deposit" promo and other incentives to take extra FCC instead of a cash refund also meant those special FCC's are commissionable when applied to a future booking.

 

Still nothing on the original booking if not fully paid. But yes on a future cruise within a certain time frame.

[SHIPMEOUT]

1 hour ago, drsel said:

But some large US agencies show a photo of all the employees wearing the company uniform on the website.

So does this mean that they are all individual consultants, who work only on a commission per case basis?

Wearing a "company uniform" does not make one a salaried consultant.  Most of us have company branded logo wear that we purchase ourselves.  Independent consultants work on commission only and we have not earned any commission on cancelled cruises unless they were paid in full.

[drsel]

 
Princess has been making exceptions this year with most of the COVID-19 forced cancellations.  In order to help both customers and TA's, the "Double the Deposit" promo and other incentives to take extra FCC instead of a cash refund also meant those special FCC's are commissionable when applied to a future booking.
 

my deposit on my cancelled Sea Princess was $200.
will I get double as a FCC, because I have not yet received any cancellation email from Princess or the travel agent

[Steelers36]

2 minutes ago, drsel said:

my deposit on my cancelled Sea Princess was $200.
will I get double as a FCC, because I have not yet received any cancellation email from Princess or the travel agent

I suggest you do some research in the Princess cancellation notices posted on their website.  You need to make reference to when they cancelled the set of cruises including yours.  "Double the Deposit" covers a lot of cancelled cruises - if you elect to receive FCC instead of a cash refund.  There is a cap limit of the total cruise cost (e.g. if you had paid for 75% of the cost of the cruise, you don't get 150% FCC).

[drsel]

So the upper limit will be 100 percent of the cancelled Cruise fare.

That is fair enough.

 

[drsel]

For guests who have not paid in full, Princess will double the deposit, providing a refundable FCC for the money currently on deposit plus a matching bonus FCC that can be used on any voyage through May 1, 2022.

The matching bonus FCC will not exceed the base cruise fare amount of the currently booked cruise and will have a minimum value of $100 per person.

In order to receive the above FCC, no action is required.

[coo359a2]

Well, Princess cancelled 3 cruises for the Grand Princes in March/April 2021.  We are only getting back the amount of money paid - either the FCD or plus any partial payments that were made - to the original form of payment..  No FCCs given.  They did give $15 pp Goodwill Credit for each cruise which we are to receive if we book any other cruise by 28 Feb 2021.  TA will receive a bonus commission of $25.   Two cruises only had FCDs as deposit and since they are now expired, expect that money will go back to our credit card.  The third cruise had an FCD for deposit plus an additional $1000 partial payment.  One day I should see refunds to my credit card and one FCD put back into my Circle Savings Account.

[coo359a2]

18 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

And they don't earn it on the entire cruise fare that you see quoted.  There is a non-commission portion which is typically $25/day (this varies, depending on length of cruise).

 

Thanks for this info.  Wondered how the NCF was computed but never tried to figure it out.