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Why You Need a Good TA


donaldsc
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Lots of people on CC say that you don't need a TA as they can make their own cruise choices, call the cruise company to book the cruise and then manage their reservations.  Of course, this is all true - most of the time.

 

My comment on this is always that this is true until you have problems w your reservations or you feel that the cruise company owes you something that you may or may not be entitled to.  This scenario just occurred to us.  We  had booked pre-covid an adventure cruise to AK which was going to cost us ~$10,000 per person.  The booking had some special conditions that enabled us to significantly reduce the deposit required.  The cruise company just announced a black Friday sale which would reduce our cost by $2000 each for a total saving of 20%.  That is real money.  The problem is that if we called the cruise company, we would have probably lost our special deposit deal.  We would also have been on the phone for a long time arguing with the cruise company about it.

 

I called our TA and explained our problem and while we were on the phone had a pleasant conversation about the health of our families and how life was treating us during this covid disaster.  The total time for the conversation including the pleasantries was maybe 10 minutes.  She said that she would take care of it.  She knew who to call at the cruise company.  She knew how to browbeat the person.  She knew what special custom text  he had to put on the booking document to ensure that they couldn't try to take back their perks.  I might have been able to do it by myself but I certainly would not have thought to put the new conditions on the booking document.  

 

This is why we use this TA.  It makes my life easier.  Now all I have to do is hope that the cruise actually goes.

 

DON

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Alas we had a great TA but she has left the business.   Our TA has done much for us, including net pricing on cruises from anywhere from 8-12 percent less that had we booked direct.

 

What else?  She warned us off one or two dogs that we were decided to book based on independent feedback from her customers.

 

  On one occasion when we were about to book a cruise inside the final payment window and pay the final payment she advise us to wait a few days.  We did, and saved considerable amount when the price was decreased. 

 

 Another time she brought us a 'move over' offer from Princess.  Walk away from our booked cruise with a full refund AND an free cruise.  Then she set up a con call with her, us, and a Princess rep to go over the details.

 

So why on earth would we book direct?  We would not except under special circumstances.  Could we expect any of the above from a cruise company employee.  I do not think so.  

Edited by iancal
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13 minutes ago, donaldsc said:

Lots of people on CC say that you don't need a TA as they can make their own cruise choices, call the cruise company to book the cruise and then manage their reservations.  Of course, this is all true - most of the time.

 

My comment on this is always that this is true until you have problems w your reservations or you feel that the cruise company owes you something that you may or may not be entitled to.  This scenario just occurred to us.  We  had booked pre-covid an adventure cruise to AK which was going to cost us ~$10,000 per person.  The booking had some special conditions that enabled us to significantly reduce the deposit required.  The cruise company just announced a black Friday sale which would reduce our cost by $2000 each for a total saving of 20%.  That is real money.  The problem is that if we called the cruise company, we would have probably lost our special deposit deal.  We would also have been on the phone for a long time arguing with the cruise company about it.

 

I called our TA and explained our problem and while we were on the phone had a pleasant conversation about the health of our families and how life was treating us during this covid disaster.  The total time for the conversation including the pleasantries was maybe 10 minutes.  She said that she would take care of it.  She knew who to call at the cruise company.  She knew how to browbeat the person.  She knew what special custom text  he had to put on the booking document to ensure that they couldn't try to take back their perks.  I might have been able to do it by myself but I certainly would not have thought to put the new conditions on the booking document.  

 

This is why we use this TA.  It makes my life easier.  Now all I have to do is hope that the cruise actually goes.

 

DON

As I have often remarked, a "direct booker" is but a rounding error in a cruise line's daily income while the right TA may bring them $ millions. 

DUH!

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There's always a flip side to every question. I have read of at least three people on CC who booked through a TA, only to have said TA go out of business when COVID hit. All three people were having extreme difficulty with the refunds for their cancelled cruises/travel plans. I'm sure that they eventually got things sorted out, but they had extra hoops to jump through. When it comes to travel there is no "one size fits all" solution for anything. For some people it makes perfect sense to use a TA, for others not so much. (And if I were spending $10k per person I would be spending the time to find a good TA, but we only spend a fraction of that.)

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26 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

There's always a flip side to every question. I have read of at least three people on CC who booked through a TA, only to have said TA go out of business when COVID hit. All three people were having extreme difficulty with the refunds for their cancelled cruises/travel plans. I'm sure that they eventually got things sorted out, but they had extra hoops to jump through. When it comes to travel there is no "one size fits all" solution for anything. For some people it makes perfect sense to use a TA, for others not so much. (And if I were spending $10k per person I would be spending the time to find a good TA, but we only spend a fraction of that.)

Most of the refund problems shared on CC have involved non-US TAs that directly charge your credit card. That said, the normal practice in the US is cruise line charges are made by the cruise line whether or not you use a TA. 

As for "control of the booking," if your TA goes "belly-up," call the cruise line and they will take back control of the booking.

 

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I use the best of both worlds, doing all of my upfront research, cabin selection, dining options and the finer details.  I usually book according to my level of interest, if it is a bucket list cruise then I really don't care about the price, if it is a jaunt I wait for the big sale times.  After I buy it through the cruise line I hand it off to my trusty agent and she monitors the conditions and prices of my desired cruise.  After final payment she is great about negotiating any upsells.  I have always gotten great upsell offers through her.

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One issue that we have in dealing with a cruise line rep is that we are dealing with the cruise line employee.

 

IF we have an issue with the cruise line we would be much more confident dealing with someone who is not an employee but rather a TA who is part of a large booking firm.

 

Having said that, in 20 plus cruises we have never had an issue with a cruise line.  Not one.

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5 hours ago, donaldsc said:

Lots of people on CC say that you don't need a TA as they can make their own cruise choices, call the cruise company to book the cruise and then manage their reservations.  Of course, this is all true - most of the time.

 

My comment on this is always that this is true until you have problems w your reservations or you feel that the cruise company owes you something that you may or may not be entitled to.  This scenario just occurred to us.  We  had booked pre-covid an adventure cruise to AK which was going to cost us ~$10,000 per person.  The booking had some special conditions that enabled us to significantly reduce the deposit required.  The cruise company just announced a black Friday sale which would reduce our cost by $2000 each for a total saving of 20%.  That is real money.  The problem is that if we called the cruise company, we would have probably lost our special deposit deal.  We would also have been on the phone for a long time arguing with the cruise company about it.

 

I called our TA and explained our problem and while we were on the phone had a pleasant conversation about the health of our families and how life was treating us during this covid disaster.  The total time for the conversation including the pleasantries was maybe 10 minutes.  She said that she would take care of it.  She knew who to call at the cruise company.  She knew how to browbeat the person.  She knew what special custom text  he had to put on the booking document to ensure that they couldn't try to take back their perks.  I might have been able to do it by myself but I certainly would not have thought to put the new conditions on the booking document.  

 

This is why we use this TA.  It makes my life easier.  Now all I have to do is hope that the cruise actually goes.

 

DON

We had a great TA from 1993 to 2008 .Then he went into corporate .

I was a late bloomer to flying.It was just something that I never desired to do.A special birthday for me was in 1993 and he and my wife planned a trip(not a cruise) .He told me that for my first plane ride it should be at least 8 hours.It was great,I loved flying and he booked many more trips for us.

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Huge problems in Australia with TAs withholding funds from Covid19 cancelled cruises and other travel bookings.  Many charging cancellation fees sometimes up to $1000 per person. I had so much trouble getting money back for cruise to Alaska, with time spent in SAN Francisco and airfares, finally received it but I will not use a TA again.

A booking wit Carnival cruises made direct for a 7 day South Pacific Cruise was dealt with by one phone call and all money refunded.

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3 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Most of the refund problems shared on CC have involved non-US TAs that directly charge your credit card. That said, the normal practice in the US is cruise line charges are made by the cruise line whether or not you use a TA. 

As for "control of the booking," if your TA goes "belly-up," call the cruise line and they will take back control of the booking.

 

Sounds like we were reading different posts but having a TA go out of business would cause issues but that's a possibility at any time I suppose.

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20 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

Sounds like we were reading different posts but having a TA go out of business would cause issues but that's a possibility at any time I suppose.

Not different posts. In the US, your cruise contract is with the cruise line. No refund? Complain to the CC company about the cruise line.

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39 minutes ago, pris993 said:

The problem I have with using a TA, is finding a "good one"!

 

I have been fortunate to have been able to use travel agents from the very first one that I found that have been "good ones".  I have used 5 different agencies with at least 7 different agents since 1970.  A few were local; one was only by a Ma Bell connection; others were via Ma Bell and e-mail.  I have never experienced a disappointing travel agent.

 

Pricing provided; perks provided; attentiveness to communication by me; ability to resolve issues; the ability to provide suitable alternative arrangements as needed; availability to answer questions as I wish; receiving printed cruise documents and luggage tags when my printer decided not to work:  what has that extra cost me?  ZIP!  Why would I NOT choose to book through a travel agent?  

 

I understand CC's policy against recommending specific travel agents/agencies.  It would be a beneficial service if such would be allowed for the newbies to cruising, in my opinion. 

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Of course the key to the OP's post is finding a "good" cruise/travel agent.  And this is not an easy task.  Folks first need to find a decent cruise/travel agency because it is the clout and competence of the agency that is vital.  Then you need to find a decent agent within that agency so that you have some kind of continuing rapport with the agency.  A good agent without a decent agency is not usually effective and vice versa.  

 

To what does this mean to a cruiser.  We have been frequent cruisers for over forty years and used multiple agencies.  On average we save approximately 7-10% on every cruise booking because we use a decent discount agency and there have been times when we have saved far more.  On one HAL cruise are actual savings, using an agency instead of booking direct with HAL, was in excess of $3000!  And that was just a single booking!   Prior to COVID we cruised 70-110 days a year and saved thousands a year by using decent agencies (we use several).

 

So we now have a complicated issue with HAL because they cancelled an April 2019 cruise and gave us a generous FCC which was rolled over to an April 2020 cruise which was just cancelled by HAL.  But when we tried to book a spring 2021 cruise all that FCC disappeared and the promised "price protection from HAL" also disappeared.  If dealing direct with HAL I would have called my PCC, likely been on hold a long time, and who knows.  With a decent cruise agency I sent a detailed e-mail (that took me about 5 minutes to write) and will now relax and let the agent and agency deal with the issue.  No waiting on hold, no hassles...just a simple e-mail.  If the issue is not resolved to our satisfaction another e-mail will simply cancel everything and we will look at other options.   

 

But the reality is that even though I am a 5 Star Mariner with HAL that is not worth much if I try to deal directly with HAL.  I am just one customer which gives me nearly zero clout other then getting some lip service ("thank you for being a good customer?")  But my cruise agency is a very high volume agency and does have some clout.  We also have some clout with that agency having tossed them hundreds of thousands of dollars in business over the years.  If the agency does not resolve the problem we will likely move on to one of our other favored agencies (we currently have 3).  I tease my favorite cruise agent that she is only as good as the last deal and she does understand.  As long as she and her agency give me the best financial deals and service they will continue to get my business.  Otherwise there are other players who are happy to get our business.  

 

Hank

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58 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I have been fortunate to have been able to use travel agents from the very first one that I found that have been "good ones".  I have used 5 different agencies with at least 7 different agents since 1970.  A few were local; one was only by a Ma Bell connection; others were via Ma Bell and e-mail.  I have never experienced a disappointing travel agent.

 

Pricing provided; perks provided; attentiveness to communication by me; ability to resolve issues; the ability to provide suitable alternative arrangements as needed; availability to answer questions as I wish; receiving printed cruise documents and luggage tags when my printer decided not to work:  what has that extra cost me?  ZIP!  Why would I NOT choose to book through a travel agent?  

 

I understand CC's policy against recommending specific travel agents/agencies.  It would be a beneficial service if such would be allowed for the newbies to cruising, in my opinion. 

Glad you have found what you want.  I have been traveling and cruising since l982... did use TAs til about the year 2000 for both cruises and international trips.  Once I got a home computer and can easily do my own research, did not find the TAs in my area that helpful.   

 

When I did used TAs, I found sometimes they ticked us with airline fares that could not be changed, did not get seat assignments on return returns flight,  told us they were giving us perks that we would normally get by booking direct with a cruise line because of the number of cruises we had with companies.   I only used brick and mortar agencies, no large on line companies.  Very few independent agents exist in my area rents are too high to stay in business.  

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I think I understand that travel agencies will sometimes buy a block of cabins and be able to sell them for a lower price than booking directly.  But if one has a specific cruise in mind, is booking through a travel agency generally less expensive?  I've heard folks say that they got extra perks from their travel agent, but when I go to the cruise line's website, I see the same perks offered.

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27 minutes ago, jtwind said:

I think I understand that travel agencies will sometimes buy a block of cabins and be able to sell them for a lower price than booking directly.  But if one has a specific cruise in mind, is booking through a travel agency generally less expensive?  I've heard folks say that they got extra perks from their travel agent, but when I go to the cruise line's website, I see the same perks offered.

Commission sharing. Do the research.

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42 minutes ago, jtwind said:

But if one has a specific cruise in mind, is booking through a travel agency generally less expensive?  I've heard folks say that they got extra perks from their travel agent, but when I go to the cruise line's website, I see the same perks offered.

 

I, like many others, do my research (itinerary, ship, date, cabin) ahead of time and rely on my TA to give me a significant price reduction from that quoted on the cruise line website.  While the TA isn't allowed to advertise a fare lower than the cruise line's, they cut their commission and can also throw in additional incentives (group rates, specialty dinner, bottle of wine, etc.).

Edited by capriccio
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11 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I have been fortunate to have been able to use travel agents from the very first one that I found that have been "good ones".  I have used 5 different agencies with at least 7 different agents since 1970.  A few were local; one was only by a Ma Bell connection; others were via Ma Bell and e-mail.  I have never experienced a disappointing travel agent.

 

Pricing provided; perks provided; attentiveness to communication by me; ability to resolve issues; the ability to provide suitable alternative arrangements as needed; availability to answer questions as I wish; receiving printed cruise documents and luggage tags when my printer decided not to work:  what has that extra cost me?  ZIP!  Why would I NOT choose to book through a travel agent?  

 

I understand CC's policy against recommending specific travel agents/agencies.  It would be a beneficial service if such would be allowed for the newbies to cruising, in my opinion. 

I agree totally with the first part of your post. As for the last paragraph, I see your point but I think the negatives of allowing recommendations unfortunately far outweigh the positives. I think there would be too much outright advertising and spamming. JMHO.

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10 hours ago, capriccio said:

 

I, like many others, do my research (itinerary, ship, date, cabin) ahead of time and rely on my TA to give me a significant price reduction from that quoted on the cruise line website.  While the TA isn't allowed to advertise a fare lower than the cruise line's, they cut their commission and can also throw in additional incentives (group rates, specialty dinner, bottle of wine, etc.).

 

So, do you tell the agent the lowest price that you found, and ask them if they can do better?

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15 hours ago, pris993 said:

The problem I have with using a TA, is finding a "good one"!  I gave up looking 20 years ago, since non I found did a better job for me than I could do for myself. 

Perhaps your missing what several of us are saying:

We do our own research (in particular if we have a preferred line that we know inside out) and then use a preferred TA to do the booking (or transfer to when we book onboard) in order to get two very important things:

1) Every perk included by the cruise line AND commission sharing (at 10%+/- of the commissionable fare);

2) The clout of their influence due to their total sales for our cruise line should any issue arise.

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1 hour ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Perhaps your missing what several of us are saying:

We do our own research (in particular if we have a preferred line that we know inside out) and then use a preferred TA to do the booking (or transfer to when we book onboard) in order to get two very important things:

1) Every perk included by the cruise line AND commission sharing (at 10%+/- of the commissionable fare);

2) The clout of their influence due to their total sales for our cruise line should any issue arise.

Good be.

 

 When I think about the travel we have done over the years, very few issues came up.  Once I recall we had an issue come up while traveling in Israel, we wanted to leave earlier.  Had a Air France ticket that had been purchased for us by a TA.  When we tried to change it we discovered we could not  change it even though we were willing to pay extra to do so.  Luckily for us the Air France ticket agent in Tel Aviv referred us to an air charter carrier because the price of buying a total new Air France ticket made it cost prohibited.   The charter flight was reasonable priced and got us to Paris where we needed to be.  We managed this change on our own, never contacted TA because she had purchased the restricted ticket and did not advise us.  

 

The only time we got a perk from a TA is once we booked a 10 Carribbean, TA had verbally promised an on board credit.  When we picked up tickets, no on board credit was included.  I was annoyed I did not get something in writing from the TA.  I called the TA and voiced my issue.   She did not give us the credit as promised but did arrange for us to be upgraded to a full suite.  That was well beyond the value of the obc.  This example supports your point of a TA having clout.

 

 

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17 minutes ago, pris993 said:

Good be.

 

 When I think about the travel we have done over the years, very few issues came up.  Once I recall we had an issue come up while traveling in Israel, we wanted to leave earlier.  Had a Air France ticket that had been purchased for us by a TA.  When we tried to change it we discovered we could not  change it even though we were willing to pay extra to do so.  Luckily for us the Air France ticket agent in Tel Aviv referred us to an air charter carrier because the price of buying a total new Air France ticket made it cost prohibited.   The charter flight was reasonable priced and got us to Paris where we needed to be.  We managed this change on our own, never contacted TA because she had purchased the restricted ticket and did not advise us.  

 

The only time we got a perk from a TA is once we booked a 10 Carribbean, TA had verbally promised an on board credit.  When we picked up tickets, no on board credit was included.  I was annoyed I did not get something in writing from the TA.  I called the TA and voiced my issue.   She did not give us the credit as promised but did arrange for us to be upgraded to a full suite.  That was well beyond the value of the obc.  This example supports your point of a TA having clout.

 

 

I always chuckle when some CC posters say they deal direct with a cruise line to maintain "control of their booking." They seem to not realize that they are a "rounding error" in a cruise line's daily business (as they wait on telephone "hold" for a cruise line rep who would never "bite the boss' hand that feeds them" when a problem arises). Of course, by contrast, the TA who books $ millions with that line has the cruise line's Regional Sales Rep as a speed dial on their phone. TAs work for you and, thus, you have far more "control" of your booking.

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I believe it's important to remember that some folks spend a whole lot more than others and rightly so, they will get better offers and better treatment.

If I spent $10,000 pp I would expect more from my TA, than if I spent $2,000 pp.

We used to spend a  lot of money on our all-inclusive trips and had a very good TA. They would get us room upgrades, private drivers to the resort and other perks at the resort because they knew the staff very well. The trip was seamless.

But as time went on they fell into the trap of letting their ego get the best of them (lots of awards and accolades), they became opinionated and started to come across as condescending and rude. The final straw was when they made it clear that they were now only dealing with people who spent $______ or more.

So we moved on. My guess is since Covid, they might have had a reality check.

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