Why You Need a Good TA

[firefly333]

3 hours ago, gerryuk said:

I know i am going to get shot here, but here goes. Cruise lines should stop using travel agents full stop, 

The money cruise lines give to travel agents means that everybody looses out across the board. I can understand people using travel agents years ago, but with the internet cruise lines are just throwing money away with this outdated system. Every dollar that goes in commission to travel agents could be better spent bringing down prices for everybody else. Paying 15% of their overheads to travel agents is just madness, in this day and age.

 

 

..... if only the people working at cruiselines knew how to handle problems and were knowledgeable.  

 

Here is yet another example I could see solo pricing on a box site, tried to call the person assigned to me and as usual no reply, I guess it took a month to set her up in her home and they ran into issues.

 

Anyway talked to a random person who said, oh that ship doesnt have solo cabins, it's a glitch, 2nd guy same reply, by then the first guy got IT to remove solo cabin pricing from its website. It's still gone. So I was told on cc where the cabins were on the deck plans, called crown and anchor told again nope. I told her where they were on deck plans, she was like sure enough... if you worked for crown and anchor for 5 years you should know which ships have solo cabins. My new TA knew.

 

 Next problem hits, I have b2b and 2nd week gets cancelled for a surprise ship change. I'm offered week on either side. TA once again has to go to bat for me, since moving 2nd leg of a b2b one week leaves a one week gap. .. since covid I've had a bunch of issues my ta solved, i doubt I could have solved myself direct, he knew how to escalate all the issues ive had. ..and to who. 

 

Theres no way I would have what ive booked without my ta.

[donaldsc]

4 hours ago, gerryuk said:

I know i am going to get shot here, but here goes. Cruise lines should stop using travel agents full stop, 

The money cruise lines give to travel agents means that everybody looses out across the board. I can understand people using travel agents years ago, but with the internet cruise lines are just throwing money away with this outdated system. Every dollar that goes in commission to travel agents could be better spent bringing down prices for everybody else. Paying 15% of their overheads to travel agents is just madness, in this day and age.

 

 

If they drop TAs, I will end up paying more for my cruise.  The supposed problem that the people who book with the cruise line end up paying more is their problem, not mine.  Are you suggesting that I should have to somehow subsidize the people who decide for some reason that they want to book w the cruise line directly.  No way!!

 

DON

[gerryuk]

1 hour ago, donaldsc said:

 

If they drop TAs, I will end up paying more for my cruise.  The supposed problem that the people who book with the cruise line end up paying more is their problem, not mine.  Are you suggesting that I should have to somehow subsidize the people who decide for some reason that they want to book w the cruise line directly.  No way!!

 

DON

But 15% of the lines overheads are going to travel agents whether you use a travel agent or not, so it could be argued that those not using travel agents are subsidising those, like yourself that do.

Get rid of those shocking overheads and make the fares reasonable for all. It makes me laugh when i read on here that people use travel agents because they are cheaper and they get perks with all the trimmings. At the end of the day somebody has to pick up the tab for all this and it seems to me that those buying direct from the cruise line are footing the bill.

 

[donaldsc]

30 minutes ago, gerryuk said:

But 15% of the lines overheads are going to travel agents whether you use a travel agent or not, so it could be argued that those not using travel agents are subsidising those, like yourself that do.

Get rid of those shocking overheads and make the fares reasonable for all. It makes me laugh when i read on here that people use travel agents because they are cheaper and they get perks with all the trimmings. At the end of the day somebody has to pick up the tab for all this and it seems to me that those buying direct from the cruise line are footing the bill.

 

 

I totally agree that the people who buy directly are subsidizing my cruises.  Since I buy from a TA, I also think that this is great.  More for me.

 

DON

[Flatbush Flyer]

30 minutes ago, gerryuk said:

But 15% of the lines overheads are going to travel agents whether you use a travel agent or not, so it could be argued that those not using travel agents are subsidising those, like yourself that do.

Get rid of those shocking overheads and make the fares reasonable for all. It makes me laugh when i read on here that people use travel agents because they are cheaper and they get perks with all the trimmings. At the end of the day somebody has to pick up the tab for all this and it seems to me that those buying direct from the cruise line are footing the bill.

 

And we thank you for your contribution!

Nonetheless, you're still missing the point that, without TAs, the cruiselines would have to direct added resources to their own marketing - far more than the currently spend on the TAs.

 

The economics of outsourcing is pretty "cut and dry."

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

And we thank you for your contribution!

Nonetheless, you're still missing the point that, without TAs, the cruiselines would have to direct added resources to their own marketing - far more than the currently spend on the TAs.

 

The economics of outsourcing is pretty "cut and dry."

Right, he thinks there would not have to be any replacement for the money now spent for TA commissions. If that were really true, they would have dropped using TAs a long time ago.

[getting older slowly]

Why do you need a TA ??

 

Well it is up to you....  and what you are comfortable with and how much time you have

 

Our TA would keep an eye out for good deals, often suggest we move dates by a couple of week to get a good saving.... also had cruised on many lines and ships... so knew a lot, also would chase things up for us, and followed though our refunds...

without having to worry.....    But now that is over as she has left the industry...

due to total downturn from the covid-19....

 

Example of where a good TA  could of saved the day,  friends of ours away book direct with the cruise line..... saw a pretty ad for a cheap cruise... on a line they hadn't been on.. book online   ( not knowing much about the line )   to cut to the chase it was a the cruise from hell.... a TA looking at the past cruises would have warned them.....

Yes I know they could have done more research... but they didn't...

 

I didn't find out about their cruise until after final payment... so I didn't say anything and kept my fingers crossed ( it didn't work )

 

So TA or not.... it is up to you         Don

 

 

 

 

 

[jtwind]

I really enjoy trip planning.  I have never seen an online ""cruises 'r' us" offer lower than booking directly with the cruise line.  What are y'all doing?

[capriccio]

17 minutes ago, jtwind said:

I really enjoy trip planning.  I have never seen an online ""cruises 'r' us" offer lower than booking directly with the cruise line.  What are y'all doing?

 

As I said in an earlier post, you need to call the on-line companies to get a lower fare. 

 

I have read that is because they have agreements with the cruise lines not to advertise lower fares.  The discount you then receive from the TA is because they modify their commission amounts, have group rates, etc.

[Roz]

There are unadvertised discounts and "group" rates due to travel agencies reserving blocks of rooms.

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, jtwind said:

I really enjoy trip planning.  I have never seen an online ""cruises 'r' us" offer lower than booking directly with the cruise line.  What are y'all doing?

OMG!  When I see posts like yours I do not know where to start.  You can look back over CC (from the first days) and you will find hundreds or even thousands or posts with folks talking about how much money they save through discount cruise agencies.  We have posted (at least a hundred times) how anyone can save 7 - 10% (and sometimes a lot more) by simply shopping around among reputable cruise agencies.  If you have not found the savings you have not looked very hard.  

 

I would only add that for folks in Europe it is often a different market and the savings might no be there with certain cruise lines.  It is the same in Australia where there appear to be some contractual relationships between the cruise lines and the agency industry which makes getting savings difficult.  We have a good friend who is a 5 Star Mariners (and Presidents Club) cruise with HAL (he probably has over 2000 days with that line) who lives in Australia but books all his cruises through the Canadian address of a friend.  Why?  Because he saves a lot of money booking as a North American.  The way HAL handles bookings for Aussies makes it difficult to impossible for those folks to get the kind of savings they can get here.

 

Years ago I tried to convince folks that they should book through cruise agencies and save big bucks.  Over 25 years ago I saved a wealthy retired executive over $10,000 on a single booking with Princess (he had the most expensive suite on a long cruise) by telling him to call a certain travel agent (this was on Prodigy before there was CC).  That man was quite grateful and gave us about 50,000 Continental Airlines miles and years later bought us dinner when we met.  He was a brilliant man (who was a COO for a Fortune 100 Corp) and yet it never occurred to him that shopping around could generate significant savings.  But lately I no longer try to convince folks that they might want to save money as there are obviously many folks who could care less about saving a few hundred or perhaps thousands or dollars.  

 

Hank

[Flatbush Flyer]

2 hours ago, jtwind said:

I really enjoy trip planning.  I have never seen an online ""cruises 'r' us" offer lower than booking directly with the cruise line.  What are y'all doing?

Are you reading the replies to your posts?

A number of us have repeatedly told you about "commission sharing." So, even if the advertised price from a TA is the same as the cruise line's advertised price, you can negotiate a rebate or refundable SBC in addition to whatever perks are being provided by the cruise line. This "money-in-your-pocket" can vary but your "target" deal should be no less than 5% (and closer to 10%) of the commissionable fare (I.e., published fare minus port taxes et al.).

BTW, please don't tell us that, when you buy a car, you pay the "sticker price."

[jtwind]

13 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

We have posted (at least a hundred times) how anyone can save 7 - 10% (and sometimes a lot more) by simply shopping around among reputable cruise agencies.  If you have not found the savings you have not looked very hard.

 

I did the "simply shopping around" thing by searching websites.  But, ok, y'all are saying that I need to call these sites.  How does this go?  If I call the same site, I can get different people.  Do I call over and over, multiple calls to each of multiple sites?  What kind of discount should I expect?  Do the same negotiations work by calling the cruise line directly?  They're on commission, too, right?

[Flatbush Flyer]

16 minutes ago, jtwind said:

 

.....But, ok, y'all are saying that I need to call these sites.....

....Or email whoever becomes your contact at any particular TA.

Cruise lines do not "negotiate" prices. They provide perks - all of which the TA can pass on to you in addition to their own added values.

In all honesty, I find it very hard to believe that you have no idea how to negotiate the "bottom line" cost of "big ticket" items.

[iancal]

It is not just about the usual  commission sharing.  I can sometimes being able to take advantage of group pricing that the agency may have on a booking on that particular ship/itinerary.  We have benefited from that in the past.

 

Or it could be an agency very anxious to book a certain cruise line because they are about to hit the cruise line tipping point where they get more revenue in one way or another because of exceeding their volume of business targets.  So they pass on more incentives to you in order to get over that revenue target.

 

Or it could be that they will throw in some free third party excursions or on board amenities that they have arranged for a group booking as happened to us.

[donaldsc]

1 minute ago, iancal said:

It is not just about the usual  commission sharing.  I can sometimes being able to take advantage of group pricing that the agency may have on a booking on that particular ship/itinerary.  We have benefited from that in the past.

 

Or it could be an agency very anxious to book a certain cruise line because they are about to hit the cruise line tipping point where they get more revenue in one way or another because of exceeding their volume of business targets.  So they pass on more incentives to you in order to get over that revenue target.

 

Or it could be that they will throw in some free third party excursions or on board amenities that they have arranged for a group booking as happened to us.

 

When we booked on one cruise w our favorite TA, we ended up with a couple of free on board dinners because she was part of a larger group of agents and they had some dinners scheduled.  With regard to jtwind's posts, you do have to be willing to do a bit of work to find a good TA or at least ask friends who travel who they use.  That is how we found ours.  We have booked enough cruises with our TA that we almost regard each other as family.

 

DON

[iancal]

We emailed our TA to book us on a certain late booking  Celebrity10 Caribbean.  She gave us the price and OBC details then asked me to call her back.  On the phone she said forget the gty .  I can have you assigned to a first rate balcony cabin without going in the pool.   

 

She went on to say that her agency had a small group on the ship.  Hence the cabin assignment. But she also increased our OBC to match the group, told us we would be invited to the group cocktail event, and that we could join gratis one or two of the group excursions.   We saw the group on our booking but never met any of them.  Skipped the cocktail party but took one of the full day excursions.  Great day with lunch at a swish venue.  No one had group badges and we did not encounter one person who owned up to being part of a group.

 

Bottom line for us.....first rate assigned balcony at the price of gty, increase in OBC, and full day tour with lunch.

 

Happened to us again on a Carnival booking.  No group events We did not even know until we went on line and saw that we were part of a group.  Increased OBC, no idea about the gty cabin location since they have all been good.

 

Would a cruise line CSR or so called cruise line consultant do this for us????

Edited November 29, 2020 by iancal

[Aquahound]

I totally understand the benefits of using a TA. However, what I don’t understand is the vitriol displayed toward those who choose not to use one. So what?  I think one or two folks on this thread must be, or must be related to TAs. Otherwise, why put so much effort into this?  I think we might be getting a little too consumed over other peoples choices lately. 
 

Anyways, my TA saves me 10%. Well, maybe only 8 or 9 percent because not all of the base price is commissioned. I book my cruises myself, usually because I use the loyalty line to make sure I get my perks (like balcony discount). I then turn the booking over to my TA. 

Edited November 29, 2020 by Aquahound

[PasadenaDave]

To each his own.  We have done both.  The last time we cruised Vancouver to LA at the last minute.  Our daughter in law and her sister and parents were taking the cruise with a large group.  We had in mind of taking this cruise just not certain of when and when we learned that they were on this cruise we went on line for a last minute booking.  We paid less than they did and we had a mini-suite versus an ocean view room.  There were five busses of people in their group which certainly got some good bulk pricing, but given our last minute look and ability to be flexible with travel, we saved a lot more than they spent.  Now the three nights lodging in Vancouver actually cost us more than the cruise, but that was our choice.  Airfare LAX to Vancouver $39 each!

[Joebucks]

I think it's important to remember that one size doesn't always fit all. It's like hearing about someone who got a "free Macbook" when they bought their car. "Wow! Who is this dealer? Oh, you bought an Aston Martin? I was hoping to get that with my Toyota Corolla". It's a different ballgame for a $20k cruise, and a $2k cruise. It's a bit deceptive to tell people that you get things like a "$200 OBC" without disclosing that maybe you spend 3x or more on your cruise than others are. Different profit margins provide different perks.

 

Lots of assumptions were made in the OP. Maybe they are right, maybe not. Either way, it does appear that a TA isn't going to hurt your chances on an expensive cruise. It's common sense that they are going to take care of their cash cows. 

 

Maybe my cruising interests will evolve, but currently, I do the cheaper, off-peak season cruises. No one has offered me anything more than an extra $25 OBC yet. I admit, I don't wheel and deal with them on the phone. Although, basic math tells me there just isn't a lot of wiggle room on what they are making. About the "lack of control" topic, all I'll say is I do prefer to be able to log into my account when need be. Maybe I want a piece of info, maybe I want to add something, Maybe it's not even that big of a deal. 

 

Lots of people have been burned by TAs. Results are not always going to be typical. Not everyone can find these magic unicorns. Even if they do, they are not always going to see a benefit. As with anything, your mileage may vary.

 

[iancal]

In general, we do not NEED a good TA. 

 

We certainly prefer to a cruise line CSR or cruise consultant, or a poor TA.   But.....we do not want a poor, inexperienced TA either.

[jtwind]

When y'all talk about a "travel agent", is that a "company" with a payroll of 1 working out of their house, a brick and mortar business, an individual at a brick and mortar business, a "cruises 'r' us" type of website, or an individual at a "cruises 'r' us" type of website?

[d9704011]

3 minutes ago, jtwind said:

When y'all talk about a "travel agent", is that a "company" with a payroll of 1 working out of their house, a brick and mortar business, an individual at a brick and mortar business, a "cruises 'r' us" type of website, or an individual at a "cruises 'r' us" type of website?

Whatever you like; somebody acting on your behalf to make travel arrangements.... your cousin in his mom’s basement could fill the bill if you want.  Just give him some instructions and your credit card info and away you go.  Now, whether he’s a good travel agent will remain to be seen.

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, jtwind said:

When y'all talk about a "travel agent", is that a "company" with a payroll of 1 working out of their house, a brick and mortar business, an individual at a brick and mortar business, a "cruises 'r' us" type of website, or an individual at a "cruises 'r' us" type of website?

Time to start using the CC "search" feature.

[pris993]

On 11/26/2020 at 11:17 AM, iancal said:

I have yet to see anyone post a reason that I can relate to that shows why I would ever have more control over a direct booking than a TA booking.  Other than a feel good or emotional reason. 

 

One thing that I liked about our former TA is that she actually cruised on a number of cruise lines, number of ships.  Not one of these shopping mall agents or cruise line CSR's who may never have dipped their toes in an ocean or been in a row boat.

 

Ref your comment on a good reason to book oneself vs us a TA.  I have an example, when I book air direct, if I get to the airport and find a gate agent offering an up grade for a small fee, I can take advantage of it, if interested. If my air ticket has been booked by a TA or thru a cruise line travel agent, no deal, deeply discounted ticket, is not eligible for special offer.   I have had this happen both ways.   Today, gate agents do not have special offers often because flights are more full.  But can happen on international flights which make it worth being able to take advantage of the rare opportunity.