Why WE use a Travel Agent

[Milwaukee Eight]

1 hour ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

 

I don't know how often she checks but my TA has found price drops for me. On a cruise a few years ago, when final payment was due, I called her to make the payment. I expected to pay her a certain amount. She told me an amount that was about $150 less. Naturally, I asked why. She told me about a price drop a couple months earlier. It was only available for a short time. I never saw it. She happened to see it and applied it to my cruise. We seldom receive OBC from her but her price is ALWAYS lower than what RCI has listed on the website.

Price drops are always nice. However, we wouldn’t have booked the cruise in the first place if we didn’t agree to the existing fare. 

[Ourusualbeach]

3 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

You sure it wasn’t Empress?

There were good deals on both.  Jewel as well.

[Milwaukee Eight]

43 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

There were good deals on both.  Jewel as well.

They mentioned Monarch. I saw Monarch in Europe 2017 sailing for a different cruise line??

 

M8

[Ourusualbeach]

2 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

They mentioned Monarch. I saw Monarch in Europe 2017 sailing for a different cruise line??

 

M8

I think Monarch was mixed up with Majesty..I missed that

Edited January 10, 2021 by Ourusualbeach

[molly361]

6 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

What a coincidence mine does as well.  Are you the person that I actually need to thank for finding the Monarch L&S, that was passed on by my TA?

I don't remember.  I know I told my TA about a couple that I did not take advantage of but don't recall which ships they were

[molly361]

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

There were good deals on both.  Jewel as well.

Liberty too I think??  Seems like that was a lifetime ago😇

[Ourusualbeach]

1 minute ago, molly361 said:

Liberty too I think??  Seems like that was a lifetime ago😇

All a blur....

[molly361]

Just now, Ourusualbeach said:

All a blur....

And a VERY busy time 

[Ourusualbeach]

1 minute ago, molly361 said:

And a VERY busy time 

The best thing was once they put the L&S online.  No more calling and spending the entire day on hold.  I posted a lot during hold times.

Edited January 10, 2021 by Ourusualbeach

[soremekun]

16 hours ago, drsel said:

this is very interesting!

I never heard of any agent who monitors all Cruises of all clients to check for price drops, and then automatically phones the cruise line to lower the fare for every price drop.

And then emails every client the lowest fare.

Absolutely amazing!

 

How much OBC does this agent give you in percentage terms of the basic Cruise fare?

After reading other examples, my OBC from the TA doesn't seem as quite as impressive as what others achieve but group pricing, auto price adjustments, fixing problems, excellent responsiveness, etc are excellent reasons to continue to use this TA.

 

Examples of TA OBC for two of my upcoming cruises (excludes OBC provided by cruiseline):

Cruise fair - $1,555.87, TA OBC = $50 (~3%)

Cruise fair - $2,188.90, TA OBC = $100 (~5%)

 

[Ourusualbeach]

5 minutes ago, soremekun said:

Examples of TA OBC for two of my upcoming cruises (excludes OBC provided by cruiseline):

Cruise fair - $1,555.87, TA OBC = $50 (~3%)

Cruise fair - $2,188.90, TA OBC = $100 (~5%)

Many TA's do not make near what others claim.

 

While the overall commission paid by Royal is 10% to 16% you have to remember that is on base cruise fare and excludes taxes and fees and also a line that you never see called NCCF or non commissionable cruise fare which on a 7 day cruise rages from $175pp to $225pp depending on the ship.

 

Many TA's also work for agencies and do not get the full commission as the agency and the franchisee also take a portion, may make 30% to 40% of the total commission paid.  Bricks and mortar TA's are also apt to pay less as they have higher overhead than on line agencies who basically have order takers who may be paid an hourly rate plus a small portion of the commission.  You cannot make a blanket statement of how much to expect, if anything without knowing all the circumstances.

 

TA's with access to group rates can end up saving you a lot more in the long run than some small OBC amount.  Suites are an entirely different matter though.  Choose what you are looking for...price or service or a combination of the two.

[Butterfly625]

9 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Were you ok with the original booked fare price?  

Yes, we were okay with it, but who doesn't like a reduction.

[ReneeFLL]

9 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Were you ok with the original booked fare price?  

I don’t think it should matter if she was happy with the original price booked. She lost out on a reduction in price and that’s her point. I’d be pissed also. 

[Milwaukee Eight]

23 minutes ago, Butterfly625 said:

Yes, we were okay with it, but who doesn't like a reduction.

I agree but the meltdown?

[ReneeFLL]

1 minute ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

I agree but the meltdown?

True I did think it was a bit much. I’d be mad but it wouldn’t affect my blood pressure.