Travel Agent more expensive than booking online

[Joebucks]

On 2/22/2023 at 12:49 PM, ldubs said:

 

 

I am going to disagree with you on this statement.  We don't book upper end cabins. Pretty much standard balcony if the price is good.  The TA beats direct booking 100% of the time, and believe me we check.   From everything I see, this is not a unique experience.   

 

This also depends on the cruise line.

[Markanddonna]

4 hours ago, lynncarol said:

Now that is impressive! Maybe YOU should be a travel agent.

Our last TA was on the RCL Anthem for $340 pp for a balcony- 11 nights in May 2022. That was a fabulous cruise. Like many of you, I stay on top of my bookings and what is available. 

[Hlitner]

3 hours ago, Joebucks said:

 

This also depends on the cruise line.

Well, we have cruised on 16 cruise lines (over more than 50 years) and have always saved money by using discount cruise agencies.  I am not aware of any cruise line where decent cruise agencies will not offer some kind of On Board Credit and/or other amenities.   Savings are generally based on a percentage of the cruise price, so no question that booking a low cost cruise will generate lower dollar savings.  We currently have 4 cruises booked (3 different cruise lines) and our lowest OBC is $450 with the highest $2250!   That represents savings that will not happen if booking direct with the cruise lines.

 

Hank

[Joebucks]

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Well, we have cruised on 16 cruise lines (over more than 50 years) and have always saved money by using discount cruise agencies.  I am not aware of any cruise line where decent cruise agencies will not offer some kind of On Board Credit and/or other amenities.   Savings are generally based on a percentage of the cruise price, so no question that booking a low cost cruise will generate lower dollar savings.  We currently have 4 cruises booked (3 different cruise lines) and our lowest OBC is $450 with the highest $2250!   That represents savings that will not happen if booking direct with the cruise lines.

 

Hank

 

Maybe you can also share what is your lowest and highest priced cruise. I can assure you, $450 OBC has been out of question for every cruise I have ever taken.

[ldubs]

9 hours ago, Joebucks said:

 

This also depends on the cruise line.

 

Some cruise lines do not allow TA's to discount?  

[Hlitner]

7 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

Some cruise lines do not allow TA's to discount?  

There is a difference between "discounts," OBCs, rebates, etc.  Several cruise lines upon which we cruise have never allowed anyone to discount their prices.  But that does not stop agencies from giving out generous On Board Credits and even post cruise rebates.   There are also some agencies that will toss in related perks such as a pre-cruise hotel (we have never dealt with an agency that plays this game).  One well-known online agency also puts together cruise packages that may include pre-post cruise land stays, air, etc.    In Europe, it is common for major travel providers to bundle charter flights into packages that include cruises.

 

Think of it this way.  Lets say you pay $10,000 for a cruise booked directly with a cruise line.  If you book with a cruise/travel agency you will usually also pay $10,000.  But the agency may toss-in $700 of On Board Credit plus pre-paid gratuities.  Or that same agency may offer an alternative where they will send you a check for $1000 a few weeks after you return from the cruise.  Many of the best deals are not advertised, so you must register (usually free) with various agencies to learn about their private deals.  The reality is that unless you shop around (among reputable high-volume agencies) you will never know what you are missing.

 

Another way to save big bucks (on the cruise fare) is to be a gambler.  Some folks get cruises for huge discounts and sometimes even Free (they usually must pay the taxes/fees) because they spend a lot of time in the casino.  That is not our thing, but we know folks who cruise on lines like HAL and MSC for ridiculously low prices.  Of course, they may lose  fortune in the casinos, but others will tell you they often win or break-even.   "Casino specials" seem to have become more common since the COVID shutdown.

[Joebucks]

7 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

Some cruise lines do not allow TA's to discount?  

 

When readers see "I got a big OBC with my cruise" what do they think? Any cruise. A $7500 cruise on a luxury line has a far different business model than a $1000 mass market cruise. It's simple economics really. If you are a TA. Let's say either cruise earns the TA a 15% commission. One commission is $1125, the other is $150. If you ran the business, which one would you offer more attractive perks to? Many mass market lines are also not giving as big of a percentage and/or are already selling out, not needing extra sales help. 

[Markanddonna]

I think a discussion on this topic needs full disclosure as to the name of the cruise line, the number of days, and the cabin category. Otherwise, it is really a huge apples-to-oranges comparison. 

[ldubs]

2 hours ago, Joebucks said:

 

When readers see "I got a big OBC with my cruise" what do they think? Any cruise. A $7500 cruise on a luxury line has a far different business model than a $1000 mass market cruise. It's simple economics really. If you are a TA. Let's say either cruise earns the TA a 15% commission. One commission is $1125, the other is $150. If you ran the business, which one would you offer more attractive perks to? Many mass market lines are also not giving as big of a percentage and/or are already selling out, not needing extra sales help. 

 

Of course Joebucks, and I never said that.  I was not talking about OBC.  I was talking about discounted fares.  By using my TA, your $1,000 cruise will cost me $850 to $900.  We get discounted fares or upgrades from our TA.  We do not get OBC.   

 

According to Hlitner there are cruise lines that do not allow TAs to discount their fares.  He does not specify which ones.  I know they are not the mass market lines.    

Edited February 25, 2023 by ldubs

[MCC retired]

It is not that the cruise lines "including the mass market lines"

 do not permit TA's to discount their fares . It is that TA's are not permitted to "advertise" their discounted fares.

You have to contact the TA for those discounts.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, MCC retired said:

It is not that the cruise lines "including the mass market lines"

 do not permit TA's to discount their fares . It is that TA's are not permitted to "advertise" their discounted fares.

You have to contact the TA for those discounts.

Yes, when we cruised to Alaska, we found 3 cruises on our TA's site that met our timeframe. When we called him, the one that was listed as the most expensive ended up being the least expensive. It was on a line (Princess) that allows TAs to discount (though as you wrote not list it), and possibly he had obtained a group of cabins. (I know he had done this on another cruise in which he got a very good price for us.)

[CPT Trips]

9 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

Otherwise, it is really a huge apples-to-oranges comparison. 

It more of a potato to grapefruit comparison. 

[shorne]

I spent a lot of time calling travel agencies. Every last one charged substantially more—sometimes thousands of dollars more—than Princess did through its Web site. And, yes, I was careful to make sure that the conditions (type of room, packages for drinks and such) were all the same.

 

If this is anomalous, I'd like to know why it happened.

 

[fruitmachine]

On 2/25/2023 at 3:54 PM, ldubs said:

 

Of course Joebucks, and I never said that.  I was not talking about OBC.  I was talking about discounted fares.  By using my TA, your $1,000 cruise will cost me $850 to $900.  We get discounted fares or upgrades from our TA.  We do not get OBC.   

 

According to Hlitner there are cruise lines that do not allow TAs to discount their fares.  He does not specify which ones.  I know they are not the mass market lines.    

My limited experience in the UK is that TAs here can access those discounted fares, but only when they package them with another element (hotel, air, rail etc).  We paid significantly less (in total) than the cruise-only price when we added a one night hotel stay.

[MCC retired]

6 hours ago, shorne said:

I spent a lot of time calling travel agencies. Every last one charged substantially more—sometimes thousands of dollars more—than Princess did through its Web site. And, yes, I was careful to make sure that the conditions (type of room, packages for drinks and such) were all the same.

 

If this is anomalous, I'd like to know why it happened.

 

The reason may be that you are not giving the TA all of the Qualifyer's that you are inputting on the Princess website ? Such as past guest# , ages , state of residence ?

TA should always beat Princess Direct as they are all permitted to discount even the lowest Princess rates that are available to you.

Princess will not upset their main source of bookings , TA's.

Edited April 2, 2023 by MCC retired

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, MCC retired said:

The reason may be that you are not giving the TA all of the Qualifyer's that you are inputting on the Princess website ? Such as past guest# , ages , state of residence ?

TA should always beat Princess Direct as they are all permitted to discount even the lowest Princess rates that are available to you.

Princess will not upset their main source of bookings , TA's.

Whatever the reason, it does seem odd that the OP is not getting better pricing through a TA. I know we always do, and especially on Princess which allows TAs to discount fares.

[ldubs]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

Whatever the reason, it does seem odd that the OP is not getting better pricing through a TA. I know we always do, and especially on Princess which allows TAs to discount fares.

 

There was a time some years ago that I encountered the same situation as the OP.  That would have been when online presence was still tied to brick and mortar operations I think.   The TA's we approached could not do better than the cruise lines for our lower end cabin categories. I'm not sure why and that hasn't been the case for a long time now.  Our TA will always has better pricing.   

Edited April 2, 2023 by ldubs

[shorne]

No, I gave that information. It was requested, and I gave it. Still the travel agents' prices always came out much higher than the published figures on Princess's Web site. And a few of those travel agents had the gall to charge for their "service" on top of that. When I pointed out that they were charging far more than the company itself and suggested that there might be an error, they denied that outright.

[SbbquilterUT]

Did you do a complete mock booking (book all the way up until you would pay, then do not pay).  That is how I can determine the true cost and what is included.

[MCC retired]

11 minutes ago, shorne said:

No, I gave that information. It was requested, and I gave it. Still the travel agents' prices always came out much higher than the published figures on Princess's Web site. And a few of those travel agents had the gall to charge for their "service" on top of that. When I pointed out that they were charging far more than the company itself and suggested that there might be an error, they denied that outright.

You are not looking at Princess "from "rates are you?

Did you actually create an option for the cabin category you wish on the Princess site then shop the TA's?

 

[shorne]

On 4/2/2023 at 12:42 PM, MCC retired said:

You are not looking at Princess "from "rates are you?

Did you actually create an option for the cabin category you wish on the Princess site then shop the TA's?

 

 

I ended up buying the cruise from Princess, through its Web site, at the very rate that every travel agency that I called on the telephone exceeded. Yes, I had gone all the way through the entire process, just short of payment, and then called travel agencies in the expectation of getting a better deal. Every agency charged more, in some cases a couple of thousand dollars more. And when I did complete the transaction through Princess, I got exactly the rate that had been shown on the Web site all along.

 

[sanger727]

9 hours ago, shorne said:

 

I ended up buying the cruise from Princess, through its Web site, at the very rate that every travel agency that I called on the telephone exceeded. Yes, I had gone all the way through the entire process, just short of payment, and then called travel agencies in the expectation of getting a better deal. Every agency charged more, in some cases a couple of thousand dollars more. And when I did complete the transaction through Princess, I got exactly the rate that had been shown on the Web site all along.

 

 

I can't think of any explanation for what you experienced. I've never been charged more by a TA than a cruise line for the same product. TA's could afford to be stingy back when you went into an office and looked at the "brochure" rates. But in today's price transparency, I would think that any TA consistently charging more than the cruise line would go out of business. 

[shorne]

12 hours ago, sanger727 said:

 

I can't think of any explanation for what you experienced. I've never been charged more by a TA than a cruise line for the same product. TA's could afford to be stingy back when you went into an office and looked at the "brochure" rates. But in today's price transparency, I would think that any TA consistently charging more than the cruise line would go out of business. 

 

Indeed. I was surprised. I even asked one of them what possible reason I would have to spend more money with her agency than with the cruise line itself, particularly when the latter was just a matter of operating a Web site whereas former involved a lengthy rigmarole on the telephone. She had no answer.

 

I'd like very much to know what happened here. I was careful to make sure that I was comparing rates for exactly the same thing.

[NantahalaCruiser]

On 2/22/2023 at 12:34 PM, lynncarol said:

Been on many cruises over the years. Only once did I use a TA to book a cruise and that was because we had other couples going with us and they wanted a TA they could call if problems arose.  However, before final payment, I just happened to notice on the web a  24 hour $1000 per cabin price drop on our cruise.  I immediately phoned the cruise-line to learn that our TA alone could make those changes.  So I frantically called our TA only to have it go to her voicemail. As she was an independent agent,  anxious hours ensued before she finally got back to me and could get us all the new price since it was (barely) under the 24 hour deadline.  Never again.

Cruise lines generally allow you to place a 24-hour hold on a cabin at the prevailing rate.  So, just an hour or so before the deadline, you probably could have put 24-hour hold on a cabin in the same class as your existing reservation at the new reduced rate; and then had it transferred to your existing reservation anytime within that additional 24-hour period.