How do I find a good Canadian TA?

[mattR]

Have always booked my cruises directly with the cruise line but I head people seem to get better deals going through a TA lots of times.  How do I find a good Canadian TA?  

[Ex-Airbalancer]

3 hours ago, mattR said:

Have always booked my cruises directly with the cruise line but I head people seem to get better deals going through a TA lots of times.  How do I find a good Canadian TA?  

Cruise critic does not allow talk about travel  agents

[CDNPolar]

Well, we can talk in general, but not promote by name.

 

What we have found is that you must interview several.

 

We used one TA for a very specific cruise as we wanted someone expert in that particular expedition itinerary.  We were overall happy, but the signing process with them had more paperwork than the cruise vacation and the fees attached to cancellation and other things were too much, but we went ahead at the time.

 

Since then this same TA has been trying for our business, but wants a fee up front to research and book, then a fee to book air, then a fee for this and that....  Nope, we are not going to pay to use a TA when we are capable of doing the booking ourselves.  There must be value to us to use the TA.

 

There is a major retail chain that offers huge money back but they only book certain cruise lines.

 

We use a TA now that we get an OBC of $200 per person for our cruise bookings, and at the end of each year we get an additional $100 per person that we can apply to upcoming bookings.  So in total, we get $600 to book a cruise through this company.

 

I would interview and ask several about their fees, and what value they offer in on board credit (OBC) or in cash back... then make your decision there.

 

I will not state the amount here, but one of our first ever TA's that we used only the once by mistake sent us their invoice for commission to the cruise line, and there is a LOT OF ROOM for a TA to offer you something.  What we get from the above mentioned TA is not even half the commission for our chosen cruise line.

[Graycruise]

Does it have to be Canadian?  We have used several US based firms, many you can book directly and still get perks - if you call in, you typically get more.  On our upcoming 10 day Celebrity Cruise we are getting a $1200 US OBC (refundable) - and we aren't even in a high-end suite.  Some companies will also allow you to apply their OBC to the cost of the cruise upfront instead of receiving it onboard.  We have never found these benefits with a Canadian TA - and certainly not booking directly.

[LHT28]

Ask friends  & family  what TA  they use  & if they are happy  with the services

 I use  a US  based TA  for  my cruise of choice

Usually book my own flights & hotels  for other trips

 

 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Our TA  has a lot of Americans clients now , as they get a great deal with her group rates and exchange 

[Fouremco]

It depends largely on what you are looking for. When we started cruising, we looked for a travel agency that specialized in cruises and let them do all of the work. Other than saying that we were looking for a Caribbean cruise and an approximate duration, and giving a target budget, we left it to the TA to recommend a cruise line, itinerary, accommodation, etc. We weren't aware of the concept of perks, although I think we did receive a bottle of cheap wine from the TA.

 

Many cruises later, now we do all of the legwork ourselves and tell the TA exactly what we want. Or, more often than not, book with the TA directly online. We are looking for perks, not for hand holding, and we've remained with the same big box company ever since they opened their Canadian travel arm a few years ago.

 

Friends and family would be a good place to start. It would also be useful for you to indicate where you live in Alberta, as other CC members living there might be able to steer you in the right direction while remaining within the rules.

 

 

[Tango99]

17 hours ago, mattR said:

Have always booked my cruises directly with the cruise line but I head people seem to get better deals going through a TA lots of times.  How do I find a good Canadian TA?  

I haven’t. Going to the cruise line direct I found I had an immediate point of contact for assistance with price drops, anything newsworthy that needed attention like their cancellation, changes in ports, etc. I’d much rather check out my own options than through a consolidator or a group or TA that might offer some deals….knowing the scope is limited to their own best interests. And that may include better offers to some, but not all in their quest to garner loyalty. That does come at a cost to one of bookings. 

[ctlyf]

On 9/15/2023 at 4:59 AM, CDNPolar said:

I will not state the amount here, but one of our first ever TA's that we used only the once by mistake sent us their invoice for commission to the cruise line, and there is a LOT OF ROOM for a TA to offer you something.  What we get from the above mentioned TA is not even half the commission for our chosen cruise line.

We used a friend of ours who is a TA, and she did the same thing with the invoice. I was FLOORED by the amount of commission she is getting, especially since we're traveling as a group of 6 couples and one solo. We got $100 OBC, which I think we may have gotten booking on our own. 🤦‍♀️

[CDNPolar]

8 hours ago, ctlyf said:

We used a friend of ours who is a TA, and she did the same thing with the invoice. I was FLOORED by the amount of commission she is getting, especially since we're traveling as a group of 6 couples and one solo. We got $100 OBC, which I think we may have gotten booking on our own. 🤦‍♀️

 

Yes, it can be substantial....

 

What I find very interesting is some of the comments on this discussion.  We never thought to use a USA based TA before, but from other discussions on other parts of CC I see and hear of Americans getting big value from using a TA.  I DON'T see that in Canada.

 

What is the difference?

 

The first cruise we went on we used a well known agency that specializes in cruises to the level that "cruise" is in their name.  We got NOTHING from them... no OBC, no luggage tag, not even really a thank you for working with them.  This is the one that by mistake sent us the cruise invoice with their commission.  We were FLOORED with the amount and the fact that we got nothing.  This is when we decided to do it on our own.

 

Now we have a TA we used once that wants to charge US to use her services!

 

Only wish our favourite line would allow booking through the retail outlet that has a TA division, but they took that away from them because they were giving too much to their customers in the cruise lines opinion.

 

Edited September 17, 2023 by CDNPolar

[Ex-Airbalancer]

My TA keeps asking me if I want to sign up to be a TA , 

I keep telling her no way, dealing with the general public is no fun🤣

80% of the people are probably ok , the last 20% will turn your hair grey 

 

remember out of that commissions, they have split with the broker , pay for insurance, over head , etc  and fack ups 

TAs did not make anything extra during Covid when they had to keep rebooking all those cancelled cruises 

Also everything you buy has about a 50% market up , so why shouldn’t TAs 

[LHT28]

Usually TA  that have a relationship with a Consortium  will give better  perks  compared  to agencies  that  do not pay a fee to the Consortium

 

They  also pay a fee to TICO  if in Ontario

They agent  may not  get  a 50/50 split  or they  may just work on salary  with or without  some commission

It is not  cut & dry  like people think

[gold1953]

I have tried a couple but back to booking direct with Celebrity. One major company wanted $50 for each change made. Another was hard to get in touch with.

 I like control and being able to call when I see a price drop even on Sunday as prices can change fast

[SilvertoGold]

On the topic of commisions: I know a lady who cruised a lot before Covid and used a friend who was a TA. She somehow manages to get her what sounds like Casino Rates but aren't, in fact. I was encouraged to contact this TA , so I did. She works for one of the large Canadian agencies. Very nice, pricing identical to HAL's website but not our 5 star pricing. Having given her our Mariner numbers in advance, I pointed that out. Oh. Came back with our Mariner pricing. Any perks? No. Any OBC.? No. We asked why we should book with her: she whined about how with all her overhead she would end up with enough commission to buy a couple of cups of coffee.This was a 48 day cruise we were booking!  End of that asociation.

[joeyjeremiah]

A good TA's job isn't necessarily to provide you perks although yes everybody likes getting perks. You don't go to a restaurant and say this meal cost you $5 to make and you are charging me $35 you should give me some of that profit back. You are paying for the knowledge and experience of the chef and the atmosphere of the restaurant and professionalism of the server. A good TA is somebody that you build a relationship with who looks out for your best interests., They will get you the best price available (this shouldn't come out of their personal pockets), advocate for you if anything goes wrong, help navigate you through the requirements and make recommendations to suit what you are looking for from their knowledge and experience. They spend the hours on hold with the cruiseline to get things booked or changed for you so you don't have to. They stay up to date on policies and changes, just look on any of the board on here there is a lot of confusion on cruise policies especially when something changes. They monitor your payment schedule to make sure you don't miss it and have your cruise cancelled.

 

Yes, many TA's now charge fees. This is becoming much more common in the industry. They should be upfront about what the fees are and what they cover. If you don't like it you can go elsewhere.

 

I like to think of it this way. I can research myself on how to change the oil in my car. Watch youtube videos go out and buy the stuff. I may even be able to do it successfully, however it will take me a whole lot longer to get it done then bringing it to my mechanic. And my time is valuable. And what happens when something doesn't goes as planned, having a professional around makes these situations a lot easier to deal with instead of trying to navigate in a sea of misinformation yourself. I don't question what my mechanic charges me. I've built a relationship with him and trust his recommendations. I don't sit there to see if it really took 2 hours or only an hour and a half to do the repair. 

 

A good TA is a professional. So find somebody that you can work with and develop a relationship with them like you do a mechanic, hair dresser etc. I think we've all had a bad haircut at some point in time that has taught us the lesson that money isn't everything paying for experience is worth it sometimes too.

[CDNPolar]

8 hours ago, joeyjeremiah said:

A good TA's job isn't necessarily to provide you perks although yes everybody likes getting perks. You don't go to a restaurant and say this meal cost you $5 to make and you are charging me $35 you should give me some of that profit back. You are paying for the knowledge and experience of the chef and the atmosphere of the restaurant and professionalism of the server. A good TA is somebody that you build a relationship with who looks out for your best interests., They will get you the best price available (this shouldn't come out of their personal pockets), advocate for you if anything goes wrong, help navigate you through the requirements and make recommendations to suit what you are looking for from their knowledge and experience. They spend the hours on hold with the cruiseline to get things booked or changed for you so you don't have to. They stay up to date on policies and changes, just look on any of the board on here there is a lot of confusion on cruise policies especially when something changes. They monitor your payment schedule to make sure you don't miss it and have your cruise cancelled.

 

Yes, many TA's now charge fees. This is becoming much more common in the industry. They should be upfront about what the fees are and what they cover. If you don't like it you can go elsewhere.

 

I like to think of it this way. I can research myself on how to change the oil in my car. Watch youtube videos go out and buy the stuff. I may even be able to do it successfully, however it will take me a whole lot longer to get it done then bringing it to my mechanic. And my time is valuable. And what happens when something doesn't goes as planned, having a professional around makes these situations a lot easier to deal with instead of trying to navigate in a sea of misinformation yourself. I don't question what my mechanic charges me. I've built a relationship with him and trust his recommendations. I don't sit there to see if it really took 2 hours or only an hour and a half to do the repair. 

 

A good TA is a professional. So find somebody that you can work with and develop a relationship with them like you do a mechanic, hair dresser etc. I think we've all had a bad haircut at some point in time that has taught us the lesson that money isn't everything paying for experience is worth it sometimes too.

 

I don't dispute anything you say here.  I agree that there are some - and I say SOME - great TA's that are professional and great at what they do.  We have also come across many that are no more knowledgable than we are ourselves and they also charge a fee.  

 

One that we have used, wanted a $150 fee to start the research into our trip.  It was booking a Norwegian Coastal Cruise.  What research am I going to pay her $150 for?  Obviously she has nothing to bring to the table in knowledge if she has to do the research and we have to pay for it.  

 

We chose to do the research ourselves and then we transfer the booking to a TA for the cash perks that we get through another TA.

 

Most travel we do however we have found it easier to do on our own, but we totally get why some rely fully on the TA to do all the booking arrangements.

[Fouremco]

17 hours ago, joeyjeremiah said:

A good TA's job isn't necessarily to provide you perks although yes everybody likes getting perks. You don't go to a restaurant and say this meal cost you $5 to make and you are charging me $35 you should give me some of that profit back. You are paying for the knowledge and experience of the chef and the atmosphere of the restaurant and professionalism of the server. A good TA is somebody that you build a relationship with who looks out for your best interests., They will get you the best price available (this shouldn't come out of their personal pockets), advocate for you if anything goes wrong, help navigate you through the requirements and make recommendations to suit what you are looking for from their knowledge and experience. They spend the hours on hold with the cruiseline to get things booked or changed for you so you don't have to. They stay up to date on policies and changes, just look on any of the board on here there is a lot of confusion on cruise policies especially when something changes. They monitor your payment schedule to make sure you don't miss it and have your cruise cancelled.

 

Yes, many TA's now charge fees. This is becoming much more common in the industry. They should be upfront about what the fees are and what they cover. If you don't like it you can go elsewhere.

 

I like to think of it this way. I can research myself on how to change the oil in my car. Watch youtube videos go out and buy the stuff. I may even be able to do it successfully, however it will take me a whole lot longer to get it done then bringing it to my mechanic. And my time is valuable. And what happens when something doesn't goes as planned, having a professional around makes these situations a lot easier to deal with instead of trying to navigate in a sea of misinformation yourself. I don't question what my mechanic charges me. I've built a relationship with him and trust his recommendations. I don't sit there to see if it really took 2 hours or only an hour and a half to do the repair. 

 

A good TA is a professional. So find somebody that you can work with and develop a relationship with them like you do a mechanic, hair dresser etc. I think we've all had a bad haircut at some point in time that has taught us the lesson that money isn't everything paying for experience is worth it sometimes too.

I totally respect your personal perspective on TA's, and your related expectations, but not everyone has the same wants or needs. Moreover, what someone is looking for in a TA can change over time. Having used a TA for a good number of years who gave nothing more than a bottle of cheap wine as a perk for our continued loyalty, I was quite happy to switch to our current TA when it opened in Canada offering very generous perks. Yes, I do all the research and know exactly what I want before making a booking, but as a retiree I have the time and I enjoy the research. 

[mattR]

9 hours ago, Fouremco said:

I totally respect your personal perspective on TA's, and your related expectations, but not everyone has the same wants or needs. Moreover, what someone is looking for in a TA can change over time. Having used a TA for a good number of years who gave nothing more than a bottle of cheap wine as a perk for our continued loyalty, I was quite happy to switch to our current TA when it opened in Canada offering very generous perks. Yes, I do all the research and know exactly what I want before making a booking, but as a retiree I have the time and I enjoy the research. 

Wish you could tell me which one 😞

[Fouremco]

7 minutes ago, mattR said:

Wish you could tell me which one 😞

I sympathize... but the rules are the rules.

[3Shelaghs]

Used 3 different TA companies and built a relationship with one or two agents over 30 years. All trips except for two had "issues", so I stopped using and started doing it all by myself with excellent results (I got exactly what I wanted x 20 years). You have to work at it though. Keep notes, research, remember what you learn along the way, and stay organized, print out everything, and ask questions. Don't forget cruise line agents you get, might be no better than the last disastrous TA you had, just keep working through them until you get a good one (pandemic caused havoc in this industry). Not all the newbies know the correct answers, so if it feels strange to you, call back and speak to someone different.

[declansdad]

On 9/15/2023 at 7:59 AM, CDNPolar said:

Well, we can talk in general, but not promote by name.

 

What we have found is that you must interview several.

 

We used one TA for a very specific cruise as we wanted someone expert in that particular expedition itinerary.  We were overall happy, but the signing process with them had more paperwork than the cruise vacation and the fees attached to cancellation and other things were too much, but we went ahead at the time.

 

Since then this same TA has been trying for our business, but wants a fee up front to research and book, then a fee to book air, then a fee for this and that....  Nope, we are not going to pay to use a TA when we are capable of doing the booking ourselves.  There must be value to us to use the TA.

 

There is a major retail chain that offers huge money back but they only book certain cruise lines.

 

We use a TA now that we get an OBC of $200 per person for our cruise bookings, and at the end of each year we get an additional $100 per person that we can apply to upcoming bookings.  So in total, we get $600 to book a cruise through this company.

 

I would interview and ask several about their fees, and what value they offer in on board credit (OBC) or in cash back... then make your decision there.

 

I will not state the amount here, but one of our first ever TA's that we used only the once by mistake sent us their invoice for commission to the cruise line, and there is a LOT OF ROOM for a TA to offer you something.  What we get from the above mentioned TA is not even half the commission for our chosen cruise line.

 

Why should a TA give you their commission? Do you work for free?

[Fouremco]

18 minutes ago, declansdad said:

 

Why should a TA give you their commission? Do you work for free?

No TA works for free. They get a healthy commission from the cruise line for every booking, and some TA's keep all of it, perhaps minus the cost of a cheap bottle of wine, while others are more generous  with their perks. This results in a smaller profit per booking (smaller, not small) but more bookings as the perks attract more customers. The net result is a bigger overall profit. No need to worry on their behalf.

[CDNPolar]

10 hours ago, declansdad said:

 

Why should a TA give you their commission? Do you work for free?

 

I am not saying that any TA should give me their commission.  I am simply working under the knowledge that some TA's offer incentives to book through them, and why would you not take advantage of that?

 

One particular large retail chain that has a TA division, does not commission their reps, so therefore you as the traveller are the one that gets the benefit back.  On a cruise we did last year, we received over $2,000.00 in compensation back.  Another large Canadian TA company we get over $600 per trip in compensation and this is clearly stated in their promotional materials.  This is not taking from anyone, if it is offered.

 

We made the decision to interview TA's and they openly state what they give.  

[declansdad]

On 9/30/2023 at 9:09 PM, Fouremco said:

No TA works for free. They get a healthy commission from the cruise line for every booking, and some TA's keep all of it, perhaps minus the cost of a cheap bottle of wine, while others are more generous  with their perks. This results in a smaller profit per booking (smaller, not small) but more bookings as the perks attract more customers. The net result is a bigger overall profit. No need to worry on their behalf.

 

I know how TA's get paid and describing it as healthy commission is being generous. There are are also may factors that come into to play with that commission. It could be split between with the host agency they work for, they need to pay their expenses and it is likely their only source of income. The commission rate will also be different by cruise line and also dependent on the agreement they or their host agency has with the line

 

Would you ask for your lawyer, your plumber, your real estate agent, your hair stylist to give you back part of their pay/

[declansdad]

On 10/1/2023 at 6:49 AM, CDNPolar said:

 

I am not saying that any TA should give me their commission.  I am simply working under the knowledge that some TA's offer incentives to book through them, and why would you not take advantage of that?

 

One particular large retail chain that has a TA division, does not commission their reps, so therefore you as the traveller are the one that gets the benefit back.  On a cruise we did last year, we received over $2,000.00 in compensation back.  Another large Canadian TA company we get over $600 per trip in compensation and this is clearly stated in their promotional materials.  This is not taking from anyone, if it is offered.

 

We made the decision to interview TA's and they openly state what they give.  

 

Most TA's do not work for companies like this. In fact, the vast majority are independent. The incentives they give are usually because they are part of the promotion they are offering you and is you are asking for more, you are asking for a share of their commission.