Travel Agents On Board Credit and Cash back vs booking directly with Cruis Line.

I've been shopping around and I found one TA (CO) that will give me $50 OBC and no money down at booking. They charge a 24.99 processing fee. So it reality, I'm getting $25 OBC vs $50 or $75 vs 100.

What is considered a good deal?

I've always booked direct, so this is kinda new for me..

Oh and all the cruises are 100 % refund before final payment.

Allure 11/11/18 100 OBC

Harmony 11/03/18 50 OBC or 100 cash back

Harmony 11/18/18 100 OBC

Getaway 11/18/18 $100. OBC

Basically the OBC is double than what the cruise line is giving me or the cruise line was not giving any back.

My recommendation is to use a TA when booking a cruise but not just any TA.

We can't give recommendations of TA's on Cruise Critic.

My advice is to ask friends who cruise for a recommendation.

I would not book with no money down as I would be concerned if I really have a booking.

Keith

Most OBC are non refundable unless stated otherwise

You should get any deals the cruise line is offering plus what the TA offers

Never heard of no down payment

Do they also charge if you cancel or if there is a price drop do they give you the new price??

I would check that also

I would get from whoever gives me the lowest net fare. $25 is not an attraction for me not to consider direct booking.

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You are right about the net.. l have to call again, if I'm not mistaken the TA was less because i was getting it for a lower price than the refundable. I will call and double check.

There are many TA's that don't charge a booking fee .

The no deposit thing scares me , not a normal TA perk.

Those OBC's offered by this TA don't sound too generous , shop other recommended TA's.

You should always do better with a TA than booking direct as a TA can always book the same great deal that you think you are getting by booking direct, then add something as "a thanks for booking".

Not sure what you mean by NET booking

Most TA's will not give you the NET price unless they are your family or best friend ;)

I would rather pay the deposit & no processing fee

Most cruise lines deposits are fully refundable up to final payment ..read the Terms & conditions of any booking BEFORE you commit

Shop around

JMO

I would also ask if there is a fee for making any changes to the reservation as that has been reported by some folks. How easy are they to reach once you are booked? It would have to more attractive to me because I want the flexibility of making changes if needed.

Our first priorty, apart from reasonable service, is a TA than does NOT charge for booking, for re-fares, for cabin changes, or for cancellations.

After that it comes down to service. For our needs we get much better service from our on line TA than we did from a bricks and mortar TA.

We typically get anywhere for 8-12 percent of the commissionable fare given to us an OBC. That works out to one free cruise for every 10-15. Additional benefits can also accrue if out TA is tacking us on to a group booking. Anywhere from a slight upgrade, and extra $25 or $50 OBC, or a complementary excursion.

We prefer to use a TA vs booking direct. We don't want to deal with anyone who is the cruise line's employ and therefore beholding to their direction.

The other benefit has been unbiased feedback that our TA has from other clients plus occasionally she makes us aware of a great opportunity on other cruise lines that me might otherwise not be aware of. It is a win win for both of us since we are not demanding clients in any way and do not really take up any of her time.

Shop around. I did and got $320 OBO for each of two back-to-back cruises.

Glenn

Shop around. I did and got $320 OBO for each of two back-to-back cruises.

 

Glenn

Omg that is awesome. Guess I'll just have to google travel agency's

We use to use TAs... started cruising 30+ years ago, now that we have the internet... TAs are not that attractive to us, we book early, using get a low fare, watch fare if it does down we get the lower fare, sometimes we book while on board and get a very good OBC, i.e., $500... but if the fare goes down. we take the lower fare and drop the obc. I like booking direct, then I am in control of my booking... do not owe any TA a fee, this goes for cruise, air, hotel... works out good if you have the time and access to the interent to keep track of fares.

We use one of the larger online TA'S. We always get 100-175 onboard credit, always get one specialty dinning for two, usually get pre-paid gratuities, and on our last booking insurance was included. Look to get at least 10% of your total cruise price back in the from of perks. Many time we book directly with the cruise line if they are offering good perks and then transfer the booking to the TA we use to pick up all they are offering. Don't fall for the I am in control of my booking if I book direct. If you have a problem a multi million dollar cruise agency will get more done than a 15 dollar a hour cubicle dweller who represents the cruise line. . happy cruising

There are a few TA's out there that have a "no deposit" perk, but make sure you read the fine print about it! Many times this makes the final payment date different than what the cruise lines. I have seen it as long as 6 weeks earlier than what the "normal" final payment would be.

I would also stay away from any that charge a fee for booking with them since they are getting commission for your booking also. I feel about that the same way I feel about restaurants putting automatic tips on without making it clear they are doing so....

I love my TA and their big online agency. IMO they are the best out there, though we all have our favorite TA's those who use them. :hearteyes:

On that note, a $50 OBC seems like almost nothing to be on a 7 day cruise. With the TA I use, we normally get about 8-10% back as OBC depending on the line we are sailing on. A good example would be $280 OBC on a $3100 Carnival fare, a $350 OBC on a $3800 NCL fare, and our booked MSC cruise we will be getting $450 on a $4100 fare.

To be, I love having a TA deal with things I don't want to deal with *cough MSC Customer Service!!* but if the agency assigns one person and no one else can help and they aren't in the office it can be really rough with time sensitive things like price drops.

I have had amazing TA's and then ones that I couldn't stand because they were useless. This is really what makes the TA experience. I would say never pick random place off the interwebs because you probably will get burned on the first few attempts. Unless you have the patience to deal with people who are bad at their jobs, picking based only on what they give you for free, isn't the best way to go about it.

I was able to find a website with TA's.. wow now I'm seeing very good OBC.. thanks. I went on another forum and they were able to give me some hints. I'm so glad. Now I can get and see better deals.

We view booking a cruise as a commodity. No different than buying gasoline or sugar.

We view dealing with our TA as a commercial transaction. We are not looking for a new best friend or someone to pass the time of day with- either on the phone or in his/her office. Nor do we require any hand holding as it were.

As a result, we are simply looking for the best price with reasonable service. The cabin will be the same whether we book with the cruise line, a bricks and mortar TA, or an internet TA. The only difference to us is price. And less cost, more OBC's is better than more cost, fewer OBC's from our perspective.

We don't understand the control issue. We have as much control over our booking when we book with a TA than we do when we book directly with the cruise line. We can cancel, upgrade, change cabins, whatever.

We used a big box TA for our last cruise. We received all the benefits and promotions Princess offered at the time of booking, plus additional OBC and dining vouchers for one meal for each of us in a specialty restaurant, both given to us by the TA. On that cruise, the total value gained by booking with the TA was about $500 over what we would have gotten by booking directly. We also had non-refundable OBC from Princess. The big box OBC was refundable. While on the cruise, the non-refundable OBC was used up first, with the refundable OBC being used only after the non-refundable was used up.

$500 equaled about 10% of the cruise fare.

I also completely agree with iancal in the post above. We have the same control over our booking as we would have with the cruise line. Someone is always available, 24/7, for questions or changes. There is absolutely zero benefit to having the cruise line handle the booking over having a good TA do it. Every cruise we have taken has been through a TA. And, we have a tendency to make changes as the months go by, mostly from price drop requests or upgrading to more expensive cabins when their prices go down, which the TA can handle. All changes are processed promptly, just like we would have if the cruise line maintained the booking.

Someone mentioned that most OBC is non-refundable. The only OBC that I have ever had that was non-refundable was from the cruise line. OBC from a TA have always been fully refundable. However, they way we live it up on a cruise, there is as much of a chance of a snowball surviving in hell as there is a chance of any of our OBC surviving our cruise and having to be refunded back to us. :evilsmile:

We had about $200USD of non refundable cruise line OBC left on our last RCI cruise.

Rather than spending it on something that had little value, or walking away from it, we withdrew the money in the Casino. We had to pay a five percent surcharge but that was by far the best option for us.

We use to use TAs... started cruising 30+ years ago, now that we have the internet... TAs are not that attractive to us, we book early, using get a low fare, watch fare if it does down we get the lower fare, sometimes we book while on board and get a very good OBC, i.e., $500... but if the fare goes down. we take the lower fare and drop the obc. I like booking direct, then I am in control of my booking... do not owe any TA a fee, this goes for cruise, air, hotel... works out good if you have the time and access to the interent to keep track of fares.

There are many TAs that do not charge any fees, can always get the same cruise line price (or sometimes lower) and OBC or other cruise line perks - and then most of them will give you additional OBC or other perks our of their commission.

I can sort of understand your desire to be in control of your booking. However, if and when you have a problem with a cruise line, it is often better to have a TA on your side to help resolve the problem to your benefit.

Happy cruising.

I went in a site that gives me quotes from multiple TA's most of the OBC were similar to other TA's I guess because the cruise was only about 1500 to 1700 for two people the most i think I saw was about 150 to 170.. on the cruise.: now I have to decide which of them to use.. I notice some have hours and may not bye open 24/7 while others are open 24/7 or have a longer day schedule

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We almost never book with the cruise line or with a TA who does not provide OBC's.

We view booking a cruise as a commodity. Lowest price, inclusive of OBC's with reasonable service wins our business. For us this usually means an on line TA. We get the same great service from here as we would from a cruise line rep or a local bricks and mortar TA.