Why I will never use travel agents again

I have an upcoming Princess cruise for march 2017. A Celebrity offer has come to light. A better offer. Better dates etc.

Being well over the 181 days for a penalty free cancellation I thought great lets make the switch. However I didnt realise my agent had there own set of cancelation policy ontop of Princess. We require to pay a fee for cancelation. I would understand a small fee since its extra work but I think $300 is a little excessive.

They also charge fees for refairing etc (so price drops are useless). Ontop of my frustration I specifically asked if a penalty free cancelation will be honoured by princess prior to booking since we weren't sure about the dates.

Adding to my frustration it states a change in cruise date is permitted for $50. I argued that since they are retaining the commission isnt it a change in date. They argued since it involves cancelling our cruise and booking another. No we incure the cancelation fee. The $50 is only charged within the same booking... one is not sure how you book a new departure date for the same cruise.

Has anyone experienced this before. I.e agent fees ontop of cruise lines?

I have an upcoming Princess cruise for march 2017. A Celebrity offer has come to light. A better offer. Better dates etc.

 

Being well over the 181 days for a penalty free cancellation I thought great lets make the switch. However I didnt realise my agent had there own set of cancelation policy ontop of Princess. We require to pay a fee for cancelation. I would understand a small fee since its extra work but I think $300 is a little excessive.

 

They also charge fees for refairing etc (so price drops are useless). Ontop of my frustration I specifically asked if a penalty free cancelation will be honoured by princess prior to booking since we weren't sure about the dates.

 

Adding to my frustration it states a change in cruise date is permitted for $50. I argued that since they are retaining the commission isnt it a change in date. They argued since it involves cancelling our cruise and booking another. No we incure the cancelation fee. The $50 is only charged within the same booking... one is not sure how you book a new departure date for the same cruise.

 

Has anyone experienced this before. I.e agent fees ontop of cruise lines?

It seems to be common unfortunately.

I doubt I'll ever use an agent again either, to be honest, problem after problem with different agents..

1. Didn't forward my payment fares increased due to the plummeting dollar (this was a few years back) price jumped over 20%.

2. Didn't reply to my call or action my email costing me $500 OBC

3. Back in the days of paper cruise personaliser didn't lodge it leaving us with arrangements in MDR that didn't suit and twin beds in a cabin where they couldn't be moved instead of a queen, on what was designed to be a second (well more of a first actually) honeymoon.

Now I go with line specific in house consultants, never had a problem so far.

I have an upcoming Princess cruise for march 2017. A Celebrity offer has come to light. A better offer. Better dates etc.

 

Being well over the 181 days for a penalty free cancellation I thought great lets make the switch. However I didnt realise my agent had there own set of cancelation policy ontop of Princess. We require to pay a fee for cancelation. I would understand a small fee since its extra work but I think $300 is a little excessive.

 

They also charge fees for refairing etc (so price drops are useless). Ontop of my frustration I specifically asked if a penalty free cancelation will be honoured by princess prior to booking since we weren't sure about the dates.

 

Adding to my frustration it states a change in cruise date is permitted for $50. I argued that since they are retaining the commission isnt it a change in date. They argued since it involves cancelling our cruise and booking another. No we incure the cancelation fee. The $50 is only charged within the same booking... one is not sure how you book a new departure date for the same cruise.

 

Has anyone experienced this before. I.e agent fees ontop of cruise lines?

We recently booked our 4th cruise and its been a different experience each time.

The first time I booked through the cruiseline and got zero comps or amenities and paid the most for any cruise we have taken so far. 2nd time was a TA who got us a fantastic deal but was hard to get a hold of and it was always a day later return call and never on the weekends. 3rd time was another agent who was a brother in law of a friend and did zero for us. Didnt ever call write or send anything unless we asked. I had to stay on top of everything including final payment. This last time I used a popular company (probably the same one you are talking about) and there is a fee of 100$ per person for cancelling or changing. I only went with this company because of the fantastic price and sale they had that was combinable with RCIs sale. They are responsive and have good support but for 6 of us that's 20% of the fare we paid to make a change or cancel. So I won't use them again. I wish I could find a good TA but it seems its going to be a bit of work to get there.

If somone wants to email me..... I'm up for suggestions

-Sean

Oh and this is the clause about amending the cruise date. above these it lists cruise amendments @$50.

I just sent this to the agent. Will be interesting to see her argument.

"""Sorry we are still stumped about one of the points in the contract.

'1.Examples of common amendments include changes to cruise or air departure date, amendments to names and repricing of cruise fares.'

Can you please explain how you can change a cruise departure date without cancelling the existing cruise.'''''

I had a TA for several years (5 or so). I watched the price of a booked cruise on Princess and when the price went down, I emailed the TA to get the price reduced. Then one day I needed to move a cruise back to the following cruise date and the TA charged me $50. At first I thought it was Princess doing the charging and the TA was just passing it along but then I found out it was the TA. So I contacted the TA via email per usual and complained. My response was that I was continually bothering him and that he had to make some money. I had two more cruises beyond the date changed one booked through him. A call to Princess I was told to send them a letter asking them to take the two bookings back and so I sent one. When the TA found out what I had done, he sent me a nasty email about losing the bookings. That was the last I ever heard from him or booked a cruise through him. I book directly with Princess. I have looked around at the discount TA but the perk they give just never seems worth the effort. So I have sworn off using any TA.

You may want to try having them release the booking back to princess.

Having done that before ... it can be a pain...

Then you are not cancelling or changing the cruise :p

May not work, but worth a shot.

How are they going to charge you?

Just refuse to pay maybe ...

You may want to try having them release the booking back to princess.

Having done that before ... it can be a pain...

 

Then you are not cancelling or changing the cruise :p

 

May not work, but worth a shot.

How are they going to charge you?

Just refuse to pay maybe ...

They have finally given my a resolution. since I pushed the fact they indicate the $50 fee to change the date of the cruise. You can change the cruise date as long as I remain with Princess. Looks like a short princess cruise this year and I will book Celebrity direct.

The saving with the agent was $50pp on the room and additional $35 obc... not worth the hassle and restrictions. Good bye agents. Thank god my January cruise is direct!

People talk about better deals from TAs I've spoken to literally dozens, not one has ever been able to offer me anything better than the line has direct.

Not sure where people get the ones who rebate commission as OBC but I've never been able to get such an offer.

Same situation I've experienced in the UK. We always book direct with Princess now. I understand from Pam who posts regularly on cc, that the USA can get good deals from TA's, shame it's not world wide.:mad:

My TA went bust days after I paid the full cruise fare and flight costs!

Thankfully Princess took over the booking once I proved full payment had been made. I wont be using a TA again either.

I use an agent/agency for DCL cruises who are specialists in that line. By that, I mean that every agent in the office has cruised on at least one of the DCL ships within the last few years as well as attending the top of the three tiers of training that DCL provides. They are at the top tier of commissions for this line based on their volume of business and do give an OBC for booking with them.

So, when I wanted to book Princess, I called them. The agent freely admitted that they are not Princess experts but that several agents in the office had cruised Princess in the last year. They did their usual excellent job on the booking, but no OBC. When the cruise was delayed on a Sunday departure, the agent on duty both called and forwarded an e-mail they had received from Princess (yes, we knew at that point, but at least they tried). She also sent a list of food places in the area that delivered in response to my comment that the biggest issue was no food in the terminal (the vending machines were empty) and the mobility issues. Again, she tried--she had no way of knowing that the police were not letting anyone in.

So, I booked my next 2 cruises thru the agency, again expecting nothing. I saw an OBC on my booking! Turns out that Princess awards "points" to an agency which they can convert to OBC, an on board gift, or just save them up. There is no requirement that they be used for the client that caused them to "earn" the points. But with the 3 bookings, I had earned them enough "points" that they thought it would make a meaningful amount of OBC and applied it to the booking!

They charge the going rate, as if I'd booked thru Princess. But their service is excellent and I believe in supporting small businesses.

We love our TA! After a few so-so agents we found a lovely young woman who goes out of her way for us. We find the cruises, she books them at the same or better price and we get heaps of OBC including the 'Agent's OBC' that you're talking about.

It might help that we take two to three cruises a year which usually include international flights and other associated travel arrangements. She knows we'll be back so she looks after us very, very well finding bonus arrangements whenever she can. The bottom line is, she's not greedy and does exceptionally well because of it.

We've also had a couple of nasty experiences overseas where she's stepped up in the middle of an Australian night and/or on the weekend to resolve hotel issues or get us on an urgent flight home. Once home she's gone out on a limb to help us claim on our insurance or from the travel/cruise company. She's gold.

No TA for me any longer either. After many TA's and problems I have sworn them off:rolleyes:

My latest booking with princess is direct. I booked a fourteen day, Royal-Lido deck, side way, inside cabin ,for 1,300 per person( now 1,600 per person) and have a $225 per person OBC.

I can do whatever I want, with my direct booking :)

Reader

We booked a couple of cruises using a travel agent that had a $100 cancellation per person and did have to cancel the cruise. We did rebook it within 30 days, and they waived the fee. That was the last time I used them, due to that, and them failing to contact us about a room change, and we lost our original cabin. That was the end of dealing with them.

We found a better agent and she is great to work with. We have had to cancel and never been a problem and have never paid Princess prices for anything we have transferred to her. We book direct, then forward the reservation confirmation to her to see what she can do. It's usually 8-10% less, with reduction on fare and/or OBC's.

Actual numbers for what we have booked, Princess reservation was $6821 and her price is $6171. Other cruise, Princess reservatoin was $2518 and her price is $2296 with $60 OBC. Everything else stays the same as any other OBC's or perks that were in the original bookings. As long as their is no cancellation fee's, we have not problems using a travel agent if the price is right. The only other thing we do is contact Princess after it's transferred to be sure it's marked as "no upgrades".

We booked a couple of cruises using a travel agent that had a $100 cancellation per person and did have to cancel the cruise. We did rebook it within 30 days, and they waived the fee. That was the last time I used them, due to that, and them failing to contact us about a room change, and we lost our original cabin. That was the end of dealing with them.

 

We found a better agent and she is great to work with. We have had to cancel and never been a problem and have never paid Princess prices for anything we have transferred to her. We book direct, then forward the reservation confirmation to her to see what she can do. It's usually 8-10% less, with reduction on fare and/or OBC's.

 

Actual numbers for what we have booked, Princess reservation was $6821 and her price is $6171. Other cruise, Princess reservatoin was $2518 and her price is $2296 with $60 OBC. Everything else stays the same as any other OBC's or perks that were in the original bookings. As long as their is no cancellation fee's, we have not problems using a travel agent if the price is right. The only other thing we do is contact Princess after it's transferred to be sure it's marked as "no upgrades".

Yes,important point!

Always mark your cabin "No Upgrade" if you have booked a cabin you do not want to lose. They can still move you, but this will give you more leverage, to move back or get a better cabin .

Reader

We started cruising in 2010 and began with a Travel Agency. They were excellent and would always give us OBC and or a bottle of wine and or a lower rate, something every cruise. Last year we realized that we were getting nothing, no lower fare, no OBC, no bottle of wine, nothing but then we also realized that the TA was now charging a $50 fee pp to cancel/change a cruise. We were the ones keeping an eye out for fare reduction, not one time did we ever receive notice from the TA that a fare had gone down. So, our last couple of cruises we have booked directly with Princess and have not had any issues.

I prefer to make my reservation directly with Princess, keep on top of all price and promotion changes and make any changes with Princess directly. Then right before final payment most times I turn the booking over to a travel agent who includes some onboard credit or something.

I am going to do the checking about the rates and promos anyhow, and just find it much easier to pick up the phone and call Princess and get it taken care of right away.

I use the same TA all the time. We just love her service and her prices are good.

We use one particular agency all the time. They do not charge for cancellations or changes. They are online only, so we cannot call them, but they respond to emails within 15-20 minutes.

Sometimes they do have revisable and non-revisable fares (which are cheaper, but you need to pay a small fee for adjustments) but it is clearly stated.

We do book directly with cruise line if rate is better, which does not happen often.

Travel agents are dinosaurs. With technology today it's so easy to book everything yourself and cut out the middle man. They went out with the Betamax.

Travel agents are dinosaurs. With technology today it's so easy to book everything yourself and cut out the middle man. They went out with the Betamax.

Totally agree... if you travel a lots and understand all the ins and outs of travel programs then a TA is really an extra clog in the wheel.

Plus, I like keeping control of all of my travel decisions and do not want to have to go back to a TA when a simple change is necessary but the airline, hotel, cruise line says you have to deal with the original booking agent/agency....the only one getting a deal is the TA who is making money/free cruises and perks for really nothing...:cool:

I prefer to make my reservation directly with Princess, keep on top of all price and promotion changes and make any changes with Princess directly. Then right before final payment most times I turn the booking over to a travel agent who includes some onboard credit or something.

 

I am going to do the checking about the rates and promos anyhow, and just find it much easier to pick up the phone and call Princess and get it taken care of right away.

My sentiments exactly. Call me a control freak if you must, but I much prefer booking directly with Princess myself because I can get questions answered/concerns resolved with a quick phone call.

The few times a TA was used, I found it a PITA having to go thru them for every little thing and have to wait a day or more to get the answer to a simple question. To me it's not worth the difference in price to feel like I am not in control.

The only other thing we do is contact Princess after it's transferred to be sure it's marked as "no upgrades".

Your TA can do that for you. Ours has it in the notes about us and she does it automatically.

Also, if you book direct via the phone, tell the agent "no upgrade". One call does it all.:)

Travel agents are dinosaurs. With technology today it's so easy to book everything yourself and cut out the middle man. They went out with the Betamax.

To save hundreds plus extra OBC, I'll deal with the 'middle man".:D Just need to do your research.

To save hundreds plus extra OBC, I'll deal with the 'middle man".:D Just need to do your research.

Yep.

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