VISA Rewards & Travel Agents

[batoryfirst]

I can get $500 towards a 5-day cruise that has a total of $874. I think I should probably deal directly with RCI unless y'all think a TA would still be interested in having this booking. The TA was offering paid gratuities without knowing about our Visa points. How does this work for a TA?

 

Thanks,

Nancy

[cruisegirl1]

Some TA "gifts" are based upon the cruise cost. Reducing the cost will likely reduce or eliminate the "gift". You can use the Visa points for OBC, thus keeping the cost high, getting the TA incentives and then have a large OBC. If you do not use all the OBC you can cash it out for a very small (3%) fee at the casino. Some have gotten unused OBC from the Purser's desk.

 

I'm sure others will offer advise

M

[CruisinDawn]

I was told by my old TA they they did not have to accept the certificate but would do it as a courtesy. Might wanna be upfront with a TA if you plan to use one and see if they have any problems with taking one. Better safe then sorry.

 

BonVoyage

Dawna

[traveling1969]

I can get $500 towards a 5-day cruise that has a total of $874. I think I should probably deal directly with RCI unless y'all think a TA would still be interested in having this booking. The TA was offering paid gratuities without knowing about our Visa points. How does this work for a TA?

 

Thanks,

Nancy

I second what others have said. Use them for OBC's. Then you can maximize your savings with prepaid gratuities from your TA. Our friend redeemed points for a price reduction and TA withdrew prepaid gratuities.

[patseacruiser]

BoA Visa rewards do not affect the TA's commission so they should have no reason to pull any other promotions offered you.

[Hypo]

Some TA "gifts" are based upon the cruise cost. Reducing the cost will likely reduce or eliminate the "gift". You can use the Visa points for OBC, thus keeping the cost high, getting the TA incentives and then have a large OBC. If you do not use all the OBC you can cash it out for a very small (3%) fee at the casino. Some have gotten unused OBC from the Purser's desk.

 

I'm sure others will offer advise

M

 

 

Unused OBC from the credit card program will be refunded back to your registered credit card. (The one you signed up for your SeaPass). When we have unused credit from an OBC like this, I just go to the Guest Services desk and request the cash. The counter person always tells me no, they can't do this. I insist that they go talk with their manager that is on duty and they have always come back out to the counter and told me that they would be more than happy to do this.

 

You should know that they will not refund any OBC credits that originate with RCCL, like special booking offers, Onboard booking credits, etc. They will refund those credits that originate from your credit card, TA, or gifts or deposits to your account that you made yourself.

 

Hypo

[catnt2]

BoA Visa rewards do not affect the TA's commission so they should have no reason to pull any other promotions offered you.

 

Sorry to disagree with this statement. Yes it does affect the TA's Commission!!!!

 

Using a BofA Visa Rewards can pretty much delete their commissions......depending on the price of the cruise.

[Richiebaseball]

BoA Visa rewards do not affect the TA's commission so they should have no reason to pull any other promotions offered you.

 

If the rewards are used as dollars off then the agencies commission is based on the reduced amount. If the rewards are used as an OBC then the commission does not change.

[molly361]

We used a B of A reward certificate which reduced our balcony price and the TA then told us that our price was too low for them to offer the prepaid tips and speciatly dinner that they had originally offered.

 

Get the offier upfront inwriting from the TA BEFORE booking with them. We did not do that and had a heck of a time getting our reservation switched back to RCL. (It was booked with RCL originally)

[cruzincurt]

As I posted in a previous thread, some of the big online TA's have all these attractive offers for pre-paid gratituties, etc., until you tell them you qualify for C&A benefits. Then based on their fine print, they pull their offers. "Cannot be combined with any other discounts or C&A benefits". IMO they are discriminating against C&A members.

 

Some of the defenders will whine about the TA's commission. How much work do they do when I book online or call them and in 5 minutes I've told them which cruise, which cabin category, and pick a cabin? All they do is process the credit card. Even the tickets are etickets now.

 

My inbox is full of "Labor Day" BIG SALES, they aren't. To me, a reduced deposit is not a SALE.