My TA said that Princess is not longer allowing discounts????

[5326jan]

I hope it's ok for me to ask this question. Since I'm not mentioning my travel agents name, I am guessing it's ok. If not accept my apologies and remove the post. I don't want to break any rules.

 

Background: We have been booked in an AC cabin for a year for a 2013 full transit of the Panama Canal. I got an alert that there was a fare reduction last night, so I sent my TA a message asking for the reduction. The original fare was 3349.... with the TA discount bringing it down to 2814.50. So I wrote TA and asked for the reduction. Which to me would mean a TA discount off the 2999. Here is his quote: "Since you requested me to change the fare, I did so. However Princess has changed their policy and no longer allows travel agents to discount the trip. Therefore when the fare was changed, the discount went away. Your balance is less than it was before, but it cannot be any lower because Princess has changed the rules." So now I have a fare reduction price of 2999 instead of the original discounted fare of 2814.50! What????:confused::mad: This is a travel agent I have used for our last 3 cruises!

 

My questions:

1)Has anyone heard that Princess is no longer allowing discounts?

2)Why wouldn't he say, before changing, that the policy has changed and you'll lose your discount if we change it now. $184 more per person! You'd think he might mention that!

3)How do I find out if the policy has changed?

[Coral]

She is wrong.

 

They no longer allow advertising of discounting fares but can still discount.

[lovevacadays]

If you can cancel your cruise without any penalties you need to get a new TA. Yours evidently isn't informed of Princess policies. TA's can definitely still discount Princess cruises. They just cannot advertise the discounts. Now, it really pays to check around.

 

Just as an example - on my Royal Princess 18 day cruise next year I saved $900.00 off the advertised Princess price using a TA that was referred to me. Plus received onboard credit and a bottle of wine.

[Off2China]

As Coral said, your TA is wrong! They can still discount, give OBCs and other perks but just can't advertise a discounted price. So, when you asked for the Princess price reduction your fare (according to your TA) went up?? That's just wrong. :(

 

This policy was discussed a few months ago. Here's one of several threads on this subject:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1530777&highlight=travel+agents+discount

 

Edit: MichelleinOC and I posted at the same time. She's right, too!

[Amtrack Springfield]

Princess is currently running a three day sale with OBC. I called my TA this morning to see if our cruises went down in price. She said No! If they would have gone down I could cancel, but their were restrictions on the booking. No cancelation, if the fair goes down again I can not get the reduction" You need to check out the booking details!

[TLC535]

I think it might be time to look around for a new TA....I just booked on the Grand today for Dec. & and got a very nice discount + OBC from our TA...as posted prior, they CAN discount, they can NOT advertise it any longer.

[Pam in CA]

"Since you requested me to change the fare, I did so. However Princess has changed their policy and no longer allows travel agents to discount the trip. Therefore when the fare was changed, the discount went away. Your balance is less than it was before, but it cannot be any lower because Princess has changed the rules."

You need a new TA. Run, don't walk, away from him. I suspect they just don't want to discount or help you because they are totally incorrect. The only change is that a TA cannot advertise or promote discounted fares. BIG difference from what your TA told you.

 

The discount TAs are still doing so and you can save between 10-20% off the Princess fare, depending on the cruise, cabin and timing. I'm saving 16% on my Island cruise in October off the Princess fare at the time I booked as an example.

[TracieABD]

I just re-fared my SA on the Star in January with my fabulous TA.

 

My original price was approx. 4420 for a BF gty with $40 BBC for the cabin.

I cancelled and rebooked for an AE gty for $4568 and $92 pp OBC. I am pretty sure we came out ahead with a larger cabin!

 

I love my TA!:)

[Pam in CA]

Princess is currently running a three day sale with OBC. I called my TA this morning to see if our cruises went down in price. She said No! If they would have gone down I could cancel, but their were restrictions on the booking. No cancelation, if the fair goes down again I can not get the reduction" You need to check out the booking details!

The promo is a "Flash" sale and is for new bookings only. Most Princess sales are like this so assume this is the case unless otherwise noted. Every email and notice I've received about this sale makes the "new bookings only" contingency clear.

[cruisercr]

You need a new TA. Run, don't walk, away from him. I suspect they just don't want to discount or help you because they are totally incorrect. The only change is that a TA cannot advertise or promote discounted fares. BIG difference from what your TA told you.

 

The discount TAs are still doing so and you can save between 10-20% off the Princess fare, depending on the cruise, cabin and timing. I'm saving 16% on my Island cruise in October off the Princess fare at the time I booked as an example.

 

When I spoke to my TA they told me they could not get a discount from the advertised Princess cost for my dec cruise but they did give me an OBC. Can I insist on a discount?

[TracieABD]

When I spoke to my TA they told me they could not get a discount from the advertised Princess cost for my dec cruise but they did give me an OBC. Can I insist on a discount?

Every TA is different... Depending on the amount of OBC, you may actually come out ahead!

[Loonbeam]

Thats what I was wondering. If it is a sale rate, the margin may be thin enough that the TA cannot afford to discount or offer more than token OBCs (some sale rates offer lower commission rates as well).

 

They should have made that clear though.

 

Then again, communication is one of the reasons I use my TA, even though I get no discount at all other than maybe a few bucks.

[5326jan]

Thats what I was wondering. If it is a sale rate, the margin may be thin enough that the TA cannot afford to discount or offer more than token OBCs (some sale rates offer lower commission rates as well).

 

They should have made that clear though.

 

Then again, communication is one of the reasons I use my TA, even though I get no discount at all other than maybe a few bucks.

 

I checked the 3 day sale rate and it was 2999, same as the rate reduction alert.

 

I could understand if there wasn't enough margin for the TA to discount, but why put us at a higher fare? Spite is the only answer I can come up with. But I don't understand why he would feel that way. I book, I pay, I don't ever correspond unless there is a fare reduction. We didn't have problems with previous cruises, so I don't understand why he would be spiteful? :confused:

[TravlGrl]

I checked the 3 day sale rate and it was 2999, same as the rate reduction alert.

 

I could understand if there wasn't enough margin for the TA to discount, but why put us at a higher fare? Spite is the only answer I can come up with. But I don't understand why he would feel that way. I book, I pay, I don't ever correspond unless there is a fare reduction. We didn't have problems with previous cruises, so I don't understand why he would be spiteful? :confused:

 

This bothers me. He reduced your fare because you asked, yet, you're paying more money. What kind of an idiot TA is he? I don't mean to offend you, but that is just ludicrous! He should have informed you that your "reduction" meant you'd be paying more money. Good decision to run from this schmuck.

[5326jan]

This bothers me. He reduced your fare because you asked, yet, you're paying more money. What kind of an idiot TA is he? I don't mean to offend you, but that is just ludicrous! He should have informed you that your "reduction" meant you'd be paying more money. Good decision to run from this schmuck.

 

bothers me too!

[Underwatr]

Thank you all for confirming my suspicions. I couldn't believe that something this big could happen and not read about it first on CC.

The TA could be mistaken - Carnival Cruise Line no longer allows discounting. Perhaps your TA is confusing Carnival Cruise Line and Carnival Corporation the owner of Princess, Carnival, Cunard, Costa, etc.

 

Maybe?