I am not impressed

[Minoushka]

I would have had the same air fare from Hawaii...So I took the Oceania included air.....it was fine. As a bonus,3 weeks before the cruise I was offered a $700 up grade to first/business from LA.... I took it.

 

There are two looser options visiting Tahiti

 

1. is flying to Tahiti and back and taking the 14 day around the islands

2. Doing your own air and paying the deviation.... unless you have the miles for a free flight.

 

Every time I visit Tahiti I do it either on a cruise from Australia to LA or Cruise that starts in Tahiti and ends in the US

 

Now, I fear your setting yourself up for failure...You described the wonderful experience on the mass market party ship Epic ( sorry to say a ship that borders on the obscene to me)

 

 

 

 

Your favor of NCL and belief in their service to be superior is setting yourself up for failure. I have sailed NCL.. and let me say, nothing on Oceania is even remotely like NCL No go -go party and show time... more people entertaining themselves reading in the library or conversing in small groups. Food is more sophisticate you wont find tacos , Pizza and BBq. Service is subtle because most don't want the constant hit by bar waiters, and there are no shipboard malls or nightclubs, hot casinos and lavish shows... that's NCL stuff Oceania distain . Too you will be on a large ship with about 3000 less passengers.... it will some times seem vacant and deserted.

 

Here again most of your fellow passengers will prefer sitting on their veranda in the evening.

Your love of NCL will clearly be a problem as it sounds like you want a up-scale NCL. Its apples and oranges, water and oil. Lets put it in perspective.. you tout Munros on NCL...their hot up scale pay to play venue.. On Oceania your going to get that level in the buffet..Horizons.

 

My suggestion is accept your going to have a great time, and its going to be unlike anything before both in food and service. As far as Miami... NCL customers are many first timers and budget travelers who need their hand held.

Oceana customers for the most part are well traveled and don't need all the attention...the know exactly what the want without fuss. Its like the difference between visiting a used car dealer and a Mercedes dealer.. its very low key.

 

Wishing you luck

 

Hello just so you should know i have cruised 44 times with all companies including Cunard and Celebrity ,princess Royal Caribbean etc etc etc ...actually all lines except Disney to assume anything about me my circumstances or my life is presumptuous at best .I have been on small ships and mega ships ,I have been from the Arctic Circle to Cape horn ....and just for you My son drives aMercedes I got for him ....not impressed by others mobey or pseudo status ....i like congenial agreable people not hotty totty snobs .....

 

 

;). ;). ;)

[rallydave]

getting of the rails again but when people read some of the comment on what TA's get it is a bit misleading

 

You may pay $5000 but the commission is not paid on that amount

there are things called non-commissionable items

eg: port fees & taxes maybe airfare not sure on that one

 

Then the agent unless they own the agency gets a share of the percentage if that is part of their contract

they pay expenses out of that as well

 

let us not assume that TA's are getting rich on booking your cruise ;)

 

While you are correct about the fact that the commission is not paid on what the passenger pays, what I wrote is not misleading at all as I clearly stated that the approx. 17% was on the "commissionable amount of the fare as you are correct, a small part of what is paid is not in the calculation of the commission. I also continued to put a value on the commission and did use the 17% of the $5K but, further stated clearly that the commission was a bit less than the $850 pp again recognizing that the total commission was less than the approx 17% value described.

 

Because the non-commisionable amount is unknown I intentionally used approx, less than and commisionable so completely disagree completely about your statement that it is a bit misleading. In fact I did my best to be completely clear and transparent while considering what you complained about and even more. Even stated that the commision is in the "range" of 17% thus everything I stated was in generalities so not a bit of misleading if you completely read the entire post.

 

And, you are correct partially about TA's not getting rich booking mainstream cruises where the total cost pp is less that $1K but, they certainly do well and make quite a bit booking cruises like Oceania, Regent, Silverseas, Seabourn, Crystal, etc. and even more for booking the upper suites. Again, that is why I mentioned the less expensive mainstream cruises and how those did not figure into the equation when talking about how much the TA makes and, it can and often does take more effort and time by the TA handling a mainstream customer where the commission is minimal that booking experienced cruises in luxury and near luxury cruises.

Edited January 1, 2015 by rallydave

[LHT28]

While you are correct about the fact that the commission is not paid on what the passenger pays, what I wrote is not misleading at all as I clearly stated that the approx. 17% was on the "commissionable amount of the fare as you are correct, a small part of what is paid is not in the calculation of the commission. I also continued to put a value on the commission and did use the 17% of the $5K but, further stated clearly that the commission was a bit less than the $850 pp again recognizing that the total commission was less than the approx 17% value described.

 

Because the non-commisionable amount is unknown I intentionally used approx, less than and commisionable so completely disagree completely about your statement that it is a bit misleading. In fact I did my best to be completely clear and transparent while considering what you complained about and even more. Even stated that the commision is in the "range" of 17% thus everything I stated was in generalities so not a bit of misleading if you completely read the entire post.

 

Dave I did not say your post was wrong

 

Others can read things into the post on their own

Some agents do not get 17% some may only get 10% it depends on their deal with the cruise line or if they use a consortium

 

I am not going to get into yet another P**** match with you

 

Some people believe their TA gets 17% of the total they pay & it is their right to have a portion of it back in one form or another ....

 

TA's do not work for free usually

 

Enough said

[rallydave]

Lynn,

 

Was not trying to get into any contest with you, simply trying to make clear I tried to cover the commission situation and consider all of the differences and be clear and not misleading. We are on the same page.

 

You did bring up an interesting point in your response and that was that you considered the actual person in the TA office the TA while I always think of the TA as the company and the specific person I am in contact with the agent. In fact my TA (the company) has set up a team in his office that specifically takes care of customers booking the more expensive cruises such as Oceania, Azamara and the luxury lines.

 

I therefore am looking at the gross income for the agency and not the specific commission or pay of the specific person I deal with although I do talk to the owner on occasion.

 

No argument simply two different ways of looking at the TA Office. Of course I don't expect the TA or Agent for free but, do expect the cost to me as well as the earned money to him to be fair and reasonable to both of us. The amount of money earned by the TA needs to be commensurate with the amount of time and effort in the TA Office and by the agent(s).

[Caroldoll]

that on O, for an instance, a TA has to book more than 10 cruises in a year to get over 10%. The big agencies or the consortiums fall in to the top tier on commissions.

 

I am not at all needy, and I can easily do my own, but some people like and request a lot of hand holding. These TAs in my opinion, deserve more. They simply have to do more than make the booking.

 

I respect people who work and I respect hard working TA's. The airlines have cut them out of commissions, and I understand that there are a whole lot of other aspects are thinking of doing this to cut costs.

 

Just 'sayin...they deserve money for what they do.

[critics0001]

I guess it depends on what you ask them to do! If you call them and say you want to take a cruise in the Caribbean in January from 7 to 10 days on one of 4 or 5 cruise lines, then you should be paying extra for their work. Alternatively if you have picked out the specific cruise and cabin type and using the internet you can even get the cabins that are available then they are just an order taker so they should be paid less.

So lets look at two examples to illustrate the extremes. As a TA you get a call from a 4 person family wanting to book a 4 day cruise in March with an oceanview cabin on a big ship. You would probably earn $100 commission. What should you do? Give them the 800 numbers for NCL, RCI and Carnival is the right answer. Why? Too much work on front end and a lot of questions on the back end to answer questions for both adults and children, ranging from types of ice cream served to the height of the climbing wall.

Now it is retired couple that wants a 10 day cruise in a PH suite on Oceania leaving January 20. So now the decision is how much as a TA of the $1500 commission are you willing to give back to them (as a fare reduction or cruise credits) so that you can book their trip with you. This is the essence of the online business model. So if you gave back a $1000 you made $500 in less than an hour. Not a bad deal.

This is of course a simplified scenario but you may be able to convince the couple to buy trip insurance, another good commission item.

Although I have not been a TA, I had a RE broker's license for 35 years. I learned early to make money you needed to pick your customers and dump the lookers.

[kimanjo]

I didn't mean to start a discussion about the amount of commission a TA makes. That wasn't my point.

 

I was trying to say, if I bought a pair of Levis directly at the Levis store, or at Macys from a salesperson who got commission, and the zipper broke in a week, I would hope it wouldn't matter from whom I bought them, in order to get assistance.

 

I would want/expect to get help without needing to have a "connection" to be helped.

 

That's all.

[LHT28]

I guess it depends on what you ask them to do! If you call them and say you want to take a cruise in the Caribbean in January from 7 to 10 days on one of 4 or 5 cruise lines, then you should be paying extra for their work. Alternatively if you have picked out the specific cruise and cabin type and using the internet you can even get the cabins that are available http://boards.cruisecritic.com/images/smilies/wink.gifthen they are just an order taker so they should be paid less.

.

 

How would the cruise line know which agent spent more time with the client ;)

 

In the old days you might be able to "Dump the Lookers" but these days you need to be nice to them in case they are buyers :D

[StanandJim]

I didn't mean to start a discussion about the amount of commission a TA makes. That wasn't my point.

 

I was trying to say, if I bought a pair of Levis directly at the Levis store, or at Macys from a salesperson who got commission, and the zipper broke in a week, I would hope it wouldn't matter from whom I bought them, in order to get assistance.

 

I would want/expect to get help without needing to have a "connection" to be helped.

 

That's all.

 

Nobody ever said that you specifically needed a "connection" to be helped, Customer Service is available across the board, but if your problem is such that a connection would be helpful because you are asking for an exception to the rule, then connections come into play.

 

Let's face it, employees are going to develop closer relationships with those they deal with on a regular basis, and at the same time people who know the ropes just have a natural advantage over new faces.

 

It's the kind of thing where plumbers don't actually get first crack at the merchandise in Home Depot, but because they have learned that the new stuff comes in on Tuesday mornings, they are there at 4AM.

 

It's thus in every Walk of Life. Using your example, you or I may hope for good customer service, but if Mrs. Strauss has zipper trouble, she knows, even before she asks, what the resolution will be. :p

[PaulMCO]

Since we have diverted to TA's. As someone has pointed out if they had issues with a purchase a good TA can help. My opinion is to use a high volume TA as they do have some leverage over the supplier in case thing go wrong. Example like a fire on a ship and cancelled cruise. They can help make you whole when the cruise line policies are say this and that - no exceptions.