TA's & perks

[bluehorizonlover123]

I agree that the perks really aren't necessary. My TA is always so busy that I don't even expect a call from her when we return. I think my call to her to book another cruise says it all. That we had a great time and let's do it again. I would rather know that when I talk to her she is giving me the best price that she can and not worry about price shopping elsewhere.

[AndiandMike]

For my honeymoon in 2001, I booked through a local TA, who is also a huge online agency. I thought I was getting a good deal, and in fact paid about $500 more than I should have. I never gave a thought to getting a gift, and we got nothing.

 

Last year, I booked through an on-line agency. It was my first time not using a local TA. I saved $600 total going through the online agency. I never gave a thought to a gift in the room once again. Upon embarkation, we had a bottle of wine, $50 shipboard credit and one of those coupon books that for some reason I didn't use. The TA never answered my e-mails, phone calls and then I get a letter that she moved to another agency in florida and would I like to book with her again. Um, no I would not.

 

This year, through this fabulous board, I hooked up with a TA that lurks on here of course. He gave me the absolute lowest price around. Answers every single stupid e-mail question I have. Polite, courteous, got an adorable picture slide show CD. That's all I want. A great price, with a friendly great personality. I have spread his name like wildfire amongst family and friends and when the time is right, they will book with him for sure.

 

I didn't even know you got "perks" until this last cruise I took, it was the first time I ever got them and it was my 5th cruise!

 

They make their living off commissions. I find that admirable as I am too chicken to do work like that. I don't want them dishing out $$$ for crappy wine, wilted flowers or whatever. Just give me the best price and your best service.

[bluehorizonlover123]

Yes the online agencies book many cabins on each ship and are often able to offer shipboard credits for your sailing. This is another plus to using a online agency over a TA in your hometown.

[jcanino]

Yes the online agencies book many cabins on each ship and are often able to offer shipboard credits for your sailing. This is another plus to using a online agency over a TA in your hometown.

 

But, your hometown TA may belong to a large consortium such as Vacation.com. The consortium holds space on many sailings and ships which the local TA can access. Your local TA may be able to get lower pricing plus amenitiesthan an online agency, plus amenities.

[Coral]

But, your hometown TA may belong to a large consortium such as Vacation.com. The consortium holds space on many sailings and ships which the local TA can access. Your local TA may be able to get lower pricing plus amenitiesthan an online agency, plus amenities.

 

The home town TAs where I live have access to group space but they do not discount. I had a good TA locally but I refuse to pay a couple hundred dollars more per cruise just to have her local. There are great online TAs that provide great service and have much better prices.

 

Maybe some local TAs discount but those in my city do not.

[jcanino]

The home town TAs where I live have access to group space but they do not discount. I had a good TA locally but I refuse to pay a couple hundred dollars more per cruise just to have her local. There are great online TAs that provide great service and have much better prices.

 

Maybe some local TAs discount but those in my city do not.

 

I said nothing about discounting. I am talkking about taking advantages of large buying power.

 

Do you realize that if your local TA discounted, the money comes right of of their pocket? Do you realize that "a couple hundred dollars" may be more than your local TA is making in commission? With your thinking, that "good TA" is going to go out of business because their financials are going to be in the red real soon.

[Coral]

I said nothing about discounting. I am talkking about taking advantages of large buying power.

 

Do you realize that if your local TA discounted, the money comes right of of their pocket? Do you realize that "a couple hundred dollars" may be more than your local TA is making in commission? With your thinking, that "good TA" is going to go out of business because their financials are going to be in the red real soon.

 

There are many agents out there who have access to large buying power, who also discount heavily, who have been in business for many of years and who provide great service. They work off of volume and they do quite well.

 

My online agent provides just as good of service as my local agent but I pay considerbly less - why should I pay more? I have been using her for over 6 years and know others who have used her for many years before me.

 

If people want to pay retail or group space with out discounts for their cruise, go ahead. I won't pay more for the same product.

[spongerob]

Coral - the high-volume TA's also get preferential pricing from Princess. According to my agent, she loves working with Princess over any of the other lines because they treat their agents so well. A highly productive agent can therefore offer excellent pricing without sacrificing their financial security.

[bluehorizonlover123]

Yes that would be nice but my hometown TA never bothers to look for special deals or shipboard credits. That is why so many of these businesses are no more because they aren't willing to discount at all.

[jcanino]

Yes that would be nice but my hometown TA never bothers to look for special deals or shipboard credits. That is why so many of these businesses are no more because they aren't willing to discount at all.

 

The local agency I work for has been around for 14 years and the owner has never and will never allow us to rebate any of our commission. Our time is valuable.

[bluehorizonlover123]

Are you saying that the online TA that I work with and talk to on the phone too, does not have time that is valuable. That is not a nice thing to say.

[jcanino]

Are you saying that the online TA that I work with and talk to on the phone too, does not have time that is valuable. That is not a nice thing to say.

 

A person who answers a phone for an online only agency who is selling a cruise making maybe $20 for that agency IMHO does not have time that is as valuable to the company as a local TA who may spend several hours with a client researching a cruise, selling that cruise, watching for lower fares, examining documents for accuracy and following up on the vacation.

[BigDoug]

We've now booked 6-7 cruises with our current TA. He is very helpful with any questions I might have about ships and destinations. I usually check out deals on the web including his site and ask him to match the deal when I book thru him. So I do alot of the research ahead of time. However, to date I have never received any type of thank you. I have just received post-its on our invoices saying 'please pay by x date, thanks!' No other personal acknowledgements of thanks for the business. About half of these cruises were birthdays or anniversaries of which he was aware. His office is 15 miles away. Are the perks for TA's so low these days that they feel there should be no thanks to clients? I'm not asking for fine wine or free spa treatments. However, as we have been repeat customers I would like some sort of thanks? Is this the standard for TA's or am I missing something? Would love feedback from some TA's!:p

 

What the OP is talking about here is good customer relations. His TA is helpful but does not follow up after the sale. The OP seems to be satisfied with the prices he gets but feels let down by not getting any acknowledgement for his repeat business. He doesn't want gifts or credits (even though that would be nice) but a personalized thank you note, e-mail or better yet a telephone call. This is where many TA's fall down. TA's are in a commission business and a major part of that business is repeat sales. Without good customer relations, how can a TA count on a customer to come back? Most of us would be quite happy with our local TA's IF they would follow up after a booking/sale. They should acknowledge that they appreciate our business and want us to return. My local TA (works for AAA) never bothered to follow up and then started making mistakes (twice) so now I use an online agency. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

[bluehorizonlover123]

Once you have been on a couple cruises and figure out the ropes it is very easy to find the perfect cruise without the hand holding that is necessary at a hometown TA. Why not save the money once you know the ropes.

[chopper825]

Right now I would just like my TA to call me back (it's been 5 days since I called her). I think I made a mistake this time. I booked my last cruise with an online TA that really was wonderful. When price shopping this cruise I checked four differnt sources and got just about the same price from everyone. So I booked with AAA because they were local and I could see someone face to face. I thought there would be advantages to that and afterall it is AAA. I am beginning to think I made a terrible mistake. Five attempts to get a name correct that just isn't really that hard and now she won't even call me back. I will be calling her AGAIN tomorrow.

[Queenk2]

Andi andMike,,, I would love the name of your resource... I am always on the look out for a good price. I need no handholding as I hve been on may cruises. I want the TA to book it and follow through if the price drops...that is all. I know what I want when I call or E mail..the best price!

Karen Queenk2@aol.com

[Queenk2]

Andi and Mike,,, I would love the name of your resource... I am always on the look out for a good price. I need no handholding as I hve been on may cruises. I want the TA to book it and follow through if the price drops...that is all. I know what I want when I call or E mail..the best price!

Karen Queenk2@aol.com

[LARGIN]

Right now I would just like my TA to call me back (it's been 5 days since I called her). I think I made a mistake this time. I booked my last cruise with an online TA that really was wonderful. When price shopping this cruise I checked four differnt sources and got just about the same price from everyone. So I booked with AAA because they were local and I could see someone face to face. I thought there would be advantages to that and afterall it is AAA. I am beginning to think I made a terrible mistake. Five attempts to get a name correct that just isn't really that hard and now she won't even call me back. I will be calling her AGAIN tomorrow.

 

Perhaps she isn't there.. My lady online TA left a note on her website that she would be gone from 8/25 to 8/29 and would be unable to respond..

[MichTraveler]

How many of you have sent a thank-you note or gift to your TA? A good relationship goes both ways.

 

When I returned from my first cruise, I took my TA a bouquet of flowers. They weren't very expensive, but it was something to say thank-you for her sticking with me though all my questions. She has changed careers since then, and I am now very low maintenance. I have switched to an on-line/email agent that gets me the best price including OBCs. When she travels and plans to be out of town, she usually posts is on her website months in advance. I do my own research, air travel, excursions, and pre/post hotels so all I need these days is a great cruise price.

[calikak]

My TA always says thank you for my business, no matter how small her commission is on the sale. She doesn't always have the absolute most rock-bottom prices, but she's been pretty close on the cruises we've booked with her (less than $100 difference), and I'm willing to pay a few bucks more to go through a TA who is willing to answer my questions (and keep an eye on prices, which she does) after the booking is made.

[Love Cruis'n]

We use a TA that specializes in cruises. Between us (3 couples) we’ve booked at least – well all of us on 3 cruises – my parents for their 50th, plus two couples for two additional cruises – all in the last 5 years or so.

 

In addition to good service, we have always received a small token of appreciation…from a 6 pack of soda in the cabin on our first cruise, to a nice photo album this last time.

 

They tell us we get the best price because they can buy blocks of rooms in advance, and on one cruise, they must have sold half the ship, because we saw lots of other folks with their logo on the little collapsible tote bag we got one year. Frankly, I’ve never checked their prices real closely, because we have been so happy, but now – hearing of all of this price disparity, I might try to investigate a little closer before our next cruise.

[zebra36]

Well said BigDOUG, the OP was simply looking for an acknowledgement for their business.

 

Frank

[bluehorizonlover123]

Aren't really great prices, lower than most, appreciation enough. It is for me after 12 cruises with the same agent.

[Breezey]

We use a TA that specializes in cruises. Between us (3 couples) we’ve booked at least – well all of us on 3 cruises – my parents for their 50th' date=' plus two couples for two additional cruises – all in the last 5 years or so.

 

In addition to good service, we have always received a small token of appreciation…from a 6 pack of soda in the cabin on our first cruise, to a nice photo album this last time.

 

They tell us we get the best price because they can buy blocks of rooms in advance, and on one cruise, they must have sold half the ship, because we saw lots of other folks with their logo on the little collapsible tote bag we got one year. Frankly, I’ve never checked their prices real closely, because we have been so happy, but now – hearing of all of this price disparity, I might try to investigate a little closer before our next cruise.[/quote']

 

 

We have the same type of TA who specializes in cruises and also seems to buy blocks so our prices have always been very good (we do check).

We have given him lots of business on non-cruise vacations and referrals.

On our first two cruises we got photo albums, last cruise we got a suitcase! and this one he offered us another suitcase or to send a bottle of wine to our cabin. We chose the wine. On a previous cruise we had a terrible TA who needed to arrange 4 cabins for us. She never returned calls and provide poor customer service. Not sure if she figured out we were not happy because when we got to our cabins we had wonderful baskets filled with wine, cheese, pate and crackers for adults and pop, snacks, candies, for each of the kids. I dont need a gift as I know they work hard in responding to sometime crazy questions and checking up on things but just as I refer friends to our TA as my way of saying thank you, hey a bottle of wine is nice in return. And I do follow up after each of our trips to thank him again.

[Nightengale212]

I booked my first cruise with a large local cruise agency. Just my luck I did not get the best agent. She told me virtually nothing a newbie should known about cruising, waited days for her to return my calls, nor ever heard from her again post cruise. Bottom line having paid top dollar for this cruise, I did not even get good basic service so I would never ever consider using that agency again. Cruise #2 less than a year later I booked with a large online cruise agency. I got a fair price and had a good agent who provided good basic service, but got nothing extra and I mean by way of service as suggesting excursions, shopping tips, etc. Got brave for this upcoming cruise #3 and did the whole booking myself with a "very" large online travel agency. I got a great price for a mini suite, $100 shipboard credit, and the big perk for me was that full payment was deferred by a few months which helps as I am still paying for my last cruise. Had a couple of questions along the way, called the 800 number and got very personalized service from the agent. Will likely book any further cruises myself where I can get the most bang for my buck even if it has to be me doing all the leg work.