TA gifts............

[Cruiseoften]

Do you expect one? What do you expect? Value of gift expected?

 

Flowers in the cabin

Hors d'oeuvre plate

Bottle of wine

Photo Album

Dinner in the Pinnacle

Casino chips

Photograph

Spa package

Renewal of vows package

[mrsred]

We didn't expect one, but on our last cruise we did have a lovely bottle of wine waiting for us when we arrived in our stateroom.

 

There was also a bottle of champagne from the captain, which was completely unexpected...but much appreciated and put to good use :)

 

~e

[elmorejj]

I don`t expect one but I always receive one. Our TA.....to whom I give about $25,000 in business a year......always has gifts for us in the cabin. On our holiday B to B cruises last year, there were 2 bottles of nice wine, chocolate covered strawberries, a box of chocolates and a lovely holiday flower arrangement. She buys these out of her own pocket as she works for AAA and they don`t send anything........jean:cool:

[jhannah]

A gift in recognition of the many dollars we've spent is a very nice gesture. But I don't expect anything. I have received wine and Pinnacle dinners. The dinners were the best!

[babyher]

The only gift I ever got from a TA was a fruit basket with two bottles of Champagne for my honeymoon cruise years ago.

 

The fact that the TA was a good friend of my dads may have been the reason for that as at the time I was quite young and hardly a frequent customer, but was still very nice and very much appreciated :)

[WindyCity]

The biggest gift we got from a TA was a great price! Can't get better than that!

[kryos]

The biggest gift we got from a TA was a great price! Can't get better than that!

LOL ... that's exactly what I was gonna say.

 

On a few of my HAL cruises I used an agency out in Seattle. They were not a discount agency by any means. I used them because a guy I knew was a TA with them and I found that I liked dealing with him. This agency generally provides gifts, though in the past I didn't expct them ... and they are certainly not extravagant. On my Zuiderdam b2b last year, I got a $20 casino credit (I hate gambling) and a HAL coffee mug filled with pillow chocolates (I can't eat chocolate ... migranes ... but still use the mug to this day). Since I used this same agency for my Hawaii/South Pacific cruise coming up in Janaury, I've started dropping hints ... ummmmmm, love the Pinnacle ... don't drink, but love to have soft drinks in the cabin ... :)

 

No sense getting gifts I won't enjoy using. :)

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Krazy Kruizers]

Before 9/11, we used to get gifts from our TA - AAA in the east here. Now - nothing.

[ahoymatey3]

I got a great price and an 8% rebate. Now that is a nice gift. :D

[shonuf]

Many years ago, when DH and I got married, we used the N-M TA for our honeymoon. As we had both been married before, we decided we would act "mature" and not like love-sick puppies on the honeymoon. We departed for Hawaii on Monday after a Saturday wedding, dressed in civies, not wedding finery. As we took our seats in first class on "Big Orange" (Braniff's 747) we noticed an "obviously" newly-wed couple across the aisle, totally engrossed in each other. Some time into the flight, I walked back to the galley to get some water and noticed the "stewardesses" discussing "the newly-weds" and whether to give them some champagne along with the miniature wedding cake that had been delivered on board. I went back to my seat and told my husband about the cake and told him to watch for the big presentation. Yep, you're ahead of me. Imagine my surprise when it turned out we were "the newly-weds".

 

The wedding cake was from the N-M bakery and was a real delight. At each hotel on our honeymoon, we were greeted with a hearty congratulations and fruit/champagne baskets from hotel management. So much for being low-key.

We had been outed by our TA.

 

We'll celebrate our 34th anniversary on the Oosterdam in January but these days I bring the TA a gift!