First time using TA, cost the same as Cruise line?

[14thmed]

We have always booked our crises through the Cruise line,but thought we would try a TA this time. The price she quoted was the same as the line. Is this the usual way? Al

[Roz]

It depends on the agent, agency, cruise line, and itinerary. I've often paid the cruise line's quoted price, but the TA threw in some OBC. Sometimes my agent is able to offer me unadvertised pricing due to her agency being a high volume agency and/or purchasing blocks of room at a discount and passing on the savings to clients.

 

Roz

[14thmed]

We expected "something "

 

 

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[mjkacmom]

We've always booked through the cruise line, but have transferred the booking to a travel agent for added perks, like OBC and wine. I wouldn't book with a TA for no perks.

[Nitemare]

We expected "something "

 

 

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If your TA is any good then you got an advocate, in case anything goes wrong before or during your cruise. Say the cruiseline decides to turn your cruise into a charter. Your TA will know that before they would notify you and get you moved to something else that you would like to take, even on another cruiseline, and would fight for you for compensation.

[Nic6318]

We expected "something "

 

 

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Hi there

 

If there was something you "expected", you should ask in advance.

 

for example an approach could be:

Hi I am looking at booking a cruise and was told that sometimes TA's are able to get their clients better pricing or extra OBC's with certain cruise lines. Do you have an association with any specific cruise line would give me a better price than anywhere else? If the answer is No. Then politely ask if there are any reasons the person could suggest why you should book with them as opposed to the next guy?

or

I don't want to waste your time, I am looking for best price, value, etc...for a cruise I was researching. I want to sail on XXX ship on DATE. I found the OV stateroom # XXXX available for $XXXX. Are you able to get me a better price or OBC if I book with you?

 

if the answer is No you will know in advance and you would have the choice to continue with the booking or book directly with the cruise lines so that you would maintain control of your booking.

 

hope this helps

[MCC retired]

A Good TA should always give you something better than booking direct .

Especially if they suspect that you are a "shopper" .

Could be a discount rate if cruise line allows (HAL, Princess , Cunard) or a Speculative Group Rate (most large cruise only agencies) .

Can always do OBC or other Gift from their comm.

TA quoting same as cruise line ? Move on .

Just reading CC posts here you see many getting better deals from their TA's . Trick is finding a Good TA that is not just an order taker.

Product knowledge and being a Top Producer doesn't hurt .

[SantaFeFan]

We have always booked our crises through the Cruise line,but thought we would try a TA this time. The price she quoted was the same as the line. Is this the usual way? Al

 

Yes, in most cases the fare price will be the same. Where you gain is from additional benefits the TA may offer you, such as pre-paid gratuities, OBC, travel insurance, etc. Sometimes the fare may be lower if the TA has blocked off a group of cabins for their customers. In many of these cases, you will have to choose a cabin in that block rather than choosing another cabin you may prefer. On our last cruise the TA's price was identical to the cruise line's, with the same perks the cruise line was offering. In addition, the TA offered $475 OBC and two specialty dining vouchers for us to use, a total value of $533 over what the cruise line offered.

[14thmed]

I thought given the conversation she and I had that she would realize I wasn't a rookie. No, I didn't ask for anything. That is on me for not being more direct. I already had the cruise I wanted picked out so no real work other than a phone call

 

 

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[zqvol]

Some TAs will give you something for booking with them, especially if you book on the luxury lines, most of them don't give anything in spite of what some people would have you believe. The ones that give something sell thousands of cruises, most brick and mortar TAs don't do that and can't afford to give away part of their income.

[iancal]

We book with an on line TA. We regularly get an 8-12 percent discount on the commissionable fare in the form of on board credits when we book with her. That is about one free cruise in every ten or twelve that we take. Once in a while she is able to tack us onto a group and we get a minor cabin upgrade, small additional OBC, or a free excursion.

 

We pay full fare when we book direct with the cruise line. Our local B&M TA charges us the same as the cruise line, does not provide any OBC's, sometimes a bottle of wine, and keeps comparatively limited business hours.

[SantaFeFan]

Some TAs will give you something for booking with them, especially if you book on the luxury lines, most of them don't give anything in spite of what some people would have you believe. The ones that give something sell thousands of cruises, most brick and mortar TAs don't do that and can't afford to give away part of their income.

 

Over the years I have used four TAs - one a big box, one an national auto club, the other two were small local TA agencies. All offered at least a small amount of OBC, the smallest $75, or a discounted rate if booking a cabin they had blocked out. Others I had contacted but did not book with also offered some perks. This is a small sampling, of course, but it is my experience that the majority will offer something, even if it's complimentary specialty dining, or a bottle of wine in your room.

 

Not sure where you come up with the "in spite of what some people would have you believe" attitude. :(

[zqvol]

Over the years I have used four TAs - one a big box, one an national auto club, the other two were small local TA agencies. All offered at least a small amount of OBC, the smallest $75, or a discounted rate if booking a cabin they had blocked out. Others I had contacted but did not book with also offered some perks. This is a small sampling, of course, but it is my experience that the majority will offer something, even if it's complimentary specialty dining, or a bottle of wine in your room.

 

Not sure where you come up with the "in spite of what some people would have you believe" attitude. :(

 

Your experience in a major metropolitan area is not typical of most of the country. There are few brick and mortar TA's within 100 miles of me and none of them offer anything for booking, and I ive in a metro area of over 250,000.

[SantaFeFan]

Your experience in a major metropolitan area is not typical of most of the country. There are few brick and mortar TA's within 100 miles of me and none of them offer anything for booking, and I ive in a metro area of over 250,000.

 

You may have a valid point about more populated areas having a better selection of brick an mortar TAs that offer more perks. But there are online TAs that should be available to you no matter where you are located. I have had good results with the big box TA and the auto club TA that I use, and the numbers I contact to reach them are not localized.

[14thmed]

Zqvol and SanteFeFans posts have explained it very well me.

 

 

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[Flatbush Flyer]

Zqvol and SanteFeFans posts have explained it very well me.

 

 

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The only thing to add is that some cruise lines have a "club" or other group name for preferred partner agencies. Oceania has its Connoisseurs Club for its top sellers. O also pays a sliding scale of commissions based on volume of sales and runs rotating unpublished partner sales with discounts ranging from 4-15% (the larger amount being for upcoming cruises with significant availability). In addition, many of these TAs will share commissions, with the benefit to you being OBC or price credit refund equal to approx 5-10% of the commissionable fare. This can include a combination of refundable and non-refundable OBC since O may have also provided the TA with some incentive funds for pass through to new customers et al.

On top of this, some of these TAs belong to consortia that strike a deal with the line and then you may get free gratuities on a selection of their featured cruises.

The bottom line of doing your homework on this is that you can have the superior food and service quality of a premium line like Oceania (plus its other benefits) for the same price as the higher end of the mass market (e.g., Celebrity, HAL, Princess, Disney).

 

 

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[donaldsc]

Yes, you may get some perks from a TA. However, the biggest advantage to me if you use a good TA is that when something goes wrong, you have someone who is on your side to fight against the faceless, uncaring, customer unfriendly bureaucracy of the cruise line. Lets face it, after the cruise line has your money from you for the cruise and even before, they don't give a a d**n about you, your interests or problems.

 

DON

[Egret32]

I use a TA who specializes in cruises and works from home. However, she is part of a large consortium that often has specials for certain cruises. She hates people to ask her to do whole custom trips and then have them shift her work to a discount agency etc. If you called her and said, "What perks are you offering?", she would not solicit your business. But, if you book with her, she always is super generous about on board credits and gifts (from her commission), plus will quote you what her consortium is offering. Sometimes her consortium can get a much better deal plus things like free breakfasts or meals or upgrades with hotels. She never charges to change anything--most discount firms will...so if you want to change your cabin, change your dates, add a back-to-back, she is more than willing to jump through those hopes. Finally, on several occasions people traveling with us have had to cancel due to illness or family issues. If she purchased the insurance for you, she does ALL the complex paperwork as part of her service--for no commission. And she truly cares about the experience you have had. In the end, I always get lots more with my TA, plus all kinds of hand-holding and advice.

[Flatbush Flyer]

I use a TA who specializes in cruises and works from home. However, she is part of a large consortium that often has specials for certain cruises. She hates people to ask her to do whole custom trips and then have them shift her work to a discount agency etc. If you called her and said, "What perks are you offering?", she would not solicit your business. But, if you book with her, she always is super generous about on board credits and gifts (from her commission), plus will quote you what her consortium is offering. Sometimes her consortium can get a much better deal plus things like free breakfasts or meals or upgrades with hotels. She never charges to change anything--most discount firms will...so if you want to change your cabin, change your dates, add a back-to-back, she is more than willing to jump through those hopes. Finally, on several occasions people traveling with us have had to cancel due to illness or family issues. If she purchased the insurance for you, she does ALL the complex paperwork as part of her service--for no commission. And she truly cares about the experience you have had. In the end, I always get lots more with my TA, plus all kinds of hand-holding and advice.

 

 

 

If your TA purchased the insurance for you, she got an approx. 5% commission.

 

 

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[Lerin]

We have always booked our crises through the Cruise line,but thought we would try a TA this time. The price she quoted was the same as the line. Is this the usual way? Al

 

Yes, this has been our experience with using a TA once and shopping around TAs a few times. We always get the best deals by booking ourselves.

 

FYI: There are a lot of TAs that post here on CC ;)

[Toofarfromthesea]

I use one of the ta's that is affiliated in some way with the airline whose frequent flyer program I belong to. I get the same as the cruise line offers in fare and perks, but I also get oodles of miles.

 

Booking a balcony cabin, using the airline's credit card, I've gotten as much as 10 miles for every dollar spent. If I don't use the airline card I would get about 6x. But then in addition to the 6x miles, I could get 3 Ultimate Reward points for every dollar spent, by using my Chase Sapphire Preferred card. And since UR points are more valuable thanmiles it works out fine that way.

 

It might not be the best deal available, and at some point I will probably try one of the online ta's, in hopes of maybe scoring a group rate that is better than I can get with the airline outfit(and still get the 3x UR points by using the Chase card.) But I feel pretty confident that I'm not being taken to the cleaners. And nowadays, that isn't bad.

[geoherb]

I'm no longer particularly loyal to any particular agent or agency. I go with the best price for the cruise I want to book. I did have one agent who I originally found through a site that lets different agencies compete by giving quotes on a particular cruise. He was the best on price for the first cruise we booked with him. Over the years, though, his prices started being the same as the prices on the cruise line websites. The little bit of onboard credit he'd offer wasn't enough to sway me to book with him when other agencies were a lot less.

 

I then went back to the site to find a new agency to book with. I thought I had a terrific agent for our last cruise. But when he did not return my calls for our next cruise in a timely manner, I went with a different agency. Since I book our cruises after the final payment date--when prices can be very volatile--it's important to get immediate service from an agent.

[LHC Kirby]

My experience is ...... if you don't like your travel agent.... make sure you don't book another cruise while on the ship WITHOUT telling the ship that you don't want to use the travel agent or you get stuck with them.. frustrating...

 

 

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[14thmed]

OP here, I decided to go with a big box who shall remain nameless. Received a nice amount of OBC and a lower price.

 

 

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[Hlitner]

We probably post this too often (in response to this type of thread). Shopping around among a few reputable cruise agencies (including some Big Boxes) will generally yield the cruiser 7-10% in overall savings. There are some cruises where the savings are much higher (we are talking thousands of dollars on longer more expensive cruises). While sometimes you might get a lower cruise price (when compared to the cruise line's own site)....most of the savings will often come in the form of on board credits.

 

If a cruise agency is not giving you a good deal...then simply price out with a few other agencies. Once you find your best deal, compare it with what is being offered by the cruise line's own site. If you are not saving 7% (or more)....keep shopping.

 

Hank