Jump to content

My TA won't book MSC


Baatman
 Share

Recommended Posts

Probably a question that would be best answered by your TA but I have heard some don’t deal with msc. So you can book direct (as you mentioned you did) otherwise shop around online for a different TA who can offer onboard credit.

 

I used to be loyal to my TA but then discovered I was missing out a bit so now once I’ve decided on a cruise I do TA shopping to see who will get my booking.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Any OBC that a TA offers that is above and beyond OBC being offered directly from the cruise line, come directly from the agents commission. With MSC and their bare bones "experiences" e.g. Bella, sometimes there is just not enough commission involved. I know that agents should consider the possibility of future business and all, but in today's climate of shopping business around, it just may not be worth the risk. In many cases the commission is split between the agency and the agent. In most cases the OBC is not from the agency, but solely from the agents share of the commission.

 

Many cruisers believe that an agent getting some of the commission and rebating back a portion is fair, and that some is better than none.

 

I can not think of any other business endeavor where a person is expected to provide a service and also expected to pay for the "privilege" of doing so.

 

An agents commission is between them and the cruise lines, and no client is entitled to any of it, but I fully understand the practice, as so many agents know the value of what they do for a living.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had heard it was because they were more difficult to deal with. Longer waits on the phone etc.

 

I would think that a TA would make enough $$$ booking the Yacht Club, wouldn't they, IntoCruising???? (You are a TA, right?)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A TA makes exactly what the cruise line says they should make with selling any of their products. The OP did not specify the category that the agent was dealing with. Yes, I am a TA, and actually I have never had that long of a wait for my calls to be answered, and as an agent I have email contacts also. An agent can provide that to their clients, saving them from spending hours on hold or not getting the answers they are looking for. However, I am not going to pay you for the privilege of providing a service to you. At least not as an expectation. When I discount my services I do it because I want to as a token of my appreciation of their business.

 

The focus of my initial response was to say that expectations of $200 OBC on a $50 commission is just unreal.

 

If anyone thinks the fare is too high, they should discuss it with the cruiseline, not the agent, I, for one am very unlikely to subsidize someone's vacation.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I should also add, that I would never turn down a booking for any category of room, regardless of the amount of work I think the client may be or anything else. Agents get pretty good at sizing up the opportunity and quickly learn to identify "shoppers". Agents have an "understanding" with the cruise lines, they pay us to represent them and to sell their product. No cruise line has ever backdoored me or under cut me to get business direct. But many fellow agents have under cut the cruise line pricing structure and willy nilly rebate under the premise that some commission is better than no commission. Almost every cruise line policy is you can not sell below their advertised pricing, but they do allow a offer of perk, be it OBC or something else, to help agents win a competitive situation, but they can not advertise the lower cost. Under no circumstance will the cruiseline, lower the price to an agent to help them win business, but they readily allow you to "kick back" some of your commission.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

and as Mafig said, would he not deal with them for a commission on a Yacht club Royal suite?

 

Reminds me of the old joke, when the rich guy asks the pretty young girl if she would sleep with him for a million dollars, and she said yes. Then he asked if she would sleep with him for $10, and she replied, "No, what do you think I am?"

 

His reply was , we have already established that, we are just negotiating the price now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Any OBC that a TA offers that is above and beyond OBC being offered directly from the cruise line, come directly from the agents commission. With MSC and their bare bones "experiences" e.g. Bella, sometimes there is just not enough commission involved. I know that agents should consider the possibility of future business and all, but in today's climate of shopping business around, it just may not be worth the risk. In many cases the commission is split between the agency and the agent. In most cases the OBC is not from the agency, but solely from the agents share of the commission.

 

Many cruisers believe that an agent getting some of the commission and rebating back a portion is fair, and that some is better than none.

 

I can not think of any other business endeavor where a person is expected to provide a service and also expected to pay for the "privilege" of doing so.

 

It is pretty standard in sales. Real Estate, Mortgages, cars for a start.

 

I usually get around 10% of the fare back in OBC with one of the big online agents and got the same for my MSC YC cruise I just booked. I assume the super discount agencies must also kick in some of their share of the commission? This is for luxury lines or suites. For a simple balcony room I usually don't bother and book online the OBC offered is usually nominal on those cruises.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Commissions on cruises is typically in that range of 10-12%, and that is of the commisionable part of the cruise cost, We all know big box store can bank on volume and operate with a large amount of sales. Standard in the industries you mention is for the owner of the services to lower their price. You as a consumer of a cruise product are not purchasing anything from me, You pay me nothing. ThYou purchase fromt he cruise line and i am simply their representative. I am paid by the cruise line. Not many car salesmen I know actually agree to cut their commission after the sale. The General Manager or sales Manager may agree to lower the price of the car, there by cutting the sales reps commission, but I have never seen a sale finalized, paperwork signed, and then the sales rep eagerly hand ov3er 10% of the sales price back to the buyer out of his "salary"

 

You are negotiating up front for your price, not asking for a kick back from a third party in any of those cases.

 

As for your YC experience, the commission on the regular Yacht club cabin, depending on time of year, is not even 10% of the fare

 

Looking at an upcoming booking I have for a YC cabin on the Seaside, the commission on a cabin with 2 occupants is $429.48.

 

Now for me, that is split between me and the agency, so roughly $200 for each. and yet the consumer thinks they should get $400 OBC, not realizing to do so, if the agency agreed to give away their commisssion, too, we would end up splitting $29.48 as our payment, while subsidizing your cruise by $400.

 

Big box stores would take all of that business they can get, while the smaller operations, would tend to walk away from it.

 

What I would like to see is for someone to call a cruiseline and tell them outright that their cost is out of line and that you will only cruise with them if they lower it by $400, You can not tell me that my price to you is out of line as I charge you nothing. If you did get the cruise line to agree to the $400 discount, Travel agents would still get a healthy commission on the discounted fare. Cruise lines do not want their fares discounted by anyone other than themselves, and many prohibit the discounting by agencies, except in competitive circumstances. Unfortunately, many agencies and agents agree with the consumer that a small commission is better than no commission.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And an agent worth their salt is booking online with the cruiselines booking engine, not tying up the phone lines and line representatives for things that they can do themselves, and are expected to. I think that rather having travel agents refuse to do business with MSC, MSC should refuse to do business with agents who are not trained and skilled and using the tools provided for them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Travel and cruise agencies are simply businesses that need to make a profit to survive. Whether or not they choose to deal with a specific entity (in this case MSC) is a business decision. For us, handling this situation is quite simple. We would shop around among other high volume reputable cruise agencies and give our business to the one that gives us the best deal and service. In our own booking situation one of our cruise agencies was able to "sweeten" our MSC booking by giving us an additional $700 of on board credit plus pick up the $500+ tab for our gratuities. I often smile when cruisers tell me about their personal "loyalty" to specific cruise/travel agents. Our own "loyalty" is simply based on getting the best possible deal and good service.

 

Hank

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The person I used to use also refused to book MSC for some reason. She said she didn't do enough business with the cruise line and they were also horrible to deal with. She also said their experience with the Divina when they first came to the USA went so badly that she vowed she would never sail or book with them again. I booked directly with MSC for my upcoming trip. I have no issues booking directly with the cruise line if need be. I did it for a number of years and it's nice to be in control of your booking when your TA suddenly takes of for some adventure without telling you costing you an upgrade or other such perk because of re-fare, etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Travel and cruise agencies are simply businesses that need to make a profit to survive. Whether or not they choose to deal with a specific entity (in this case MSC) is a business decision. For us, handling this situation is quite simple. We would shop around among other high volume reputable cruise agencies and give our business to the one that gives us the best deal and service. In our own booking situation one of our cruise agencies was able to "sweeten" our MSC booking by giving us an additional $700 of on board credit plus pick up the $500+ tab for our gratuities. I often smile when cruisers tell me about their personal "loyalty" to specific cruise/travel agents. Our own "loyalty" is simply based on getting the best possible deal and good service.

 

Hank

Wow, how much did you pay for 2 adults in a cabin to get over $1200 in freebies?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, how much did you pay for 2 adults in a cabin to get over $1200 in freebies?

 

The YC is expensive :). But we always seek about 10% in what you call "freebies." If one is not getting 7-10% in freebies it is a good time to shop around (before booking) to see what is offered by other cruise agencies.

 

Hank

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Commissions on cruises is typically in that range of 10-12%, and that is of the commisionable part of the cruise cost, We all know big box store can bank on volume and operate with a large amount of sales. Standard in the industries you mention is for the owner of the services to lower their price. You as a consumer of a cruise product are not purchasing anything from me, You pay me nothing. ThYou purchase fromt he cruise line and i am simply their representative. I am paid by the cruise line. Not many car salesmen I know actually agree to cut their commission after the sale. The General Manager or sales Manager may agree to lower the price of the car, there by cutting the sales reps commission, but I have never seen a sale finalized, paperwork signed, and then the sales rep eagerly hand ov3er 10% of the sales price back to the buyer out of his "salary"

 

You are negotiating up front for your price, not asking for a kick back from a third party in any of those cases.

 

As for your YC experience, the commission on the regular Yacht club cabin, depending on time of year, is not even 10% of the fare

 

Looking at an upcoming booking I have for a YC cabin on the Seaside, the commission on a cabin with 2 occupants is $429.48.

 

Now for me, that is split between me and the agency, so roughly $200 for each. and yet the consumer thinks they should get $400 OBC, not realizing to do so, if the agency agreed to give away their commisssion, too, we would end up splitting $29.48 as our payment, while subsidizing your cruise by $400.

 

Big box stores would take all of that business they can get, while the smaller operations, would tend to walk away from it.

 

What I would like to see is for someone to call a cruiseline and tell them outright that their cost is out of line and that you will only cruise with them if they lower it by $400, You can not tell me that my price to you is out of line as I charge you nothing. If you did get the cruise line to agree to the $400 discount, Travel agents would still get a healthy commission on the discounted fare. Cruise lines do not want their fares discounted by anyone other than themselves, and many prohibit the discounting by agencies, except in competitive circumstances. Unfortunately, many agencies and agents agree with the consumer that a small commission is better than no commission.

 

Actually I am talking about equivelent third party sales people. So for a mortgage. The mortgage broker can kick me back some of the money he gets in commission. As a low maintenance customer he might spend 2 hours on my file and will still make a very reasonable payday even giving me money back. Real estate agents can do the same with their share of the commission. Car sales is trickier but their are internet sights which will give you a better deal basically by doing the same.

 

I didn't think the OP was asking for OBC after the fact and I certainly am not. I use a comparison sight and take the best offer. I understand you personally might provide a lot of service and therefore if you only make $50 on a cruise it will not be worth it. When I book total time is less than an hour. (5 minutes on the phone with me and 45 minutes later I get all the paperwork.) I never call them again. I do all the research myself so would be happy to book on the website but will book with an agent in the incentive is large enough to make it worthwhile. I understand you might not like these services or agents. Eventually travel agents will be gone from cruising just like they are for most other travel services. Someone like NCL will stop offering commissions and the rest of the mass market lines will follow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We've been loyal to our TA (who runs her own smallish operation) for many years now, because she knows us and our tastes and has never steered us wrong in her recommendations. She does always offer a modest OBC, and also kicks in extra when we refer friends and family to her (which we have done many times). When we were looking for a cruise this coming January MSC was not on our radar, but she highly recommended we try them out. Not sure if we will love the cruise or not, but ours is certainly one TA who is not averse to dealing with MSC.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Eventually travel agents will be gone from cruising just like they are for most other travel services. Someone like NCL will stop offering commissions and the rest of the mass market lines will follow.

 

Yes - I also guess this is the future. When I made a booking onboard the future cruise consultant showed me the details, which included the commission to the TA. Given the structural changes in airline, hire car and hotels bookings the last few years - where providers have done as much as possible to reduce commission to travel agents and encourage booking I direct I would expect the same to happen to the cruise industry sooner or later.

 

The online TA I use just discounts the cruise price by 15% and then charges a booking fee, as well as fees for any changes. I think this works well for the UK market, where deposits are non-refundable (and cruises expensive to change) - I only book when I'm pretty sure we are going!

 

attachment.php?attachmentid=429381&stc=1&d=1538043848

Capture.thumb.JPG.c45b68a66207cacf4c92d815e88f2ab5.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am not in total disagreement that eventually Cruise line may totally do away with commissions for cruises. Pretty much just like the airlines. The airlines then went with technology that actually made it easier for people to book it themselves. Some still wanted a TA to do it for them, and that is pretty much when Agency service fees came into being. We all see how well the cruise lines web sites work, and we see the complaints about POC's who have never cruised themselves with relatively little product knowledge. For most cruise lines the split between in house sales and outside sales via Travel agencies is still over powering in the favor of Travel agencies. A recent survey shows that milennials prefer to use a travel agent over booking directly. So maybe the future is not nearly a gloomy as you predict.

 

There will always be a place for people who enjoy doing it themselves, and there will always be people who prefer a little hand holding.

 

All but the discount lines prefer to have brand integrity and not be considered a discount brand. Most have rules and policies against agencies discounting their products. The contract between a cruise line and an agency is pretty stringent in legalese. However, they live with it because that segment sales a lot of cruises. As I believe I have heard, and I agree with, business is business...and it all comes down to dollars and sense. The cruise line wants to sell cruises, the agent wants to maximize their commission, and the client wants to get the best deal. And from what I hear on here, the only way for a client to get the best deal is to put the squeeze on the travel agent, as they have no leverage with the cruise line or with the Travel agency. I know my view may be slanted, but I still consider this the same as you going to the grocery store getting your basket of groceries, and going to the checkout line, and asking the cashier to give you 10% of their salary since you chose to shop at the store she works in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think those that predict the demise of cruise/travel agencies (for booking cruises) are simply ignoring the facts. All you need to do is have a conversation with a cruise line executive (we did this on a Celebrity ship) to learn a few facts. Overall in the cruise industry about 80% of all bookings are handled by cruise/travel agencies. Yes, 80% although that does vary from line to line. The cost of handling all bookings in house would be very expensive since it means hiring many more employees, training them, providing office space, supervision, etc. So the cruise agencies are actually very helpful to the cruise lines which is why the cruise lines give them lots of support. When we once asked a Princess rep if they would match a deal offered by a cruise agency the Princess rep told us "we do not compete with our authorized agencies since we want to encourage their business." Once upon a time there was a cruise line that tried to operate without using any cruise/travel agencies (this was Renaissance Cruises) and that company failed (for many reasons including the lack of travel/cruise agency support.

 

Sometimes we talk here on CC about amazing last minute deals (they do exist) and folks ask how do you find those deals. The reality is that they are normally not even offered by most cruise lines but done via certain favored cruise agencies who can market these deals to registered users...without having to market these deals publicly. This helps prevent the nasty situation when those who have already booked at a certain price point discover that others are booking the same cruise at a much lower price (sometimes half the price).

 

The ideal situation for cruise lines would be if everyone simply booked online without dealing with a human. This is the most cost efficient booking model (we ourselves often book online with agencies). But many cruisers demand lots of "hand holding" and this requires real people who are trained. We do not see any trend that will lead to the demise of large cruise agencies and the consortium's of smaller agencies.

 

Hank

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it's similar to when Visa, Mastercard, Discover came into being. A lot of stores who had their own credit cards found it more cost efficient to pay the fee to be part of the above mentioned cards rather than incur the costs of having their own credit department. It always comes down to what's the most cost efficient way to do business.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...