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Booking direct vs Travel Agent


FlightMedic555
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Thought a new thread might be in order as many questions regarding this topic are being added onto older non related threads.

 

We have always used a TA to book. The first couple of times we paid full advertised rate and received whatever OBC was available at the time of booking. Now we have learned to shop around as many TAs will offer additional OBC or post cruise rebate. We can’t make suggestions on this site as it is not allowed but if you want more info look at TripAdvisor as there is a private message option.

 

 

For our 7th trip coming up next summer we have $750 back from our TA. Two days ago I saw that the PG is offering a $100 OBC per person. A quick email to my TA and now we have an additional $200. PG is generally very fair when it comes to providing a new offer to existing bookings. One of the many reasons many return many times.

 

 

Compare the cost of air if you take care of the air yourself. While the PG listed fare includes air and transport they will reduce the rate by $1500-$1700 if you take care of the air and transfers yourself. We opt to try and get award flights rather than use the PG air. The major downside is that if you are leaving PPT on the last day of your cruise (not adding on a land stay post cruise) many flights depart at 11;30pm and you have to leave the ship that morning. The PG air and transfers include an optional bus tour of Tahiti followed by use of a day room, or decline the bus tour and use the day room longer. Trying to book your own day room is somewhere between challenging and impossible.

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My understanding is that many cruise lines, including PG, do not allow a TA to discount the fare. To get around this many will offer OBC which is paid out of the pocket of the TA or a rebate via a check post cruise. If the cruise line offers a promotional fare and/or OBC the TA can then sell the cruise at that price.

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I think one should go through a TA for the above reasons but also for their ability to communicate with the cruise line. On our last PG cruise our ta was able to obtain a significant deal for us. We asked and she used her influence with the company to get it for us. An experienced ta can also answer lots of cruise questions for one. Ours can be reached via email, phone,or text it seems 24/7!!! We love her.

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FlightMedic, thank you so much for posting about the OBC for new/old bookings. We were able to add this to our booking for next April so very happy about that. It’s our 25th wedding anniversary so that’s a nice massage or bottle of bubbles to celebrate. Cheers Wendy

 

 

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On the TA rebate question we are in Australia and our US TA always rebates a large OBC against our cruise price which is great for us paying in Aussie $. We used to get sent a cheque which was useless as we lost so much in the conversion and OBC we find hard to spend as we don’t tend to book ships excursions or gamble, so large OBC amounts are hard to use. Rebating against our cruise price works very well for us.

 

 

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We just booked our first PG cruise - for next June 2019 - and opted to book direct. I first spoke with both of the major travel agencies in our city, and neither could offer a better deal or more OBC than what we could get booking direct. When possible, I prefer to deal direct with airlines, hotels, etc and eliminate the middleman, unless there is a meaningful benefit to using an intermediary like a travel agent. We also opted to book our air travel direct as well, booking our LAX-PPT tickets with Air Tahiti Nui, since we wanted their new Premium Economy on the 787s and PG said they didn't have any group fares for Premium Economy. We're using frequent flyer miles to get to LAX the day before we leave for PPT, and are overnighting one night in LA to minimize the risk that a flight irregularity could cause us to miss our flight to PPT. We have asked Paul Gauguin for a two-night pre-cruise stay with transfers at the Intercontinental Tahiti to give us a couple days to time-adjust, but we booked our post-cruise stay at the Hilton Moorea Resort ourselves.

 

We just returned a few weeks ago from our first cruise in over a decade (on Azamara) and used a travel agent for that one since we hadn't cruised in a long time. Our TA was great, but in all honesty, she didn't do much that we couldn't have done just about as easily ourselves.

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Even though you booked directly you can transfer the booking to a travel agent presuming they offer additional OBC or a rebate. I would be amazed if you can’t do this. Suggest you post on TripAdvisor and I’m sure some of us will PM you with suggestions.

 

Is there a specific page or forum on Trip Advisor that you would recommend?

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On Tripadvisor go to the forums page, then choose South Pacific, and then French Polynesia.

 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g294338-i867-French_Polynesia.html

 

Thanks. I'll go over there and take a look when I get a chance.

 

Just thinking about it, I would be transferring a booking to an agent that didn't have to do any of the legwork after I did pretty much everything. So, they would be picking up a commission for basically doing nothing. I guess if they offered enough benefits to me it would be worth it, but before I start investing time and energy looking into it, my obvious question is how much OBC/Rebate could I reasonably be expected to get by going through such an exercise? I only have $200 OBC from PG, and would love to get more to add to that, but am probably not inclined to start moving stuff around unless it's reasonable to expect I might get something more significant.

 

I'm kinda spoiled because on our Azamara cruise last month, we wound up with $1800 of OBC.

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....I only have $200 OBC from PG, and would love to get more to add to that, but am probably not inclined to start moving stuff around unless it's reasonable to expect I might get something more significant.........

 

Two years ago our TA got us a really nice OBC which we applied to several excursions and laundry for a 10 night PG cruise.

This year we are on a 7 night PG cruise and decided to take the least expensive catagory of room on the PG and we got far more per person than your stated OBC you are getting. I would highly recommend using a TA and asking them what they can do.

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We completed our PG cruise last spring, and received $1,350 rebate from our TA and $300 OBC also from our TA for our 11 night Cooks Island cruise on a deck 7 balcony cabin. And, we also had a $200 OBC from PG for when we booked.

 

So, to me this is worth it, for this expensive yet fantastic vacation.

 

Good luck, you will love this cruise!

 

Doug

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