Cruise Line and Travel Agent?

[Stmar]

We are cruising on Carnival with two other couples. When we booked one of the couples went through what I guess you would classify as a travel agent, reputable online company. The other two couples went directly to Carnival. Now the couple that booked through the TA cannot access their Cruise Manager on Carnival. My fear is that they will have to do everything through the TA, they had to contact TA to get "linked" with us but I was able to link with the other couple through Carnival. Basically my question is: Will the TA couple ever be able to use the Carnival Manager? Right now they cannot get access, they do have VIPF numbers from a previous cruise. Any help would be appreciated.

[1025cruise]

They should have access to the Cruise Manager to do excursions and such.

[leaveitallbehind]

As indicated they will have access to their cruise planner - and it should be available to them as it is to the couples who booked direct.  That is a function that is open directly to them by the cruise line. Just have them continue to check and if there is a continued delay tell them to mention the issue to Carnival to see if there is any assistance they can offer.  While it is true that with bookings through any TA they control your booking, they do not have control or access to the planner, so Carnival should be able to assist with that.

 

And just my opinion, I always prefer to deal with TA's that are humans with telephone and email contacts v on-line only agencies.  Much easier to be able to talk with a person should questions or issues arise with a booking.

[Essiesmom]

The only thing the cannot do is make a payment online.  All other options will be there.  Have they opened an account with Carnival, and signed in?  EM

[Stmar]

They called Carnival and were helped. Now they have full access. There were some issues with the name but they supplied their VIPFs and now all is right with the world, or at least the cruise. Thanks for the input.

P.S. No difference in price from TA or Carnival.

[JimnKaren]

"No difference in price from TA or Carnival" is appropriate...however, if using a TA (whether local or online) the money for the commission is shared into the community. That does not happen when one books directly with the cruise line. If you want to help the economy, use a TA. If you want to help CCL, then call them direct. As you stated, no difference in pricing.

 

Jim

[leaveitallbehind]

3 hours ago, JimnKaren said:

"No difference in price from TA or Carnival" is appropriate...however, if using a TA (whether local or online) the money for the commission is shared into the community. That does not happen when one books directly with the cruise line. If you want to help the economy, use a TA. If you want to help CCL, then call them direct. As you stated, no difference in pricing.

 

Jim

 

The equivalent of the commission paid to a TA when booking with the cruise line direct goes in wages paid to the reps who handle the bookings internally, be it from their website bookings or over the phone.  As these workers are part of the community, it benefits the community either way.

[Robinsoncruiseso]

The biggest benefit derived from using a TA, other than on board credit, additional amenities and group pricing, is when something goes wrong.

[mayleeman]

On 9/22/2019 at 9:21 PM, Robinsoncruiseso said:

The biggest benefit derived from using a TA, other than on board credit, additional amenities and group pricing, is when something goes wrong.

 

Unless it is the TA that has screwed something up. In the OP's friend's case, how do you suppose a "problem with the name" occurred?

[Robinsoncruiseso]

14 hours ago, mayleeman said:

 

Unless it is the TA that has screwed something up. In the OP's friend's case, how do you suppose a "problem with the name" occurred?

If the OP’s friend went through an online TA, they most likely entered in the info themselves. Reading the posts, it appears there was just education needed to access cruise personalized. Online discount TA’s operate much differently then those of us who meet face to face.

[leaveitallbehind]

20 hours ago, mayleeman said:

 

Unless it is the TA that has screwed something up. In the OP's friend's case, how do you suppose a "problem with the name" occurred?

 

Agree with the comment made by Robinsoncruiseso that if as indicated the booking was made on line then the data entered, such as names, etc., would be by the individual making the booking.  That's the only place a mistake would be made and it would seem likely that they just did not review the booking completely before entering it.  But no TA would have been involved. 

 

When a booking is made through a live TA a booking confirmation from the cruise line as well as one from the TA are issued (at least in my experience) which would show the data entered.  If there is any kind of error it would be indicated and a simple call to the TA involved would correct it.  The cruise line could also be made aware of the concern as well.  Again, this is why I prefer to deal with a human being.

Edited September 25, 2019 by leaveitallbehind

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

 

Agree with the comment made by Robinsoncruiseso that if as indicated the booking was made on line then the data entered, such as names, etc., would be by the individual making the booking.  That's the only place a mistake would be made and it would seem likely that they just did not review the booking completely before entering it.  But no TA would have been involved. 

 

When a booking is made through a live TA a booking confirmation from the cruise line as well as one from the TA are issued (at least in my experience) which would show the data entered.  If there is any kind of error it would be indicated and a simple call to the TA involved would correct it.  The cruise line could also be made aware of the concern as well.  Again, this is why I prefer to deal with a human being.

Dealing with a human being is always preferable. We generally use an online agency, but when we have a cruise picked out I call him. One time there were 3 cruises that met what we wanted to do all with different prices on their website. When I called him and priced the 3, the one that was the most expensive on the website ended up with the least expensive fare. It seems that TAs cannot post lower prices, but can give them over the phone. And the least expensive  ended up a Princess cruise which allowed him in his quote to discount the fare.

[leaveitallbehind]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

It seems that TAs cannot post lower prices, but can give them over the phone. And the least expensive  ended up a Princess cruise which allowed him in his quote to discount the fare.

 

Just by way of explanation, as I'm sure you are aware, TA's are paid by commission. The fares from the cruise lines are comprised of a commission portion, from which the TA's are paid, and a non-commission portion from which they are not paid.  The rest of the fare is taxes, port and other fees.

 

Most mass market cruise lines do not allow discounting of their fares through TA's. The fares offered directly by the cruise lines are generally the same provided to a TA.  When "discounted" fares are provided by a TA, they often do not include the non-commission portion of the fare, which then makes the fare appear lower.  But with the final invoice, that non-commission amount is usually lumped in with the taxes, port, and other fees portion of the cost which then makes the total invoice $ comparable to others.

 

Where a TA will provide a discount is through what are typically nominal group booking incentives, which may in part or in whole be passed on to the customer, or from OBC's or other perks that would come out of pocket from their commission.  There also can be pricing advantages with larger group reservations made early in the itinerary release cycle where initial pricing may be lower than that offered later in selling cycle, which would then be provided to individual bookings over time to fill that group.

Edited September 25, 2019 by leaveitallbehind

[Kate P.C]

We always book our cruises with the Future Cruise sales assistant on board.

[leaveitallbehind]

1 hour ago, Kate P.C said:

We always book our cruises with the Future Cruise sales assistant on board.

 

We often do that as well. And with certain cruise lines, RCI and Celebrity as examples, you typically would receive a reduced deposit and some amount of OBC for booking on board.  But the quoted fare will be that being promoted at the time and will be the same as available to anyone else making a booking at that time for a given itinerary.

Edited September 26, 2019 by leaveitallbehind

[SRF]

On 9/26/2019 at 8:29 AM, Kate P.C said:

We always book our cruises with the Future Cruise sales assistant on board.

 

That does not prohibit you from using a TA.

 

We have booked several cruises on board.  We get the perks from the cruise line, then it is transferred to the TA (with Royal, if your current cruise is associated with a TA, this happened automatically), and they you get the TA perks.  For one cruise, total OBC will be around $1200. 🙂