Am I asking too much from my travel agent?

[CafeBruno]

I’ve had difficulty in finding a good travel agent. I’ve been looking for someone who is responsive (return calls or emails within 24 hours), and with good pricing (approx.. 10% less than booking direct with HAL). I really don’t need someone who is super knowledgeable, since do all the research, like figuring out what cruise and cabin I want before calling them; I just ask the TA to book it for me quickly, so I can get the deal/cabin I want, at a lower price than with HAL directly, and to get back to me promptly.

 

I used a TA for a while who met that criteria, but later she became much less responsive – her auto email reply now says that she will respond in 48-72 hours, which I think is too long, and may cause me to miss sales or specific cabins I want. So she’s no longer my first choice. Recently, I found another TA who is giving me the good pricing, and she’s pretty quick to return emails/calls, except that after I book with her, I don’t get the booking confirmation from her for 1-2 weeks. Today it’s been 7 business days since I booked a cruise with her (which departs May 19), and still no confirmation. I do see the booking on HAL’s website, but I really like to see the confirmation to make sure the perks and OBC are correct. The cruise is still almost 4 weeks off I know, but I get antsy.

 

Am I asking too much? Should I just be happy with the discounts, and accept the fact that my new agent takes longer than I’d like to provide the confirmation? One other side note is that she is not very knowledgeable about HAL – but that is not really important for me, since I do all the research and don’t expect that from her.

 

In my working career as a CPA, I heard it said that clients want their audit or tax work done (1) fast, (2) correctly, and (3) cheap, but one of my partners always said that clients can pick any 2, but not all 3. You can have it done fast and correctly, but it won’t be cheap. Or, you can have it fast and cheap, but it won’t be correct. Or, cheap and correct, but it won’t be fast. I wonder if it’s the same for TA’s?     

[dockman]

so you want 2/3 or more of the agents commissions as well as quick and professional services....would you as a CPA knock 2/3 of your price off and still give great service?

[SusieKIslandGirl]

@dockmanI'm not sure I understand your question. It seems the main point is getting a faster reply, so how does that reduce the agent's commission?

[dockman]

7 minutes ago, SusieKIslandGirl said:

@dockmanI'm not sure I understand your question. It seems the main point is getting a faster reply, so how does that reduce the agent's commission?

If you want fast full service you should not likely expect to have the agent rebate 2/3 or more of their commission.  A client that does not take most of the agents pay is likely to be a higher priority for the agent than a cheap charlie.

[Torquer]

@CafeBruno I think what you are looking for is very reasonable.  We are in a similar situation, that when we book a cruise we know exactly what we want and the only reason we use a TA is for the discount/rebate we get from them.  We always book the top suites on our cruises, so the TA gets a much bigger commission from the cruise line than someone who books an inside cabin for no more work than their booking, so we think we should get a large discount/rebate.  Like you, we have had trouble finding ones that meet all three of your criteria and we have changed TAs several times and now use a couple different TAs based on the best discount they can give us for that specific cruise.  The only point I would quibble about is your expectation of a 10% discount.  We have looked around a lot and have not found that recently.  8% or so used to be pretty common and one time we got a 9+% discount, but post-covid the best we can find is a 6-7% discount.

[shippmates]

I agree you should receive quicker response time, but asking for 2/3 of an agent commission is a little extreme.  With the little amount of commission an agent makes returning 2/3, the agent would be working almost for free.  I am sure if you are in the workforce, you would not want to return 2/3 of your salary as  discount to your employer for allowing you to work there.  Sorry for the rant.

[CafeBruno]

7 minutes ago, dockman said:

If you want fast full service you should not likely expect to have the agent rebate 2/3 or more of their commission.  A client that does not take most of the agents pay is likely to be a higher priority for the agent than a cheap charlie.

The thing is, I don't want or need full service. I just want an order-taker. Someone who can spend 5-10 minutes on the phone with me to book the cruise and cabin I want at a better price than I can get myself. I only call when I have determined exactly what I want - I don't need advice from her. On my most recent booking, she did the booking with HAL while I was on the phone with her; I told her the date, ship and cabin number I wanted (which I had already determined from HAL's website). She already had my Mariner number, credit card number, etc. Literally took 5 minutes, and then she's done and collects her commission.  

[SeaMatesNYC]

24 hours on a confirm is a must for us. And we are also getting double digit discounts. If I leave a message saying I’m ready to book, I will expect a return that day, but I can always complete a booking through my agency’s portal and pretty much arrange everything I need, except transfers (rarely take). Choose cabin, dining, rate/promo, refund/no refund, all there, along with all Mariner bonus OBC and any other cruise-line cash. Can’t do Club Orange (don’t use it) but I don’t think any agency can do that electronically. 

[Mary229]

As to discounts there truly are no discounts.  Learning a cruise lines in and outs is the best way to get a good deal.  Know your Mariner benefits.  Be keen to snap up an early booking bonus, many only agencies snap those up and offer them later to clients giving the appearance that they are giving you a big OBC. You could have had that same OBC if you had booked early.  Always get a refundable deposit so you can refare if prices drop.  Your agent should have access to software that tracks changes and that software is more robust than what consumers have available.

 

so my advice is find someone who is attentive and you like and who likes you and let the prices fall in place.  Make sure that person has good cruise experience and that they regularly keep up their training.  Don’t focus on price 

[SeaMatesNYC]

And find someone who can cope with taking in an onboard booking and ensure everything’s transferred correctly. And still gives you a discount (especially then since you and the Future Cruise Consultant did the heavy lifting!).

[Mary229]

1 minute ago, SeaMatesNYC said:

And find someone who can cope with taking in an onboard booking and ensure everything’s transferred correctly. And still gives you a discount (especially then since you and the Future Cruise Consultant did the heavy lifting!).

There should be an automatic transfer unless you the customer spectates you don’t want it transferred.  Have you had an agent not want the onboard booking.?

[SeaMatesNYC]

No, they’ve wanted it, but sometimes credits have dropped off.  Not sure why and they have to call to get things reapplied that “fell off”. Additional bonus type things beyond the onboard booking bonus that were tied to Mariner number. Should go seamlessly, but I’ve found sometimes don’t, perhaps due to input error onboard?

[Mary229]

1 minute ago, SeaMatesNYC said:

No, they’ve wanted it, but sometimes credits have dropped off.  Not sure why and they have to call to get things reapplied that “fell off”. Additional bonus type things beyond the onboard booking bonus that were tied to Mariner number. Should go seamlessly, but I’ve found sometimes don’t, perhaps due to input error onboard?

My last onboard booking had to be redone but I caught the errors while still on ship and was able to make the corrections.  I agree keep a careful eye on things especially when an error can lose a significant OBC

[SeaMatesNYC]

The other consideration here is are we talking a commission on a $1,000 booking or a $10,000 booking plus?  Clearly, I don’t expect as large a rebate on the low price booking. Same time to book and support each but much lower commission to start with so expecting 2/3rds of $300 back is not really fair. 

[SeaMatesNYC]

1 minute ago, Mary229 said:

My last onboard booking had to be redone but I caught the errors while still on ship and was able to make the corrections.  I agree keep a careful eye on things especially when an error can lose a significant OBC

You caught them from the TA confirm you got while still onboard…. 

[CafeBruno]

16 minutes ago, SeaMatesNYC said:

The other consideration here is are we talking a commission on a $1,000 booking or a $10,000 booking plus?  Clearly, I don’t expect as large a rebate on the low price booking. Same time to book and support each but much lower commission to start with so expecting 2/3rds of $300 back is not really fair. 

Certainly a fair point. For me, this booking was around $2520. And I double checked the discount I received; it was actually only around 6% of HAL's website price, not 10% like I said earlier. 

 

But I should point out that I also have 2 longer cruises booked with that TA, each costing between $15,000 - $20,000, and the confirmation was also slow in coming on those cruises...    

[SeaMatesNYC]

3 minutes ago, CafeBruno said:

each costing between $15,000 - $20,000, and the confirmation was also slow in coming on those cruises... 

I think a frank conversation with the TA is in order. And I hope you got 10% on those …

Edited April 24 by SeaMatesNYC
Elaborate

[Mary229]

Also remember you can pay with AARP gift cards for a 10% discount. 

[ChinaShrek]

42 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Also remember you can pay with AARP gift cards for a 10% discount. 

It sounds like his TA would take at least a week to apply them! 😂

[Mike07]

You know that you can book a cruise thru HAL and then transfer it to an agent within either 30 or 60 days and as long as it hasn't been paid in full, right?

[SeaMatesNYC]

60 days, and here is when you need to be vigilant about credits as I’ve had them drop off for no reason during a transfer. Resolutions fixed it.

[CafeBruno]

1 hour ago, Mike07 said:

You know that you can book a cruise thru HAL and then transfer it to an agent within either 30 or 60 days and as long as it hasn't been paid in full, right?

Thanks, yeah, I did that once. But when I did that, the TA couldn't lower the price I booked it with HAL, she could only give me more OBC than HAL. To me, I would much rather have the discount up front, as a fare reduction, rather than as OBC. We usually get the Have It All, so for us, we don't have much need for OBC. Plus, I get the Carnival Corp shareholder's OBC as well. So I've actually had a couple of cruises where we had non refundable OBC at the end of the cruise, which my wife happily used up at the Effy jewelry shop. But I'd rather have had that extra $$ taken off my cruise fare rather than having more jewelry (although it looks lovely on my wife, of course). 

 

If anyone has a different experience, and figured out how to transfer a booking from HAL to a TA, and then having the TA reduce the fare somehow, instead of just giving extra OBC, I'd love to hear how that works. 

[dockman]

3 hours ago, CafeBruno said:

The thing is, I don't want or need full service. I just want an order-taker. Someone who can spend 5-10 minutes on the phone with me to book the cruise and cabin I want at a better price than I can get myself. I only call when I have determined exactly what I want - I don't need advice from her. On my most recent booking, she did the booking with HAL while I was on the phone with her; I told her the date, ship and cabin number I wanted (which I had already determined from HAL's website). She already had my Mariner number, credit card number, etc. Literally took 5 minutes, and then she's done and collects her commission.  

understood...BUT...lots of people say similar until a problem pops up related to a cancellation or various changes or who knows what and then many expect the agent to solve the problem as once the agent is the booking of record the cruise line is supposed to refer all inquiries back to the agent....however i am sure if you shop around enough you are likely to find an "agent" who will agree to your rebate...most of those agents will also go out of business over time.

[mawvkysc]

31 minutes ago, CafeBruno said:

 

If anyone has a different experience, and figured out how to transfer a booking from HAL to a TA, and then having the TA reduce the fare somehow, instead of just giving extra OBC, I'd love to hear how that works. 

I called around to several TAs. One offered me $ off the price instead of OBC. I picked that one. 

Edited April 24 by mawvkysc

[leerathje]

During COVID, I cancelled 5 bookings and made 2. She also got me home during a snowstorm when there were many cancelled flights. And I'll use OBC on specialty restaurants any day of the week.  I don't begrudge my TA her commission.

 

L.