Cruise re-fared (2nd time) and TA reduced the discount

[bjkTX]

Our Feb 2026 cruise price has gone down twice in the last month or so.  The first time our TA re-fared us (approx $400) with no issues.  This weekend I saw another drop of $237 - emailed our TA this morning and was re-fared within minutes.  But when I looked at the new fare vs the last one it didn't add up.  I knew the price should have dropped more than $237 because we have Princess insurance and since that is based on a % of the cruise price it also goes down (in this case about $10pp).  Then I noticed that the TA had reduced the discount we were given on the original booking by $25pp.  I asked her about it and was told that she didn't adjust the discount after the first reduction but now it was cutting into her commission...  We had already decided not to use her for Princess cruises anymore because our cruise mates used their favorite agency and received twice the discount (as OBC) with the same base price - so we'll switch.  But this is the first time this has come up from any of the TAs we have used.  Is it normal practice these days? It's been awhile since a Princess cruise we booked actually went down so we haven't been through this in a few years 🙂

[beg3yrs]

I've often wondered about this. We use a TA who works pretty hard to get us good deals. Then when we refare and he does more work, he gets less commission. For me that's conflicting. If he decided to keep some of those savings and I still saved, I don't think I'd have an issue.

 

That said, this TA really does work hard to get a better deal or cabin or whatever so I don't begrudge him something like this.

[walkingsoon]

I can actually see this from the TA's view and sympathize with them. You've caused them extra work and their commission is getting cut. Some TAs might not even be willing to rebook.

 

Since you're planning on moving on after this booking anyway, I would probably just eat the extra $25pp and wish the (soon to be ex-) TA well. I'm a fan of comparison shopping but I don't push too hard. My experience is that they often surprise me with fares on the downside of expectation.

 

Out of curiosity, have you looked at what a dedicated CVP can do compared to the advertised rack rate and compared to what your old or new TAs can? I use a TA for all my non-Princess bookings and buy into the arguments in favor of TAs, but for Princess, I find my CVP to be worth their weight in gold and I haven't had reason to stray.

 

Congrats on the re-fares, btw.

[startedwithamouse]

24 minutes ago, bjkTX said:

Our Feb 2026 cruise price has gone down twice in the last month or so.  The first time our TA re-fared us (approx $400) with no issues.  This weekend I saw another drop of $237 - emailed our TA this morning and was re-fared within minutes.  But when I looked at the new fare vs the last one it didn't add up.  I knew the price should have dropped more than $237 because we have Princess insurance and since that is based on a % of the cruise price it also goes down (in this case about $10pp).  Then I noticed that the TA had reduced the discount we were given on the original booking by $25pp.  I asked her about it and was told that she didn't adjust the discount after the first reduction but now it was cutting into her commission...  We had already decided not to use her for Princess cruises anymore because our cruise mates used their favorite agency and received twice the discount (as OBC) with the same base price - so we'll switch.  But this is the first time this has come up from any of the TAs we have used.  Is it normal practice these days? It's been awhile since a Princess cruise we booked actually went down so we haven't been through this in a few years 🙂

$50 is nothing for the hoops the TA is jumping through. 

 

This may be to discourage you from constant refares. 

[voljeep]

29 minutes ago, bjkTX said:

Our Feb 2026 cruise price has gone down twice in the last month or so.  The first time our TA re-fared us (approx $400) with no issues.  This weekend I saw another drop of $237 - emailed our TA this morning and was re-fared within minutes.  But when I looked at the new fare vs the last one it didn't add up.  I knew the price should have dropped more than $237 because we have Princess insurance and since that is based on a % of the cruise price it also goes down (in this case about $10pp).  Then I noticed that the TA had reduced the discount we were given on the original booking by $25pp.  I asked her about it and was told that she didn't adjust the discount after the first reduction but now it was cutting into her commission...  We had already decided not to use her for Princess cruises anymore because our cruise mates used their favorite agency and received twice the discount (as OBC) with the same base price - so we'll switch.  But this is the first time this has come up from any of the TAs we have used.  Is it normal practice these days? It's been awhile since a Princess cruise we booked actually went down so we haven't been through this in a few years 🙂

$637 price reduction ... OK

 

how much did the TA actually get on the original booking?

who did the work to find the cruise, monitor price, etc

how much did you get in either OBC or other benefits from the TA, and have those been reduced?

[bjkTX]

I picked the cruise, the cabin and the package - she booked it.  I let her know about the price reductions. I have no idea what her commission was for a $6k+ cruise - I  just know our cruise mates received $300 more from their TA - so the comm must be more than that.

 

[voljeep]

8 minutes ago, bjkTX said:

I picked the cruise, the cabin and the package - she booked it.  I let her know about the price reductions. I have no idea what her commission was for a $6k+ cruise - I  just know our cruise mates received $300 more from their TA - so the comm must be more than that.

 

yes, of course it is time for you to move on.  is it too late to transfer the current cruise to your future TA?  or even back to Princess?

[Ken the cruiser]

48 minutes ago, bjkTX said:

I picked the cruise, the cabin and the package - she booked it.  I let her know about the price reductions. I have no idea what her commission was for a $6k+ cruise - I  just know our cruise mates received $300 more from their TA - so the comm must be more than that.

 

It has always been my understanding that a travel agency, based on the existing contract they have with an applicable cruise line, gets a predefined percentage of the "commissionable" portion of the cruise fare to take over management duties of a booking, regardless of whether they did the initial booking, or it was subsequently transferred to them after the client initially booked the cruise with the cruise line.

 

In turn to motivate potential clients to allow the agency to manage their booking(s), they provide various incentives. In our case, depending on the cruise line, our TA will give us (1) a predefined percentage off the cruise fare, (2) a certain amount of nonrefundable OBC based on a predefined percentage of the cruise fare, or (3) a rebate check based on, you guessed it, a predefined percentage of the cruise fare.

 

So it stands to reason if you refare one of the bookings they manage for you, the booking perk, which is usually based on a predefined percentage of the cruise fare, might also go down in value. I know it does on every booking we refare, which have been quite a few over the years.

 

But that's just my understanding from past experiences as to how this works. Now I might add, we have gone through a few TAs over the past 8 years we've used them, and each one offered their own form of booking perks. Some of the early-on one were pretty tight with their offerings. However, the past few have been percentage based at a fair rate, which we much prefer. 

 

Edited September 9 by Ken the cruiser

[cruzsnooze]

I use a big box company and when I rebook a lower fare I get less of a credit. The TA's commission is based on a percentage so if the fare goes down their commission goes down. Why would anyone find that unusual. When I use my Visa I get a percent back and if I do a refund the percent becomes moot. 

   Personal cruise consultants at Princess used to be able to do some form of price match but not anymore. 

[bjkTX]

Just now, cruzsnooze said:

I use a big box company and when I rebook a lower fare I get less of a credit. The TA's commission is based on a percentage so if the fare goes down their commission goes down. Why would anyone find that unusual. When I use my Visa I get a percent back and if I do a refund the percent becomes moot. 

   Personal cruise consultants at Princess used to be able to do some form of price match but not anymore. 

I find it unusual because in all the years we have taken cruises, and all the re-fares we have had (some quite substantial) - this has never happened before.

[bjkTX]

47 minutes ago, voljeep said:

yes, of course it is time for you to move on.  is it too late to transfer the current cruise to your future TA?  or even back to Princess?

I could probably transfer the booking but I won't do that - I will just move on for future cruises.

[azbirdmom]

First of all congratulations on finding a TA who does rebate her commission via discounts.  Not many do anymore, especially after what they dealt with during the worst of the pandemic.  And Princess is one of the rare lines that allows them to discount.

 

While it really depends on the amounts of $$ in play, my TA will mostly maintain the same dollar amount of commissions that was in the original offer as she reprices.  So I never get a dollar for dollar benefit from the price drop but I'm still doing better than if I booked direct.  I think this is fair.  She agreed to do the job for me at an amount lower than what the cruise line was willing to pay her and the fact that I've now found a lower deal should not impact her monetarily.  In addition many TAs may be a franchisee and may owe a full, undiscounted amount of commission to the company.  At some point it isn't worth it to them.

 

I remember a couple of years ago I called my TA on a particularly challenging day.  She works hard, seemingly 24X7.  In any event she shared that she had just gotten off the phone with another client.  They were arguing over the same issue that the OP is.  Basically she ended up telling the client that she's making a total of $30 on the booking and has already done multiple repricings and solved a multitude of issues for them too.  She reached the point of telling the client that if they don't think that she's worth $30 she doesn't want to do business with them any longer.  And I said good for you!

 

So to the OP if you can do better go for it.  But I have to side with the TA on this one.

[memoak]

You pay less the TA makes less. Makes sense to me. I use a CVP with Princess never had an issue

[startedwithamouse]

1 hour ago, bjkTX said:

I find it unusual because in all the years we have taken cruises, and all the re-fares we have had (some quite substantial) - this has never happened before.

Did you use the same TA?

 

In all the years...  their commission from Princess could have been reworked post pandemic. Nothing is the same as years past. Or your TA's overhead has most likely increased. Cost of living certainly has. 

 

They also may be looking for low hanging fruit, and one and done easy clients, not high maintenance ones.  You've refared twice in a month, for a cruise that's not happening for another 18 months. Maybe they saw a lot of maintenance in the future?

Edited September 9 by startedwithamouse

[bjkTX]

Same one for the last 15 years or so.

[TRLD]

3 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

I've often wondered about this. We use a TA who works pretty hard to get us good deals. Then when we refare and he does more work, he gets less commission. For me that's conflicting. If he decided to keep some of those savings and I still saved, I don't think I'd have an issue.

 

That said, this TA really does work hard to get a better deal or cabin or whatever so I don't begrudge him something like this.

If the customer calls the TA and tells them which cruise, cabin etc.

 

Then notifies the TA of the drop in price. Really not that much work.

 

I could agree with you if the TA was doing the monitoring and notifying the customer that there was a drop they could take advantage of, but that did not happen in this case.

 

The TA work was basically a phone call in each case. Based upon my own recent refares 5 to 10 minutes each (a lot better than the long on hold times of last year).

[azbirdmom]

22 minutes ago, TRLD said:

If the customer calls the TA and tells them which cruise, cabin etc.

 

Then notifies the TA of the drop in price. Really not that much work.

 

I could agree with you if the TA was doing the monitoring and notifying the customer that there was a drop they could take advantage of, but that did not happen in this case.

 

The TA work was basically a phone call in each case. Based upon my own recent refares 5 to 10 minutes each (a lot better than the long on hold times of last year).

What you're missing is that the TA may have already determined the lowest amount of commission that would be acceptable for the amount of work they were doing when they quoted the discounted fare.  If the client subsequently refares why shouldn't they be paid the commissions that they originally included in the pricing?

[TRLD]

Just now, azbirdmom said:

What you're missing is that the TA may have already determined the lowest amount of commission that would be acceptable for the amount of work they were doing when they quoted the discounted fare.  If the client subsequently refares why shouldn't they be paid the commissions that they originally included in the pricing?

Then they should inform the customer of that upfront. Instead of not doing so and keeping some of the discount on the backend.

[azbirdmom]

Just now, TRLD said:

Then they should inform the customer of that upfront. Instead of not doing so and keeping some of the discount on the backend.

That's not how math works.  If you're keeping X the same dollar amount then the discount percentages cannot stay the same as the Princess fare goes down.  The OP did not say that the TA guaranteed that the commission percentage or dollar amount would remain the same if refarings occurred.  I would be very shocked if they did.  The OP is still getting a discount which they would not have gotten had they booked directly with Princess.  As I mentioned before if they can do better with someone else they should go for it.

[TRLD]

5 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

That's not how math works.  If you're keeping X the same dollar amount then the discount percentages cannot stay the same as the Princess fare goes down.  The OP did not say that the TA guaranteed that the commission percentage or dollar amount would remain the same if refarings occurred.  I would be very shocked if they did.  The OP is still getting a discount which they would not have gotten had they booked directly with Princess.  As I mentioned before if they can do better with someone else they should go for it.

The TA did also did not inform them that they had a minimum commision amount if they refared. There was no notice given to the OP until after they refared the second time. It only appeared after the fact when the TA held back some of the second reduction.

 

I book directly with Princess and easily find and get refared without a TA and get the full value of the discount.

 

The OP did not indicate that the TA gave them any better price or any other discount beyond the web site price. If the TA gave them a better price or OBC and then reduced that amount as the fare dropped then i could see that. 

 

But it this case it does not appear to ge that since the reason given by the TA was that it impacting their commission.

[azbirdmom]

5 minutes ago, TRLD said:

The TA did also did not inform them that they had a minimum commision amount if they refared. There was no notice given to the OP until after they refared the second time. It only appeared after the fact when the TA held back some of the second reduction.

 

I book directly with Princess and easily find and get refared without a TA and get the full value of the discount.

 

The OP did not indicate that the TA gave them any better price or any other discount beyond the web site price. If the TA gave them a better price or OBC and then reduced that amount as the fare dropped then i could see that. 

 

But it this case it does not appear to ge that since the reason given by the TA was that it impacting their commission.

Unless you know more than what the OP mentions in this thread none of us know how the TA couched this to the client.  Let me phrase this differently.  Based on my dealings with my own TA I get an initial price.  It is lower than the Princess fare (sometimes as much as 8% less).  Subsequent changes in the Princess price require new calculations to yield what the TA expected to be paid for their efforts which means that the drop in price for the client won't be equal to the change in the Princess price from what it was originally and what it it now.  The client is still paying less than the Princess price.  Otherwise there's no discount which is what it would be if you booked directly with Princess.  In other words if you book direct and the fare dropped $500 that's how much your price would drop.  The same person who booked with a TA who discounts would not see the same drop, but the total amount that they will pay for the same cabin will be less than the person who booked direct.

[TRLD]

14 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

Unless you know more than what the OP mentions in this thread none of us know how the TA couched this to the client.  Let me phrase this differently.  Based on my dealings with my own TA I get an initial price.  It is lower than the Princess fare (sometimes as much as 8% less).  Subsequent changes in the Princess price require new calculations to yield what the TA expected to be paid for their efforts which means that the drop in price for the client won't be equal to the change in the Princess price from what it was originally and what it it now.  The client is still paying less than the Princess price.  Otherwise there's no discount which is what it would be if you booked directly with Princess.  In other words if you book direct and the fare dropped $500 that's how much your price would drop.  The same person who booked with a TA who discounts would not see the same drop, but the total amount that they will pay for the same cabin will be less than the person who booked direct.

Sure, but that is not what the OP said.

[Coral]

This makes perfect sense.

 

Let's use simple math to explain this.

 

Cruise fare is $1000 and TA discounts 10%. Client pays $900 and TA discount is $100. 

 

Now the cruise fare is $500. The client can't expect $100 discount on this when the 10% discount would normally be $50. If the agent kept the $100 the client would be getting a 20% discount and the commission of an agent is not 20%. So the agent is losing money on this.

 

I am using simple math but it illustrates the point. You don't want the agent who has refarred your cruise with out any complaints working for dollars or losing money. Some agents charge to refare your cruise. And as pointed out, some agents don't even discount.

[Coral]

2 hours ago, azbirdmom said:

First of all congratulations on finding a TA who does rebate her commission via discounts.  Not many do anymore, especially after what they dealt with during the worst of the pandemic.  And Princess is one of the rare lines that allows them to discount.

 

While it really depends on the amounts of $$ in play, my TA will mostly maintain the same dollar amount of commissions that was in the original offer as she reprices.  So I never get a dollar for dollar benefit from the price drop but I'm still doing better than if I booked direct.  I think this is fair.  She agreed to do the job for me at an amount lower than what the cruise line was willing to pay her and the fact that I've now found a lower deal should not impact her monetarily.  In addition many TAs may be a franchisee and may owe a full, undiscounted amount of commission to the company.  At some point it isn't worth it to them.

 

I remember a couple of years ago I called my TA on a particularly challenging day.  She works hard, seemingly 24X7.  In any event she shared that she had just gotten off the phone with another client.  They were arguing over the same issue that the OP is.  Basically she ended up telling the client that she's making a total of $30 on the booking and has already done multiple repricings and solved a multitude of issues for them too.  She reached the point of telling the client that if they don't think that she's worth $30 she doesn't want to do business with them any longer.  And I said good for you!

 

So to the OP if you can do better go for it.  But I have to side with the TA on this one.

How come I always agree with you?

[azbirdmom]

1 minute ago, Coral said:

How come I always agree with you?

Hmmm, let me guess 😁