curious4 Posted April 1, 2008 #1 Share Posted April 1, 2008 Hello to All, I am new to the boards but have been a faithful reader for some time!! Thank You for all your great answers to some great questions. I am going on my first cruise in May!! I am currently booked for a second cruise in December for the holidays thru a Carnival PVP but I had a internet TA call me with a lower rater and says all we need to do is call Carnival and transfer my booking. It sounds easy but can you trust anyone who calls you and says they are a TA and has a web site but works thru there home? TA promised me a great final price but how do I know for sure that will be the price when final payment is do in October? I hear about so many horror stories!!! Bottom line, "who can or should you trust with your $$$$$$"!!!!????!!!:confused: :confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClerkPatsy Posted April 1, 2008 #2 Share Posted April 1, 2008 Hello to All, I am new to the boards but have been a faithful reader for some time!! Thank You for all your great answers to some great questions. I am going on my first cruise in May!! I am currently booked for a second cruise in December for the holidays thru a Carnival PVP but I had a internet TA call me with a lower rater and says all we need to do is call Carnival and transfer my booking. It sounds easy but can you trust anyone who calls you and says they are a TA and has a web site but works thru there home? TA promised me a great final price but how do I know for sure that will be the price when final payment is do in October? I hear about so many horror stories!!! Bottom line, "who can or should you trust with your $$$$$$"!!!!????!!!:confused: :confused: Unless someone else has had a good experience with this, I would say stay clear of a travel agent who calls you for your business. My question would be, how did that agent find out you had a booking??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trock Posted April 1, 2008 #3 Share Posted April 1, 2008 Research the internet with the TA's name.. See if that TA advertises here... Usually the TA calls Carnival and makes the transfer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee39 Posted April 1, 2008 #4 Share Posted April 1, 2008 Hello to All, I am new to the boards but have been a faithful reader for some time!! Thank You for all your great answers to some great questions. I am going on my first cruise in May!! I am currently booked for a second cruise in December for the holidays thru a Carnival PVP but I had a internet TA call me with a lower rater and says all we need to do is call Carnival and transfer my booking. It sounds easy but can you trust anyone who calls you and says they are a TA and has a web site but works thru there home? TA promised me a great final price but how do I know for sure that will be the price when final payment is do in October? I hear about so many horror stories!!! Bottom line, "who can or should you trust with your $$$$$$"!!!!????!!!:confused: :confused: My first question would be "where did this TA get your phone number"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbrucern Posted April 1, 2008 #5 Share Posted April 1, 2008 Hello to All, I am new to the boards but have been a faithful reader for some time!! Thank You for all your great answers to some great questions. I am going on my first cruise in May!! I am currently booked for a second cruise in December for the holidays thru a Carnival PVP but I had a internet TA call me with a lower rater and says all we need to do is call Carnival and transfer my booking. It sounds easy but can you trust anyone who calls you and says they are a TA and has a web site but works thru there home? TA promised me a great final price but how do I know for sure that will be the price when final payment is do in October? I hear about so many horror stories!!! Bottom line, "who can or should you trust with your $$$$$$"!!!!????!!!:confused: :confused: We have actually booked cruises thru Carnival and changed to a TA for a better deal once initial deposit was paid and have never had any problems. The TA sends me the booking number and invoice with the price via e-mail. Unfortunately it is not always Carnival that is offering me a better deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trock Posted April 1, 2008 #6 Share Posted April 1, 2008 ** I assumed you called this TA.. while researching your cruise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Socref124 Posted April 1, 2008 #7 Share Posted April 1, 2008 Hello to All, I am new to the boards but have been a faithful reader for some time!! Thank You for all your great answers to some great questions. I am going on my first cruise in May!! I am currently booked for a second cruise in December for the holidays thru a Carnival PVP but I had a internet TA call me with a lower rater and says all we need to do is call Carnival and transfer my booking. It sounds easy but can you trust anyone who calls you and says they are a TA and has a web site but works thru there home? TA promised me a great final price but how do I know for sure that will be the price when final payment is do in October? I hear about so many horror stories!!! Bottom line, "who can or should you trust with your $$$$$$"!!!!????!!!:confused: :confused: Several things. One, have you heard of the travel agency before? I would try to find out some information on the travel agency first. Two, are they beating the price or giving you OBC? If they are beating the price, call your PVP and let them know. Carnival has the lowest price guarantee and will match it. If they are giving you OBC, the agent is probably willing to give up a portion of his/her commission and Carnival will not match that. At least this is the way I have heard Carnival works. If I am wrong, someone will surely let you know. Good Luck. In our five Carnival cruises, a TA has only beaten Carnival once and that is the cruise we are taking in 28 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curious4 Posted April 1, 2008 Author #8 Share Posted April 1, 2008 WOW! You guys are good! I did give my phone # thru a couple of Internet sites while looking for a better rate and the TA called me thru one with a great price. I did call my PVP and asked her if she would match the price. she said they couldnt but I could transfer the booking to them. TA said she is giving up most of her commision in a price drop in order to keep the price low and retain my business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carnival Platinum Cruiser Posted April 2, 2008 #9 Share Posted April 2, 2008 Several things. One, have you heard of the travel agency before? I would try to find out some information on the travel agency first.Two, are they beating the price or giving you OBC? If they are beating the price, call your PVP and let them know. Carnival has the lowest price guarantee and will match it. If they are giving you OBC, the agent is probably willing to give up a portion of his/her commission and Carnival will not match that. At least this is the way I have heard Carnival works. If I am wrong, someone will surely let you know. Good Luck. In our five Carnival cruises, a TA has only beaten Carnival once and that is the cruise we are taking in 28 days. Carnival has the lowest price guarantee on ADVERTISED PRICES ONLY. Many, many TAs will give you a further discount (5 to 10% is my norm) by cutting their commisions. Carnival will NOT match those prices. My last cruise on the Glory my TA saved me $140 which was a savings over 10% from carnivals "best price". A Pvp wanted my booking but could not give me that price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wennfred Posted April 2, 2008 #10 Share Posted April 2, 2008 Stick with Carnival to avoid headaches later. Fred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve4040 Posted April 2, 2008 #11 Share Posted April 2, 2008 Why would they give up their commissions? I know they keep part of it, but it just does not make sense to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisnpat Posted April 2, 2008 #12 Share Posted April 2, 2008 If there is a price drop later on will the TA honor it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gargoyle999 Posted April 2, 2008 #13 Share Posted April 2, 2008 Why would they give up their commissions? I know they keep part of it, but it just does not make sense to me. I had my cabin all picked out when I booked directly with Carnival for Feb 09. I switched to an online TA and saved $385. All I had to do was give him my pin and he called Carnival and got it switched over. I don't know how much commission he ends up with but he didn't have to work hard to get it. For my Princess cruise in Nov I did the same thing. He did have to switch my cabin for me three times till I found the perfect one but still not too much work for whatever commission he gets out of it. He didn't have to do any research for me, just changed it to what I asked him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommiejaxx Posted April 2, 2008 #14 Share Posted April 2, 2008 I booked through PVP and then saw it advertised cheaper online somewhere else. I went through the steps like I was booking and when the final price showed up it was exactly the same as Carnival. They ended up charging me more for 3, 4, and 5th passengers than Carnival did so it worked out to be the same in the end. Has anyone else encountered this. Is that normally the case? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZaTaz Posted April 2, 2008 #15 Share Posted April 2, 2008 We have switched to on-line TA several times. We book with the cruise line to insure we get the cabin we want, then let the TA "compete" for our business, then swithch to the lowest TA. In 8 cruises we have never experinced an issue. We have also never seen a lower price than we got with the TA. I think all the price drops that people experince are those booking directly with the cruise lines and not getting the best price to begin with. jmho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Princessbride3 Posted April 2, 2008 #16 Share Posted April 2, 2008 I recently booked thru a pvp thru carnival.. when i looked at the quote that i had from costco it was considerably less money (400) so i called costco and all i had to do was transfer my booking number and pin to costco and they took the deposit from the carnival I paid and subtracted it from my total. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caribbean dreams Posted April 2, 2008 #17 Share Posted April 2, 2008 Make sure the price is actually cheaper, sometimes TA's give quotes before the taxes or port charges. I think being so new to the game, i would just stick with your PVP this time. That being said........I use an online TA that works out of his house and he is great, he has a terrible habit of cutting his commision to beat prices, but that is a good thing for me:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.