What questions should I ask a TA?

[AllAboard]

I'm not sure that "getting around the policy" sounds very legitimate. After all, if such methods were "legitimate," then they would be part of the policy...no need to get around it. Besides, when stating that there are ways to get around it, you put "policy" in quotation marks...obviously in an effort to imply something. I guess readers of this post can draw their own conclusions (canuckcruise68 appears to have drawn my conlusion).

 

BTW, I belong to a consorteum of 60 internet agencies, and have had the pleasure of meeting many of them. All are small mom 'n pop type agencies just trying to make a living doing what we love. Most of us have been in business for more than 6 years, and many longer than that. I don't know of one that is now "poof, gone." Your quote, "They low ball the prices, don't take coupons, SERIOUSLY lack in service and before you know it, poof, they are gone and without a way to track them down" does not apply to any of them.

 

So, no, we're not the exception. I'm sure they all, and many others like us, would take exception to your remarks.

[Cruises n Vegas]

Besides, when stating that there are ways to get around it, you put "policy" in quotation marks...obviously in an effort to imply something. I guess readers of this post can draw their own conclusions

 

The reason that I put the word "policy" in quotation marks is that it really isn't a policy if the people who instituted it tells you how to avoid it, now is it? You can read whatever you like into it.

 

You can also ignore what I said about the reason that the "policy" was instituted. I'm not making it up. We were told that. Why do you think it was instituted?

 

The truth is that the internet has created alot of avenues for people to defraud passengers and the cruise lines are the ones that receive all of the complaints These are facts and this is the reason that we were told that they instituted the policy. Now maybe they are wrong but that is what we were told.

 

I was not making a personal atttack on you. I have no idea who you are or what kind of job that you do.

 

This is getting old and I was only trying to help.

[vossjemi]

I would just like to say that the internet email only agency to which I am referring came highly recommended by patrons of this board (before we could no longer mention specific agencies). I booked with them last Feb (before any changes to rebating, etc....). It is the first time I've used an internet agency, but so far, I am very happy with the service I have received. As I had just become a C&A member, all I had was a $50 coupon from my 1st C&A mag....so all I lost out on the coupon was $8. Unfortunately, no higher coupons ever became available since my cruise is virtually booked solid. I understand the coupon was from RC, but this email only TA's website and the TA's I emailed directly when booking clearly explained their policy up front. I was not misled in any way. At the time I booked my cruise, I saved over $500 from RC's price and several hundred over other TA's I got quotes from. Now, RC's price is almost $1500 more than the price I got!!! Ouch! So, I'm not at all upset over not getting the extra $8 from this TA as they saved me hundreds in overall price!:D

 

People are so QUICK to judge online CRUISE TA's!! I got lots of recommendations, advice, and checked out my company first. Everything checked out and my reservation got charged directly by the cruiseline (in case they went out of business)....I am in RC's system and my TA has promptly answered any questions or issues I've had in the past 9 months! I can't say the same for the hometown TA I used to use. She messed up our flights sooooo bad on our trip to Hawaii and didn't even bother to try and straighten it out or anything. I had to spend several hours on the phone myself while on vacation to straighten everything out. Personally, I love reseraching and planning my own trips, so I don't require a lot of babysitting from a TA. So, I'm going to go where I know I can get the best price.:p

[AllAboard]

It's our understanding that hometown, brick and mortar agencies started lodging way too many complaints about losing their clients to internet agencies....that's ONE of the reasons behind the change in policy. They were finding it hard to compete with "agencies" whose overhead was lower, thereby allowing them to offer lower prices. The competition was getting way too tough for them.

 

And, if you read up on the industry analysts' reports (specialists in travel as well as business and economics), most feel that RCCL wanted to recoup some of the cost of starting up their own massive internet site project. In other words, they put a lot of time, effort and expense into their own online booking engine, and were not getting the return for their investment. Now, they've increased their own online sales....hmmmmm. No commissions being paid out there....

 

As a small, family-owned internet agency, we too felt the pressure from the mega internet sites. If you want to blame it on them, go right ahead. But, there are only a handful of them out there. There are many other internet agencies that, perhaps like yours, has only a few agents working for them. We are not internet "giants," simply hard-working people trying to make a living out of servicing our clients and giving a good deal whenever possible. After all, isn't that what most businesses do?

 

Having majored in business and economics, I'm a firm believer in the free enterprise system. In any major purchase, buyers should always research the company from which they purchase...it just makes sense. But, beyond that, I believe that competition is a healthy thing....whether based on price or service. This gives the buyer a choice. With the new policy, how many choices are left? Since RCCL is the one to have initiated this, perhaps they have other motives as well. If so, even you and your agency should be concerned.

 

PS to Vossjemi: Thanks for the show of support.

[Aldeya]

This is exactly why RCCL instituted the new policy. These "online agencies" are really hurting the industry. They low ball the prices, don't take coupons, SERIOUSLY lack in service and before you know it, poof, they are gone and without a way to track them down. So RCCL gets the complaints but they didn't make the booking and may not have even received any money. There solution was to not allow discounting. They thought it would weed out the fly by night agencies but it hasn't. It has only hurt the reputable agencies that are used to giving a little discount to their loyal passengers.

 

I am hearing more & more horror stories about these online agencies but apparently consumers are not listening. Just wait until something goes wrong and you need them to go to bat for you. Good luck. It's not worth the risk to save a few bucks. Booking early will always save money but that is not exclusive to them, that is standard in the industry.

 

Buyer beware!

With all due respect... This post REALLY made me angry.

 

"Horor stories about these online agencies"? Maybe, someone somewhere as well as with "real" TA agencies.

 

This was discussed before on these boards... I'm one of those people who does ALL my research before booking the cruise. It became a part of my cruise experience. I know the cruise line, ship, destination, and a type of cabin (including deck and NUMBER) I want to book. I don't need a TA to walk me through or hold my hand.

 

I booked FIVE cruises with the same online agency and NEVER had any problems. The service was fast, efficient, reliable,and saved me THOUSANDS of dollars.

 

I understand your point Cruise n Vegas as a TA but please spare us of those negative comments towards online agencies. They are quite a lot of people on these boards who were extremely satisfied with their services.

[Cruises n Vegas]

With all due respect...

 

I am glad that you have had good experiences and I hope you continue to do so. If all passengers did as much homework as you before cruising, unethical agencies (internet or brick & morter) wouldn't be able to get away with anything. But unfortunately we all know that isn't the case and some people are being taken advantage of. I didn't make that up.

 

I was only repeating what was told to me and what is a common belief in the trade. Do you really think I made it up?

 

I too am a firm believer in free enterprise and no I am not happy with RCCL's policy. Noone is. We can only hope that they are getting enough complaints about it to either revamp or remove the policy. It looks like we are on the same page here.

 

Now can we please put this to rest?

[Chicagomom]

Last December we booked with a cruise only agency that was recommended on RCI's website (and they gave all the right answers to our questions). They completely messed up our reservations and provided no service and NO DISCOUNTS (even though they were legal at that time). Then to add insult to injury, they dumped us (a group of 12) and had us work directly with RCI (I've reported them to the Better Business Bureau).

 

I handled our reservations from that time forward, and my recommendation would be--if you're already booked, forget the agent. You can do anything an agent can do--check for price drops, check your booking to see that everything is in order, etc. Just know that customer service at RCI is unreliable, so don't believe the first answer you get. You can probably call 3 times and get 3 completely different answers to the same question. If you're not interested in doing those things, you can get an agent, but that doesn't guarantee smooth sailing. Since agents can't be recommended on this board anymore, you'll still be in the dark as to who's good and who's not--another reason to do it yourself.

[AllAboard]

I find it difficult to just "put this to rest" because some extremely horrible, negative, generalized statements were made about online TAs. In addition to the horrible comments about lack of service (then, "poof, we're gone"), you find it necessary to blame us for the new policy.

 

I learned many years ago, while in college, that we should always be able to cite our sources. Although many articles were written on this subject by the travel industry, I was able to come up with the following during a quick search of my resource files. It's an excerpt from an August article written by Paul Sirpenski of CruisePak. If anyone wishes to read the entire article, I'd be happy to supply the link.

 

"....An argument can be made that implementation of this policy is a last ditch effort by the suppliers to realize a return on their internet investment dollars.

 

By flattening out the rates across the board, it is hoped by the suppliers, that consumers will book direct thereby alleviating the supplier from the need to payout agency commissions and GDS segment fees; all of which are normally incurred by the supplier when an agency makes a booking.

 

The suppliers are banking on consumer reasoning that says if there is no financial advantage by purchasing through a 3rd party, then why not buy direct and keep it simple..."

 

As I said earlier, there are bad apples in any business segment or industry. No doubt, posters here have come across a bad experience with both online TAs and brick & mortar agencies. But to generalize an entire segment of the travel industry is just wrong. As TAs, we should be sticking together in this, regardless of the method used to promote our individual businesses. If the above citation proves correct, we might all find ourselves circling jobs in the Classifieds.

[AllAboard]

After having submitted my previous post, I received a travel-industry release issued by Norwegian today. It now appears that NCL has followed suit behind RCCL and Carnival, issuing pricing policies for all travel agencies, to be effective in January. The slippery slope has truly begun.

[bob278]

As an interested party to all this only in the sense that I am a consumer (NOT an agent) I have several observations.

 

First, agents can and do provide a service. How much they provide depends in part on how much the customer needs/wants. In my case, the early access to the exact cabins my wife and I want is a big plus. Our agent knows at least within a couple of hours when a new itinerary has been opened and usually up to a few hours or a day before. She has our wish list for our next 2-3 cruises that are out beyond what is listed on the websites today. I don't want to have to look at the sites 2-3 times a day for a month in the hopes that I will find it and be able to get a cabin that I want (we have a small set of acceptable cabins). It certainly won't cost me more to use her than the cruise line and, even when the rebates were aggressive, she was competitive with all of them. Sometimes a few dollars less, but never very much more. Usually, I don't need much else from her, but she is there when I have questions and I trust her answers to be more accurate than taking pot-luck with customer service.

 

Other people do need more help such as advice on ships, itineraries, suitability of a cruise line, etc. I see no problem in using any agency that does that for you whether you walk into their office, call them or e-mail them. If they give you what you need, who cares where they are and what kind of office they have? Neither brick & mortar nor internet agencies have a lock on competence or sleazy operators. So blasting one or the other or assuming either one is always better is naive.

 

Some agents can offer discounts, even under the new rebate policy. Even without being in the business, I know about key accounts and volume-producers that can get better rates. I also believe, but don't know it for a fact, that some promotional rates/discounts are available, but not pushed and the better-informed (and more conscientious) agents go looking for them. I just do not believe that rebates alone produced the thousands of dollars in savings some people claim or even got. The cabins I go for usually run less than $1,200 a week per person. How is a rebate of even most of a 15% commissiongoing to be that significant? I'm convinced that someone compared a brochure rate or temporarily high price to a fare they paid that had a discount, plus a rebate and maybe even a coupon. In short, I think a lot of the complaints are much ado about nothing. Rates have gone up in the past few months and they would still be higher than last year if rebates were still in place. It's the double whammy that makes it seem even worse.

 

An informed consumer needs to look at what a trip will cost today and decide if it is an acceptable value. What someone else paid, or even what you paid last year has little or no relevance. And griping about it and blasting travel agents or even the cruise line isn't going to change a thing. If you feel it isn't worth it, don't cruise or choose another line. If enough people do that, prices will come down. Either by a true price decrease or relaxing of any policies that discourage agencies from rebating.

 

WHEW! I didn't mean to go on like this, but I get tired of seeing people blast one group or another and getting personal. The cruiselines made a business decision and we can only speculate as to why and that doesn't do anyone any good.

 

This thread is a good example. The OP wanted to know what kind of questions to ask a prospective TA so they could do their best in today's marketplace. It sure went beyond that, didn't it?