Do Travel Agents Get...

[DP]

A discount on the wine they order for their client's stateroom?

[Times Prince]

A discount on the wine they order for their client's stateroom?

I certainly don't know but hope they do.

 

This is an inside information detail about the arrangements between Travel Agents and Princess Cruises and should remain confidential as part of the business.

 

What is certain is that the TA is not passing that cost on to you if they are giving you the lowest fare and best service that you can find. And if they did, then isn't their service worth it?

[Colo Cruiser]

Maybe, but I doubt Princess would part with their profit on alcohol.

 

The majority of $20 wine given by TA's is nasty anyway, IMO.

[Nancyquilts]

Maybe, but I doubt Princess would part with their profit on alcohol.

 

The majority of $20 wine given by TA's is nasty anyway, IMO.

When we were on Coral earlier this year, the least expensive wine was around $25.

[Toto2Kansas]

When we were on Coral earlier this year, the least expensive wine was around $25.

 

Usually, when TA's send a voucher for wine they have a value of $20. The ships do carry a house wine that is exactly that amount, although it is not listed on the wine list (at least was not on our January Grand Princess cruise). We were with a group at dinner, and many of us had a voucher, so we tried one bottle of the house white, and it wasn't bad at all, in fact, quite good. We ended up using the other vouchers for more of the same.

We asked if this wine was on the wine list, that is how we found out it was not. They must be carrying a different product they will supply if you just want to use the voucher and not put the $20 value towards a more expensive bottle.

[swom]

Well I hope they do. Last cruise our TA sent us 3 bottles of wine which we took home to friends........

[marcoigna]

take it from an expert - 100% they do not get any discount what-so-ever to order a bottle of wine for their clients - it is 100% coming out of they pockets

[regnig]

If any of you get a gift of wine from your TA ($20 value) that you don't want it may be exchanged for something else you prefer. On our last cruise DH traded our certificate in on a bucket of beer. There was a $1.25 difference that they just billed to our stateroom. Just call room service, they will take care of it for you.

 

I mentioned the above to our TA as we were discussing our booking for next year and she said she would skip the wine and just up our OBC from the agency. Our TA invoice already reflects that extra.

[Colo Cruiser]

If any of you get a gift of wine from your TA ($20 value) that you don't want it may be exchanged for something else you prefer. On our last cruise DH traded our certificate in on a bucket of beer. There was a $1.25 difference that they just billed to our stateroom. Just call room service, they will take care of it for you.

 

I mentioned the above to our TA as we were discussing our booking for next year and she said she would skip the wine and just up our OBC from the agency. Our TA invoice already reflects that extra.

 

 

Traded mine for Asti and paid the difference. :)

[Coral]

I book with a TA who is part of a very large agency that has group space on the majority of the Princess cruises. The parent agency books a lot of the groups (unless the agent books her own group space) - and part of the group space is group amenities such as wine, OBC, photo credits, etc....

 

In this case, it is part of the group amenities that often includes wine vouchers when you happen to book a cruise in their group space.

[zacc]

take it from an expert - 100% they do not get any discount what-so-ever to order a bottle of wine for their clients - it is 100% coming out of they pockets

 

This definitely the correct answer. TA's do not get a discount.

[Ethel5]

I'd rather have good service and the lowest rate than a bottle of wine any day.

[Canuck-Ottawa]

Being a TA, I can confirm all the answers about "no discount", except for one cruise line (not Princess), which has a "special" TA price for wine ($10). I would never give that bottle to a client, as I would not drink it myself.

Also, the TA pays for any gifts out of their own pocket, not the agency.