Cruise Specialist;
thank you for the very clear information--that's the best I've ever heard the travel agent/cruise line/customer relationship explained.
One quick question: If I book on-line at princess.com and never even speak to a live person does anyone get a commission, or have I just contributed to Princess' bottom line?
I did contact Carnival, for the exact same deck, exact same category, and for the same location
of cabin,and got a higher price from Carnival than my TA. In fact, I even mentioned having gotten a better rate elsewhere, and Carnival did not even ask me what rate that was to try and beat it!!
So, Thank you ver much for insulting my intelligence....but I will stick with my lower priced TA in the future., and the money saved will go for a few drinks onboard to celebrate by using my TA
Joan
Originally posted by f-mattox:
Cruise Specialist;
thank you for the very clear information--that's the best I've ever heard the travel agent/cruise line/customer relationship explained.
One quick question: If I book on-line at princess.com and never even speak to a live person does anyone get a commission, or have I just contributed to Princess' bottom line?
F-Mattox, Basically if you book online directly with Princess, then yes you are contributing to the bottom dollar of Princess, plus each time you have a situation arise that you need to have handled, if you call Princess you will usually get a different agent.
Originally posted by jmsettles:
I did contact Carnival, for the exact same deck, exact same category, and for the same location
of cabin,and got a higher price from Carnival than my TA. In fact, I even mentioned having gotten a better rate elsewhere, and Carnival did not even ask me what rate that was to try and beat it!!
So, Thank you ver much for insulting my intelligence....but I will stick with my lower priced TA in the future., and the money saved will go for a few drinks onboard to celebrate by using my TA
Joan
Joan, I was not trying to insult your intelligence, and I apologize if it sounded like that. I was only explaing to you that yes your agent probably discounts, they are taking a cut in their own pay..or they have group space on many of the ships that they blocked off months ago. Also, you could have fallen into a resident rate special, past guest special etc. I do not know when you booked your cruise, but did you call Carnival on the exact same day you booked your cruise? Carnival has been running many "One Day" sales that are fantastic. Its great that you found an agent that will discount for you..not all agents will do that without giving up personal service. I personally cannot afford to give my money away..I work to hard for what little I get. Commission is not that big, so if you get more than a 10% discount..then your agent is in fact working for very very little. I give my clients the best personal service I can offer and hope they do not begrudge me what I do make on their booking.
IslandCruz,
I just contacted Carnival because of the big one day sale they have going on tomorrow, with the Pre-Sale being today. I requested the same category cabin, same ship location & was quoted a price of $257.00 higher than what I paid thru my TA for the same cabin.
We are past guests, but with the cruise we booked, it did not allow past guest, or resident, or military rates to be applied.
I do appreciate Carol's comments, they were very informative on how the Travel Agents operate. I am not quite sure how we got these rates, but I am not going to complain to her that is for sure!!
As Carol had mentioned, maybe since they specialize in cruises, they are somehow getting lower rates to pass along....but it seems to be a common agreement on this thread that Carnival's prices cannot be beat.
I somehow beat them, and am gonna enjoy the savings
Joan
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