I am preparing to request of my local T.A. some shipboard Credit on an upcoming back-to-back, 35 day, mass market cruise and am wondering how much the M.M. cruise lines pay the agency. I have read posts from some of you who are T.A.s and would really appreciate your inside knowledge. I want to request a fair amount.
I have usually used an on-line agency in the past, but decided to share my cruise dollars with a local agency.
This will be our second cruise this year, over 50 total, so she stands to have us as repeat customers if she can take care of us.
Thank you in advance for your assistance and I hope I'm not trodding on anyone's toes by this question.
Sincerely,
JP :)
If you can please e-mail me directly (see my profile), I would appreciate it.

Hi JP.

As I understand it there are different levels of commission earned depending upon the individual cruiseline (they're not all the same) and the volume a given agency books with a particular cruise line.

Now for the obvious question...why would you request a commission kick back in the form of shipboard credit from your TA? Why wouldn't you have just gone to an online agency if you were more concerned about saving $$ than using a full service agent? I've never been a TA, but I have worked at a 100% commission job for 25+ years. The operative word IMHO is commission "EARNED".

JP:

Having worked in the past as a local TA, I can confirm what Marcie has told you.

Travel agents really earn their commission, and that business sector has taken some very hard economic knocks in the past 5 years. A knowlegable agent is tough to come by and trust me, they are not rolling in dough. Many do it because they love the work and their clients value their expertise.

If you don't need that kind of assistance, you'll probably want to continue to book where you can get the best price. Asking an agent to give you a kick back may make sense to you, and you may even find someone who will do it, but I think it's an unfair request to make of a professional. Remember they have bricks and morter as well as payroll and other overhead expenses. It's a slippery slope that most don't want to approach.

I agree with Margo - I have used the same TA (not for cruises) for 25 yrs and the past several yrs have been hard for her agency - I do book many airline tickets/hotels online but if it is complicated I go to her and willingly pay what she charges - she has done some amazing things for us over the years so I am not looking for a kick back from her -- Joanna

Haven't most of the mass market cruise lines started forbidding travel agents to discount the fares?

I've never expected a kick-back from a TA who works hard for me. In all honesty, I would never have the nerve to ask for that. If my TA does a job well-done, if my travel plans gel together as I expect them to and I am a satisfied customer - my TA has EARNED and DESERVES that commission.

Pam - my understanding is that it's not that they can't discount the fare ... it's that they can't advertise the discounted price.

jp - unfortunately, as others have mentioned already, there may be no easy answer to your question since the commission earned may be highly variable depending on a variety of factors.

Masaki

You might check out what shipboard "credit" you can get from booking with "certain" credit cards like
American Express and let the agent keep their "pay".

JP, I don't necessarily disagree with what you're trying to do.

The way I look at it is that if a TA does the work for you and provides you with options, then he or she certainly deserves the full commission if you're paying the full price. But if I do all of the work I think it's only fair for the travel agent to rebate some of the commission.

On several vacations I've called a TA and handed her an $8,000-$10,000 booking for a cruise or land tour for my wife and myself. In these cases, she does no work other than to book it and take the payment. I don't see anything wrong with asking for half the commission back, usually 5%.

There have been a couple of cruise lines who have told agents they cannot discount. I'd be curious to see how they can legally do this.

And by the way, the agency associated with this website, that many of us use, does discount cruise fares.

Tom.

Tom,
When I booked, I had the complete details regarding the ship, itinerary & all. Went to the T.A.'s office, paid the deposit, she booked us and two months later we paid the remainder. There was no what I call hand-holding, it was very quick and easy.
The reason I booked locally rather than on-line was to give our business to a local company and see if there was any difference in the two. So far, I haven't seen any.
We don't have an AMEX credit card for shipboard credit.
Thank you all for sharing your opinions. I knew I would get some interesting perspectives here.
Thanks,
JP

JP

You may not have had any hand-holding up to now, but what happens in a month when The Flying Fickle Finger of Fate intervenes, and the cruise line postpones the cruise for maintenance reasons?? Celebrity is having problems with their Mermaid pod propulsion system, and they shortened one cruise on the Summit, cancelled another.

Your local travel agent will step in and help you find options, be the go-between with the Cruise Line, maybe get you an option not offered to others.

The travel agent's work doesn't stop when you pay for the cruise. It begins there.

In my past life, I was a travel agent, as was my husband, so I do know a bit about the subject.

I now work for United Airlines in reservations. I talk to people daily who go through internet agencies. We get so many calls from people where United has had a schedule change, notified the internet agency, but the passenger is never called. I can't tell you how many times I have had to completely redo things for people leaving in a day or two because once they paid, the internet agency felt their job was finished.

On the other hand, I talk to Real Travel Agents daily, like the one you booked your cruise with. They stay on top of all changes and pro-actively call us to rebook when schedule changes occur. Many times they fix things before their clients knew anything was broken.

Your local travel agent has years of experience dealing with all kinds of "oopses" and things going bump in the night. This is experience most internet agents don't have.

By the way, by internet agency, I am not including Real Travel Agencies with their own web site, like Brown and Keene, among others.

When it comes to vacations, the best friend you will ever have is a good travel agent. This time she may have easily earned her commission, but I guarantee you, there are plenty of times when she spends more time and energy on a booking than she will ever earn on that booking.

In the end, it all evens out.

Frances

Frances, I agree with a lot of your points. But I would like to affirm what you said about Brown and Keene. I have not used any local TA or internet agency that comes even close to the level of service that we have been provided by Ngaire, Linda, and all the other cruise consultants of Brown and Keene. And this has been true for over five years. Marilyn

Some agents are better than others. And when you find a good one, rejoice and pay any service charge they ask for.

When I grow up, I want to be Ngaire.

Frances

Frances: I want to be Ngaire, too, but know I do not have the patience she always has with her clients - I am just "slow" in understanding some things - she just simply goes over it again with me (and again) - I would be tearing my hair out having me as a client - Joanna

Frances, very well said (as you always do). A great TA, such as Ngaire and her impeccible staff, are valuable and rare! How fortunate many of us are to be in such fine and efficient hands!