same prices at different outlets- Who gives the best extras?

[NoobCruise]

I don't want this to be a best travel agent flame war but I am pricing out a Wonder of the Seas cruise in Feb 2023. Traditionaly I have never used travel agents because I thought they would cost money or certainly not save money. We went on our first cruise this year on Oasis of the seas and loved it. I priced it out on Royal Carridean site and one or two other sites online and ended up buying it on cruises dot com becuase it had more extras like on board credit.  Is it known that certain travel agents or travel agents websites tend to off better extras, since the prices tend to be the same, like more on board credits?

[USCG Teacher]

20 minutes ago, NoobCruise said:

I don't want this to be a best travel agent flame war but I am pricing out a Wonder of the Seas cruise in Feb 2023. Traditionaly I have never used travel agents because I thought they would cost money or certainly not save money. We went on our first cruise this year on Oasis of the seas and loved it. I priced it out on Royal Carridean site and one or two other sites online and ended up buying it on cruises dot com becuase it had more extras like on board credit.  Is it known that certain travel agents or travel agents websites tend to off better extras, since the prices tend to be the same, like more on board credits?

If you're looking for your TA based on OBC or an extra night of speciality dining, you're doing it wrong.  You should be looking for a TA that is going to have your best interests at heart, one who is proactive and responsive and that you feel that you "gel" with.  If in your search you come across an agent who isn't willing to have these types of conversations with you, you've got your answer about them.

[wordell1]

This topic is discussed a lot on this site.  The bottom line is that more credits and/or cheaper price = less service.  

I used to book all of my own cruises either through Royal directly, or through one of the large online travel companies.  Then I had several cruises cancelled due to Covid and had to get them rebooked, etc.  I ended up spending a huge amount of my time and aggravation in handling the different issues that arose - in some cases they actually messed up my booking. I also never had enough time to look for price changes, so I always paid the price I had booked the cruise for in the first place.

I now use MEI (sponsor of this website) and have a TA to handle any issues that come up.  I have also had quite a few emails letting me know that my TA has found a cheaper fare and repriced my cruise - all without any prompting from me.

I can see how some would want to cheaper prices I sometimes see on sites like the one you mentioned.  Just understand that if anything goes wrong, it may be difficult to get a person on the phone who knows what they are talking about.

[AshleyDillo]

21 minutes ago, NoobCruise said:

Is it known that certain travel agents or travel agents websites tend to off better extras, since the prices tend to be the same, like more on board credits?

Yes, basically those big name websites offer more in OBC for booking through them. They deal in more volume and tend to offer less personalized customer service.

The travel agents are paid a commission directly by the cruise lines and any OBC that they offer typically is coming from a cut of their commission.  These sites can't advertise a lower base cruise fare than Royal's site, but they can offer some sort of an OBC kickback or other perks that they fund from a portion of their commission on the sale.

[TXcruzer]

10 hours ago, AshleyDillo said:

Yes, basically those big name websites offer more in OBC for booking through them. They deal in more volume and tend to offer less personalized customer service.

The travel agents are paid a commission directly by the cruise lines and any OBC that they offer typically is coming from a cut of their commission.  These sites can't advertise a lower base cruise fare than Royal's site, but they can offer some sort of an OBC kickback or other perks that they fund from a portion of their commission on the sale.

They can advertise a lower price if they are offering "group booking" cabins; that is what I look for (also the refundable deposit that come with it).

[BrianB]

Any TA can book a cruise. They can also offer such incentives as a small discount or even OBC in order to attract new clients…or even for future cruises. 
But, the good TA…the indispensable TA…is one who will be there for you when things don’t go as planned. Or when you find it necessary to make changes. Or even when prices drop. Someone who will be easy to contact and who learns your preferences. 
A good TA is someone who gets to know you. 
Those are the ones who earn their client’s trust and their loyalty. And it’s simply good business…generating repeat clients who are satisfied and who tell others, generating more repeat clients. 
The big box agents deal in volume…not necessarily service. 
Getting a discount and OBC can be very attractive…but not at the risk of dismal service. 
Remember, when you use a TA…they are responsible for servicing the booking.
Choose wisely!

[AspiringCruisePlanner]

11 hours ago, NoobCruise said:

I don't want this to be a best travel agent flame war but I am pricing out a Wonder of the Seas cruise in Feb 2023. Traditionaly I have never used travel agents because I thought they would cost money or certainly not save money. We went on our first cruise this year on Oasis of the seas and loved it. I priced it out on Royal Carridean site and one or two other sites online and ended up buying it on cruises dot com becuase it had more extras like on board credit.  Is it known that certain travel agents or travel agents websites tend to off better extras, since the prices tend to be the same, like more on board credits?

The TA you booked with actually does charge a processing fee and a cancellation fee separate than the cruise line.

The fine print:

An automatic cancellation charge of $100 per reservation will be applied to the last credit or debit card used on the account. Our (previously collected) $24.99 processing fee is non-refundable.

If you choose to book different cruise while you are on the phone we will waive the $100 cancellation fee.

[Matt]

11 hours ago, USCG Teacher said:

If you're looking for your TA based on OBC or an extra night of speciality dining, you're doing it wrong.

[tjcruisers]

As many echo above we use a TA for the service. We use one in town and have used them all our adult life. They know what we like and dislike. Any issue comes up they are quick to handle it. Even something with booking flights, ours will give us guidance/info and not just blindly book them. i.e. for connecting flights they have had info that one airport is doing construction in the terminal so it might be more beneficial to connect through a different airport.

 

I figure for the amount I'm spending, a few extra bucks OBC or dining isn't worth it if the agent isn't there when I need them

[CrimsonCruiser]

I'm gonna play devil's advocate a bit here and recommend the "big box TA" we have: cruisesnmore.

We've used them twice now (our TA being Giovanna) and have had a great experience. We get about 10% of the base fare as refundable OBC (meaning if we don't use it we get that money in our pockets - haven't done that yet as we happily spend it all), 1 specialty dining voucher for two and 1 spa voucher. It's great for us who only cruise once a year because we can really make it special.

That said - we've not had any large issues they have to deal with, so no idea how good or bad they'd be in those cases (such as mass cancellations, refunds, FCC etc) and every price drop we got on our current cruise was found and requested by me.

For me...not a problem. I have the time at work on my breaks to do the faux booking to check prices and I cross my fingers and toes that we have no problems. I'm generally a hands-on planner so I don't mind not reliquenshing all the control.

 

I won't say don't listen to the others but it's *very* important to know what you're getting when you choose and weighing what matters most to you overall.

 

[NoobCruise]

Thank you all for your feedback. Very helpful. My takeaways...

If your cruise is cancelled or there is another global pandemic having a trustworthly and hardworking TA can be very helpful. In my 30 years of adulting I have never changed a flight or changed a vacation once. I have had flights cancelled on me and it stands to reason that having a cruise cancelled is a lot more problemeatic than a flight because when flights are callencelled it usulally means you are leaving later that day or the next morning. I certainly don't need to gel with a TA when I already know the exact date, ship, itinerary, and cabin number of the next cruise I want to go on. Maybe if I ever stop enjoying researching ships, and destinations this could be very helpful. Alerting me to when sales begin and end and how often they happen could be very helpful. Explaing to me the difference between balcony room type 1D or 3D could be very helpful. I still don't know that.  Customer service is important. When I used Cruises online last time and I tried to change my dining time from 8pm to 5:30. I called cruises, got someone on the phone without much effort and changed it to 5:30pm EXCEPT when we got on the ship it was still 8pm!  Turns out we liked 8pm better but if we didn't that would have stunk because when we tried to change in on the ship they couldn't do it unless we wanted a different table every night.

If the price changes and you don't check the prices some TA will do it for you but most big ones won't. Thanks Wordell1 for letting me know that MEI will do it automatically. That is huge. This seems like the most important TA attribute to me.  With that said I do check the prices of drinkpackages, dining packages, etc almost everyday already myself but pricing out cruises is a lot more difficult. I only did it a few times on our first cruise. 

I learned that all the prices displayed online have to be the same as RCL, unless group bookings. Two things I didn't know before this post. Thanks.

And thank you devils advocate Crimson Cruiser (Roll Tide!) for letting me know about cruisesnmore. That is great a great extra. Turns out last cruise using Cruises I only got $50 OBC (although I thought it was more) and a $50 virtual gift card which I only noticed this week when I started researching this topic. A tentative booking with Harr will give me with $75 OBC and it looks like Cruisesnmore with give me $270. Not a small difference.

[Jill]

I still do all my own research when planning and most every time I go ahead and put a deposit down. Then I send the reservation to my TA (Sharla with MEI) and she gets it transferred from Royal to MEI. She then services the booking. 
 

I use to book direct with Royal but decided to go with a TA when we started looking at Mediterranean cruises. This was back in 2019. We had never been to Europe and with international flights, I wanted someone in my corner should something goes sideways. 
 

I decided to give Sharla a trial with a 3 night on Mariner. Went well so booked Odyssey in the Med and Symphony. Then the proverbial hit the Covid fan. 

I honestly can’t thank her enough for dealing with multiple cancellations and Re-bookings that ultimately got cancelled (Covid goal posts kept moving) and FCC’s that were applied, then re-issued only to be wrong amount, then fixed then applied again only to be re-issued. HOURS on the phone she spent with them. 

$50-$100 of OBC is so not worth it to me. 
 

Yes we’re moving back to more normal cruising but I find no reason to shop elsewhere for a little bit of OBC. Just not worth it. I think I suffer from Covid cruise PTSD