Travel Agent

[Jewels]

Looking for a travel agent that gets ya the perks. 

[HeWhoWaits]

10 hours ago, Jewels said:

Looking for a travel agent that gets ya the perks. 

Any good travel agent will provide some perks - not the least of which is THEY deal with Royal when there are issues or changes.

As for "the perks" - that's dependent on your status with Royal, not on the travel agent.

Many folks here use MEI Travel which is a sponsor of the blog. Check them out.

[rjweber3]

Totally agree. MEI TAs have been great for us. Recommend them completely.

[happy cruisers 2]

On 9/5/2024 at 7:40 PM, Jewels said:

Looking for a travel agent that gets ya the perks.

What kind of perks should one expect from a TA?  (I'm thinking more about the longer cruises, not the short ones.  Say 14 - 35 nights, maybe, or even longer.)  Better rates than the cruise line offers, a specialty dinner or two, OBC to be spent as you please??  Do most TA's give you something extra, beyond booking the cruise and requesting dinner times, etc. ?  Curious to know what really impresses and makes you feel appreciated and rewarded for giving your TA the business.

[AshleyDillo]

11 hours ago, happy cruisers 2 said:

What kind of perks should one expect from a TA?  (I'm thinking more about the longer cruises, not the short ones.  Say 14 - 35 nights, maybe, or even longer.)  Better rates than the cruise line offers, a specialty dinner or two, OBC to be spent as you please??  Do most TA's give you something extra, beyond booking the cruise and requesting dinner times, etc. ?  Curious to know what really impresses and makes you feel appreciated and rewarded for giving your TA the business.

This is very subjective and differs from person to person and can even differ from cruise to cruise.

An experienced cruiser who is familiar with the cruise line's offerings may need much less service than a brand new cruiser. For those, the likely attractive perks would be good group rates and/or OBC. A TA can create a group to lock in pricing so as the prevailing fare increases, they can book cruisers into their group at the lower pricing. The ability to have access to group rates depends on the larger consortium that a TA is affiliated with. Group rates also tend to be refundable which is another benefit that provides flexibility. Group rates are also only for certain cabin types, so those who book the pricier suites would not benefit from this. However, offering large sums of OBC can be attractive to suite cruisers. 

For newer cruisers, more dedicated customer service and availability to answer any questions may be attractive. Anyone can book a cruise directly through Royal's site, but a travel agent has the same access to website rates and shouldn't cost anything extra to use. The difficulty can be finding a TA who offers the level of service that you expect or need.

In the example of the longer cruise, I'd be looking to book with a TA that gives tangible perks such as OBC or maybe free prepaid gratuities. Those perks affect the all-in price you pay for the cruise which can be a better deal than perhaps a TA group price. 

[twangster]

14 hours ago, happy cruisers 2 said:

What kind of perks should one expect from a TA?  (I'm thinking more about the longer cruises, not the short ones.  Say 14 - 35 nights, maybe, or even longer.)  Better rates than the cruise line offers, a specialty dinner or two, OBC to be spent as you please??  Do most TA's give you something extra, beyond booking the cruise and requesting dinner times, etc. ?  Curious to know what really impresses and makes you feel appreciated and rewarded for giving your TA the business.

A TA can also be an advocate for when things don't go perfectly.  

Most cruises are booked and people sail them normally.  That isn't always the case.  Sometimes a ship is chartered, sometime a ship is redeployed, sometimes war in a region happens, sometimes a crane falls on a ship, hopefully there aren't anymore pandemics, but during the pandemic a TA was invaluable, etc. 

It when things don't go smoothly that a TA can usually better navigate the path to resolution while you sit back and relax.  

[happy cruisers 2]

On 5/7/2025 at 8:37 AM, AshleyDillo said:

In the example of the longer cruise, I'd be looking to book with a TA that gives tangible perks such as OBC or maybe free prepaid gratuities. Those perks affect the all-in price you pay for the cruise which can be a better deal than perhaps a TA group price. 

Thanks, AshleyDillo, for your reply.  Good points about all the different scenarios.  I've been very fortunate to never encounter a situation where I needed the TA to "fix" something during travel.  Things have always gone quite smoothly.  As someone who does a lot of the planning before I even contact the TA, I guess I was hoping for some kind of monetary "show of appreciation" while on the cruise.  Perhaps my expectations are too high and I should just be glad they'll be there to solve problems and answer questions if something goes awry.

[happy cruisers 2]

On 5/7/2025 at 10:56 AM, twangster said:

A TA can also be an advocate for when things don't go perfectly.  

Most cruises are booked and people sail them normally.  That isn't always the case.  Sometimes a ship is chartered, sometime a ship is redeployed, sometimes war in a region happens, sometimes a crane falls on a ship, hopefully there aren't anymore pandemics, but during the pandemic a TA was invaluable, etc. 

It when things don't go smoothly that a TA can usually better navigate the path to resolution while you sit back and relax. 

Well said, twangster.  Perhaps, as you say, I need to view the TA as more of an advocate when there's a problem and not expect them to give me anything during the cruise for the business I've given them.

[twangster]

The thing is, the more you shop TAs for maximum monetary discounts and incentives you need to understand that may come at a cost in another direction.

Royal pays a host agency a commision for each regular booking.  Typically the host agency takes a portion and depending on the agreement with the individual agent, the agent receives a fixed full time income, a blend of fixed income plus a portion of that commision, or an individual agent might work just for the commission as their sole means of compensation.

For the most part those monetary perks you may be seeking are typically funded using that same commision.  Receiving more monetary perks sounds great until you realize that if there is little or nothing left for the individual agent to take home, they may not be motivated to spend a whole lot of time servicing a booking. Instead they need volume to make a living, investing very little labor into any one of the mass volume of bookings needed to make a living.

Want to change cabins?  Looking at an upgrade?  See a price drop?  Got an issue?  When an agent isn't motivated to spend very much time working on any one booking you will likely get the level of service you are effectively paying for... very little.  But you got maximum perks so there is that.  

Agents work.  It takes time and knowledge to become a seasoned pro.  They need to earn a decent level of compensation or else why bother?

So be careful shopping on the basis of maximum monetary perks.