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#11
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Direct booking with Princess
On Mon, 8 Mar 2010 08:56:33 -0800, "John Sisker"
wrote: Is this cutting, or intending to cut the travel agent out of future sales? Of course it is. Cruise lines have been narrowing down the involvement of agents for years. It's really only just a matter of time. Yet, in this particular case, any booking made on the ship can be transferred over to your agent - at least for now. Hi Everyone, As usual John is confused. Princess does not cut the agency out of the booking. The booking, by default, is credited immediately to the agency that booked the client. As a matter of fact, one of our long time posters here on r.t.cruises boarded a ship yesterday and last night I received a new Future Cruise booking directly from Princess with my agency as the booking agency. I guess he enjoyed his afternoon onboard. :+) BTW, since he was traveling alone on this cruise, his wife took him to the ship. She enjoyed the new Princess visitor experience with a wonderful lunch and photo. She emailed last night to let me know how smoothly it Princess handled it and how much she enjoyed it. -- Ray Goldenberg 800-719-9917 or 805-566-3905 Lighthouse Travel http://www.lighthousetravel.com Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/lighthousetravl Follow us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ray.goldenberg |
#12
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Direct booking with Princess
In article , George Leppla
wrote: This is incorrect. That Sisker is some travel agent....not. If he really is one you would think he knew how those bookings worked. Or else if he has any customers they rejected using him when they did future bookings onboard..... I have done several onboard bookings and the travel agent was credited with the booking and received the commission. One thing to consider when doing this..... most of the cruise lines have instituted a "one bite of he apple" policy and some of the onboard credits they offer for making these bookings are not combinable with other promotional programs or rates. That is why I have stopped doing onboard bookings. -- Charles |
#13
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Direct booking with Princess
In article , Ray Goldenberg
wrote: BTW, since he was traveling alone on this cruise, his wife took him to the ship. She enjoyed the new Princess visitor experience with a wonderful lunch and photo. She emailed last night to let me know how smoothly it Princess handled it and how much she enjoyed it. That is good feedback. As I recall you get lunch in the main dining room, a ship tour too and a future credit in addition to the lunch and photo for around $40? -- Charles |
#14
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Direct booking with Princess
On Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:55:10 -0500, Charles
wrote: That is good feedback. As I recall you get lunch in the main dining room, a ship tour too and a future credit in addition to the lunch and photo for around $40? Hi Charles, Yes, Charles, here is the detail. Four-course lunch (wine included), Ship orientation tour, Souvenir photo, and the $39 will be applied toward future cruise. -- Ray Goldenberg 800-719-9917 or 805-566-3905 Lighthouse Travel http://www.lighthousetravel.com Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/lighthousetravl Follow us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ray.goldenberg |
#15
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Direct booking with Princess
This has been a most enlightening discussion! So far, I have my cabin
of choice on hold direct online with Princess (Cherry Blossom, Sun Princess next March) which includes $150pp OBC. Deposit of AUD 1,500 pp From a TA, I can transfer this booking for $393 less, with $250 pp OBC and deposit of $750 pp. I still have further quotes to come. Can my brain cope? Will these TAs give up on me? Hmmmm. |
#16
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Direct booking with Princess
"tathraman" wrote in message ... This has been a most enlightening discussion! So far, I have my cabin of choice on hold direct online with Princess (Cherry Blossom, Sun Princess next March) which includes $150pp OBC. Deposit of AUD 1,500 pp From a TA, I can transfer this booking for $393 less, with $250 pp OBC and deposit of $750 pp. I still have further quotes to come. Can my brain cope? Will these TAs give up on me? Hmmmm. And the Australian dollar has gained three or four cents against the US dollar. You're winning every which way. Good onya, Mate. Harry Cooper |
#17
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Direct booking with Princess
On 3/8/2010 9:19 PM, tathraman wrote:
This has been a most enlightening discussion! So far, I have my cabin of choice on hold direct online with Princess (Cherry Blossom, Sun Princess next March) which includes $150pp OBC. Deposit of AUD 1,500 pp From a TA, I can transfer this booking for $393 less, with $250 pp OBC and deposit of $750 pp. I still have further quotes to come. Can my brain cope? Will these TAs give up on me? Hmmmm. Is that the 42 night Asia+Pacific cruise? Insides shouldn't sell for AUD 3000 pp. Why should they give up on you? |
#18
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Direct booking with Princess
Is that the 42 night Asia+Pacific cruise? Yes Insides shouldn't sell for AUD 3000 pp. It's an oceanview, Cat D, forward, (with the big window) Why should they give up on you? Flippant comment, I guess. Anyhow, I found a TA with better price than Princess and $250 OBC. Done deal. |
#19
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Direct booking with Princess
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#20
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Direct booking with Princess
On 3/9/2010 2:03 AM, John Sisker wrote:
It appears that both George and Ray can't see the forest through the trees. While I did say... "Is this cutting, or intended to cut the travel agent out of future sales? Of course it is. Cruise lines have been narrowing down the involvement of agents for years. It's really only just a matter of time. Yet, in this particular case, any booking made on the ship can be transferred over to your agent - at least for now." While technically such a booking while on the cruise itself will automatically be credited to the original booking agent who put them on the ship to begin with, the passenger can indeed transfer it over to any other agent of their choice, or even leave it with the cruise line itself. Yet, as I said, cruise lines have been cutting in on the agents territory for years. Likewise, an agent would have to be pretty naive to think that this connection, benefit and their commission for onboard booking will continue, when it was really not them who did the work while onboard. I guess only time will tell. For once sisker understands what's going on. Ten years ago a cruise line couldn't fill a ship without the services of middle men, travel agents, just like an airline couldn't fill a plane. Today 80-year olds have no difficulty surfing the internet. For most cruises an experienced cruiser doesn't need the services of an agent. Cruise lines have already started to cut agent commissions. Before long the middle man that doesn't add value will be cut out completely for mass market products. Adam Smith told you so. |
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