Like the Silicon Valley bank?
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Understand completely. Using a professional for free information in any industry gets old. With experience, you wise up. If youāre good at something and especially put in many years, you deserve a āconsultā fee for people like this. This fee could even be returned if the customer commits?
That makes sense. But knowing that TAās generally donāt make very much for the time they put in, I wouldnāt feel right not paying a fee or giving a tip or something.
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Iāve never had a problem with not paying the fee. 
.
I met my TA/friend at my wedding. She was the date of one of my good friends Iād grown up with. They ended up getting married a few years later themselves.
Once she explained to me how TAās were compensated, if I were just getting a Days Inn in Cleveland Iād give her my reservation number after Iād called and booked so she could āmanageā my booking.
Certainly as travel got more online I wouldnāt do that for the weird little Priceline hotels Iād pick up, etc. But she did all our ābigā things. 
I havenāt ruled out using her and paying the $200 for cruising. But they already stopped doing Carnival cruises and now she only does > 7n. 
. So if I need to get a new person for those things, I may as well stay with new person for all the things.
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FTFY
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Right, and she knows you so is not worried you will waste her time. And you doing much of the planning is a bonus for your friend!
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So I havenāt started charging fees yet but man, the time I have wasted on people who have never booked is astronomical. I book plenty of carnival but I donāt advertise it because the commissions are abysmal. So I can see why agents wouldnāt book less than 7n or any carnival. And then people expect OBC which comes directly out of my commission so I can make $100 on a 7n royal or carnival cruise. I once spent over a year helping a friend book her daughterās grad cruise, day before their (day before) flight got cancelled, spent an entire day on the phone trying to get them to Florida so they wouldnāt miss the cruise which involved a new airline and an airport 7 hours away and a rental vanā¦ And after my agency split I think I made $200 for the two cabins.
So itās hard because I love nothing more than getting people a good deal ā¦ the couple that was so elated to go on a cruise for $1500 total makes my day more than someone who can drop 50k without blinkingā¦ Itās just not worth the cost of childcare.
Now, I have a question for you! Have you sailed on the magic or the pride? Any thoughts on either of those for a 5yo and 10yo?
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I lived in Cleveland, do not do this lol
I have a friend that does this, but she always ends up booking a AAA rate which I canāt get commission on 
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I will wear that crown proudly
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I absolutely love my TA. Sheās always so helpful, but honestly, I mostly work with her to get the MVT deals. I give her all my business (even if there isnāt an MVT deal and most recently, my DCL cruise next month) to hopefully get her more cash. And on the rare occasion when Iāve had to cancel, I sent her things like Amazon gift cards to apologize for the work she did that she wonāt get paid on. And I always send her a little something at Christmas (usually another gift card!).
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Nicely played
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I have not been on a Dream or Spirit class.
My kids, as yet, have only been on Carnival Valor (Conquest class), NCL Getaway and DCL. Up soon is RCCL Voyager OTS. FWIW my girls were 6 and 9 on Valor and they begged to go to their clubs. It was the only time my kids of any age wanted to do clubs on a ship. They were very active and organized on Valor in the kidsā clubs. All young British women.
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I forget this happens. That is just so sad.
I love the research and leg work and love to travel.
I have hated when weāve cancelled. Once was Covid. But the other time I sent her a personal check. We had decided to drive to SoCal from NY for dream road trip and DLR.
I would never have dreamt cruises pay out so little to the TA. When I pay $5500 for a cruise for 8 people I would want to think sheās gotten more.
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That might pay out like $400 before the agency split. Cruises charge all kind# of ānon commissionable feesā so it generally is less than 10%
I just booked 5 cabins on NCL Pride of America for my family in 2024. Gonna take the grandparents to Hawaii! And brother and gf. Not the way I would prefer to see those islands, necessarily, but for a multigen group from the East Coast with only 10 days to spare, it makes a lot of sense.
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Honestly. - it does. All your stuff unpacked once and the ship moves you around. The food is in place. It simplifies a lot of things.
My friendās brother used to work on that ship. Itās a very unique ship.
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And it aināt cheap. After subtracting all my commissions and group discounts and tour conductor credit, we will still be paying over $2k pp for inside cabins. Which is a lot x10 plus excursions in each place. But my brother will prob pay his way, and hopefully people can get their own flights with points, but it still is a lot to swallow. We just did 5n in an all inclusive for about a quarter of what this will cost (granted we had 8 not 10 but still).
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Oh wow.
Yes. I knew POA was spendy, but wow.
Hopefully it will be a great fit. People do speak highly of the crew.
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My in laws love carnival, so Iām hoping they also love NCL, and I love not dragging my kids through extra airports, and getting to treat my mama, so Iām excited!!!
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I love that. Weāve been able to bless my mom with many opportunities to travel sheād never otherwise get to do. My dad died when she was 48. I bet she will live the grandkid time.
The lines should be more the same than different, really. Variations of the same themes.
The one thing that may be different is the anytime dining vs MDR. But for all I know POA has the traditional set up.
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Can you explain what you mean by this?
Are you talking about booking a cruise less than 7 days out, or the length of the cruise itself? And whose policy specifically - DCL or a TAs?