Originally Posted by
Travelz
We book a year or more out and have been using cruise complete. I like agencies that have an electronic payment system so I can easily make payments once a month. Not all of them have that. I have tried 2 agencies so far. I need to remember not to make the final payment too soon.
Does anyone know the commission break down for agencies? Do they get 15-20% and give us 10% as a credit?
Do most of you use the credit for insurance or do you buy it separate? I bought Geoblue to go along with my family insurance plan and I have the Amex Plat.
Hard to say about commissions. A travel agent friend told me the average commission runs around 12% for mainstream cruise lines. She couldn’t say for sure whether or not large agencies, like Cruise.com that books literally thousands of cruises a week, gets a better commission or if they were able to reserve/block cabins at a discount and resell for a savings. She was with a brick and mortar agency that was severely hurt by the Internet and the ability to either deal directly with cruise lines or book through a discount agency. I think the bottom line for discounting agents/agencies really comes down to volume and they can afford to take 2% over hundreds if not thousands bookings a month versus a small agent/agency only booking 50-100 a month.
Personally I buy AIG travel insurance on a trip by trip basis from an Internet based agent. I cancelled my AMEX Platinum years ago when I semi-retired and cut back on my travel. Couldn’t justify the annual fee and could no longer write it off as a business expense.