I'd be happy to pay full commissions (or rather, expect no rebates in an form) if the TA ha access to really good fares. Here s the excerpt from my Ponant booking (from invoice issued
by Ponant)
Cruise French Polynesia & Hawaii
Brochure Including port taxes : 940.00/pers.
8,040.00 1,2 16,080.00
Discounts :
VTG Nonrefundable Offer -4,615.00 1,2 -9,230.00
Cruise Ocean Voyage : Honolulu - Maizuru
Brochure Including port taxes : 250.00/pers.
3,900.00 1,2 7,800.00
Discounts :
VTG Nonrefundable Offer -2,372.50 1,2 -4,745.00
Might have been a Ponant marketing trial balloon for a few months back in the latter half of 2018. Have never seen anything quite as discounted since.
Ponant fares may start at 30% off at launch for
some cruises but generally the prices are either full rack for more popular ones (such as the wildly-expensive Northwest Passage), or there might be free add-on repositioning "ocean voyage" cruises, air travel allowance, consecutive cruise discounts and the like. I asked VTG if Ponant would allow the 2nd leg of the cruise above to be include as a free ocean voyage but the answer was no, or I would have had to pay close to the full fare for the 1st segment which would have been more expensive than both bought individually at deep discount.