No more commissions will be paid to N.A. travel agents for non N.A. bookings

[Host Mike]

"Effective in 2011, we [Princess] will be communicating to you via your consortia, as well as OneSource, terms and conditions that we will no longer be paying commission on bookings made from citizens of other countries through North American travel agents."

Source: Cruise Week 11/10/2010

[RichC]

I guess I'm a little dense but what exactly does that mean to me. How does my travel agent get paid other than an increase in the base cruise price. If so I foresee the prices between booking with an agent & those offered by an agency to be very close if not exactly the same. I also imaging there will be no more $$ CC for booking with a TA. 

[f-mattox]

I seem to remember a little dust-up awhile back about non-U.S. citizens finding ways to book through U.S. travel agents to take advantage of discounts offered to North American residents.  I can see both sides of this; it seems unfair not to offer everyone the same discounts.  But in a free market economy Princess should be able to market its product any way it sees fit. 

[Host Mike]

The cruise agent pays x amount of money for your cruise ticket and keeps y amount of money that the cruise agent adds to x in the form of a sales commission.  Your cruise agent determines how much money y needs to be and you pay x plus y to Princess..  Y can typically be 0% to 16% of the total cruise ticket price.

Princess has cruise agents all around the world.  What Princess is saying is if a North American cruise agent sells a ticket to a non-North American then there will be no y paid to the North American cruise agent.  This is in order to protect  the sales potential of foreign travel agents.  Princess will allow the North American cruise agent to petition for an exception to their new rule if the cruise agent can prove that the cruise agent has a long established foreign customer.

[blujay]

I seem to remember a little dust-up awhile back about non-U.S. citizens finding ways to book through U.S. travel agents to take advantage of discounts offered to North American residents.  I can see both sides of this; it seems unfair not to offer everyone the same discounts.  But in a free market economy Princess should be able to market its product any way it sees fit. 

Should that not equally apply to us not from the US. In a free market economy WE should be able to purchase a product any way we seem fit.
 I am happy to purchase our cruises from our local market, support our economy, blah blah blah but the price differential is huge. That is where my annoyances lie. I get the same bed ,same food, same entertainment as Pax in the US but pay WAY more for it.
Even the playing field and we will stop complaining.

[f-mattox]

. . . .and that of course is the other side of that coin. 

[Kruisinismything]

"Effective in 2011, we [Princess] will be communicating to you via your consortia, as well as OneSource, terms and conditions that we will no longer be paying commission on bookings made from citizens of other countries through North American travel agents."

Source: Cruise Week 11/10/2010

Princess shouldn't have the right to tell anyone who they can or cannot book their cruise through. You should be able to freely book your cruise with any agent you want to from anywhere. People from out of the country are being forced to book with a local agent when they dont want to. (pricing is much higher for whatever reasons)  Complain complain to Princess and maybe they will change this new policy.

[NSWP]

North Americans would not believe the high prices we have to pay for cruises through Princess Australia.
At least 25% more than advertised cruise prices in North America, across most lines.  $170 per day for an inside cabin is not unusual.

We cannot book Princess or many other lines with US t/a's.