Lulu.....We had exactly the same thing happen with our longtime TA (now retired).
We wanted to try Carnival for ourselves. And since we are stockholders I sort of felt obligated.
To the question at hand. Our "retired" longtime TA was very good at profiling her clients and would actually call on me with questions pertaining to NCL. In the last year, before she retired, she was getting more and more NCL requests and used me (and others) to increase her NCL knowledge.
I am also not a TA but I have made many recomendations over the years. I do try to match what I know about the people to some of the differences that I know about the lines. A good example was with my BIL, I was confident that he would enjoy Princess and he did. We took the same cruise 4 weeks later and thought it was ok but not the best for us.
This will only be our second cruise (22 days ) so my percieved views are shaped by what I read not by personal experience. I would like to know more so we can look at what crusie to do next. We are considering visiting the future cruise salews office while on our upcoming Princess cruise. It will probably be 2-4 years before we can afford to do the cruises we want to look at. We are interested in Alaska and Hawaii. Although I keep telling DH it would be good to do a little 3-5 cruise before the next big one.
We loved the 1st cruise we went on but the bed was really bad for my back. We did not know we could have asked for egg crate or a board. So I suffered through it. I wish I would have known about cruise message boards 2 years ago!
When we have used a TA, we already had a ship and itinerary all picked out. But I think it's great when a TA (like Dolores) tries to find out what a new client is like and then try to give good advice based on that, rather than their own preferences. That's just good business practice.
As for Alaska and Hawaii, many cruise ships travel to both. One thing to think about is whether you want to do a roundtrip or an one way. Many of the lines do one way to both destinations, but only some do the roundtrips.
Lulu.....We had exactly the same thing happen with our longtime TA (now retired).
We wanted to try Carnival for ourselves. And since we are stockholders I sort of felt obligated.
To the question at hand. Our "retired" longtime TA was very good at profiling her clients and would actually call on me with questions pertaining to NCL. In the last year, before she retired, she was getting more and more NCL requests and used me (and others) to increase her NCL knowledge.
PE
Good evening,
Now, THAT is a good travel agent , not afraid to ask questions, and knowing whom to ask them from, either for qualifying and profiling a client, or enlarging his/her product knowledge !!
This is one of the reasons I ''cruise'' a lot on various forums, as a TA: fabulous source of feedbacks and learnings, from folks who ''have been there, done that ".
Cheers
It's not only important to ask clients before their cruise in order to qualify them as to what cruise line, ship, and itineraries to provide choices about, but it is equally as important to ask them questions after they get back from their cruise. You not only want to find out more about their experiences in order to increase your knowledge as a TA/CS, but you want to insure they had a good time and did not encounter any problems that need addressing. This helps when discussing options with other clients.
As for which cruise line, ship, or itinerary is best - this is a very subjective question. Everyone is different and what one person loves, another will hate. That's what makes cruising so much fun - it's never dull and all cruises are a unique and different experience, even when traveling on the same ship or same itinerary. We just got back today from our 29th cruise, the third on the Grandeur of the Seas - each of the three cruises were completely different.
It also depends on other things such as budget, age, interests, etc. For example; we really like Royal Caribbean when traveling with family, but we love Princess when traveling with another couple. And we really love Holland America when just the two of us are traveling as we feel they have the best food and service, plus they have the most comfortable beds in the industry (obviously, a subjective opinion).
But when dealing with a travel agent or cruise specialist, ask alot of questions and listen intently. If they don't ask alot of questions of you and what you're looking for, then shop elsewhere. It's probably one of the hardest things not to do, but I try never to recommend any particular cruise line or ship. It's not my job to recommend one over another because, as I said earlier, what I may like, you may not like. I believe a good TA/CS will provide information and help the client by answering questions and giving tools (such as reviews and boards like cruiselinefans, etc.) so they can make informed decisions. A good TA/CS should not necessarily steer or guide a client into one over another.
And to answer another question you asked; yes, cruise lines pay different commission levels based on an agent's sales figures - the more they sell, the higher the level. For example; if an agent is new and sells more Carnival and less RCCL, then their commission level with Carnival will be higher than RCCL and this may impact their desire to recommend one over another.
As for Alaska, we just got back from a 2-week Alaskan cruisetour that was awesome! Holland America and Princess have the biggest presence in Alaska and both do a wonderful job. If you ever want to do Alaska, you really need to plan on spending at least a few days going into the interior - you'll miss alot if you don't.
I'm not a travel agent either, but I do travel a lot. We've been on a bunch of different cruises and to many ports.
People ask me all the time for advice on cruiselines and ships. My favorite might not be their cup of tea, so I never suggest anybody cruises my favorite cruiseline just because I like it. My favorite cruiseline has very mellow nightlife and almost nothing to do for kids onboard. I know a good many people would be bored, and so would their kids. But it's a perfect fit for us.
I always think about a person's activity level (do they want to take a helicopter ride over a jungle or would they rather stay on the ship and read?), how much they want to spend (if the main objective is to save money, then it's easy to steer them toward the right cruise), and the atmosphere they're hoping to find on the ship (neon and glass or teak and brass? Kids having fun on the giant water slides or guest lecturers?) Once I know those things I feel I can safely steer them toward a cruise that will suit them...but without knowing all those things I couldn't begin to recommend a cruiseline or ship.
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) so my percieved views are shaped by what I read not by personal experience. I would like to know more so we can look at what crusie to do next. We are considering visiting the future cruise salews office while on our upcoming Princess cruise. It will probably be 2-4 years before we can afford to do the cruises we want to look at. We are interested in Alaska and Hawaii. Although I keep telling DH it would be good to do a little 3-5 cruise before the next big one. 
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