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Tips for finding email-friendly, Regent-friendly Travel Agent?


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A long-standing relationship with my travel agent has come to an end, and I'm ready to book a couple of trips--but even though I'm ready to toss money in their laps, I'm having a hard time finding a qualified TA.

 

Here's the catch: I'm hard-of-hearing and don't use the telephone. For 20 years, I've arranged all my travel via email, and it's worked extremely well.

 

But finding an agency who is comfortable with this is proving daunting! Yes, I was able to get quotes from the cruise line, but I've had a TON of strange experiences trying to find somebody to take my money and book my trips in an ongoing relationship.

 

Let's see. There was the highly-rated luxury cruise specialist firm that subjected my forms submission to some kind of big-data algorithm--and when my phone number came up as null, they insisted I transmit a "valid" phone number before they would talk to me. I.e., their Web form is really a honeypot for marketing, so buyer beware.

 

Then there was the firm that insisted that they couldn't use email because "time is of the essence"--and claimed that any quote had to be accepted or turned down IMMEDIATELY over the phone. Huh? 20 years of experience on my part indicates otherwise, so they were just trying to pressure me to accept a sales call.

 

The local agents recommended to me? Emailed all of them 36 hours ago, and not ONE taker. Um, the "aol.com" email address is a big tell that somebody isn't ready for prime time.

 

Yes, I've consulted Uncle Google, but so far, I have yet to find what I need: a luxury cruise specialist with Regent experience, who is comfortable dealing with a deaf person via email.

 

Anybody else have pointers for me, to help with the search?

Edited by organizedhome
Forgot my SIG
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I truly wish that we could post TA information on Cruise Critic but we can't. We deal with our TA via email and have no difficulty doing so. They are one of the top Regent TA's and we do get a rebate and OBC's from them. Suggest that you keep Googling for a TA that books luxury cruises. So sorry that I could not help more.

 

Just remembered that we can name travel consortiums. So, here is a ink to the major ones https://www.tripsavvy.com/what-is-a-consortium-3252390

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My TA, who specializes in luxury cruise travel, and I communicate only by email. We have done this for years. I have never talked to her on the phone, and have talked to the office on the phone only once when we were offered a huge amount by Regent to not take a cruise at the last minute (a deal we took). If you google, luxury cruise travel agencies, you should be able to find her. We aren't allowed to name names on this site. Several others who post here regularly share the same agent.

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