Travel Agencies - To use or not

[sammyt]

So can someone tell me what is the purpose of using a travel agency over going direct? They are advertised as being one of the largest agencies, but when I asked for an upgrade to CC, they quoted me the same price as is shown on the Celebrity web site. No discount, no deal, nothing. I am sure they get a better booking percentage for booking a better room, so why not pass along a savings of some sort to entice me to upgrade to the better room? I can't seem to get this agency to do anything. They want to charge me $130 more per person for a room that I could go direct with an interline discount for just $30 more pp. I can't believe they can not get this same deal. So whats up with travel agencies?

[MMastell]

So can someone tell me what is the purpose of using a travel agency over going direct? They are advertised as being one of the largest agencies, but when I asked for an upgrade to CC, they quoted me the same price as is shown on the Celebrity web site. No discount, no deal, nothing. I am sure they get a better booking percentage for booking a better room, so why not pass along a savings of some sort to entice me to upgrade to the better room? I can't seem to get this agency to do anything. They want to charge me $130 more per person for a room that I could go direct with an interline discount for just $30 more pp. I can't believe they can not get this same deal. So whats up with travel agencies?

 

All of Royal Caribbean's lines (Celebrity is one) will not allow any agent to sell the cruise for less than the cruise line price. However, they may give incentives including a Onboard Credit, wine or other amenity.

 

The major advantage with using a "good" travel agent is that if there is a problem the agent will go to bat for you, not the cruise line. When the rubber hits the road a cruise line agent will not fight the entity that signs their check.

 

The mark of any good agent isn't just selling you a cruise. Anyone can do that. The mark of a good agent is what they do for you when something goes wrong.

 

Take care,

Mike

[Phxazzcruisers]

MMastell said it great. The only real benefit to using your or a TA is to get their assistance if there is an issue. The second benefit of using a TA is that they shoul dbe able to offer you OBC, wine, etc as a gift for using them.