Advice on pros and cons of travel agents

[insley]

I am a Crown and Anchor cruiser; I have always booked directly through Royal Caribbean. Lately I have noticed that some online agencies seem to match onboard credits for bookings. I am looking for pros and cons (advice, caveats, etc) of using cruise line versus online versus brick and mortar travel agents to maximize savings.

 

I have heard that onlines reduce the OBC when they later honor a price drop? Why?

Is it best to start out with the cruise line and then transfer the booking?

Is there a best time to book with an agent, i.e. a year out, a couple months?

 

Any and all advice is appreciated.

[sneffles]

We always get bids from at least four or five travel agents, rather than booking directly with the cruise line. On our upcoming cruise the bids for the identical cabin category varied by $2,000! The typical variance was about $400 between the high and low. A travel agent hopes to gain your future business and may (sometimes not) give you more personal attention. If you are a past passenger on the cruise line you should get the same credits regardless of who you book through.

[ActiveTraveler]

WARNING AGAINST ONLINE TRAVEL AGENTS: They may ask you for your personal information (name, address, phone number, credit card, etc.) via email instead of a site with a security feature. This happened to me once. After I sent a post in an AOL cruise message board someone sent me an email claiming to be a travel agent. That wasn't a hoax - I did pay him $850 for a Hawaii cruise on HAL Zaandam. But I sent him my info, as he had requested, in an email instead on on a secure website. Thank God I was not scammed and did not have my identity stolen. He said I pay no penalty for canceling it, but kept some of the money when I requested a refund.

[Keith1010]

Everyone has their views on this.

 

My view is to find a travel specialist that you are happy with and someone who adds value to the overall booking experience. As is the case with any profession there are excellent agents, average agents, and bad agents. We select someone who falls into the first category. We try to find one who is a keeper. To do so we solicited recommendations from friends and then I selected some to interview.

 

An agent can give you perks that the cruise line cannot give you. How much they can give you normally relates to the overall price of the particular booking. They can also assist with other items sometimes helping to get you an upgrade, or assisting with other apects of your travel.

 

Keith

[WarmWaters]

We booked a cruise 5 weeks ago for an inside and a balcony and we got $ 351 in onboard credits. It was through on of the big online travel agencies. We were Crown and Ancor members too( at the time of booking we only have done 1 RCI cruise ) I did contact RCI directly and they could not give us any OBC ...so we went for where we get the most bang for our buck. $ 351 OBC goes a loooong way. It paid for all our gratuities and for an hour of internet and there was a lot of credit still left to spend onboard. Excellent value for money. We have done 4 cruises so far and none of them I book directly with the cruise line. I dont find the cruise lines to be competitive price wise.

 

I would say book where you get the most value. I phone at least 6 of the big online travel agencies and see which one provides the most value before I finally make a booking.

[cruiserbryce]

I like being able to control my booking and not having to go through the TA for everything...the rates on our trips have been just as good or better by booking with the line or while on board...

[travelling fools]

I found out that when you use a travel agent and she/he can not be reached when a cruise price drop becomes available most cruise lines will not do anything without her/him.

Found this out the hard way last year and it cost us over $200 each.

[WarmWaters]

I like being able to control my booking and not having to go through the TA for everything....

 

I am curious what the above poster meant by "everything" ?

 

From my past experience I make one call to book my cruise and then I dont need anything from the TA. What possibly do you need your TA for after booking?

 

I can potentially see if you booked long in advance and the price drops, you might want to deal with a reputable company that does have long office hours where you can reach them conveniently.

 

But what possibly else is included in everything?

 

Check in is a guest self serve option.That is the only thing I can think of that you need to do after booking your cruise.

 

Please advise, I am really curious now.

[Ship's Wake]

I am curious what the above poster meant by "everything" ?

 

From my past experience I make one call to book my cruise and then I dont need anything from the TA. What possibly do you need your TA for after booking?

 

I can potentially see if you booked long in advance and the price drops, you might want to deal with a reputable company that does have long office hours where you can reach them conveniently.

 

But what possibly else is included in everything?

 

Check in is a guest self serve option.That is the only thing I can think of that you need to do after booking your cruise.

 

Please advise, I am really curious now.

 

Once you book with a TA, you have to go through the TA to make changes or ask questions. If you were to call up the cruise line and try to make any changes after you are booked, they will refer you to your TA. The cruise line has a policy of not discussing or handling any details for the booking directly with the passenger.

 

This policy is likely in place so that the passenger does not "play" the TA off against the cruise line.

[Ship's Wake]

If you are booking far in advance of the sail date, you will sometimes (depending on the cruise line you are interested in sailing) find a lower rate (what's referred to as a group rate) from a few larger TAs than what the cruise line or most other TAs can sell the cabin for.

 

These larger TAs have commited to booking a certain number of cabins on a sailing by placing deposits in advance on the inventory. Most TAs will not do this, as they have to put up deposit money to the cruise line for bookings that have yet to be made. The larger, better capitalized TAs have the money to tie up working capital in exchange for lower rates.

 

In return for the commitment to booking a certain number of cabins, the cruise line offers the TA a much lower rate.

 

On our upcoming 15 day Rio to Ft Lauderdale Star Princess Cruise, we were able to get an inside cabin around $1022pp. If you go to Princess.com or other TA websites, this same cruise is selling for $1799pp. Quite a big difference!

 

Needless to say we chose the group rate from the TA.

[rlwidel]

I personally love my TA. I do not use a big online agency. My past experience with one of those was that I was just a number and I received no personalized service whatsoever. When I called to ask about price drops, etc., they made me feel like I was a bother. So, I switched to a smaller agency recommended to me by family and friends and have never looked back. My new TA makes me feel like she's glad I called or email her, always willing to do some searching to find me the best deals. I get the same prices as booking directly, only alot better service!

[chaching]

It was recently recommended by a fellow CC member, to try and use one of the online cruise bidding companies. I have tried it, but the only difference between them and the actual cruise line is that the online bidding companies offer great OBC. I did discover one that is is $250 below any other. They are not an American based company and I'm wondering if they would be reputable. I would imagine the online bidding company investigates before they allow a company on their board. Do you agree?

[AndyTheMan]

Just thought I would offer my experiences re travel agents.

 

We travel a LOT, not necessarily cruises, but flights and hotels etc.

 

I mostly book everything myself (direct with hotels and airlines etc), but we also compare our prices to travel agents. We have a good friend who is a travel agent and we get her to quote us, as well as a couple of other travel agents from the local area (usually STA which have always been good).

 

Sometimes the travel agents can get a better price, or can get free things like on-board credits or room upgrades, car hire upgrades etc which may mean booking with them is better.

 

Sometimes I can book cheaper direct with the hotel/airline/cruise company

 

Sometimes one travel agent will be significantly cheaper than others.

 

We have been known to arrange a holiday with flights from one agent, accommodation from another, and internal flights booked by myself. Can save hundreds (or even thousands)

 

You just need to compare.

 

Recent examples (last 6 months)

 

Returb flights Sydney to UK for Christmas 2010. Cheapest flights I could get was $5900 for two adults, cheapest from friend (the travel agent) was a couple of hundred cheaper. Cheapest from another 3rd party travel agent was $4600....(dollars are AUD). ($1300 saved in ten mins)

 

Cruise - the price I could get was exactly the same as the two agents we approached. I got a free room upgrade though - not sure if they could get that, didn't ask.

 

I guess the key from my experience is shop around! You can save thousands!

 

And its not just about price. I once had a travel agent insist that we had to have a stop-over night at an airport hotel between arriving in Fiji and going to one of the outer islands because the ferry company's last ferry left before our arrival. And she told me the same for the return to the mainland (ie one night stopover in airport hotel prior to flying home).

 

Half hour on the internet and I not only got the ferry prices cheaper, I got the ferries to match up with our flights and I got free transfers (by ferry company) from airport to ferry port (and vice versa).

 

So I spent less money AND had TWO extra nights on tropical island rather than in a transit airport hotel!!

 

DO your research, shop around!!

 

Happy shopping

[kowboyguard]

you should always use an agent to not only get the best deal but to provide service. calling a cruise line call center will get you some agent who most likely has never stepped foot on a cruise much less knows how to provide the service you might need on a cruise vacation. Just ask the poor folks stranded due to the volcano recently, NOBODY at the cruise line is gonna make sure you get on the ship or get back home, agents are there to take care of that kind of stuff. I will never book again without getting an agent.