Who did you book your cruise through? TA or website?

[aliwnec10]

Did you book your cruise through a TA or a website?

 

where have you found the best deal?

 

just about to book ours and i was curious, especially if you booked online... which website did you find gave you the best bang for your buck?? :D

[paul929207]

I have a list of online websites that I check when looking for a cruise. I then take the lowest price and call my local TA. She has always matched it, often with a better cabin.

[6rugrats]

No one can tell you what website, as per the guidelines for this website, we aren't allowed to discuss specific travel agencies.

[aliwnec10]

No one can tell you what website, as per the guidelines for this website, we aren't allowed to discuss specific travel agencies.

 

oh i didn't realize that. Sorry.

[paul929207]

Any time I meet someone who says they got a great deal on the cruise, I ask who they booked thru. Then I add the sight to my list. Some of them have turned out good, others are more expensive than Princess.

[Keith1010]

I always recommend a TA. They can offer the same price as the cruise line and also provide some amenities and I would rather deal with one person rather than just going through a discount web site.

 

Keith

[geoherb]

I booked our upcoming directly with the cruise line because I could not get in touch with my TA or another one I wanted to use. It was after the final payment date. I'm glad I booked then, because the price went up before either TA got back to me.

 

But generally, I look at the price on the cruise line's website and a few other websites (including one that lets travel agencies compete with quotes on different cruises)--then I call my TA and let him give me a price. He's usually in the ballpark among the lowest prices. I've stuck with him even when he's a few dollars more than someone else. The peace of mind of having dealt with him before is worth it.

[suezyq50]

Only once have we used a TA. We book directly with the cruise line.

[MICHLEV1974]

I have booked with TA and with the cruise directly. The TA has come up with better cabin and matched the price every time. If this were set up as a poll I would vote for TA as the favorite.:)

[jotabecu]

I have always used a TA for cruises, in my case I find I come out ahead.

[pmacher61]

Did you book your cruise through a TA or a website? where have you found the best deal?

just about to book ours and i was curious, especially if you booked online... which website did you find gave you the best bang for your buck?? :D

 

Your question is flawed. TAs can be "online" and the websites of the cruise cos are also online. The cruise cos seldom, if ever, undersell their sales force (the TAs of the world). It's bad business. My experience and that which others have shared with me is that TAs will always have as low or a lower price than that offered directly by the cruise co.

Some travel agents are members of consortiums that get special deals that may include on board credit as wel as upgrades and preferred pricing. No agent will always have the best deal so it pays to shop around. There are web sites that allow for competing TAs to submit an offer to the buyer for a particular cabin. You need to do some research to locate them. It is generally the best way to insure lowest price.

The real problem arises in choosing between a lower priced online TA and a local brick and mortar TA in your neighborhood that may not be able to match the cheaper online TA pricing (although you should always give them a chance to do so). The online TAs that frequently cut their commissions to the bone generally have incompetent, non-professional staff aka telephone order takers. The lower price they offer may require you to put up with incompetent service. Depending on your tolerance for inept service it may be better to pay a little more and have the services that a good local TA may be able to provide, eg. offering solid advice about ships, itinerarires, travel insurance, flights, stayovers, problems that may arise during the course of the booking or the cruise itself, etc.

[griffy116]

We always use a travel agent. He works up the best deal, best cabins and gives us OBC. One less hassle that makes cruising the best deal out there.

[STARFISH*4]

last few cruises i have booked with TA which always gives us a GREAT deal and we get WONDERFUL service...one thing with a TA we cant deal direct with the cruiseline regarding our booking; but we have always had prompt service from our TA when it is needed!

[pudy68]

Is it legal on this site for TA's to identify themselves so the rest of us have the option of contacting them?

[Keith1010]

Is it legal on this site for TA's to identify themselves so the rest of us have the option of contacting them?

 

TA's cannot solicit clients on Cruise Critic.

[travelntreats]

Your question is flawed. TAs can be "online" and the websites of the cruise cos are also online. The cruise cos seldom, if ever, undersell their sales force (the TAs of the world). It's bad business. My experience and that which others have shared with me is that TAs will always have as low or a lower price than that offered directly by the cruise co.

Some travel agents are members of consortiums that get special deals that may include on board credit as wel as upgrades and preferred pricing. No agent will always have the best deal so it pays to shop around. There are web sites that allow for competing TAs to submit an offer to the buyer for a particular cabin. You need to do some research to locate them. It is generally the best way to insure lowest price.

The real problem arises in choosing between a lower priced online TA and a local brick and mortar TA in your neighborhood that may not be able to match the cheaper online TA pricing (although you should always give them a chance to do so). The online TAs that frequently cut their commissions to the bone generally have incompetent, non-professional staff aka telephone order takers. The lower price they offer may require you to put up with incompetent service. Depending on your tolerance for inept service it may be better to pay a little more and have the services that a good local TA may be able to provide, eg. offering solid advice about ships, itinerarires, travel insurance, flights, stayovers, problems that may arise during the course of the booking or the cruise itself, etc.

That statement while may have been true in the past for you, has changed quite a bit as TA's cannot offer a lower fare than what the cruiseline is offering i.e. CCL, RCI, Disney, and =x= UNLESS they perhaps have group space that has been arranged and may be lower than current cruise fares offered. Now many TA's will offer a "perk" to gain your business, but it is something they are paying for out of their pocket or have gotten from the cruiseline when organzing a "group" contract on any given sailing, ship or cruiseline.

[jmorgania]

That statement while may have been true in the past for you, has changed quite a bit as TA's cannot offer a lower fare than what the cruiseline is offering i.e. CCL, RCI, Disney, and =x= UNLESS they perhaps have group space that has been arranged and may be lower than current cruise fares offered. Now many TA's will offer a "perk" to gain your business, but it is something they are paying for out of their pocket or have gotten from the cruiseline when organzing a "group" contract on any given sailing, ship or cruiseline.

 

This statement, though may be true to some extent, is not completely accurate. Though you are correct that they can no longer sell the cabin for less than the cruise line. They CAN, WILL and DO discount their commission as a refund in the form OBC. Yes this comes out of their pockets but so did getting less commission for selling it for less. This has nothing to do with group or contract sailings but can still save you hundreds of dollars. It still pays to shop around.

[lovemylab]

We cruise with RCCL, and the pricing is the same whether I go through a TA or book it myself.

 

In my area, I haven't found any TA's that offer OBC. Instead, they tend to offer gifts such as bags, towels, travel coffee cups, etc.

 

In the past we always booked with a TA as it was helpful if things went wrong. I had a wonderful TA, but she left the business. On our last cruise I had to jump through hoops to get a price drop (I wanted the OBC, the new TA that was taking over wanted me to upgrade to a better cabin)...so now I do it on my own.

[CptSticky]

No one has mentioned "plan B". You can book online with the cruise line and follow the reservation for awhile to watch for price drops. When you are tired of it, then you can transfer the res to a TA (before final payment) and they can still give you some OBC as a rebate from their commission. If you can't find one that will do this, you need to look around more.

[travelntreats]

No one has mentioned "plan B". You can book online with the cruise line and follow the reservation for awhile to watch for price drops. When you are tired of it, then you can transfer the res to a TA (before final payment) and they can still give you some OBC as a rebate from their commission. If you can't find one that will do this, you need to look around more.

Not totally correct....Example: CCL... transfer booking from cruiseline to travel agency must be within 30 days of initial deposit. ;)

[Hlitner]

Most of the so-called "Mass market" cruise lines have recently changed their policies so that price drops can no longer be obtained by those already booked (some will let you only get a price drop within 48 hours of booking). In the past we have saved thousands of dollars (on a single cruise) by monitoring prices after booking and later getting the price drops, but this is no longer a valid strategy. Since the cruise lines have gone back to this old policy of not honoring price changes our strategy is to go back to our old policy of looking for last minute (generally within 90 days of a sailing) deals (the best are often called "Flash" specials. Just this week we were able to book a 14 day Princess cruise (for October) and get a top-category balcony cabin for a total cost of $80 per passenger day (when netted for on-board credits). These cabins had previously been selling for over $130 per passenger day (which is probably the price paid by a majority of the cruisers). For those who have the time and flexibility it is again a buyers market :)

 

Hank

[lovemylab]

No one has mentioned "plan B". You can book online with the cruise line and follow the reservation for awhile to watch for price drops. When you are tired of it, then you can transfer the res to a TA (before final payment) and they can still give you some OBC as a rebate from their commission. If you can't find one that will do this, you need to look around more.

 

This depends on the area where you live. I contacted all the travel agencies in my area and not a single one offered OBC. They only offered OBC on select sailings.

[Hlitner]

This depends on the area where you live. I contacted all the travel agencies in my area and not a single one offered OBC. They only offered OBC on select sailings.

 

Perhaps that is because you only contacted TAs in your area. The best deals are generally found by looking at the large cruise-only TAs that you find on-line. The reality is that many of these large agencies will book more cruises in a day then most small local agencies do in a year....and accordingly, they seem to be a position to offer more amenities and sometimes much better prices. As an example, today we got an unsolicited phone call from a large Florida-based TA offering us balcony cabins for some 7 day cruises on the Celebrity Solstice for under $575. This is a fabulous deal for that particular ship and those rates are not permitted to be advertised on-line or elsewhere. They are only available to folks who register with that particular agency (no charge for this). This is because cruise line policies generally prohibit TAs from advertising special deals and/or certain amenities. Accordingly, many of the larger TAs now maintain private lists of customers that are notified of special prices (these are usually for last minute cruises leaving with 2 months). It pays to seek out the large cruise-only agencies and get on their mailing lists for special deals.

 

Hank

[lady_cruiser]

We use to book through a TA but found that if we do our own booking we have better control over it. For example if I see a price drop and my TA is on vacation and unavailable I lose that price drop. And if I have questions about my cabin, specialty restaurant, excursions, etc I am not going to try and call my TA on a Sunday. There's a 99.9% chance that he is not in his office any way. But if I booked it myself I can pick up the phone, call the cruiseline and get answers right away to most of my questions.

 

And now that I have several cruises under my so-called belt, I am more comfortable taking control of my own bookings.

[Hlitner]

We use to book through a TA but found that if we do our own booking we have better control over it. For example if I see a price drop and my TA is on vacation and unavailable I lose that price drop. And if I have questions about my cabin, specialty restaurant, excursions, etc I am not going to try and call my TA on a Sunday. There's a 99.9% chance that he is not in his office any way. But if I booked it myself I can pick up the phone, call the cruiseline and get answers right away to most of my questions.

 

And now that I have several cruises under my so-called belt, I am more comfortable taking control of my own bookings.

 

My only comment about this post is that we were specifically talking about the larger online TAs. These big outfits are never on vacation, usually are open longer hours then the cruise lines (some have 24/7 customer service) and a few (they are getting hard to find) will actually notify you of any price decreases (this does not happen with the cruise lines). But as I tried to explain, there is a new trend to no longer give most price drops to folks who have previous bookings (see the new policy on RCI) and many other cruise lines have moved increasingly to price drops that are only applicable to new bookings.

 

Hank