Do you use a PVP or book cruises on your own?

[lillian marie]

What are the advantages of booking with a PVP-personal vacation planner with Carnival? Are there any disadvantages?:confused: What are your personal experiences. I've taken 15 CCL cruises and just booked my 1st one through a PVP.

[DaKarr]

Both cruises that I have taken I booked through the Carnival web site. No fuss no muss :D

[gadan1]

So I book my own cruises through Carnival's website. I do enough research here first so I know what I'm doing. If I have an issue, I'll call the 800 number and talk to whoever.

[mikel24m]

I was thinking this earlier .I dont really think they do anything that you cannot do on your own.

 

I really do hate it though when you go onto the Carnival website to do research and the days following your PVP calls you three times a day each and every day until you finally have enough and answer,to tell them to stop calling me ,when I want to book I will call you

[pbfeetcroozer]

What are the advantages of booking with a PVP-personal vacation planner with Carnival? Are there any disadvantages?:confused: What are your personal experiences. I've taken 15 CCL cruises and just booked my 1st one through a PVP.

I booked my first few on my own through the web site. I just recently booked one through my PVP and boy am I glad I did. I ran into a few issues, and he was a HUGE help. It was awesome to have someone that could help me navigate the system. I doubt that I'll go it alone any more.

[mikel24m]

I booked my first few on my own through the web site. I just recently booked one through my PVP and boy am I glad I did. I ran into a few issues, and he was a HUGE help. It was awesome to have someone that could help me navigate the system. I doubt that I'll go it alone any more.

 

Could you explain the issues Im curious.Maybe I should get one

[LiveLAUGHLove21]

I was actually contacted by a PVP as soon as I got back from my first cruise in November.

 

I told him I wouldn't be able to finalize any plans for a future cruise until February and to contact me then.

 

He did and we booked for a cruise in November again , and then he assisted me with finding another cruise after they canceled ours from Mobile.

 

Since I booked early saver he told me to just email him any time I was thinking about the cruise, and he'd check the price for me!

 

I have since learned about farechecker- and use it instead of bothering him- but we still communicate at least once a week-he can quickly answer any questions I have and I truly find him helpful!

[AndrewD65]

I will say this is my first time booking with one, and the only reason I did do it was because he kept e-mailing me deals and discount's.

 

I really enjoyed working with him, and he give me a reminder call when my final payment was due, so that was a plus for me.

[StingRaysfan]

I think this depends on the type of people you are honestly.

 

Some people love their PVP and communicate with them a lot. We've decided we are the type that would rather search and find a cruise we are interested in, book it and be done with it.. if we need to change something I can just call Carnival's general number and have had no problems.

 

We started with a PVP on this cruise and got a few calls back when we weren't committing right away, we found that annoying.

[cruisy-suzy]

I have used a TA, she is great and has booked our last 8 cruises for us. We used a different TA for original cruise and that wasn't a great experience.

[FIVEONTHEAVENUE]

I really liked my PVP. He was very helpful and gave me the same rate as I got if I did it on my own. I liked the idea of having someone to ask questions to and if I can get the same rate, hey it keeps one more person in this country employed.

[luvmysox1]

I like booking on my own really. My experience lately with a PVP has not been to great. She takes to long with email and then one cruise she did not even assign me to a dinning assignment. The result was no Anytime dining on that cruise. I called the 800 number and asked. They said she screwed up so I got stuck with late dining. She tries for my business and she doesn't have a clue in my op. When I want to book, I don't want to wait. I already know what I want.

[ehfl]

We just book online. I don't need to be BFFs with a salesperson.

[C&THollings]

I use a PVP, I found her by sheer luck, when I was booking my first cruise. I called the 800 number and it went to the overflow PVP lines. She has been so helpful. She has taken care of "issues" that have arisen and always answered any question I have had. I would never want to just uses the website then call the 800 number for questions that does not result in a sale and waste the time of the sales rep.

[cdamion]

If the choice is between online and a PVP, I would book with a PVP so that a person gets the commission/credit. If you book online, Carnvial just keeps the money that could be in some hard-working soul's pocket.

[NAUdebo]

Find a quality travel agent you can get to know and trust. You don't pay for them - Carnival does through the commissions. They can make life much easier and help you think through any steps of your travel you may have missed. Sadly, it's a dying industry with these days of self-service online bookings. Don't get me wrong - I book most of my basic travel online. But my trip this summer on the Magic followed by an extra week in Europe afterward? I wouldn't dream of doing it alone.

 

If, heaven forbid, something goes terribly wrong - a good TA becomes your biggest advocate for your interests. Don't hesitate to use one.

[lappy22]

Find a quality travel agent you can get to know and trust. You don't pay for them - Carnival does through the commissions. They can make life much easier and help you think through any steps of your travel you may have missed. Sadly, it's a dying industry with these days of self-service online bookings. Don't get me wrong - I book most of my basic travel online. But my trip this summer on the Magic followed by an extra week in Europe afterward? I wouldn't dream of doing it alone.

 

If, heaven forbid, something goes terribly wrong - a good TA becomes your biggest advocate for your interests. Don't hesitate to use one.

 

Have to agree with you on this one. We had our TA in our corner when the swine flu hit. We didn't have to do anything and she had everything changed to a different sail date, $250 in onboard credit, and of course our usual free drinks waiting for us onboard that were purchased for us by our TA. Always a nice touch. I also think it is best to help support somebody by keeping their job local. I always get the same price from my local TA as my so called Carnival PVP offers, my TA always gives us a gift (drink tickets) when we book with her, and we support our local economy. It is a great win for everybody!

[friedshrimp]

I book online though a website TA (not Carnival website) and have never had a problem. I usually get bennies thrown my way too (such as free insurance for everyone and OBC for each cabin on the upcoming cruise). Booking via a PVP or Canival website doesn't get me anything.

[sjn911]

I like booking through a TA dept realted to an airline for miles, can do most of it online and..I have always had great service and any mistakes/cancellation issues, getting the best price etc. concerns have been a non-issue. They are also there 24/7 for anything which I love.

[H82seaUgo]

i've done all three (third being using a ta), and go with the best price.

[halos]

What are the advantages of booking with a PVP-personal vacation planner with Carnival? Are there any disadvantages?:confused: What are your personal experiences. I've taken 15 CCL cruises and just booked my 1st one through a PVP.

 

I use an on line TA that gives you 'gifts' (OBC) earned through dollars spent on your cruise fare because prices are pretty much regulated, it's the only way I find I get a deal.

I will only use an on line TA that will give me access to a live person (if needed). I've been using the same company since my 2004 cruise and love them...never had a problem.

I have never booked directly with a cruise line with a PVP. I tried once with NCL and the PVP there couldn't give me the deal that my on line agency did. I imagine CCL's PVP's wouldn't be able to either, so I stick with what works for me.

[mtlfire]

I typically book online, but once or twice have gone through my PVP. On one of my last cruises he mentioned that if the price dropped to give him a call back and he could see if he could upgrade us.

 

A few weeks later I noticed the price had dropped by about $100 so I gave him a call. The only "better" cabin left had a premium balcony but was handicap accessible and he said he couldn't upgrade us to that. He said submit for the OBC in the emails I sent you... I didn't remember that e-mail, we never booked the early saver rate (were too close to sailing for that anyways), he said he he would resend me the e-mail.

 

I clicked the link, mentioned in the comments my PVP told me to submit for it and bingo $200 OBC. I don't know if the PVP had anything to do with it, but I'm pretty certain from my understanding of the early saver rules we shouldn't have qualified and I've been refused in similar cases when I booked online in the past.

[valtandc]

What are the advantages of booking with a PVP-personal vacation planner with Carnival? Are there any disadvantages?:confused: What are your personal experiences. I've taken 15 CCL cruises and just booked my 1st one through a PVP.

 

I book through a TA. Always get some type of onboard Credit and if they screw up even a little.....or even if I screw up they usually hook me up....dollarwise....like i had to cancel one of our cruisers and they refunded the $50 that Carnival would not. I also got $100/cabin in sail and sign card credit.

[wentworth]

We've used our PVP for our last 5 cruises. I do all the research before calling and know exactly which cruise we want. She gets us prices andcompares the past guest prices with military discount and checks for any upgrades available etc. She will also check periodically to see if priceshave gone down and has saved us $$ on our last two cruises after

booking. She does call when final payment is due and I appreciate the call although I have not forgotten a final payment yet.:)

 

I like dealing with her and would not go back to booking on my own.

[Chief Cruiser]

I use a locally owned brick and mortar TA. I latched on to a great one years ago and they handle everything, are attentive to my wishes, and know all the ins/outs and inner workings to take care of any issues or problems I might have. I've had a couple of issues with Carnival and called in my TA. With one of the issues, when he got done, I ended up being moved from an inside to Cat. 11 suite for my next cruise. I've always received excellent customer service.

 

I have never had a problem with my TA and until I do, I'm sticking with him.

 

Just my preference. :)