TA vs RCI

[P&C4/16/67]

Transferring to a TA got me a $125 OBC

[pgaedke]

I used to book them all myself. On our last cruise I used a TA through one of the big box stores. We received an $800 obc!

 

I call 'em up with the RCI site open on my computer, tell them what rooms I want, and enjoy the free drinks! I just got a $300 obc on a 7 day new years cruise. That will almost pay the bar tab for the 31st;)

[Bluegirl]

Well, looks like my family lost our nice looking upgrade -- especially with this being Labor Day weekend and all, and the agency people out of the office for three more days. But I did find out that we got some good perks for going through the TA. In short, 5% back on the total cruise price (because my husband booked the cruise via his credit card's travel agency, and the main deal was a 5% cashback offer); all gratuities prepaid by the agency; and $150 OBC. Not too shabby, I guess! (I hope?)

[north29]

I have used a Florida travel agency a few time, they had some packages, with air, ground transfers, etc that I could not beat the price on.

However, I prefer to do my own booking, I find it easier to deal with airlines, cruise companies than going through a TA, no matter how good they are.

[nbsjcruiser]

You can have a good TA, you can have a bad TA but there's really no hard and fast rule whether or not a person should have one. When we first started cruising we used the same TA every time. We used her for 5 cruises and never got didly squat out of her. In fact, the last time we booked with her she was a real pain in the rump. Every time we called her we'd get the same story, "oh I'm with a client right now, can I call you back?". Of course she would never call back. Mind you, this is after we spent like 12K on 5 cruises with her company. We called her head office and had our cruise switched - it was also the last time we booked with her. Our next few cruises we did ourselves.

 

A couple years ago we tried a different TA. She is very responsive and we've received several perks. Free tips, free dinners, treats for our room and so on. We also get tours of ships when they come into our home town which is one real nice perk if you ask me.

 

She tells us she thinks we're great as clients - we call her with the ship, room and date. We book our own air and insurance. All she needs to do is to respond to our emails when we have questions, and this is what she does.

 

If you don't have a good TA then its time to move on. Either direct or shop for another TA that will give you some perks.

[Desert Cruizers]

I do all the research for our cruises and planning, select our cabin #, then when ready see our TA. I could do it just as easily with the cruise lines, but prefer to give her our business. Only once did I go with someone else, but that cruise fell thru when our cruise got cancelled. Our TA advised me rather then switch to another cruise, to just cancel and get our money back, which we did and applied it toward our 2011 Oct TA