Using travel agent vs booking your own

[rogicoco]

Hi everyone:)

I am curious how do you guys feel about using a travel agent vs booking your own. I am a little bit frustrated lately. We booked a future cruise on explorer and the booking went to my agent the day we got off the ship the price went down by 400 dollars. I emailed my agent who I found out is on a cruise currently tried to call royal while she was in port but after 40 minutes on hold with royal she had to hang up because her ship was about to sail so when someone called the next day price went back up so I lost in essence 400 dollars. Yesterday I emailed her about moving our reservation from quantum to back to back independance she said her daughter will call today so now when I checked the prices are again 500 dollars higher than yesterdayI am so frustrated. I love my agent a lot but not having control of my reservation is driving me nuts and instead of saving money I am loosing money. Also the prices fluctuate more than the stock market.

What should I do in the future? Should I hold my own reservation and transfer it to her before the final payment? What do you guys suggest. I hate bothering her on her vacation with my emails but at the same time money is a factor here.

[joepeka]

It's a shame your TA doesn't have an available backup when she is out of the office, someone to handle situations like this in a timely manner. Ours definitely does (and I know that doesn't help you or answer your question). I would suggest that maybe you consider, for your next booking, do a trial with RCI by booking directly with them and see how it goes. If your experience with RCI isn't better than what you get with your TA, stick with the TA; alternately, if you like working directly with RCI (and you'll get mixed reviews on this board about that), then stick with them and bid your TA farewell.

[Wilda]

It sounds like you have already answered your own question. We book all of our travel for precisely that reason...I don't want to have to wait for someone to be available to follow up on things when I am perfectly capable of doing it myself. It appears that you check the website frequently and are on top of your cruise to begin with, why not just own the whole thing?

[rogicoco]

I guess since I have known her for so many years I wanted her to get the commission plus she was always kind to give us some ship credit but know I am starting to realize how much money maybe I could have saved. Now after seeing the price go up today I am so upset. That's almost a 1000 dollars between two cruises. I just don't understand how these prices fluctuate so much.

[KeywestK]

After being badly burned once by a TA, I swore that I'd never give up control of my bookings again. The little bit of OBC, or pre-paid gratuities, or whatever else they give their clients is not enough to entice me.

 

I know there are some wonderful TAs out there, but for my money, and for my peace of mind, I honestly believe that no one will do better for me than me.

[1992cruiser]

Unless you are getting some nice obc or other perks from your TA, I don't really see any value in using one, especially since you seem to be able to handle everything yourself. I would go nuts if I saw a price drop and had to call a TA and wait for them to call Royal.

[cruiseguy1016]

It sounds like you have lost close to $1,000 recently with this agent. Do the perks she offers you add up to $1,000? If not, I think it's time that you bid farewell to this TA. I use a TA. I found one several years ago that has saved me a bunch of money. She always gives us perks when we book. I will continue to use her until she fails to do her job properly and it ends up costing me money. There are good TAs and there are bad TAs. I happen to have found one of the good ones. :)

[rogicoco]

I never thought about this before until now when I started checking. The ship credit was never a significant amount. I just figured why not have her make the commission but now seeing how much I could have I am rethinking this. I am so frustrated seeing the price and then trying to email and then be told I'll have someone do it tomorrow or after I have lunch. It would not be a problem if prices did not change so often. As of next bookings I will hold in to my reservations. It's too late for the ones I have now I guess.

[Sitzmark]

I do both, made my own reservation then moved it to a TA. Our TA is a large agency though and I'm not tied to any one agent. I call and I'm dealt with immediately on the line. If the person I dealt with last time is on vacation today, I'll get someone else. no problem, easy for me.

[rogicoco]

I do both, made my own reservation then moved it to a TA. Our TA is a large agency though and I'm not tied to any one agent. I call and I'm dealt with immediately on the line. If the person I dealt with last time is on vacation today, I'll get someone else. no problem, easy for me.

 

She is part of a big agency but works from home so I don't think I can do that. Lucky for you having such nice options :)

[molly361]

I never thought about this before until now when I started checking. The ship credit was never a significant amount. I just figured why not have her make the commission but now seeing how much I could have I am rethinking this. I am so frustrated seeing the price and then trying to email and then be told I'll have someone do it tomorrow or after I have lunch. It would not be a problem if prices did not change so often. As of next bookings I will hold in to my reservations. It's too late for the ones I have now I guess.

 

All the reasons that you have just mentioned is why I always book directly thru RCL

[cruiselife4me]

I book directly with the cruise line. I like having control and being able to change things at will if I need to. The last time I booked with a TA I think I drove her insane with my obsessive cruise geek requests!

[Sitzmark]

She is part of a big agency but works from home so I don't think I can do that. Lucky for you having such nice options :)

 

I never really thought of them as luxuries. I know it doesn't help your current situation but I would find the loss of that much money intolerable. An agent is supposed to add value and yours clearly isn't. One option for the future definitely is to just keep it yourself, and if I'd had your experience, I very likely would go that route. But there are a lot of good agencies out there if you look, I'd tell you mine but we all know that is not permitted.

[rogicoco]

I never really thought of them as luxuries. I know it doesn't help your current situation but I would find the loss of that much money intolerable. An agent is supposed to add value and yours clearly isn't. One option for the future definitely is to just keep it yourself, and if I'd had your experience, I very likely would go that route. But there are a lot of good agencies out there if you look, I'd tell you mine but we all know that is not permitted.

 

I learned a very expensive lesson. Going forward I will be holding all my own bookings however I am still bitter about this situation. I just never realized to what extent prices change and how often. It's like watching the stock market lol

I feel helpless.

[Poseidon Patty]

I used a TA to book my last two cruises, and he was just in my way. He offered me zero perks, and it took him forever to make my payments for me. I booked directly with RCI for my current cruise, and they were great. That's how I'll do it from now on.

[OCruisers]

We are quite happy with our long time TA. She deals with the cruise line for us ... yet I remain in total control of our cruise. Calls and emails are answered promptly 7 days a week. When she's not available, she has two back-ups. One of the three of them is always "on call". :)

LuLu

[gjkubel]

While I would personally never want to have a TA like that where you are heavily dependent on one person, I just wanted to note that in the future, you should put a courtesy hold on a cabin when you are having trouble reaching your TA. That will allow you to lock that price down while you try to get ahold of your TA. If the price goes up before you get to your TA, you can cancel the booking with them and use the one you put on hold instead. If you still want the TA to have it, you can then transfer it to the TA. Not ideal (especially if you have a particular cabin picked out), but could have saved you hundreds of dollars it sounds like. That said, its a big PITA unless your TA is giving you a great perk (like OBC)

[mcatmcat]

This is my rule with TA

 

I'm my own TA until final payment is up that I transfer my reservation to a travel agent in exchange of gratuities. It makes no sense for me to have the TA taking over my reservation before final payment

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[mcatmcat]

Oh I forgot to mention. My TA works for a big company so there is always someone ready to help me. I never transfer my reservation a single TA or small company

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Guest maddycat]

This is my rule with TA

 

I'm my own TA until final payment is up that I transfer my reservation to a travel agent in exchange of gratuities. It makes no sense for me to have the TA taking over my reservation before final payment

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

At one time that would work. Now RCI will only allow you to transfer a booked cruise to a TA with in 60 days of the initial deposit.

 

To the OP: If you book your cruises onboard, make sure that the bookings are not put in your TA's name.

Edited May 12, 2014 by maddycat

[JohnGaltny]

For what it's worth:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2014676

[rogicoco]

My agent just switched my booking to independence. Since yesterday week one there is a 235.04 dollar price difference and week two 336.00 dollar difference. It's a lot! I just don't understand how these prices fluctuate so much that by the time someone picks up the phone at royal they are different. When we got off the ship last Saturday and I checked the prices when I got home for adventure we booked it showed almost 500.00 dollars less. They would not honor them since my agent did not reach them in time. I am just frustrated at the whole situation. There are so many variations that it's hard to keep up. On the statement with this bogo promotion they have prices much higher and then they are doing a discount that still comes out higher than if I just went to a royal website and then just planned a cruise myself. :mad:

I will next time do a hold like someone suggested. Also I want the full control of my booking from now on.

[rogicoco]

For what it's worth:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2014676

 

I love my agent and I would not want to take the business away from her. She always tried to do her best for us it's just sometimes situations present themselves where you have to attend to it immediately so that's when it becomes frustrating and only because on the cruise line end prices change so much otherwise there are no issues at all.

[jaxon41]

At one time that would work. Now RCI will only allow you to transfer a booked cruise to a TA with in 60 days of the initial deposit.

 

To the OP: If you book your cruises onboard, make sure that the bookings are not put in your TA's name.

 

wow, news to me -- thanks

[jaxon41]

"On the statement with this bogo promotion they have prices much higher and then they are doing a discount that still comes out higher than if I just went to a royal website and then just planned a cruise myself." YEP I think this BOGO sale is a bit of a scam --not on all categories, but on some. We had priced right before the sale came out, so I KNOW what the prices were, and yes, on some categories, they were the same (even with the so-called discount), some higher within a couple days of the sale, and some lower for the first few days of the sale, anyway. That being said, I did read where folks were getting some really great deals, but mostly way, way out in time. I think the whole thing was heavily dependent on the ship and the time of your cruise.