Travel Agent vs. HAL

[rmmm]

We are planning a Carribean cruise next February and I was on Holland America's website.I was considering booking through their website and thought I would consult the experts first I wanted to know if there is any benefit to booking through HAL directly. When we took our first HAL cruise I used a local travel agent (out of business now). Last year I booked through HAL's 800 number. I was wondering if people who use travel agencies (either local or on the internet) could tell me the benefits of using a travel agent. Thanks. Rose

[TedC]

It is my experience that if you have the right agent, you should be able to get a better price than going through HAL directly.

 

Shop around before you make a decision.

 

Good luck!

[Krazy Kruizers]

We use a live and personnal TA - not HAL's website or any other website.

[garydm]

We use an excellent travel agent in Houston and we are in Sacramento. His prices are always better than booking directly with the cruise line. But it is good advice to shop around and get multiple quotes.

 

Gary

[torpeedo]

We use an online TA and save approx 30% off of HAL's website. That is conservative as we have at times saved more. It really depends on the ship, time of year, and destinations. We have always been pleased with the service from our online TA. Bottom line is to know your needs, what you want and then shop around.

[jhannah]

I agree that it's best to use another TA than HAL's. You may book with HAL, then research a good local or remote TA and transfer the booking to them.

 

Good luck.

[KalenaD]

try *****.com, you request quotes for a certain cruise and are sent quotes from all different sources, from travel agents, to discounters. I have booked 2 cruises this way and got great deals both times.

[serendipity1499]

Rose. Agree with all previous posters. Even with the Mariner's fares & promotions HAL cannot compete with their high volume Travel Agents. Many of these agents hold Blocked space at a cut rate & some also cut their commissions. You can book with HAL to lock in your cabin. Then shop around & get prices. You can then have HAL release the booking to your Agent...

 

 

We booked our cruise for next year directly with HAL a few months ago & just recently had HAL release the booking to an on-line (only) agent. The price was approx. 10% lower with an up-graded outside cabin on a higher deck... Usually like to book with an agent who can be reached via telephone, but because of the excellent rate, decided to deal with this internet only agent...(Found the agent on the Cruise Critic WEB site & they were well recommended by Heather & Randy..Thank you both)

 

 

You have to be willing to do most of the leg-work & price comparisons. When we have Round Trip Cruises out of Florida & other East Coast cities, we usually book our own cruises, our own Insurance (on-line), our Car rentals, Hotels & Air to & from the Cruising point...We spend many hours of research & watch for fare reductions on a daily basis…We always leave our-selves enough time to handle an emergency…i.e.: for an 8 p.m. departure out of MIA, will leave home in the morning (only a 2 ½ hour drive) to be sure we have enough time in case our Car broke down, or there was a traffic tie-up…If arriving by air, we try to get to the port the day before & overnight in a hotel..

 

 

At this time in our lives, we prefer not to handle our own air & transfers in Foreign Ports. In those cases, we've booked several cruises with an International Tour Operator who includes Air,Transfers & Hotels etc...

 

 

Happy Planning :)

Betty

[kryos]

We are planning a Carribean cruise next February and I was on Holland America's website.I was considering booking through their website and thought I would consult the experts first I wanted to know if there is any benefit to booking through HAL directly. When we took our first HAL cruise I used a local travel agent (out of business now). Last year I booked through HAL's 800 number. I was wondering if people who use travel agencies (either local or on the internet) could tell me the benefits of using a travel agent. Thanks. Rose

First of all, I would never, ever book anything other than basic airline tickets via a website. Too many opportunities for problems. I wanna talk to a live body for something like a cruise.

 

Secondly, I would always use a TA if for no other reason than to have an "ombudsman" to act in my interests if there should be a problem. If you book through the cruiseline, then your ombudsman becomes the cruiseline's employee ... not a good situation, in my opinion.

 

You could probably book your travel through any medium you would prefer ... direct provider, TA, website, etc ... and everything will work out fine ... so long as there are NO GLITCHES. When there is a glitch, you're gonna find that having that warm-blooded TA to call will be a true blessing ... believe me, I know ... I've been there.

 

Your TA, by the way, doesn't have to be local. It's fine to use a long distance one. In fact, I've never dealt with a local TA since I've been crusing. However, I always make sure that whoever I deal with is available to me by telephone and returns calls in a timely manner. In fact, one of the TAs I use has a 24-hour answering service, which provides an emergency number if the matter simply cannot wait. This is great when you run up against your TA's days off and you have a problem that needs attention right now ... even if right now happens to be a Sunday evening.

 

I would strongly advise you to find a TA you like and trust. Visit or call a few ... get prices ... but even more importantly, get a feel for how they do business. Do they pick up their own telephone? If not, do they call you right back? Do they follow up promptly on your requests for literature or other items? If they don't have the answer to your question, do they honestly admit that and then get back to you with the answer?

 

Personally, I find that prices don't differ that much among TA's. Of course, if one's price was way out of line with the others, then I probably would go with the one that was cheaper. But if we're only talking $50 to $100 bucks, personally I'd rather spend a bit more if I felt more confident in the higher priced TA's competence.

 

Just my opinions ...

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Mr_Cruise]

The online agency I work for frequently offers HAL shipboard credits for every booking. A min of $50 per cabin and max of $200 for a cruise and min $100 and max $300 for a cruisetour, depending on accommodations booked.

 

That's just an additional value added thing we do for our clients over and above the excellent rates we get as a top account with HAL.

 

In my opinion, it's always best to book with an agency that offers personalized service and has earned the ability to give you more than HAL, or any other cruise line, is willing to themselves.

 

Best of luck finding the right TA for you!

[trubey]

Susan and I tend to trust the web, perhaps more than we should. In this case however, we have checked with brick-and-mortar TAs, the cruise lines directly, large 'services' like Travelocity, and dozens of onliners. The onlines win, hands down, in every single case.

 

Interestingly, the fraud cases one reads about ("200 Church Choir Members stuck in Cancun by Crooked Travel Agent", et al.) are perpetrated by brick-and-mortar places!

 

In one case recently, a poster recommended their online TA, and when I checked its prices it was spectacularly (like, $1000 per ticket) more expensive than a few others waiting right down the queue: Check Around!!! Even the online ones can vary widely! I have no interest in a $300 credit per passenger from a credit card company's "Special" service if their tickets are $500 more per person.

 

JMO, Lane

[kryos]

Interestingly, the fraud cases one reads about ("200 Church Choir Members stuck in Cancun by Crooked Travel Agent", et al.) are perpetrated by brick-and-mortar places!

So true! It's the small-time operator who is more likely, in my opinion, to perpetrate a fraud. The large agencies have checks and balances in place that would seem to make it more difficult for one of their agents to pocket the money of clients. And, even if that were to happen, I would assume that legally the agency would be responsible and would have to make good on any monies the agent absconded with.

 

We had a case here in Philly ... I believe it was last summer. A small-time operator ran a group trip for a seven-day combination cruise and trip to Disney World for a church organization. I don't know how long the trip was open for booking, but she had a large number of customers who, at the last minute found out that the trip wasn't even booked. No tickets, no nothing. Luckily, one member of the group got suspicious and called Disney directly and found out what was going on. When they couldn't get in touch with the agent, they got in touch with the authorities. My details are sketchy here ... but apparently she ended up getting arrested, but released on bail. This woman had never turned deposits or final payments over to Disney and there was no trip even booked in their records. Further investigation revealed that she had used their money for other purposes ... turned out that she was as close to bankruptcy as you could get ... behind not only on her business bills, but her personal ones too. She must have been robbing Peter to pay Paul, and simply came up short.

 

This story got to the news media and they covered the situation intensively. There were a lot of disappointed kids involved here because Disney had informed the group that even if they came up with the money for the trip, there was no way they could get them on the same sailing they had booked, because it was sold out. With school soon to start up, pretty much the trip wasn't gonna go ... not this particular year. All of the parents had to tell their kids that the trip they had looked forward to for so long wasn't gonna happen.

 

Someone with the city got involved and hooked this crooked travel agent up with a large bank with which he had influence, with the thought that maybe the agent could get a loan sufficient to pay everyone back their money for the trip. The bank did financials on her and said "no way." The agent had no financial resources, so basically all these people were pretty much screwed.

 

Fearing that she would run, this church group wanted this woman under observation. They went to her house and from what I remember, she literally took off running for her life. People followed her down into the Amtrak station where they found her buying a ticket to, I believe, New York. Since she wasn't supposed to leave the jurisdiction as a condition of her bail, they got the Amtrak police involved, who took her into custody.

 

Sadly, I don't know what happened to these folks. Of course, the news media lost interest in the story as new matters pressed for their attention. But, my guess is that while this woman might have been ordered to pay restitution, if she was financially insolvent those people probably never saw that money again.

 

That's why it's so important to be careful who you deal with. Make sure they are bonded and are a member of the industry associations. Make sure they have a track record in the industry, along with lots of satisfied customers who are willing to recommend them.

 

This was one of the saddest cases of fraud I ever heard about ... and I hope this agent is sitting in a jail cell to this day as a result of it.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[jhannah]

How sad! Many times in ordered restitution cases I fear that the old saying "you can't get blood out of a turnip" applies. Does anyone know if the travel insurance companies would cover such a loss, since it's an individual agency and not a travel supplier?

[Randyk47]

Betty (aka Serendipity1499) - Glad the recommendation worked out for you and it sounds like you got a pretty good deal out of the switch. I'd agree with Kyros about glitches but on the other hand we're not talking $50 to $100 difference either. Short of the ship sinking we can handle our own glitches, especially for the money we're saving on the cruise. Again though, on-line TA's are not for everybody and I'd only recommend them for those who don't need or want a lot of assistance with their cruise other than booking the cruise. (Might add that I recently was having trouble finding a room for my upcoming cruise. The on-line TA came through like a champ.....same hotel we wanted, same room level, and a good price. Dropped them an email and within less than an hour I was booked and confirmed. Obviously they can and do handle more than the cruise if needed.)

[serendipity1499]

Randy...You are right & this agent saved us BIG $$$..Have to admit though, before I took your word for it, we checked them out very carefully with HAL & friends in the travel business...Also what I like about this agent is that the cruise line processes the deposits..

 

Was in the airline industry for 32 years & have seen my share of crooked agents..Even the tour operator who gave us our Honeymoon hotel absconded with clients $$$$...He left his wife & ran off to another country with his paramour..Eventually he was caught & Jailed..But most colients & some travel companies lost a great deal..

 

Since we saved more than $1000 on our trip & our friends also saved the same amount..Our DH's are thrilled..Mine thinks I should have half of it as a reward to do whatever I want with it...:D I think he's right!

 

Thanks again..

 

Betty

[General Max]

We saved $2800 on our Alaska cruisetour 18 last year and also $3500 on our upcoming Westerdam cruise as compared to prices given on the HAL website.

 

Cheers

 

General Max

[kryos]

How sad! Many times in ordered restitution cases I fear that the old saying "you can't get blood out of a turnip" applies. Does anyone know if the travel insurance companies would cover such a loss, since it's an individual agency and not a travel supplier?

If she didn't forward payments to the cruise line, I doubt she forwarded payments to the travel insurance provider either. These people probably had no insurance.

 

TA's should, as a general rule, have "errors and omissions" insurance. I think that would cover the swindled customers in the event of a fraud ... though I'm not sure about that. Also, if the agent is a part of a larger network of agents ... such as with a "host agency" that handles her bookings for her ... then that host agency probably would step up to the plate in the event of a fraud and cover the losses ... if for no other reason than to protect their own good name.

 

But in the case of a totally solo practitioner, I would tend to think that the folks who fell victim to her fraud will wind up totally uncompensated.

 

It's true that you can't squeeze blood out of a rock ... if she has nothing, she can't pay anything ... no matter what restitution is ordered by the judge. That's why I firmly believe that in cases like this, the perpetrator of the fraud needs to do serious jail time ... to at least in some way make up for the harm they've done.

 

Like I said in the other post ... the particularly tragic thing that I remember about this fraud is that there were tons of very, very disappointed children involved ... and parents who had to explain to those kids why their long-anticipated trip with Disney was now cancelled.

 

Sad.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[obriendan]

We booked our first cruise eight years ago with a local travel agent. This agent has since gone out of business. Since then we have booked eight cruises from the same large online agency. We have a particular agent at this online site that we always deal with over the phone. She answers all the questions we have and returns our calls promptly and overall gives excellent service. As others do, we search prices on many online sites and then call this agent. She has always been able to meet or beat the lowest price. So we are quite satisfied with online cruise booking.

[TidePrideGA]

Are travel agents not bonded since they handle OP money?

[serendipity1499]

Are travel agents not bonded since they handle OP money?

 

As far as I know, most Travel Agents are not bonded..Many years ago (prior to computers) only the Agency (Business/Corporation) was required to post a bond if they had Airline Tickets in their posession..Individual agents who worked in those Agency's were not required to be bonded...That's another reason to always check an agent out & purchase travel insurance (but never through the agent)..

 

Happy cruising all..:)

[Mr_Cruise]

I have no interest in a $300 credit per passenger from a credit card company's "Special" service if their tickets are $500 more per person.

 

JMO, Lane

 

The on board credits provided via the agency I work for are a direct promotion from HAL and are applicable to almost every conceivable fare type possible. They are in addition to the best available rates. At the moment they are only offered for the Alaskan route, however we do have other similar on board credit promo's applicable to other destinations.

 

The offer is in no way associated with a third party organization, such as paying with a certain credit card as you suggested, which may have restrictions to certain fares or cabin types/sailings that the promo is applicable to.

 

Just wanted to make that clear so you didn't continue thinking I was an advocate of some kind of booking scam that really wouldn't benefit my clients.

[JimVrhovac]

We always use Ta.

 

If you have a problem you have someone on your side to help you out. When you consider the perks and other discounts that are probably cheaper than with HA: but not as cheap of ordering online.

 

Jim

[kryos]

Are travel agents not bonded since they handle OP money?

Many states have no requirements for this. Regulating travel providers is on a state-by-state basis. Florida, for example, has a Travel Sellers law which, I believe, requires bonding for agents operating out of that state.

 

However, most of the larger agencies will bond their people. Many independent (home-based) agents are insured by their "host agencies" ... or the larger agencies out of which they do business.

 

It's definitely a "buyer beware" situation out there when it comes to travel. Just be very careful who you deal with ... and make sure they have a track record which can be vouched for by people you know and trust. Also, make sure the prices they are offering you are not "too good to be true." If the price seems way out of line, chances are it could be a scam. I think that was the case with the Philly travel agent I wrote about further up in this thread ... who bilked all the members of a church travel club. I remember hearing that her price for a 7-day combination Disney World/Disney cruise was "unbelievably" low. Yeah, guess it was. :(

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

How sad! Many times in ordered restitution cases I fear that the old saying "you can't get blood out of a turnip" applies.

There is a whole cottage industry out there of people ... mostly who work from home with a computer and specialized software ... who search public records to find assets that may subsequently be acquired by people who owe judgments. The court can impose a judgement ... as in the case of making restitution ... but it will be hard pressed to enforce it if the person has no assets. The judgment is merely entered and if the person has any assets, those assets will be seized to pay it. But if the person has nothing, the only hope is that at some point in the future they will acquire stuff. These people who search the public records will get a "finder's fee" if their search hits pay dirt and, say, the crooked travel agent gets back on her feet a couple of years in the future and hits the lottery. Then, the winnings will be seized based on the judgment ordered by the court. The victim will get their money and will split it with the finder. Nice deal. At least both sides come out with something.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[trubey]

Just wanted to make that clear so you didn't continue thinking I was an advocate of some kind of booking scam that really wouldn't benefit my clients.

 

Mr Cruise, a Booking Scam? Absolutely NOT!!! I was simply referring to a certain credit card company's in-house agency which gives cruisers a $300 shipboard credit for using their top-rank card. Their prices can easily be beat by almost any legitimate TA. It's laughable, but they actually do have customers.

 

We use our local (Portuguese) brick-and-mortar TA for everything except cruises. For some reason, her company sells cruises (including HAL) for a hefty percentage OVER the book rates, and in Euros instead of Dollars, one for one, to boot!! N.B. she does NOT work on commission.

 

Lane :eek: