book direct or through a TA?

[Exige]

Current cruise is booked through a TA that was recommended by some "cruise addicted" friends. The TA is a cruise specialist and has (so far) been great. For example .. when we first booked, we informed the TA we would be interested in the highest level cabin available, at that time everything except a JS was sold out, so we booked a JS. About a week ago, my TA emailed me and informed me there had been a cancellation and a GS was now available and she had reserved this for us. Unless I had been monitoring the RCI booking site constantly (which I wasn't), I would not have know this. We haven't saved any $$ or got any special perks (except the upgraded cabin) from our TA, however as our cruise is booked at probably the most popular time of the year, this is not surprising.

 

Currently we have another small issue with our booking that I have referred to our TA for fix up .. hopeful that is all sorted and all I had to do was send an email. All this is much easier than myself trying to navigate websites and call centers etc.

 

A&C

[Gerko]

Also the cruises are offered using an agency model which means that TAs are restricted from offering lower prices, OBC, etc. compared to others (apart from items like lanyards, etc.).

 

Actually that is incorrect. Agents can offer lower prices by creating a inhouse group on certain lines, and they can offer extra OBC by creating an inhouse sale on a restricted number of cruises per month. (I am an agent). Plus there are certain sailings where agents get fares that are not allowed to be advertised and which aren't bookable by the public. It never hurts to ask.

 

It's probably quite safe to book direct if you're just doing a sailing from your home city, but if it's a foreign or oneway cruise and you need extra things such as hotel and flights then I would suggest a reputable travel agent, and I don't mean an online agent. I mean one who can put the whole itinerary together for you. Plus it's nice to have someone you can contact if a problem occurs.

[RayWitt001]

RE FARING ....I always book Princess cruises direct with Princess. 6 weeks ago I booked Diamond Princess, 23 Jan to and from NZ for my wife and 17 year old grand daughter (graduation present!) Original price was $1859 pp for Cat OV partial obstruction. Yesterday I checked prices and found Cat OV had been reduced to $1629. So I rang Princess and requested the re fare, got it no problems, saving $230 pp. Total $460. I have not paid final payment yet, so they did the re fare.

 

 

 

So it pays to monitor prices and book direct.

 

 

We were able to do this with our travel agent last week. Hubby though he would just check to see how the ship was filling and noticed a considerable price difference. Just saved us $1100 on our already booked cabin (2 adults + 2 kids). I was sceptical that we would be able to change anything as we are sub 100 days to our cruise, so we were prepared to forfeit our deposit of $500 to rebook at the newer price (we thought the price when we booked was good!). Our agent liaised with Princess and we got the updated pricing, no loss of anything (except the new OBC value is $55 less than our original booking). That saving will pay for a few drinks on board [emoji5]️

[Beanb41]

Our travel agent which is in house gives us a reduction in the fare up front rather than giving us OBC. It is beneficial to both of us to have a discount rather than get tied up in currency fluctuations. Our discount seems comparable with OBC offered to US customers

[GUT2407]

RE FARING ....I always book Princess cruises direct with Princess. 6 weeks ago I booked Diamond Princess, 23 Jan to and from NZ for my wife and 17 year old grand daughter (graduation present!) Original price was $1859 pp for Cat OV partial obstruction. Yesterday I checked prices and found Cat OV had been reduced to $1629. So I rang Princess and requested the re fare, got it no problems, saving $230 pp. Total $460. I have not paid final payment yet, so they did the re fare.

 

So it pays to monitor prices and book direct.

 

 

I booked my next cruise with Princess direct and have been no end impressed. I made final payment and then a day or so later had to call them about another issue and was told, always ring before you pay, end result a few hundred dollars refund.

[GUT2407]

I have had no end of trouble with TAs.

 

One didn't bother to lodge our Personaliser so frst few days were a nghtmare, getting meal times organised, having our bed as singles, shore tours missed.

 

Another didn't forward our final payment at a tine when the $ wa in freefall leading to an invoice for $2000, that was fun and lead to a law suit being fild before the TA came good.

 

One just didn't bother to return 3 phone calls over 2 days missing out on $500 OBC.