INTERNET COMPANIES VS. A TRAVEL AGENT? help

[skarletohara]

well, hint hint, it SOUNDS LIKE kimsbruises.com

but instead of the B, you might want to substitute in its place a letter k.

hint, hint???

 

Carnival Holiday 6/92

RCCL Monarch of the Seas 6/94

Celebrity Infinity 6/28/01

Star Princess 2/08/03

Golden Princess 12/06/03

Diamond Princess 9/25/04

[mom2three]

Thanks for the help!

So far I have a quote on the Grand Princess no one has been able to beat.

Hopefully I'll get lucky

[The Millers]

so...what's the verdict?

[Cruises n Vegas]

Just do your research. She must work for a high volume agency, as do I. We get great prices too. For example, I just booked 2 passengers on the Carib Princ and they ended up with a 5 category upgrade, shipboard credits and photo vouchers.

 

The real test is if she goes to bat for you when things get screwed up - and things can always get screwed up. Granted, the chances of mistakes are alot less with Princess (my new fav cruise line) but anything can go wrong. Rule of thumb, the higher the volume the agency does, the better the prices and the more perks you will get.

 

Smooth Sailings!!

[magnumcoog]

I use an internet based company, in fact email is the only way to contact this company. I have used them twice now. They have been very prompt with my requests and I have had not one problem. They are open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., 7 days a week. Answers to my questions have come back to me less than hour after I submit them, and usually less than 15 minutes. I have also recommended this company to someone else and they used them too, saved them lots of $$$. I have never found anyone lower. Seems they cut their commission to about 2-3%. Good luck.

 

Big Red Boat 1996, Enchantment 1997, Magic 1999, Magic 2001, Magic 2003, Serenade 2004, Grand Princess March 26, 2005

 

Grand Princess

 

[Cruises n Vegas]

You are taking a big gamble if you book through a company that you can only contact via email. What happens if you need to get in touch with them ASAP?

 

I had a group of passengers travel from the cruise ship to the airport to catch their flight at the end of the cruse. Long story short but the bus got in an accident. I was one of the 1st people they called to change their flight, get phone #'s to the cruise line etc.

 

I would also wonder why they don't want you calling them. Email is not always an option. Your agent should ALWAYS be just a phone call away. Most of my passengers have my cell phone too. I may get some phone calls with stupid questions but there has been times where I was able to avoid a disaster for them at the last minute.

 

It is also nice to get a call from them after they first board the ship. I love hearing the excitment in their voice when they are experiencing it for the first time.

 

You can't get the little extras that make cruising special from an email.

 

Smooth Sailings!!

[marciemi]

lynda - we've also used cruiserewards for RCI and found their prices couldn't be beat. However, for our 2 Princess cruises, had to book elsewhere for much cheaper prices.

 

Big Red Boat '88,

Fair Princess '90,

Norway '91,

Regal Princess '91,

Carnival Fantasy '93,

Regent Rainbow '95,

Big Red Boat '98,

Disney Wonder '00,

Grand Princess 11/16/03,

Voyager of the Seas 09/10/04

 

<MARQUEE> Voyager of the Seas - 9/10/2004 <MARQUEE>

[Lynda90]

marciemi,

 

I ended up getting 3 or 4 major price reductions from them because they kept dropping the prices. They weren't particularly gracious about it but they did do it. They didn't let me know about the reductions, but I checked their site daily. I probably will not use them for my next booking. I have learned a lot from these boards. Who did you book with if you don't mind saying.

 

Thanks,

Lynda

[marciemi]

lynda - we're doing one of the 9 night Voyagers and the prices have gone up and up and up so price reductions haven't been an issue! However, we did originally book a Nov 2003 Voyager for 2 of us, switched cabins a couple times, booked an Aug 5 night Voyager, cancelled the Nov cruise, switched the 5 night to a Sep 9 night and changed cabins a couple more times (and added the kids) on that one. So they been pretty good about working with us through all this and didn't charge us anything for the changes or cancellations.

 

Our last Princess cruise we found cheapest directly through the cruise line (some regional deal). This cruise (Dec 2004) I booked (yesterday) through cruiseshopping.com, which I always use to check for specific available cabins, but also seemed to have the cheapest prices I could find for this cruise. Princess directly was over $400 more for the 2 of us. I did get a quote from cruisequick, which was about $50 cheaper, but felt more comfortable with a live agent for that small difference.

 

Big Red Boat '88,

Fair Princess '90,

Norway '91,

Regal Princess '91,

Carnival Fantasy '93,

Regent Rainbow '95,

Big Red Boat '98,

Disney Wonder '00,

Grand Princess 11/16/03,

Voyager of the Seas 09/10/04

 

<MARQUEE> Voyager of the Seas - 9/10/2004 <MARQUEE>

[Lynda90]

marciemi,

 

Thanks so much for the great information. I really appreciate your input. Will try some of those sites you mentioned.

 

Lynda