Using a TA?

[Bases5]

I know you will have to call your TA if you want to make changes and make payments for your booking.

 

My question: Is there any other restrictions on your cruise planner

 

Can you still book your own shore excursion, buy cheers, buy from bon voyage and make dinner reservations online or do you need to go thru your TA for everything.

I have always done everything myself but thinking about trying a TA (OBC is amazing)

[summersigh]

I know you will have to call your TA if you want to make changes and make payments for your booking.

 

My question: Is there any other restrictions on your cruise planner

 

Can you still book your own shore excursion, buy cheers, buy from bon voyage and make dinner reservations online or do you need to go thru your TA for everything.

I have always done everything myself but thinking about trying a TA (OBC is amazing)

 

We always use a TA - I feel comfortable with someone having my back :D We always pick our room ourselves so no worries about the upgrade fairy not being able to get ahold of us

 

Fryee is right - if it's sold on the website you can buy it yourself. We fill out and print online checkin and luggage ourselves. (she could do it but I always beat her to it LOL )

[zqvol]

I know you will have to call your TA if you want to make changes and make payments for your booking.

 

My question: Is there any other restrictions on your cruise planner

 

Can you still book your own shore excursion, buy cheers, buy from bon voyage and make dinner reservations online or do you need to go thru your TA for everything.

I have always done everything myself but thinking about trying a TA (OBC is amazing)

 

You are exactly right plus you cannot get any price reductions that might be available without going through your TA.

[Crusin Hogs]

We have a very good PVP at Carnival , get all price drops, ect Never would use a TA

[shellsd]

I have booked direct and with a TA and don't notice a difference, other than the onboard credit. My TA gave me my booking number at the time I booked and once I plugged it into Carnival, I had all the same options as when I booked direct. I can book my own Carnival excusrions, order cheers, water, etc.

[Jimmy Geegitz]

People still use TA's? They must still have a VCR too.

[dioxide45]

People still use TA's? They must still have a VCR too.

 

I think these days it isn't so much a TA, but a travel companies/consolidator that sells cruises. There are a lot of online companies that do cruise bookings. There are still some local mom and pop or brick and mortar travel agents though too.

 

Travel agents do have their advantages. I think for certain types of things, they do have their advantages. The real good ones are worth their weight in cold. Ever want to book an all inclusive, and you will probably find yourself contacting a travel agent. You would rarely book those direct.

 

We use a travel agent/travel company to book all of our cruises. Usually save a few hundred bucks or get some other perks. So far they have also been great with price drops. Just called them up yesterday and had them adjust for a $380 price drop.

[esdoorn]

People still use TA's? They must still have a VCR too.

 

 

I have the best travel agent and always use him for every trip!

 

For our cruise, hotels, flights and ground transportation for our March 2016 trip, all we have to do was put down $250.00 per person as a deposit and pay the remaining $3,500.00 30 days before we travel. He has done this for every trip we have ever booked.

 

He also makes all our arrangements and everything is paid for before we get on the plane. Our limo driver has always met us when our flight gets in, delivers us to our hotel and make sure we get to the port in lots of time. It is so nice to not have to stress about anything, since the reason for the vacation is to just chill and relax.

[theriac]

With Carnival I use my PVP any other travel I use a TA or an online Travel aggregate that helps me with looking at all possibilities of travel in one place.

[shellsd]

People still use TA's? They must still have a VCR too.

 

dood, I love my laser disc. But seriously, what a stupid statement. The cruise cost was the exact same for my cruise but I got $250 OBC, why wouldn't I go with a TA? I like free money just fine. I picked my room, have early saver, etc. No drawback that I know of.

[Bases5]

Thanks so much everyone

Like I said i have always booked myself

A buddy of mine told me about his TA

So I gave her a call, sure enough the price was the same but she offered $200 OBC additional

I was just checking what restriction I would have to deal with if I went thru a TA

Doesn't sound like any

Thanks again for your reply's

[cruising maniac]

I always use my TA because of the OBC which is usually about 10% of our cruise fare. But sometimes I feel like I am a pain in the butt with price changes or room changes. I always communicate with her via e-mail and she responds very quickly Monday through Friday. If I need something on the weekend, I call the 1-800 number and someone helps me. I always book through the cruise line and transfer to the TA within 90 days. :) I buy beer and make steakhouse reservations through the Carnival website. No need to bother the TA for things I can do myself.

[dioxide45]

dood, I love my laser disc. But seriously, what a stupid statement. The cruise cost was the exact same for my cruise but I got $250 OBC, why wouldn't I go with a TA? I like free money just fine. I picked my room, have early saver, etc. No drawback that I know of.

 

I find that the Cruise Critic crowd tends to heavily favor booking direct or through a PVP. They seem sour on Travel Agents. I guess it comes down to preference. Some people see booking through a TA as a loss of convenience when you want to make changes or take advantage of a price drop. Others see the benefits of getting additional OBC, free specialty dinning or other perks. The travel company we use actually has lower "non public" rates, but we don't ever get promos like half price or $50 deposit.

 

So in the end, I guess it comes down to how much you are willing to pay for convenience. Some are willing to give up that $200 OBC so they can call the cruise line directly for a price drop. Some don't want to take the additional time and do the legwork to research the best OBC or other perk offered by travel agents. They want the simplicity of booking direct and not getting the best possible deal.

 

I am the one to use a travel agent and will do a lot of research to find the best offer out there. This is something I enjoy, sure if I spend five hours to save $200 that is about $40 an hour, so not too bad of a use of my time. Though if I were self employed, perhaps I could be making more money that by directing my energy elsewhere. Though I would probably make more money elsewhere than posting on Cruise Critic...

[summersigh]

We have a very good PVP at Carnival , get all price drops, ect Never would use a TA

 

A quick call or email to my TA and she takes care of price drops for me. Faster than doing it thru the cruise line. :)

[summersigh]

People still use TA's? They must still have a VCR too.

 

Our TA is wonderfully efficient. Her services don't cost me anything more that I would spend doing my own bookings online. I research what trips we want - tell her and she takes care of the bookings, payments and finding the best deals on "pre-existing condition" trip insurance. For price drops I just email or call her and it's a "done deal". :)

 

One reason I really feel good about having a TA for any travel arrangements we make is that if something goes wrong one call to her and it's fixed. For example - years ago we were taking Amtrak from FLA to New Orleans, spending the night, then a train from NO to Tucson AZ. During the week before the trip a hurricane wiped out the tracks in the FLA Panhandle. One call to her and rebookings via a different route allowed us to arrive in Tucson on time to meet our planned activities/reservations out there.

 

And no, we no longer have a VCR ... :D