TA or direct? Booking from the UK.

[leehal]

We have booked our previous 2 cruises directly with Celebrity.

 

Having read the forum more, there seems to be more people booking through a TA rather than directly. Are these people based outside of the UK?

 

I spent an hour or so trawling TA websites yesterday for offers and couldn't find anything better than booking direct, they were exactly the same offer.

 

Am I missing something?

[wendychloecruiser]

You are not necessarily missing anything. Sometimes booking directly has no impact on cruise rates. By checking out all options and with a few different TA's both locally and in the states you increase your chances of getting a better rate or bennies such as OBC and the like.

Edited July 10, 2016 by wendychloecruiser

[excitedofharpenden]

I used to book directly with Celebrity, but now use a TA. This is mainly because the service centre for Azamara who I also cruise with was contracted out of the UK to Guatemala. The TA was recommended to me by a friend and unfortunately Cruise Critic rules prevent me from sharing the name, but he is always able to knock £150-£200 off the price and more importantly he deals with the call centre.

 

Phil

[ighten]

Usually always book direct but this year the TA prices on offer were unbeatable for Celebrity.

[bremenkat]

I always price up directly then contact the TA's as well to see what they offer. Last year the price a TA gave me by a email quote was better than what wax quoted on their website. They had got a group discount and passed some of it onto clients as prepaid gratuities. That was for a cruise from Southampton so no transfers, flights etc needed.

 

This year we are doing a cruise from Rome and booked quite late. I priced it all separately including booking direct with the cruise line. I then got a price from a different TA including transfers, flights, hotel etc and it all worked out slightly cheaper booking with them.

 

TA's in the US often offer slightly better incentives but you have to weigh up the exchange rate aspects.

[leehal]

Thanks for your help, with the uncertainty with regards the £ at the moment we have booked direct.

 

Free upgrade, wifi, classic drinks and $500 OBC. Same room as our cruise in September and works out cheaper than we paid last time with the 123 Go offer that was on at the time when we booked on board.

[MAGSMFC]

Leehal have you booked direct with Celebrity and are they just offering $500 on board credit on certain cruises and which cruise have you booked.

 

Phil I know you are not allowed to name of the TA you book with but is there any way you can me a clue so I can try and work it out.

 

Many thanks

Margaret

[kevinyork]

I know the OP has already booked but for any other UK cruisers you can usually get around 5% off from some of the big cruise agents. If you join topcashback you get 4.2% cash back on online booking direct with X. Plus we like that booking direct with X incurs no credit card fees and they accept Amex. Given the current exchange rates then booking with US lines is likely to be less and less attractive for now.

 

 

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[jael001]

I booked direct via Topcashback and got a nice chunk of cashback which I've already spent lol. I have never found any TAs in the UK who could offer me a better deal than direct unfortunately. But I think next time I'll try going via a US TA as at least that way getting price drops or cancelling will be less of a hassle.

[leehal]

Thanks everyone, I should have thought about Topcashback.

 

I am happy with the deal we have, paying less than we have this year and free wifi added into the deal.

[insidecabin]

One advantage of booking direct is you don't have any middleman(person) problems for changes.

 

Communications come to you not the TA.

[speedwell]

If you book directly with Celebrity via one of the UK cashback sites there appears to be a 4% discount

[excitedofharpenden]

One advantage of booking direct is you don't have any middleman(person) problems for changes.

 

Communications come to you not the TA.

 

This is one of the main reasons I started using a travel agent because I'd rather not deal directly with the call centre. Back in the day I knew people in the Celebrity and Azamara office in Surrey who were very helpful and knew me. The team went through a radicalisation and all those I knew disappeared. If I call Azamara it now goes through to a call centre in Central America.

 

Phil

[J.E.C]

I have used a TA and booked direct. If I am booking a cruise in and out of the UK I tend to go direct.

 

But if I am doing any add ons I tend to use a TA to put it all together for me and I find that they can get upgraded flights and hotels for extra nights before/after for better deals than Celebrity can.

 

I also look for those TA's that do packages of a land tour and a cruise as they offer some great deals.

You also have the ABTA/ATOL cover. My TA this time around had booked us on revised flights and confirmed the new details to me within 2 hours of contacting them when Istanbul as a final destination was changed.

 

Julie

[insidecabin]

ABTA, ATOL and package holiday regulation protection booking direct.

[villauk]

If you book directly with Celebrity via one of the UK cashback sites there appears to be a 4% discount

 

I remember when you used to be able to get 12% discounts from the UK TAs, all that stopped a good few years ago - about the same time I started using US TAs. It's always best to shop around on both sides of the pond to see where the best deals lie ;).

 

The last round of TA sailings (transatlantics) went for an absolute bargain on the US websites, not so over here - nearly 3 times the cost (which totally cancels out any difference in currency exchange). Same with the 'Exciting Deals', again something you will not see over here ;).

[Gordoncruickshank]

For our last few cruises we booked when on board to get all the offers that are only starting to come out in the UK now. We then got them transferred back to our UK TA and received discount from them in addition to the extra OBC we received when booking on board.