Booking With A Travel Agent

[John G.]

I know we can't mention names of travel agents on here. I have never booked a cruise with a travel agent and just have a question: do you use a local agent in your area that you can walk in and talk to face to face or one who may be 1000 miles away and the only contact is by phone? Just hope someone can give advice without breaking the rules on this board.

[Colo Cruiser]

I know we can't mention names of travel agents on here. I have never booked a cruise with a travel agent and just have a question: do you use a local agent in your area that you can walk in and talk to face to face or one who may be 1000 miles away and the only contact is by phone? Just hope someone can give advice without breaking the rules on this board.

 

Mine is 2000 miles away. I have not walked into a travel agents office in 15 years at least.

[cruisingpeople]

Mine is 2000 miles away. I have not walked into a travel agents office in 15 years at least.

 

Same here. Mine is almost 1000 miles away. Everything has always been by phone and email since 2002. We did meet once when we were sailing out of a port in her vicinity.

[FlaGirl13]

We had a friend refer us to their agent. She has helped them for years. We are on East coast and she is West coast of Fla. Extremely easy to get in touch with, both by phone and email. She takes care of everything for us, even finding specials and OBC. Check with friends for recommendations.

 

 

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[Thrak]

On our first cruise we used a local TA. After that I booked myself directly with Princess. Then I switched to booking myself and transferring it to a local TA because I like him and I get a tiny bit of OBC. We are currently booked in that manner but I am going to pull the booking from him and transfer it to another TA. I will feel really bad about it (honestly, I really do like the guy and he gives excellent service) but I someone did the Godfather thing and made me an offer I can't refuse.

 

I think I have $70 OBC on my next cruise from the local TA. A big box TA has offered me in the area of $1,000 OBC for booking the same cruise. (I think that realistically it will be around $900 but that's still nothing to sneeze at.) No matter how bad I feel about pulling the listing back from the local TA there is simply no way in the world he can match that kind of OBC. I will get to keep my same booking, same AIBP perk, same everything but get a lot of OBC. I doubt my local TA will be happy but I also doubt that he will fail to understand that I simply can't afford to throw away that kind of money.

[Lucky TGO]

I live in Massachusetts and my travel agent's company is in Florida. I have been with them for over 14yrs.

I found them on the internet and never had a problem.

Tony

[casofilia]

We live in New Zealand and our TA is 550Km away. We deal with them by email but go in to see them when we visit out daughter who lives in the same city.. They give us very good service.

[tinybiny]

Mine lives on the other coast. I've only had contact with her through email and phone. I've been happy with it. After reading about Princess move over offers I am wondering if people who are open to the move over offers and upgrades are better doing their own booking. Seems like there is a very small window of opportunity to jump on something like that being in different timezones and email would probably make it not work out.

[msmoger]

Mine lives on the other coast. I've only had contact with her through email and phone. I've been happy with it. After reading about Princess move over offers I am wondering if people who are open to the move over offers and upgrades are better doing their own booking. Seems like there is a very small window of opportunity to jump on something like that being in different timezones and email would probably make it not work out.

 

 

I've wondered the same thing. I'm very happy with our TA (also in another state). She give excellent service and very good pricing (high volume Princess TA). As a result I doubt I would benefit by booking directly with Princess in the long run. However, I have never received an upgrade or move over offer and have wondered if it has anything to do with the "TA process" and the inevitable timing issue.

[susancruzs]

I've had the same agent for 15 years or so, I'm in the Midwest, she's towards the east coast. I always find her pricing is better than the cruise line because of the volume she handles. I've met her in person before through a group cruise and we do chat on the phone, so I feel a personal level of service.

[Colo Cruiser]

Mine lives on the other coast. I've only had contact with her through email and phone. I've been happy with it. After reading about Princess move over offers I am wondering if people who are open to the move over offers and upgrades are better doing their own booking. Seems like there is a very small window of opportunity to jump on something like that being in different timezones and email would probably make it not work out.

 

 

If one has a good TA that does their job then this is not an issue.

[georgiacat]

Now for the opposite side of the coin, I prefer to walk in to see my TA. We have worked with someone miles away over the internet, but I did not feel as satisfied with the service. I went back with my local person. I may not get the best deal, but my money stays locally somewhat. Also I really like to talk with people in person and I hate the phone. Probably has a lot to do with it.

[Parrottdizes]

I too like to be close to where my TA is..........actually she is only a few miles away from where I live. I like to talk to my TA face to face and be with her when she makes all of the bookings......then I get all of the paperwork right away. When you had a good TA, you hold on to them.

[Little Sister]

I am in Virginia and my fabulous TA is in Indiana. We will be sailing on the same cruise in March of 2018, and will meet for the first time. Not only is she great at her job, but she is compassionate. We just spoke on the phone last night about a non cruise related subject and it was a nice easy flowing chat. She goes above and beyond for me, and gets me perks I couldn't get alone.

[sunnygidget]

Meet our TA at an Irish Fair, 9 yrs ago. Worked with her mostly over the internet and phone since. We still see her in person every year at the Irish Fair to take a bottle or 2 of homemade wine.

 

She has not only done a fantastic job on booking things for us, but has been there when things go wrong as well. The time our ship came in to final port hours late and we missed our flight, she filed with the company and got our promised compensation, besides rebooking our flight and finding us a hotel for the night, then filed with the insurance for the flight cost difference. She found us a flight at 5am after our flight was cancelled so we could make our cruise (lesson learned, go in a day early). She really has been there for us and we would not trade her for a straight cruise line booking, ever.

[geocruiser]

My TA is near one of our homes. So half the year we are close to her. The rest of the year we book by phone. She gives great service and has helped us out many times. She has given me her home and cell phone number in case I need her. Some times I will E-mail her on her day off and she gets back to me right a way. We just think the world of her.

[RNGALNG]

I too have my TA in town. I like to be able to talk with them at my whim if anything is amiss or want to get things done. I have worked with the same agent for years and love working with her.

[towhee]

Our TA is downtown. We love to go in and chat and tell her our experiences. A few years ago I had to organize a cruise for a group I'm in. Our TA helped me through all the ins and outs of making the arrangements and even made sure that all of the participants had their immigration information in order (no small task). When our transportation to the pier fell through, she even arranged for a van to pick us up. Since the cruise lines and airlines have cut back significantly on TA commissions, she isn't making as much money as she used to, but she loves what she's doing, her earnings stay local, and she is an asset to our community.

[cflutist]

On our first cruise we used a local TA. After that I booked myself directly with Princess. Then I switched to booking myself and transferring it to a local TA because I like him and I get a tiny bit of OBC. We are currently booked in that manner but I am going to pull the booking from him and transfer it to another TA. I will feel really bad about it (honestly, I really do like the guy and he gives excellent service) but I someone did the Godfather thing and made me an offer I can't refuse.

 

I think I have $70 OBC on my next cruise from the local TA. A big box TA has offered me in the area of $1,000 OBC for booking the same cruise. (I think that realistically it will be around $900 but that's still nothing to sneeze at.) No matter how bad I feel about pulling the listing back from the local TA there is simply no way in the world he can match that kind of OBC. I will get to keep my same booking, same AIBP perk, same everything but get a lot of OBC. I doubt my local TA will be happy but I also doubt that he will fail to understand that I simply can't afford to throw away that kind of money.

 

 

We book with Princess direct on the day the cruise itinerary is released, then transfer it to a big box TA as well. It is difficult to turn down refundable $1735 in OBC. Add FCC of $300, CCL Shareholders of $250, and two CC $25 and we have $2335 to spend on shorex and gratuities. I know, we are supposed to get $25 CC per cabin, but because we have two completely different CC numbers (he started cruising in 1989, me in 2003), not just #########A and #########B, and different last names, we got $50, and always two invitations to the Captains Circle parties.

[iramack]

We book with Princess direct on the day the cruise itinerary is released, then transfer it to a big box TA as well. It is difficult to turn down refundable $1735 in OBC. Add FCC of $300, CCL Shareholders of $250, and two CC $25 and we have $2335 to spend on shorex and gratuities. I know, we are supposed to get $25 CC per cabin, but because we have two completely different CC numbers (he started cruising in 1989, me in 2003), not just #########A and #########B, and different last names, we got $50, and always two invitations to the Captains Circle parties.

 

What sailing is this on ? I want to get the big deal too...................

 

Please do tell......

 

Steve

[socaljo]

Hi CC friends,

My question, can you transfer your booking to a TA if you're using EZ Air??

Thanks & Happy Sailing!

[Potstech]

I know we can't mention names of travel agents on here. I have never booked a cruise with a travel agent and just have a question: do you use a local agent in your area that you can walk in and talk to face to face or one who may be 1000 miles away and the only contact is by phone? Just hope someone can give advice without breaking the rules on this board.

 

 

Local agent who has never steered us wrong and has helped with problems every time needed.

[cflutist]

Hi CC friends,

My question, can you transfer your booking to a TA if you're using EZ Air??

Thanks & Happy Sailing!

 

Yes, and you can continue to work with Princess with the air portion.

I just did this, originally booked Flexible RT Premium Economy seats with Virgin Atlantic.

They changed our return flight from London Heathrow from 3:30 pm to 11:40 am, which made it outside of

Princess guidelines when returning to Dover. I called Princess, and they changed our return flight to British Airways Business Class for no additional cost, got to pick our seats too. In the meantime still have our cruise booking with the big box TA. From what I understand I pay off the entire booking (including air) when I make the final payment. And since I use their Rewards Visa Card, we get another 3% cashback for the cruise.

[msg74]

On our first cruise we used a local TA. After that I booked myself directly with Princess. Then I switched to booking myself and transferring it to a local TA because I like him and I get a tiny bit of OBC. We are currently booked in that manner but I am going to pull the booking from him and transfer it to another TA. I will feel really bad about it (honestly, I really do like the guy and he gives excellent service) but I someone did the Godfather thing and made me an offer I can't refuse.

 

I think I have $70 OBC on my next cruise from the local TA. A big box TA has offered me in the area of $1,000 OBC for booking the same cruise. (I think that realistically it will be around $900 but that's still nothing to sneeze at.) No matter how bad I feel about pulling the listing back from the local TA there is simply no way in the world he can match that kind of OBC. I will get to keep my same booking, same AIBP perk, same everything but get a lot of OBC. I doubt my local TA will be happy but I also doubt that he will fail to understand that I simply can't afford to throw away that kind of money.

 

 

 

Holy cow, man! :cool:

[socaljo]

Yes, and you can continue to work with Princess with the air portion.

I just did this, originally booked Flexible RT Premium Economy seats with Virgin Atlantic.

They changed our return flight from London Heathrow from 3:30 pm to 11:40 am, which made it outside of

Princess guidelines when returning to Dover. I called Princess, and they changed our return flight to British Airways Business Class for no additional cost, got to pick our seats too. In the meantime still have our cruise booking with the big box TA. From what I understand I pay off the entire booking (including air) when I make the final payment. And since I use their Rewards Visa Card, we get another 3% cashback for the cruise.

Thanks so much, Cheryl! I've come to know an agent that I'd love to give the business to, just wanted to be sure first! And yes, I've already picked our seats, the price thru EZAir was great, didn't want to mess all that up! Yippee!

Happy sailing!