When do you book a TA?

[MJC]

1 hour ago, cruising cockroach said:

 

Well, what are you going to do?  Get off and buy a full-fare ticket to fly home?

 

 I think their point was more in the line of, if you are wondering if you'll like a different line, perhaps a shorter cruise with more port days would be a better start.

[iancal]

We have done one TA and one that was a partial.  The latter had been a Rome to FLL TA that was subsequently broken up to a Rome/BCN and a BCN- FLL component. We only did the Rome/BCN component with cruise air home. 

 

In both instances we booked late-well inside the final payment window.  But, we had been following the pricing on four or five ships.  Both timesthere were numerous good offers available on various cruise lines.  We had the luxury of time. Extended our time in Europe one cutting it a few days short did not impact our extended trips.  Both times we scored balcony cabins in good locations.  We got so called upgrades but they were marketing upgrades  as opposed to real upgrades.   We never wait for the lowest price.  We watch the pricing for a while and then set a buy price.  When it hits we buy.  Different for us though because our travel schedules are very flexible

 

we never buy on the basis of cruise line only.  Ship is more important to us.  Besides, it is such a crap shoot today on of the mass market cruise lines.  The only constant seems to be inconsistency.

Edited October 30, 2018 by iancal

[crystalspin]

12 hours ago, MJC said:

Sooo... a couple more questions.

 

In another post elsewhere on CC, a cruiser recommended against trying a new line for a TATL, as you cannot get off if it turns out to be a bad fit. Comments?

<snip>

🙂

We are trying RCI in a few weeks for a TAtl. I am not trepidatious at all! Ours is pretty much same-size ship as we have sailed on HAL, but I would think trying a bigger ship (if you have interest) on a TAtl would be fine -- more things to distract you from anything that didn't suit you.

 

Really, you can never get off! We tried one line on a 2wk Panama Canal. Did not enjoy the ship nor the weather, but made the best of it and in the end, it was a cruise!

[iancal]

We typically book most of our cruises through a TA.  Especially when we need to firm up an air portion.  If required we keep an eye on air pricing at the same time as we are watching cruise pricing.

 

if we decide to buy we call out TA.  She has always been able to arrange a hold for a cabin hold for a few hours.  We nail down air, as required, then call our TA to hit the bill button on the cruise.  That way we are not left holding the bag on higher than anticipated air.  One of the best airfares, price and routing, was cruise air booked with a cruise about two weeks out.  We were surprised that the air was available.  The air and the cruise fares combined made the package exceedingly attractive. 

 

When end it comes to TA's it really does pay to shop around. We have friends who do a one way TA every year.  They cherry pick the cruise line offerings for the best deal/ship to their liking.  They always seem to get an attractive price by holding off until the final payment window.  But like us, they always have a plan B.