Best way to find a Carnival Travel Agent?

[Gatordad815]

I realize specific recommendations aren’t permitted here, but I’m trying to figure out in general how to find a good Carnival TA. 

 

Our last Carnival cruise was a booze cruise in our 20s. We are now in our 40s with young kids considering a week on the Breeze for Spring Break 2020. I submitted a Cruise Compete bid and the agent with the best OBC offer never responded to my email or call, the next one was nice enough but his agency charges cancellation fees even on refundable fares, and the last one doesn’t even provide an email address which seems a bit sketchy to me.

 

We have done 2 family cruises on Oasis this last year and I booked directly with RC, but I’ve read that you can get pretty substantial OBC with a good travel agent so I’m trying to find one. Is there a place to compare and contrast and get recommendations? Or is it really just google (which I’ve done and can’t seem to find anything definitive). 

 

Any tips on how to find a good TA for a family cruise sincerely appreciated!

[Nic6318]

Hi

 

I think your best bet is to ask friends that cruise a lot. Otherwise, it's just hit and miss.

 

One thing, I wouldn't deal with anyone that didn't respond to messages. Personally, I (usually) deal with Carnival directly. That way you have control of your booking. I use one of their PVP's, you can just call and ask for them to assign someone to you. If that person is not available to speak with me when I have a question, I can always speak with some else.

[teknoge3k]

Like Nic6318, we only deal directly with Carnival. No reason to involve a middle man with our plans. I like having full control over my booking. Besides for me, planning is half the fun. 

[BoDidly]

40 minutes ago, Gatordad815 said:

Any tips on how to find a good TA for a family cruise sincerely appreciated!

Read on line review experiences, then read some more.  Google searches will show you a slew of em.

 

[webzila]

I could be wrong but I don't think you can get any discount by using a TA booking Carnival and any extra perks would be very little or none. Might as well just cut out the middle man and book it yourself.

 

This maybe different for other lines but don't think TA is worth it for Carnival

[BoDidly]

Just now, webzila said:

I could be wrong but I don't think you can get any discount by using a TA booking Carnival and any extra perks would be very little or none. Might as well just cut out the middle man and book it yourself.

 

This maybe different for other lines but don't think TA is worth it for Carnival

Sure you can. TA's offer several .

[joepeka]

Independent (agency) TA's can sometimes give you perks or discounts at the expense of their commission from the cruise line but generally they will offer you no better pricing than dealing directly with the cruise line (Carnival in this case). I would call the Carnival PVP number (800-819-3902) and request you be assigned a PVP.

Edited March 3, 2019 by joepeka

[webzila]

9 minutes ago, BoDidly said:

Sure you can. TA's offer several .

Great...what do they offer for Carnival that you can't get yourself? $20 OBC?

[Illbcruzn4life]

1 hour ago, webzila said:

Great...what do they offer for Carnival that you can't get yourself? $20 OBC?

 

nothing else extra offered as far as what you can get yourself booking on the CCL website.

 

 

[Micahs Grandad]

2 hours ago, webzila said:

I could be wrong but I don't think you can get any discount by using a TA booking Carnival and any extra perks would be very little or none. Might as well just cut out the middle man and book it yourself.

 

This maybe different for other lines but don't think TA is worth it for Carnival

You can get some obc by booking with TA but you do lose control of booking.

[Saint Greg]

1 hour ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

 

nothing else extra offered as far as what you can get yourself booking on the CCL website.

 

 

 

OBC for sure. I booked my December cruise like 90 days out and carnival wasn’t offering OBC so I got $75 OBC through an agent...and other than that I managed that booking on the carnival website just like any other booking I’ve had through carnival.

[crooooze]

I don't understand the "losing control of your booking" that keeps coming up. We usually get a few hundred $ OBC with a TA.

What "control" have I lost? I have full visibility to the booking online...

 

 

[BoDidly]

12 minutes ago, crooooze said:

I don't understand the "losing control of your booking" that keeps coming up. We usually get a few hundred $ OBC with a TA.

What "control" have I lost? I have full visibility to the booking online...

 

 

The control to direct any questions or problems you may have with your booking to Carnival. You will need to go through your TA to get those answers needed. If you decide to book direct with Carnival in the future Carnival PVP's will question you if you're booked or had discussions with a TA before they will take your booking. 

[crooooze]

15 minutes ago, BoDidly said:

The control to direct any questions or problems you may have with your booking to Carnival. You will need to go through your TA to get those answers needed. If you decide to book direct with Carnival in the future Carnival PVP's will question you if you're booked or had discussions with a TA before they will take your booking. 

 

Ok, so you call your TA instead of the Carnival. You still need to call someone. Not sure what "control" that is.  I have at times waited on the phone on hold a very long time for Carnival Customer Service... With a TA, they do the leg work for you and just call you back later... And you get an additional OBC/perk just for using them.

 

I really don't see any value in a Carnival PVP. I have used them in the past, but never got more than an "order taker" anyway. May as well go for the extra discount...

Edited March 4, 2019 by crooooze

[coevan]

2 hours ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

 

nothing else extra offered as far as what you can get yourself booking on the CCL website.

 

 

 

 

We did a B2B and got a steak dinner on each leg, bottle of Champagne in the cabin and $100 each leg OBC. Our TA was very responsive and always promptly returned our calls. 

[BoDidly]

3 minutes ago, crooooze said:

 

Ok, so you call your TA instead of the Carnival. You still need to call someone. Not sure what "control" that is.  I have at times waited on the phone on hold a very long time for Carnival Customer Service... With a TA, they do the leg work for you and just call you back later... And you get an additional OBC/perk just for using them.

 

I really don't see any value in a Carnival PVP. I have used them in the past, but never got more than an "order taker" anyway. May as well go for the extra discount...

 I can't knock it I can see the logic behind your reasoning . I to have done the same.  One advantage I've noticed a PVP can see cabin availability that some TA's cant.  Depending on what cruise I'm looking at , I could flip a coin.