river Cruise

[Smmorris35]

Is it better to book direct with Viking or use a travel agent to get better onboard credits and flights?

 

[Iamthesea]

I am no expert on River cruising, but I believe you get a better deal with a TA.  At least we did on one AMA River cruise, and tons of Ocean cruises.

[Daisi]

One bonus of using a good TA is that they will do all the work for you if anything happens like missed flights, high or low water levels, etc.  If you can get extra discounts (ours applied our discount to the final invoice) or on board credits, that's just the icing on the cake.

[doverboy]

Remember that you will be traveling to and sailing through many foreign countries.  A good TA will give you much needed advice for 1) contacting the Consulate if you need them, 2)making any changes or hospital/hotel inquiries. You are spending a load of cash, what's a few extra dollars?

[Roz]

My TA, who's traveled in Europe herself and done river cruises, has been very helpful to me in putting together pre-cruise pkgs. that are much less expensive than those offered by the cruise line.  

 

Roz

[Hoyaheel]

2 hours ago, doverboy said:

 You are spending a load of cash, what's a few extra dollars?

 

I'm not paying anyone to be my TA. The only reason I ever USE a TA is to SAVE money.

 

I can look up consulate info myself. If I want hospital advice, I book a travel medical insurance plan. I do all my own travel research (because I enjoy it!!) I would NEVER use a TA if I didn't save money doing it.

[doverboy]

2 minutes ago, Hoyaheel said:

 

I'm not paying anyone to be my TA. The only reason I ever USE a TA is to SAVE money.

 

I can look up consulate info myself. If I want hospital advice, I book a travel medical insurance plan. I do all my own travel research (because I enjoy it!!) I would NEVER use a TA if I didn't save money doing it.

I fell from a horse in Alaska and broke 6 ribs, had a 2 hour ambulance ride to Wasila and another to Anchorage.  Our TA was awakened at 2 AM in Florida and arranged for a rental car to be waiting for my wife when we were finally admitted to Anchorage Hosp.  He took care of all flight rescheduling since I was laid up for a week, changed my wife's hotel accommodations in Alaska, made sure airline had wheelchair waiting when I arrived at Anchorage Airport and Houston on flight home. I cannot imagine attempting to do those things in a foreign country, in a foreign language when one poster in CC could not find a pharmacy for a UTI.

Great for you, you are smarted than some of us. Hope there isn't some stupid protest on the streets of whichever country you visit and you miss the warning from the consulate.  Have a great vacation.  i did on my river cruise and got back $250 per ticket from my TA plus had people waiting at airport in Budapest to get me to the hotel.

[Hoyaheel]

doverboy - 1, I said I DO use a TA. I just don't like it because I prefer to do stuff on my own and always have. You know you can register at the State Dept when you travel abroad and they will let you know if there are problems? https://step.state.gov/

 

And 2, I'm still surprised you PAY a TA. Most people don't. What is the set up of the TA you use? Flat fee like a financial planner? I'm specifically quoting you "what's a few extra dollars". Perhaps I am misunderstanding what you mean by that???

Edited July 11, 2019 by Hoyaheel

[Roz]

I've never paid a TA for booking a river or ocean cruise.

 

Roz

[Daisi]

I never knew TA's charged... we've never paid for them....just enjoyed their benefit's.  I do a lot of planning and checking up, so I probably drive them up the wall.  The one I used for our Rhine cruise brought in some of her L'Occitane products for me to see if I could handle the scent...I asked my cabin attendant if I would be ok taking home the ones in our room, and he supplied me with another whole set just for her.  A small thanks for all the headaches I probably gave her!

[franski]

7 hours ago, Hoyaheel said:

I'm still surprised you PAY a TA. Most people don't. What is the set up of the TA you use? Flat fee like a financial planner? I'm specifically quoting you "what's a few extra dollars". Perhaps I am misunderstanding what you mean by that???

 I took that to mean that it might be a few extra dollars at the end of the day to book through a TA vs booking directly with the company...  The TA, I believe, gets a percentage from the cruise line if you book through them.

 

I have a TA that I use for almost all of my cruise bookings (the last one I booked directly, as I argued for the rate posted on their website...) I don't expect her to add extra perks - she works hard for me, and provides a service that I greatly appreciate. Any extra perks would be coming directly out of her pocket - and I don't think I need to take part of her income just to reduce my vacation by a few dollars.  She has saved me money over the years - and definitely saved me aggravation.  For example, in March of this year, she changed our flights from Lima to Arequipa due to a missed flight in Miami - then had all the paper work ready when we returned so that we could submit to the insurance....  It could have been done by us, but - we were in a hotel in another country (granted, it was the US - but we were not at home...), and very sleep deprived by the time I contacted her --> she had all the contact numbers for the Peruvian airline and CC info in our file to make the changes....

 

I know many people do their own arrangements - and I do for some things - but like to have a TA on board for the big ticket items.

 

Fran

 

 

 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

There are TA's who charge, so we still need clarification from doverboy over that comment.  

 

I would never use a TA who charges, even for cancellations and changes.  I expect good service to be paid for by their commission from the cruise line.

[Hoyaheel]

Same here - I would never pay more (whether it's the vacation price or commission or flat fee or whatever) to use a TA. It's not worth it TO ME because I'm fine making my own arrangements AND assuming the risk (or mitigating risk via insurance). I understand others operate differently - for sure there's never a one size fits all answer. But I wouldn't blindly recommend to use a TA other than to save money. If someone asking has other concerns (wanting the types of support mentioned in this thread) they would certainly be factors to take into consideration. But without knowing those things, no blanket answers ;-)

[doverboy]

When I travel outside of the country or somewhere far from home that I don't know the surroundings I will contact my TA and book through him.  If it costs more than booking by myself I pay it, if he can get a reduced rate I pay whatever the invoice is.  My TA works for a living, as do I, and he makes his money from his fantastic job and the work he puts in. Don't really care who pays him but he has been there for me through some difficult circumstances, send gift cards for my kids graduations, helped me put together a cruise for a raffle I paid for.

I sometimes tire of the "I am the greatest" claims from posters. I can't imagine needing help in a foreign country because I booked all of my own details.  I share my bookings with my TA so he has recommendations for others making similar trips such as the Hotel we booked in Maranello, Italy or the rent a car company we used throughout Europe

[TMLAalum]

We used a local travel agent for our upcoming Avalon cruise. $500 non-refundable deposit. But when one of our group had to cancel due to a doubly blessed event for her DS & DDiL happening around the time of the cruise, this TA was amazing. She was able to transfer the deposit to a Danube cruise in 2020 that aligns with a Celebrity Baltic cruise they are taking AND got their airfare refunded because there was a minor change to their non-refundable flights which the TA told them to refuse et voila!

 

Now to be a balanced reporter, another friend in our group who was traveling solo and decided to invite her granddaughter along,  was not pleased with the answers she was given by this same TA as far as options for doing so. Friend felt that base rate paid for one at time of booking should just be increased by the double rate at that time, but TA quoted a much higher price. And even though it was made clear to our friend that our group was opting for the aquarium deck and she was ok with that,  just last Monday she told me she'd thought she'd reserved a panorama cabin. 

 

The big relief for me as the group organizer is that the TA handles all the issues of those in the group! Better she than me!!

 

 

Edited July 12, 2019 by TMLAalum