Question about using a TA

[Ready to Sail!]

I haven't used  TA in over 25 years.  Have been doing all our own bookings for cruises and independent travel and enjoy doing so.  But, after reading some of the posts on this forum on the subject I am thinking maybe it might be a better way to go in the future.  I do have a question or two about using a TA for our booked (just 3 weeks ago) and another cruise I want to book.  We have only done 1 Viking cruise in the past and I did book directly with Viking.

 

If I do turn over our recently booked cruise to a TA (and a furture booking) can I still use My Viking and book our own excursions OnLine when the time comes? We are in DV cabin so feel the need to book ASAP when allowed.  Will my information in My Viking be kept up to date and accessible to me?  

Do most of you who use a TA use one local to you or are you confortable with some of the OnLine agencies?  

 

Thanks for any clarification you can give me.

[CDNPolar]

1 hour ago, Ready to Sail! said:

I haven't used  TA in over 25 years.  Have been doing all our own bookings for cruises and independent travel and enjoy doing so.  But, after reading some of the posts on this forum on the subject I am thinking maybe it might be a better way to go in the future.  I do have a question or two about using a TA for our booked (just 3 weeks ago) and another cruise I want to book.  We have only done 1 Viking cruise in the past and I did book directly with Viking.

 

If I do turn over our recently booked cruise to a TA (and a furture booking) can I still use My Viking and book our own excursions OnLine when the time comes? We are in DV cabin so feel the need to book ASAP when allowed.  Will my information in My Viking be kept up to date and accessible to me?  

Do most of you who use a TA use one local to you or are you confortable with some of the OnLine agencies?  

 

Thanks for any clarification you can give me.

 

You can still book your own excursions - we do.  All information in MVJ is available to you except not your invoice, only the TA can see that on MVJ.

 

We use both local and online TA's - whichever offer the best benefits.

[1985rz1]

2 hours ago, Ready to Sail! said:

If I do turn over our recently booked cruise to a TA (and a furture booking) can I still use My Viking and book our own excursions OnLine when the time comes?

Yes.

 

2 hours ago, Ready to Sail! said:

Will my information in My Viking be kept up to date and accessible to me?  

Yes

 

2 hours ago, Ready to Sail! said:

Do most of you who use a TA use one local to you or are you confortable with some of the OnLine agencies?  

We use a small online, cruise only agency, and are very pleased. Select one that has a relationship with Viking and has experience booking with them.  If you use a larger agency, make sure you have an agent who is dedicated to you and is your contact and advocate.

[Sunflower & The Scientist]

We use a local TA with a large travel agency. I agree that you should use someone where you have the same TA (we've had ours for probably 12 years or so) because they develop a relationship with you and know what is a good fit for you. It was our TA who introduced us to Viking because she knew we would love them. I would choose a TA with extensive personal travel experience that is always helpful. 

 

Using a TA  with a larger agency is good also in that if you have an emergency and your TA is not there for some reason, you are able to speak with someone else. They can't do everything for you, but they can help to a great extent. 

 

Also sometimes the TA will give you perks and also deal with problems you may encounter so you don't have to waste your time on issues. 

 

I know a lot of people enjoy the time consuming process doing it themselves, but we are not retired and just don't have the time to do everything ourselves. 

[CDNPolar]

2 hours ago, Sunflower & The Scientist said:

 

 

I know a lot of people enjoy the time consuming process doing it themselves, but we are not retired and just don't have the time to do everything ourselves. 

 

We essentially research and book everything ourselves, and then turn it over to the TA for the financial perks.  If no perks then we hold the booking ourselves.

 

We are not retired, but we LOVE the process of researching and booking, and often have 2-3-4 bookings in the future that we are working on at various stages.  We have 4 trips - 3 cruises - booked now into 2025.

 

I get why some don't like the research and booking process, but we enjoy it.

[longterm]

We do the same as CDNPolar; I do the bookings for my wife and me, after we've figured out exactly what we'd like to do. We've now done 4 Viking cruises where we turned them over to the TA after the fact, just for the on-board credits. 

 

On land trips that were more complex (2 to South Africa, one upcoming to east Africa), we use a tour company because the arrangements are so complex, but for Viking trips, it's easy enough to take care of things myself, but plan on enjoying some good Bittgerger beers, courtesy of our TA, on the river cruise in 9 days. 🙂

[Ready to Sail!]

Thanks for all the replies.  As I said we haven't had a TA for over 20 years and at our age we don't have a lot of travel years left so we have decided no need to establish with one at this point.  I really enjoy all that goes into doing myself and other than maybe missing out on some OBC I do like having control.    Certainly pros and cons to both ways so guess we will just stay in our comfort zone. Thank you all.   The different replies helped in making the decision.  

[CDNPolar]

15 hours ago, longterm said:

We do the same as CDNPolar; I do the bookings for my wife and me, after we've figured out exactly what we'd like to do. We've now done 4 Viking cruises where we turned them over to the TA after the fact, just for the on-board credits. 

 

On land trips that were more complex (2 to South Africa, one upcoming to east Africa), we use a tour company because the arrangements are so complex, but for Viking trips, it's easy enough to take care of things myself, but plan on enjoying some good Bittgerger beers, courtesy of our TA, on the river cruise in 9 days. 🙂

 

9 days!  Exciting!  Enjoy

[Clay Clayton]

21 hours ago, Ready to Sail! said:

Thanks for all the replies.  As I said we haven't had a TA for over 20 years and at our age we don't have a lot of travel years left so we have decided no need to establish with one at this point.  I really enjoy all that goes into doing myself and other than maybe missing out on some OBC I do like having control.    Certainly pros and cons to both ways so guess we will just stay in our comfort zone. Thank you all.   The different replies helped in making the decision.  

Not sure that I saw any cons listed?🤔. Like others have posted, we book directly with Viking online or while onboard and then transfer to our TA.  For us the only difference is that our luggage tags arrive a day or three later than if sent directly from Viking. Not a big deal and one that I'm willing to accept in exchange for the onboard credits that pay for our gratuities and usually leaves a little left over for the bar bill (or is refunded if we have Silver Spirits). 

[WAVTAM]

Always use the same agency who arranges a rebate check back to us at the end of the cruise. Much better than any OBC.

[MikeyB]

4 hours ago, WAVTAM said:

 Much better than any OBC.

Actually, Refundable OBC is better.

[JeffElizabeth]

For decades, we booked our own cruises but now find our travel agent to be more than worth it. She is very good at watching if cruise prices fall and gets us good benefits onboard. 

[Clay Clayton]

14 hours ago, MikeyB said:

Actually, Refundable OBC is better.

Agreed!