any benefit to using a travel agent?

[tomboyy]

I was just wondering If anyone has a reason that they would use a TA as oppose to just booking it all their self? My wife booked our cruise with a travel agent and when she asked about excursions they didn't know anything about them and said we had to take care of that. We wanted insurance and it took a good month to get any info from them. I read on the boards here that if the price of the cruse went down it might be possible to get OBC's , so I called the TA and he said nope your already paid in full and one more thing, My wife has handled all of this herself and I just got to look at some of the paper work and seen taxes for almost 600.00 for the 4 of us ... is that right.. for 2 ports of call (freeport nassua)? Ta said it didn't matter what rooms you had or the price of the ticket, another couple has a 4a cat. room and exactly the same taxes. thanks for any info:)

 

Tom

[kgk]

We've booked both ways TA and PVP. We've used two different TAs and the service does vary. Each TA had strong and weak points. Have used PVPs and they just seem a little to pushy. Perhaps just the few that I've spoken with. It also seems a lot easier for me to call a TA and get through to him/her or someone in their office then thru to my PVP.

 

Port taxes are port taxes. Doesn't matter what room you're in. It's per person.

[gkrnjlr]

We booked with a TA for our first cruise and it was ok. The second time we booked with a TA and it was nothing but trouble. We had to work around their hours as to when we could get information or discuss anything. We called Carnival directly about things and eventually signed paperwork for a "friendly takeover" for the TA to be taken out of the picture.

 

FYI - your TA may have told you that she can't get the price reduced when the rates go down....but that's not true. Our TA (first cruise) did get our rate reduced and we got an OBC. Be persistent!

 

I've heard a lot of people say that the PVPs were pushy but we have a good one and I have zero complaints. He's great! I'd recommend him to anyone!

[tomboyy]

:( Guess I'll fess up now before I get in any deeper.. I don't know what a PVP is

 

Tom

[gkrnjlr]

PVP = Personal Vacation Planner

They're employed by Carnival to handle bookings and any questions, etc. for your cruise.

[kayceecc]

PVP=Personal Vacation Planner, Carnival's version of a travel agent, sort of! I LOVE my PVP!!!! She is AWESOME. She just upgraded my IS gty on Conquest in Feb. 08 to the Panorama deck! So, we got a 7 day for LESS than $85 pp/pday! What a deal!

[kujobie]

No benefit that I know of. If you are good at researching the internet, and you wouldn't be reading this if you weren't, you can do just as well on your own. I don't have a PVP. I just call Carnivals 800 # and book with whomever answers. These people are not PVP's but are equally qualified in my opinion. They will ask all the same questions regarding discounts, of which there are basically four (past guest, military, senior, and state of residency) You either qualify for these or you don't. It doesn't take someone special to determine this. Anyways, it sounds like your TA is not being user friendly. I would avoid using him or her in the future. Depending on when your cruise is, you might be getting bogus info. When is your cruise?

[Corsair41]

In my limited experience, I would say that its almost a luck of the draw kind of thing. On our 1st cruise we booked with a TA that my wife had used before, and it was pretty much a cluster. Our 2nd we chose a TA recommended to us, and things worked much better. For our December 16, '07 on Legend, we used an excellent PVP and the process was great! And since I've seen more than a few posts on here about bad PVPs, I guess you get what you get.

[kujobie]

Just an FYI.. It is against the rules on these boards to mention specific TA's or PVP's by name and also against the rules to post your e-mail addy for the purpose of exchanging such info.

[truecruiser]

no offense, OP, as i see you are new to the boards. but many answers to your question are already posted in an very recent (existing) thread which is only on page 2, no need to even use the search feature.

 

i have copied the link here. i think some posts in the attached address your question quite on point.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=545556

 

welcome to the boards.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

No benefit that I know of. If you are good at researching the internet, and you wouldn't be reading this if you weren't, you can do just as well on your own. I don't have a PVP. I just call Carnivals 800 # and book with whomever answers. These people are not PVP's but are equally qualified in my opinion. They will ask all the same questions regarding discounts, of which there are basically four (past guest, military, senior, and state of residency) You either qualify for these or you don't. It doesn't take someone special to determine this. Anyways, it sounds like your TA is not being user friendly. I would avoid using him or her in the future. Depending on when your cruise is, you might be getting bogus info. When is your cruise?

 

Does CCL or their PVP's match TA's quote?

 

The benefit for me using a TA is I get great service with no fees and discounted quotes.

 

Bill

[tomboyy]

Cruising june 17th Kujobie. No offense taken true cruiser.. I might have even read that thread .. but .. as I have read 400 million post on here in the last month, I might have forgotten that one:D I've sat here for hours at a time reading posts. Theres alot of good info here, I even have a dedicated box in the house of things that must go with us on the cruise (Big drink holders,duct tape ect..ect..)

 

Tom

[mikedw]

I'm a TA and most of the times are rates beat the what the cruise lines have on there websites. The more volume you do, you start to get into better pricing.

 

Take care,

 

Michael

[Randy & Carmen]

Well, EXCUSE ME!!!!! I did not realize that I was breaking a rule. I have seen SEVERAL people offer email addys for the same reason, so I was unaware of RULES VIOLATIONS!! I thought these boards were to share information, guess I was wrong.

If you see it again..hit the triangle and report it as it IS against the rules......

 

This might be a good time for anyone that doesn't know this to reread them.....thanks!:)

[kujobie]

Does CCL or their PVP's match TA's quote?

 

The benefit for me using a TA is I get great service with no fees and discounted quotes.

 

Bill

 

Yes. As far as I know they will match any rate, though I have never been able to get a better rate than booking direct, so I can't be sure.

[Sirwinston]

I really like that I can book online @ 1:00 a.m. in my pajamas or whatever without having to talk to anyone. Carnival's website and Cruise Critic give me more than enough info to make my choices. Perhaps some do not like to do the online research but I really enjoy it. Also I have booked

a few cruises direct with the company ( different lines) with no problem over the phone. I prefer to book directly with the cruise line online if possible..

I have had T.A.s give me bad info :mad:. While others have been quite good. :) But for me travel agents are a thing of the past unless it is a group cruise I want to go on.

Also if I have to cancel I feel guilty if a T.A. is involved. If all I have to do is click the cancel and submit button no guilt for me. Perhaps this is me being codependant....

Tom in Long Beach

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Yes. As far as I know they will match any rate, though I have never been able to get a better rate than booking direct, so I can't be sure.

 

So if I see a price of $899pp on Carnivals website and I call my TA and she quotes me a price of $809, rebating $80 of her comission Carnival will still match that?

 

I have read on hear many times that not being the case. But if it is the case there is no need for TAs. Well in my scenario I'd still need a TA to quote me a lower price then Carnival.

 

Bill

[kujobie]

So if I see a price of $899pp on Carnivals website and I call my TA and she quotes me a price of $809, rebating $80 of her comission Carnival will still match that?

 

I have read on hear many times that not being the case. But if it is the case there is no need for TAs. Well in my scenario I'd still need a TA to quote me a lower price then Carnival.

 

Bill

 

From what I've heard, they will match in most cases.

[mikedw]

I love it when people say TA's are a thing of the past, since we're always extremely busy. We may not always be cheaper then what's on the internet, but because we've been in business for over 30 years, and we do a lot of community involvment where we get a lot of business from. We have two offices located in two small cities and we get a lot of business and press coverage because of what we do in the community. You might save $50.00, but is that website located 2,000 miles away going to sponsor your kids soccer team. Perhaps because we're located in a small community people prefer to patronize local businesses. I have a lot of older clients who travel the world but they refuse to use credit cards, they rather bring me several grand in cash.

 

You guys have a great night.

 

Michael

[CaptainEdwardJohnSmith]

One thing you need to be aware of when using a travel agent, the cruiselines will protect their turf like the Holy Grail. Any question you need an answer to from the cruiseline, you have to go thru your travel agent. The cruiseline will not even talk to you, they'll just refer you back to the agent handling your booking.

You'll find MANY of them are not as responsive to your needs/questions once they have locked you in with making a booking thru them. Most times you will have to leave them a voice message, they may or they may not return your call. Something goes wrong with your booking, it's one more layer of frustration you have to deal with. Cruiseline will blame the travel agent, travel agent will blame the cruiseline.

 

If you book direct with the cruiselines, you are in control and you can call anytime and get a live person, no answering machine to deal with!

 

You can tell I am no big fan of travel agents/agencies although there are a few out there that do a decent job and once in a while, I have used their services to book a cruise, usually when they have exclusive deals/pricing. Does not happen often but it does happen. I usually know exactly what I need, I require no hand-holding from the travel agent, just someone to book me the best deal, period!

 

Happy cruising everyone :)

[S.S.Oceanlover]

One thing you need to be aware of when using a travel agent, the cruiselines will protect their turf like the Holy Grail. Any question you need an answer to from the cruiseline, you have to go thru your travel agent. The cruiseline will not even talk to you, they'll just refer you back to the agent handling your booking.

You'll find MANY of them are not as responsive to your needs/questions once they have locked you in with making a booking thru them. Most times you will have to leave them a voice message, they may or they may not return your call. Something goes wrong with your booking, it's one more layer of frustration you have to deal with. Cruiseline will blame the travel agent, travel agent will blame the cruiseline.

 

If you book direct with the cruiselines, you are in control and you can call anytime and get a live person, no answering machine to deal with!

 

You can tell I am no big fan of travel agents/agencies although there are a few out there that do a decent job and once in a while, I have used their services to book a cruise, usually when they have exclusive deals/pricing. Does not happen often but it does happen. I usually know exactly what I need, I require no hand-holding from the travel agent, just someone to book me the best deal, period!

 

Happy cruising everyone :)

 

 

My point is that you are not getting the best deal if you book directly with the cruiseline. I don't know about most TA's. I just know how mine is. She is very accessible. If I have to go through her to get an answer to save $300-$400 that's a price I'm willing to pay.

 

MikeW,

 

So glad to hear you are very busy and I hope you stay that way.:)

I don't live in upper middle class suburbia and most TA's here in Philly where I live now have for rent signs on them.

 

About the only ones left are big nationwide agents that are not price competitive.

 

Bill

[PINEVIEW01]

So if I see a price of $899pp on Carnivals website and I call my TA and she quotes me a price of $809, rebating $80 of her comission Carnival will still match that?

 

I have read on hear many times that not being the case. But if it is the case there is no need for TAs. Well in my scenario I'd still need a TA to quote me a lower price then Carnival.

 

Bill

In my dealings, this is NOT the case. If I tell a PVP I got this price, XXX, they will search all deals to try to find a match but, they can't match the best deal - a TA giving up a comission.

 

So, Captain are you saying your PVP with the cruise line works 24 hours a day. I know the ones I called weren't there everyday and I had to leave a voice mail:)

[mikedw]

My point is that you are not getting the best deal if you book directly with the cruiseline. I don't know about most TA's. I just know how mine is. She is very accessible. If I have to go through her to get an answer to save $300-$400 that's a price I'm willing to pay.

 

MikeW,

 

So glad to hear you are very busy and I hope you stay that way.:)

I don't live in upper middle class suburbia and most TA's here in Philly where I live now have for rent signs on them.

 

About the only ones left are big nationwide agents that are not price competitive.

 

Bill

 

One of the other reasons we've stayed so busy is that we do a lot of groups with different civic and fraternal organizations and then the members usually use us because of the good experience on the groups. A lot of agencies never really cultivated business relations in there community and now they're paying the price. In the town I'm in in West Virginia, the medium income is probably not over $50,000 a year, but people save up and go on that cruise every year and then sometimes really splurge every few years.

 

Michael

[dres40]

I love my PVP, she called me on Friday and told me about the past guest special. I knew about the sale and was going to call her but she called me first. Tried my home and cell #'s Saved me $500 on my cruise. I had to move one deck down from the Lido , but to save that much money , I had to do it. She is really great.

[PINEVIEW01]

I love my PVP, she called me on Friday and told me about the past guest special. I knew about the sale and was going to call her but she called me first. Tried my home and cell #'s Saved me $500 on my cruise. I had to move one deck down from the Lido , but to save that much money , I had to do it. She is really great.

Good job! I checked mine and it is higher than when I booked:(