Travel Agent Thru Carnival V. Web

[Aerobic1]

In the past I have used *****, Priceline, *************, etc and have always received a good price for my cruises. Today an agent called from Carnival after "testing the waters" on the site. Since I've never traveled in such a big group as this or booked for this many on-line my question is there bennies to booking thru the agent? She provided me with upgrades and cost savings based on military, previous guest of Carnival (me) and senior discounts that I probably wouldn't have had if I'd booked it myself. We have a group of about 13 going so I'm wondering if a group discount might be involved.

Any experience with this? We're looking at cruises out of both Miami or San Juan for Feb 2008. Also any direction for good air fares out of Detroit to either appreciated.

Thanks in advance, Laurel

[blindrid]

With thirteen I would use a TA or PVP of some sort. I would however, check online prices as I have found the PVP's prices to be a tad higher.

[cherylandtk]

Group discounts kick in at 8 cabins--so you probably don't qualify for that, but you might be only a cabin or two away. The other discounts you mentioned can be found at any reliable TA, whether internet based or brick-and-mortar. (All good TA's should ask about military, past guest, senior and resident status.) In addition, most TA's will give you a discount over the Carnival quoted rates, so you could take your booking(s) and transfer them for a better price. But if you do that, you can only contact Carnival through your TA, so if you are the type to want to ask a lot of questions, be sure your TA understands that. Not all of them are great about returning phone calls once the booking is made, but many are.

 

Lastly, board rules do not allow the mentioning of specific travel agencies or agents, so don't repeat the first line of your original post ;), or ask for any recommendations of which agent to use.