direct book vs. travel agent

[Peteymil]

Is there a great advantage to using a travel agent vs. booking directly with Celebrity? I assume it may have more to do with the particular travel agent, but since I am having a hard time finding a really good responsive agent, we have started doing everything ourselves, and i wonder if I am missing out.

 

Also, if you have booked directly to Celebrity, can it be transferred to a travel agent if final payment has not been made?

[Gonzo70]

Is there a great advantage to using a travel agent vs. booking directly with Celebrity? I assume it may have more to do with the particular travel agent, but since I am having a hard time finding a really good responsive agent, we have started doing everything ourselves, and i wonder if I am missing out.

 

Also, if you have booked directly to Celebrity, can it be transferred to a travel agent if final payment has not been made?

 

If you have a good travel agent their knowledge can be advantageous. Sometimes travel agents give perks such as pre-paid gratutities or On Board Credit (OBC). There are also some advantages of doing it your self; you maintain control over your reservation and can quickly take advantage of a price drop, pre-book shore excursions, change cabins etc. with fewer steps than if you had to go through a travel agent.

 

You can transfer an existing reservation to a travel agent so long as final payment has not been made. It is rather easy; there is a form on Celebrity's website (just type transfer reservation into their website's search enginge) that you print out, fill out, and fax to Celebrity. Your travel agent would take it fromt here. Can be processed within a couple of days.

 

Good luck.

[drychi]

Assuming that you don't need the advice of a travel agent in choosing which type of cruise line and/or ship matchs your vacation style and interests, I have found that the best thing about having a travel agent is when things go wrong. My family and I were on a cruise extended by 24 hours due to a hurricane in 2004. A single call to the travel agent got all our missed travel arrangements re-done in approximately 30 minutes. This made my travel experience much easier than many of my fellow travellers who were trying to do the re-booking of missed flights themselves from the ship or after returning to port.

[rjg41]

Been discussed many times. Since Royal Caribbean and Celebrity have the same policies suggest you do a search in both sections on this subject.

[Jimsgirl]

Assuming one wishes to transfer bookings say from one agent to another , how can you do this if you cannot print out the on line form.?

 

Can you just write a letter or send and E Mail to the cruise line?

 

Input on this will be appreciated

[Jade13]

Assuming one wishes to transfer bookings say from one agent to another , how can you do this if you cannot print out the on line form.?

 

Can you just write a letter or send and E Mail to the cruise line?

 

Input on this will be appreciated

 

I don't think you can do this - unless your agent agrees. Many now have a cancelation fee and some are steep.

[Bruin Steve]

First of all, one big benefit is additional onboard credit or discounts...

 

RCCL/Celebrity no longer allow TAs to discount, but they do allow the TAs to give you gifts--including OBCs...On my two upcoming cruises, My TA has tacked on a total of $425 in OBC...Otherwise, the price by booking direct and the price booking through a TA is identical...

 

On some other lines, the TA is still allowed to discount...some do 5%, some 10%, some more...On my Oceania cruise summer before last, my TA knocked $800 off the price--over 10%

 

Of course, not all TAs do this...and there are more important reasons to use a TA than just discounts or OBC...

 

When you deal directly with a cruise line, you are really on your own...and, sometimes, problems do come up...A really good TA has more influence with the cruise lines than a single customer...and they know who to call and how to get things done...

 

A good TA will get you whatever it is you want with minimal effort on your part...

I don't need my TA to steer me toward particular cruises (although often she's a great help in helping me to decide...or telling me about a deal she knows about)...but I do use her to research and compare prices, to monitor price drops and to renogotiate the fares with the cruise line when prices drop...to help change things around when I want, to answer anf to get answers to all sorts of questions...and to pull a few strings when the cruise line screws up...

 

And it doesn't cost me a penny extra for all that service--in fact, due to the OBC/discount, I pay less...

[Sky Sweet]

Maybe I expected too much from travel agents when I used them, but I thought that they were suppose to be a source of advice.

 

When we took our Baltic Cruise to Russia in 2006, I had booked it with with a travel agent, over a year in advance.

 

When I read the shore excursion guide that Celebrity sent less than two months before our cruise, I learned for the first time that the CDC has had a diphtheria advisory in that part of the world since 1994 and the vaccination was recommended, although not required.

 

It was a good thing that I read that guide as soon as I received it, or else we wouldn't have had enough time to get the shots that were recommended by the CDC.

 

In my opinion, the travel agent who has booked many other people on Baltic cruises in the past, should have advised me of that situation.

[Jade13]

to monitor price drops and to renogotiate the fares with the cruise line when prices drop...to help change things around when I want, quote]

 

You are lucky that you have someone who does this. I would most likely not use a TA again for an inexpensive Carribean with Celebrity. I have had a couple of price drops and had to negotiate with the TA to waive the $50.00pp change fee. These were after final and Celebrity and RCCL are the only ones who would allow this (as far as I have heard after final). On every HAL cruise the cabins have been sold out (I even checked the one I was considering when I choose to try Celebrity and it is sold out), so I have never run into a price reduction situation before. Every other cruise I have been on has gone up in price. This must be a Carribean thing.