What has your Travel agent done for you????

[denali99]

I don't know if we should of used a travel agent or not. I think the duties my travel agent have done for me i could of done myself or hired a PVP from C arnival. She just booked my cabin and thats it! No ship board credits, gifts or anything. I would like to hear the benefits from your Travel agents. Thanks all.

[Tapi]

I don't know if we should of used a travel agent or not. I think the duties my travel agent have done for me i could of done myself or hired a PVP from C arnival. She just booked my cabin and thats it! No ship board credits, gifts or anything. I would like to hear the benefits from your Travel agents. Thanks all.

 

 

What has my TA done for me:

 

- Charged me $75 to make changes outside of penalty

- Ignored my phone calls

- Misled me with inaccurate information about the cruise I was booking

 

And that's why I switched to a PVP four years ago and have never looked back.

 

In all fairness, there are great TA's out there. I just didn't deal with a good one.

[Ken076]

Your TA ought to look for the best fare/upgrade deal when you book, look for fare reductions for you after booking, return phone calls within 24 hours, and not charge for price adjustments and bookings. ken

[MonaCK]

A good TA is your advocate - and will fight to get you the best deal out there.

 

As for what my travel agent did for me - she gave birth to me. You can't ask for more than that. ;)

[boaterette]

My Ta made me cancel a cruise when I just wanted to make changes and then tole me it would be one to two billngs cycles to get my deposit back. I think it was a god CON job on their part.

[MonaCK]

It -is- really important if you are going to go with a travel agent to go with someone who friends and/or family recommend. A good travel agent is worth his or her weight in gold. But there -are- a lot of bad ones out there.

[cathalane]

My TA doesn't do any hand holding, but they do get me the ABSOLUTE cheapest price everytime... I've even called Carnival to see if a PVP can match those prices and they never could. A good TA should be able to get you a better deal than a PVP. A bad TA can cause lots of headaches, so protect yourself by getting recommendations from people you trust and then check out the TA with the Better Business Bureau.

[karenw]

I get excellent service!

 

The last few weeks before cruising, I get letters with packing suggestions, info on ports I'm visiting, ship facts.

 

When I pick up my boarding passes at her office, I get a gift like a beach bag or toiletry case. I'm surprised with chocolate strawberries, champagne, free robes, or candy when I board.

 

If price drops prior to final payment, I get automatic adjustment. If it's later, I get OBC.

 

And consistently inline or cheaper than PVP!

 

Luv, luv, luv my TA!

[twinmom38]

My TA reccomends cruises she think might interest us.. she went to bat for me against Carnival when the need arose... she sends me advice on what TO pack, what NOT to pack, what to see and what not to waste time with. She has 101 cruises under her belt and has sailed every ship to everywhere. She met with me to give me some coupon books that Carnival sent to her on my behalf, and bought me dinner and drinks. She has never, ever dropped the ball. Phone calls are returned within mere minutes.. not hours or days. She alerts us when she will be away and makes certain we have everything we need before she goes, and makes certain we have a number to call to reach her assistant if we need. She cannot be replaced. I have reccommended her highly, and my friends say she was the best phone call they made.

[dan40]

I don't know if we should of used a travel agent or not. I think the duties my travel agent have done for me i could of done myself or hired a PVP from C arnival. She just booked my cabin and thats it! No ship board credits, gifts or anything. I would like to hear the benefits from your Travel agents. Thanks all.

 

Your TA cost you NOTHING and did what a PVP would have done. The difference is what a TA CAN do things that a PVP cannot. Doesn't mean every TA WILL do things a PVP cannot.

 

Dan

[G'ma]

A good travel agent can be a gem and can help keep track of pricing and other things concerning your cruise. She can advise you of schedule changes, immigration information, itinerary changes, what to see and do in the ports, book your shore excursions and many other services.....if she knows what she's doing and is a professional.

 

On the other hand, an "order taker" who passes as a travel agent won't do much at all....

 

Personally, I book my own online or with a cruise PVP.

[linda_22003]

I don't know if we should of used a travel agent or not. I think the duties my travel agent have done for me i could of done myself or hired a PVP from C arnival. She just booked my cabin and thats it! No ship board credits, gifts or anything. I would like to hear the benefits from your Travel agents. Thanks all.

 

We always use a travel agent, so I would come down on the side of "should have" (there is no "should of"). Ours has delivered flowers and champagne, and gotten us onboard credit (admittedly, not a huge deal on an all-inclusive line), and most importantly, provided free private excursions in various ports.

 

She has gotten us the lower fare when a fare has dropped; our upcoming Alaska trip was booked when it was "40% off", and when it dropped to "2 for 1" she made a quick phone call and got it changed. Our airfare was included in the upcoming trip based on particular flights, and she got us into Anchorage a day earlier, and out of Vancouver a day later, with no penalty.

[Kurbanfan]

A good TA is your advocate - and will fight to get you the best deal out there.

 

Meaning best deal on any cruise or vacation. A Carnival PVP can only get you a deal on a Carnival cruise.

We booked a cruise with our TA a couple years ago, but her knowing how much we love Hawaii, found a deal that same date for Hawaii that I can guarantee nobody would pass up. We switched and went to Hawaii instead lol!!! She also prices out all other cruiselines when we book to find us the best overall deal.

 

As for what my travel agent did for me - she gave birth to me. You can't ask for more than that. ;)

 

 

ROFLMAO!!! Too cute!!

 

 

It -is- really important if you are going to go with a travel agent to go with someone who friends and/or family recommend. A good travel agent is worth his or her weight in gold. But there -are- a lot of bad ones out there.

 

I agree!! And this is soo important when choosing a good TA.

[toshiba]

Mine did nothing. I would see folks getting on the ship with a cute bag and agency name or hear of OB credit. Mine more or less threw the papers at me. That is why i book on my own or with the cruise site. I get better deals and am happy.

 

How do some agencies give freebies and others don't? Oh this was nearly 20yrs ago when times were good and we paid alot of mine to the agency.

[Mego0427]

A good TA is your advocate - and will fight to get you the best deal out there.

 

As for what my travel agent did for me - she gave birth to me. You can't ask for more than that. ;)

 

Mine too!

A client lost their mother while they were traveling in Ireland. My mom took care of changing their flight and helped them get transportation to the airport. If they had booked the trip themselves they would have been on their own.

[MonaCK]

Mine did nothing. I would see folks getting on the ship with a cute bag and agency name or hear of OB credit. Mine more or less threw the papers at me. That is why i book on my own or with the cruise site. I get better deals and am happy.

 

How do some agencies give freebies and others don't? Oh this was nearly 20yrs ago when times were good and we paid alot of mine to the agency.

 

It has to do with the number of points that an agency has for a particular cruise. It also has to do with how good of a relationship that an agency has with the cruiseline.

[dobiemom]

I use a TA just in case something goes wrong. When I went to Italy with friends (land vacation, not a cruise) our first hotel wanted to charge more because there were 3 of us. But we had a confirmation for 3 that was paid for. So I called my TA, she told me just to pay whatever the hotel wanted and she would handle it. When I got back, I sent her the invoice and she gave me a check for the difference. I don't know if she ever got her money back from the hotel but she took care of me.

[MustangChic03]

So how do you find a good TA? And do you only tend to get these perks after you have used them many times?

 

We started to work with a TA who is a very good customer of our bank. The guy is great, but he had one of the women from his office email us some quotes and they were not better than what I could dig up on my own. :(

[karenw]

So how do you find a good TA? And do you only tend to get these perks after you have used them many times?

 

We started to work with a TA who is a very good customer of our bank. The guy is great, but he had one of the women from his office email us some quotes and they were not better than what I could dig up on my own. :(

 

Ask other people who they use and if they're happy. Or I can direct you to mine!:D

[steve4040]

Were not supposed to do that. I have tried 2 different one. The first one was not very good. it was the story of unreturned phone calls, and so forth on a group booking. That was stressful but the cruise on the Inspiration was great.

 

The 2nd TA has always returned phone calls, and helped me get a solid deal. Carnival sent out some sort of promotion for upgrades, and she worked quickly to upgrade me from a balcony on the side to an aft balcony on a 5 day destiny cruise. I thought that was pretty cool. right now as far as im concrned is that all she has to do is run my credit card when I make the final payment. LOl

[MDC]

I have booked both ways, through a TA and also through a PVP and I must say I have had more success booking myself.

 

On my latest cruise in Dec, I booked through a large well know credit card TA because I had membership reward points I wanted to use towards the cruise. All went seemlessly well, but I had to alert the TA when there was a price reduction. In essence, they did nothing for me other then credit my points towards the cruise.

 

With that said, I have heard of many great TA's providing much more personal service along with providing goodies and such, but until I find such a TA that I am comfortable with I will continue to be my own TA.

[Wolfie48]

I don't know if we should of used a travel agent or not. I think the duties my travel agent have done for me i could of done myself or hired a PVP from C arnival. She just booked my cabin and thats it! No ship board credits, gifts or anything. I would like to hear the benefits from your Travel agents. Thanks all.

 

Ours is a group cruise so it's a little different, but our TA has been awesome. We got great group pricing, and $100.00 OBC per cabin. When other cabins became available she called and offered them to our group. And made the changes for no charge. I have a direct line to her that she always answers unless it is a day off. Then a couple weeks ago she sent me an e-mail saying she was getting my balcony cabin fare credited back to my CC. I know Carnival offers 1 cabin credit for each 8 cabins booked, we booked 13 cabins and she got us the extra credit. No PVP could do that!

[KULPN]

I have had many TA since I have moved around the country. One got me an upgrade to a balcony suite from an OV. Then on that same cruise, we had a big basket of goodies, champagne & a cake for our anniversary.

I used a PVP for my last 2 cruises. I had to go to supervisor for an OBC with the last one. The PVP seemed annoyed that I'd even asked.

This time I am using a group cruisecritic TA, whom I haven't met. So far, so good.

[CRUISEMAMMA]

Not a darn thing. In fact I have told her more than she has told me. I should have went to Omaha after this conversation. or gotten a PVP.....I would like to book the June 14th sailing on the Sensation, and she replied...Which itenerary? Im supposing the only one that the boat takes on that day! Nope she is not new at this just the onnly ta in our town.:confused:

[mouche]

My T/A got me the best price on my last cruise and I checked up till sail date, also she had a carnival back pack bag waiting in our cabin and a 20pp OBC. Seems like a little thing but I though it was a nice touch. I love my T/A