Agent or not?

[caribqueen]

My FI and I are thinking about going on a cruise. I''m thinking about using an agent, as someone who can be a point-person in case there are issues, etc...

Would you gals use an agent or book it yourself through the cruise line? What are some of your experiences?

Thanks!

 

[dani2142]

Date: 12/30/2009 3:10:23 PM
Author:caribqueen
My FI and I are thinking about going on a cruise. I''m thinking about using an agent, as someone who can be a point-person in case there are issues, etc...

Would you gals use an agent or book it yourself through the cruise line? What are some of your experiences?

Thanks!

In January of this year my fiance'' and I went to Jamaica and did not use a travel agent. We are now using one for our destination wedding and it''s crazy how many perks we get just using her. Her name is Jennifer from VIP Vacations Inc. she actually owns the company but she is honestly so sweet. I''m so glad we ended up using her. She has been so awesome to work with. We just recently had some people have to cancel almost last minute and I''m so glad she is the dealing with everything for me. She is the best! So I guess if you want to get perks and not deal with any issue that should happen I would use one. HTH

 

[meresal]

We did a cruise for our honeymoon, but it was my 5th one, so we knew our way around.

If we had not done a cruise, which has pretty much everything included, we were definitely going to use a TA. However, this was only because we were traveling to the Caribbean in late August, and wanted to be able to change our arrangements up until the last minute if there was a Hurricane scare or any other weather that caused problems.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

If it''s a cruise and not totally complicated I''d jsut do it myself (unless the agent could get me a better price or major perks

If it''s a more complicated trip it might be worth it to have an agent, but cruises are pretty straight forward.

 

[sunnyd]

We''re leaving for our cruise in 3.5 weeks

and booked without an agent. No complaints yet!

 

[Blair138]

My DH just booked our cruise for June and we used a TA. He likes to shop around and we ended up getting $400 onboard ship credit. I know that booking through the cruise company alone would not have gotten us this deal. The prices though, are usually the always the same. I do know that with our TA, if the cruise goes down in price from what we paid, we get that money back. We have done numerous cruises and we always use a TA just in case. It doesn''t cost any extra money and we end up getting better perks! I would highly recommend it!

 

[choro72]

We just came back from our first cruise, and neither of us had done it before. We didn''t use a TA and we had no issues.
However, next time I think we will use a TA because I heard that they can give more perks and discounts.

 

[meresal]

Date: 12/30/2009 4:23:49 PM
Author: Blair138
My DH just booked our cruise for June and we used a TA. He likes to shop around and we ended up getting $400 onboard ship credit. I know that booking through the cruise company alone would not have gotten us this deal. The prices though, are usually the always the same. I do know that with our TA, if the cruise goes down in price from what we paid, we get that money back. We have done numerous cruises and we always use a TA just in case. It doesn't cost any extra money and we end up getting better perks! I would highly recommend it!

Blair, I was going to say something about this as well.

We booked our cruise thru RCL online... and it had dropped $300/ea by the time we left. All you have to do is watch the price changes, as often as possible, and if you see a drop, you just call the agents and they will adjust your payment. You can do this as many times as the price drops.

The way it worked for us, was like this:
We originally booked a Junior Suite for apprx $2000/person, but the Luxury Suites were $2400/person.
After calling each time we saw a price drop, our JS was down to $1700/person, and we noticed that the Luxury Suites were down to our original payment of $2000/person, so we just upgraded for no charge.

If you decide to use a TA, be sure to ask if this is an option, because the prices will more than likely drop at least once or twice before you set sail.

 

[caribqueen]

Thanks for the responses! Sounds like I can go either way, but I''m all for the perks and discounts so I''ll see if a TA helps.

 

[sunnyd]

Travelocity does the same thing with the price drops. Unfortunately for us, they didn''t drop any more after we booked (the balcony rooms are sold out now too) but we waited until they were pretty low before booking. Summer is the best time to book I learned.

 

[Blair138]

Date: 12/30/2009 4:36:34 PM
Author: meresal

Date: 12/30/2009 4:23:49 PM

Author: Blair138

My DH just booked our cruise for June and we used a TA. He likes to shop around and we ended up getting $400 onboard ship credit. I know that booking through the cruise company alone would not have gotten us this deal. The prices though, are usually the always the same. I do know that with our TA, if the cruise goes down in price from what we paid, we get that money back. We have done numerous cruises and we always use a TA just in case. It doesn''t cost any extra money and we end up getting better perks! I would highly recommend it!

Blair, I was going to say something about this as well.


We booked our cruise thru RCL online... and it had dropped $300/ea by the time we left. All you have to do is watch the price changes, as often as possible, and if you see a drop, you just call the agents and they will adjust your payment. You can do this as many times as the price drops.


The way it worked for us, was like this:

We originally booked a Junior Suite for apprx $2000/person, but the Luxury Suites were $2400/person.

After calling each time we saw a price drop, our JS was down to $1700/person, and we noticed that the Luxury Suites were down to our original payment of $2000/person, so we just upgraded for no charge.


If you decide to use a TA, be sure to ask if this is an option, because the prices will more than likely drop at least once or twice before you set sail.

**Small threadjack** Meresal-what ship were you on? We have been on Liberty and we are going on the Oasis in June and I can''t wait!

 

[MustangGal]

I''ve been on 3 cruises, and just booked through the cruise line directly. They seemed to have the lowest prices anyway.

When we were planning our honeymoon we used a TA.