Benefit of booking DCL with a travel agent?

Is there any benefit to booking our upcoming cruise with a travel agent vs on our own directly through Disney?

I know with other lines, TA sometimes get extra perks or better pricing.

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Is there any benefit to booking our upcoming cruise with a travel agent vs on our own directly through Disney?

 

I know with other lines, TA sometimes get extra perks or better pricing

Any TA will get a commission from the cruise line. DCL do not allow TA's to offer reduced fares, however they may share their commission with you in the form of onboard credit, or gift voucher for a store.

Some also offer other little incentives such as gift baskets that they send to your home address pre cruise.

If you are a first time DCL cruiser, a DCL TA specialist can be of great help explaining how everything on DCL works that is a little different from some other lines, and they have the hassle of making your reservations.

ex techie

The advantage of booking thru an educated agent who has tons of DCL experience is just that--their expertise. And a good agent will want your future business, so will do their very best for you. But not all agents or agencies are created equal, so shop carefully. I would not use an agent who has not personally done the DCL training (there are multiple levels; I'd certainly look for one who has more than the on line level!), who has personally cruised on at least one of the DCL ships, and has appropriate business certifications. An agency can call itself a DCL specialist if only ONE agent in the whole company has training!!!

In terms of actual "stuff," many agencies give an onboard credit or other "thanks for booking with us" group. DCL does not allow any agent or agency to undercut any other on price; the price of the cruise is set by DCL with no "wiggle room."

You may hear people talk about giving up control of their reservation by using an agent. We have never found that to be true. DCL won't talk to you aout any financial issue if you used an agent, but they will discuss basic info questions if you phrase them right. Wrong phrasing = refer you to your agent. You can still do your own on line check in, book excursions, make reservations, etc.

The advantage of booking thru an educated agent who has tons of DCL experience is just that--their expertise. And a good agent will want your future business' date=' so will do their very best for you. But not all agents or agencies are created equal, so shop carefully. I would not use an agent who has not personally done the DCL training (there are multiple levels; I'd certainly look for one who has more than the on line level!), who has personally cruised on at least one of the DCL ships, and has appropriate business certifications. An agency can call itself a DCL specialist if only ONE agent in the whole company has training!!!

 

 

 

In terms of actual "stuff," many agencies give an onboard credit or other "thanks for booking with us" group. DCL does not allow any agent or agency to undercut any other on price; the price of the cruise is set by DCL with no "wiggle room."

 

 

 

You may hear people talk about giving up control of their reservation by using an agent. We have never found that to be true. DCL won't talk to you aout any financial issue if you used an agent, but they will discuss basic info questions if you phrase them right. Wrong phrasing = refer you to your agent. You can still do your own on line check in, book excursions, make reservations, etc.[/quote']

 

 

Thank you! Any suggestion on how to find the right TA?

 

If I already know which ship and itinerary I want, is there still a benefit to that expertise?

 

 

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Any TA will get a commission from the cruise line. DCL do not allow TA's to offer reduced fares, however they may share their commission with you in the form of onboard credit, or gift voucher for a store.

 

Some also offer other little incentives such as gift baskets that they send to your home address pre cruise.

 

 

 

If you are a first time DCL cruiser, a DCL TA specialist can be of great help explaining how everything on DCL works that is a little different from some other lines, and they have the hassle of making your reservations.

 

 

 

ex techie

Thank you!

I am a first time DCL cruiser, of will be. We are DVC members, but have only cruised with other lines until now.

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Unfortunately, we are not allowed to name or suggest TAs on this web site. I've used/explored many types over the years. My experience does not necessarily correlate with things I've read here.

For instance, my local auto club office is awful; other people have said good things about their location. There is an agency that runs another web site which I have also found to be less than worthless; if you read the stuff from people on their site, you'd think they rule the world.

I use a place that has a large on line presence but also has a bricks an mortar office. But what I really like is that ALL their agents have cruised DCL and have much experience as agents. I'm sorry that I must follow the rules and not name them.

All I can really suggest is that you shop carefully. Yes, a good agent can be useful even when you know exactly what you want. For instance, they can suggest some things you may not think of that can save you money...like if your family is the right size, they may realize that there is a partially obstructed balcony available and ask if you would want it. We cruised in one which saved us several hundred dollars and had such a small obstruction that I probably would never have noticed it had I not known to look for it. They may also offer suggestions for things like doing insurance privately (you can get a free kid policy with each parent policy, pay a lot less than thru DCL, and get better coverage!)

I usually know what I want and have checked things out on line before I call my agent. But I still value her service.

When I booked our DCL cruise thru a TA I have used many times we got $600 OBC, and Travel Ins for the family.

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When I booked our DCL cruise thru a TA I have used many times we got $600 OBC, and Travel Ins for the family.

 

 

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And that was not a 3 night cruise in an inside stateroom to get those perks!:)

And that was not a 3 night cruise in an inside stateroom to get those perks!:)

No it was a Family Balcony Mid Ship for 4. The point is you need to research and those perks are not typical to your Mom & Pop TA at home in the Strip Mall.

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I agree, a competent agent who books DCL regularly is wonderful. I tend to take more vacations to Sandals resorts and have an agent who specializes in them - but luckily does a fair amount of business with DCL.

As others have said - on board credit and alternative insurance options are the main benefits.

Stay away form the strip mall agents and any of them who need sot pull out a brochure to answer a question.

I agree, a competent agent who books DCL regularly is wonderful. I tend to take more vacations to Sandals resorts and have an agent who specializes in them - but luckily does a fair amount of business with DCL.

 

Stay away form the strip mall agents and any of them who need sot pull out a brochure to answer a question.

No names, but some of the older/more established Disney parks-fan news sites on the Net have sponsorship tie-in's with one approved Disney Specialist agency or other that, like the Sandals specialists, have gone through the Disney training and do the majority of their work with the Parks, DCL, Vacation Club and Adventures.

(If you see a sponsor link to a TA with "Mouse", "Kingdom" or "Magic" in the name, it's usually a gentle hint of their sub-field.)

I had enough Parks experience to book my first virgin DCL with a Specialist TA, and she'd been on enough of the ships personally to answer some of the questions, along with the cruise paperwork I needed to be talked through.

While I was shopping around, I did notice one particular seller of bulk goods (that for some reason also does travel agency stuff) offers credit and coupons to use in their own stores rather than on-board credit. I did not use them myself, but I figure it might actually work out in favor of someone who does shop there.

(Was that too obvious? :eek:)

Unfortunately' date=' we are not allowed to name or suggest TAs on this web site. I've used/explored many types over the years. My experience does not necessarily correlate with things I've read here.

 

For instance, my local auto club office is awful; other people have said good things about their location. There is an agency that runs another web site which I have also found to be less than worthless; if you read the stuff from people on their site, you'd think they rule the world.

 

I use a place that has a large on line presence but also has a bricks an mortar office. But what I really like is that ALL their agents have cruised DCL and have much experience as agents. I'm sorry that I must follow the rules and not name them.

 

All I can really suggest is that you shop carefully. Yes, a good agent can be useful even when you know exactly what you want. For instance, they can suggest some things you may not think of that can save you money...like if your family is the right size, they may realize that there is a partially obstructed balcony available and ask if you would want it. We cruised in one which saved us several hundred dollars and had such a small obstruction that I probably would never have noticed it had I not known to look for it. They may also offer suggestions for things like doing insurance privately (you can get a free kid policy with each parent policy, pay a lot less than thru DCL, and get better coverage!)

 

I usually know what I want and have checked things out on line before I call my agent. But I still value her service.[/quote']

 

 

i'm guessing that the travel agent i use for our DCL cruises is the one you refer to as being the online agency that's less than worthless - well maybe.

 

in any case, we're had great experience with them.

Our agent has cruised DCL for years and has LOTS of experience on all four DCL ships (as well as other cruise lines).

 

i initially booked with them a few years back just to get the onboard credit, but was pleasantly surprised by their service and have since used them several times (and again for this coming summer and will for 2018, once the itineraries come out).

There are negatives for booking with a TA.

If you want to change anything on your cruise, you have to call the TA who calls the cruise line on your behalf. You can't talk to the cruise line about your trip directly (I assume it's the same on Disney as I have had this issue with CCL & RCCL).

Second, it anything goes wrong with your trip, the cruise line makes you go through your TA.

RCCL left us at the port and initially refused to provide us accommodations since we did not book directly through them but through a TA. (Cruise rescheduled to leave 24 hours later due to natural disaster, RCCL notified us of a 24 hour delay then they left port 17 hours into the 24 hour delay).

To say the least it was a huge hassle.

Cruise insurance only covered $2000 of the $4000 out of pocket changes/expenses.

Second, it anything goes wrong with your trip, the cruise line makes you go through your TA.

RCCL left us at the port and initially refused to provide us accommodations since we did not book directly through them but through a TA. (Cruise rescheduled to leave 24 hours later due to natural disaster, RCCL notified us of a 24 hour delay then they left port 17 hours into the 24 hour delay).

To say the least it was a huge hassle.

Cruise insurance only covered $2000 of the $4000 out of pocket changes/expenses.

This was not our experience with Princess when booked thru a TA. Our Princess cruise was delayed by 24 hours due to weather. Princess notified both us and our TA by e-mail and also by an automated call to the cell phone we had provided. My TA has weekend hours, so the agency (not the agent I booked thru, but the agent on duty) also notified us by e-mail and when I didn't respond to her e-mail within a few minutes, by phone. The agent continued to ask if she could do anything for us (at that time, it was a 5 hour delay). When we said that our only problem was that there was no food available, she sent a list of nearby locations who delivered--nice try, she didn't know that the police were not allowing any traffic into the area.

We continued to receive updates both from Princess and a copy of same from our TA, and in addition got a live phone call from a Princess rep on what actually became our embarkation morning to be sure we knew the details of our transportation back to the terminal. Princess supplied our hotel and our transportation from terminal to the hotel and back to the terminal. Our travel insurance covered the pizza we ordered when we finally got to the hotel.

Lesson--always travel with some protein bars or other in the carry on!

In the above example, did RCCL notify the TA of the ability to board and the revised departure time? They obviously notified you of the 24 hour delay. Did the TA not notify you? If so...is it possible that you used the wrong TA?

As noted, the agency I use has someone on duty evenings and weekends. I can transact normal matters then, which is nice. But the nicer is that there is someone in the office for just such emergency situations.

In the above example' date=' did RCCL notify the TA of the ability to board and the revised departure time? They obviously notified you of the 24 hour delay. Did the TA not notify you? If so...is it possible that you used the wrong TA?

[/quote']

Yes RCCL notified the TA of the 24 hour delay. They emailed me. (RCCL never notified me) I changed my plans due to the 24 hour delay, got a one way rental car for $725 and drove all night to make the cruise. (Cruise was departing out of Venice)

During my all night 800 mile drive (Paris to Venice), RCCL then changed their minds again and pushed the departure forward from 5pm to 730am. My TA notified me via email.

I did not receive the email until the next afternoon. This was before everyone had a fancy smartphone. I left Paris around 8 pm and arrived in Venice 11am the following morning.

Makes sense, but you can't blame the TA if they had no way to contact you....and it sounds like RCCL could not have reached you even if they had tried.

No, I don't have a fancy smart phone....but I do have a phone that can receive phone calls in the US, and when I'm in Europe I can swap out the sim card for one that will work where I'm visiting. Daughter gets the fancier one and I get the hand-me-down.

All I can say is that Princess used every available means to keep us informed.

Makes sense' date=' but you can't blame the TA if they had no way to contact you....and it sounds like RCCL could not have reached you even if they had tried.

 

No, I don't have a fancy smart phone....but I do have a phone that can receive phone calls in the US, and when I'm in Europe I can swap out the sim card for one that will work where I'm visiting. Daughter gets the fancier one and I get the hand-me-down.

 

All I can say is that Princess used every available means to keep us informed.[/quote']

I never blamed the TA. The discussion is the benefit of using a TA. I did mention the problem we have run into using a TA. Our upcoming Disney cruise we booked directly through Disney due to our fare. Last year, our last CCL cruise was through a TA. I see both sides of the coin, just giving a reference when things go wrong.

As for phones, I am usually at the head of technology. We made calls and checked email while in Europe. Once you start driving all night, you aren't stopping to check emails. This 2010 phone you had to go to a browser, log in and then check the emails. This phone also had a built in GPS. (Again this was back in 2010 before all of the new fancy phones were popular). Oh did I mention one of our 2 cell phones was stolen on the Paris subway system just before the beginning of this drive :-)

OK. I guess I don't understand how anyone (TA or cruise line) could have contacted you in this circumstance.

I do get your point that there may be reasons to book thru a TA or to book independently. My personal experience is that a great TA is worth her weight in gold when a problem occurs. A not-so-good one is just a pain.

I understand that TA's are not supposed to discount Disney cruises, but we just booked the Fantasy for November at a lower rate than what we found booking direct. Doing a bit of comparison shopping, I found 2 TA's that provided $800 worth of OBC and a third TA (large, well known .com TA) who provided a discounted cruise fare equivalent to the $800 OBC provided by the other 2. So we booked through the third as we preferred the reduced cruise fare.

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I understand that TA's are not supposed to discount Disney cruises, but we just booked the Fantasy for November at a lower rate than what we found booking direct. Doing a bit of comparison shopping, I found 2 TA's that provided $800 worth of OBC and a third TA (large, well known .com TA) who provided a discounted cruise fare equivalent to the $800 OBC provided by the other 2. So we booked through the third as we preferred the reduced cruise fare.

 

 

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Guess you have to hope that DCL doesn't catch on to what they are doing...because if they do, you won't be able to book your next cruise thru them.

Guess you have to hope that DCL doesn't catch on to what they are doing...because if they do' date=' you won't be able to book your next cruise thru them.[/quote']

 

 

I've heard statements like this before when booking on other cruise lines that have similar pricing policies, but the TA which I booked through is a large, reputable TA, and the pricing was displayed right there on their website. In addition, the agent who I spoke to called Disney directly to request a specific stateroom that I wanted. They are hardly an obscure TA offering reduced pricing secretly or in violation of Disney's policies. If they were, they would've been banned from selling Disney a long time ago as I'm sure I'm not the first or only person taking advantage of the reduced fares.

 

 

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I know that prices on other cruise lines do vary based on the TA you use. Supposedly DCL has never allowed that. Not sure how to explain the pricing you got. I do suspect that it came from the TA and not from DCL (DCL gave a price to the TA which the TA then discounted for you). And I'm with you--I'd rather have a discounted price than an OBC or store gift card. But I'll certainly take those perks over nothing!

I get an invoice from my TA that looks like it is from DCL...but it is not. I know this because on one occasion I saw the invoice that DCL sends to the TA, and it is different in layout and how the information is broken out.

It is also possible that DCL has changed their policy regarding TA pricing--I haven't heard this, but anything is possible.

Here is a somewhat off-topic question that was inspired by the idea of a TA offering a discounted DCL fare (not just OBC and/or a cabin gift).

What if a TA is holding a reservation that a customer wants to cancel? If that particular cruise is filling up, then the booked fare would likely be lower than the current DCL price.

Could a TA refund the original customer's deposit and then sell the same reservation to second customer for a higher cost than the original customer (but lower than the prevailing DCL rate)? There would need to be a means of changing the passenger names on the booking without having to create a completely new reservation.

If so, this would create a secondary market for DCL cruises. Of course, this might violate DCL's policies.

Here is a somewhat off-topic question that was inspired by the idea of a TA offering a discounted DCL fare (not just OBC and/or a cabin gift).

 

What if a TA is holding a reservation that a customer wants to cancel? If that particular cruise is filling up, then the booked fare would likely be lower than the current DCL price.

 

Could a TA refund the original customer's deposit and then sell the same reservation to second customer for a higher cost than the original customer (but lower than the prevailing DCL rate)? There would need to be a means of changing the passenger names on the booking without having to create a completely new reservation.

 

If so, this would create a secondary market for DCL cruises. Of course, this might violate DCL's policies.

Again, in the past this has not been allowed. In order to put a "hold" on a cabin, the agent must give DCL a name. The only options available are to book in that name or to release the cabin.

This is different than on other lines where a TA may "hold" a number of cabins until a specified date. The agency has until that date to either sell the cabins or turn them back to Princess...and likely some other lines. The agency gets a good rate on the cabins, and can sell them at whatever price they choose. Logically, it makes no sense to attempt to sell them for more than the current on line direct from the cruise line rate.