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Booking with a Travel Agent vs SeaDream directly?


surfsunfun
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I have noticed on the board that some of you mentioned that you prefer to book with your travel agent rather than directly through SeaDream. I was wondering why this is the case? Are there certain benefits or advantages to booking with a travel agent that you do not get when booking directly with SeaDream? Thanks in advance!

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Travel agents sometimes give on board credits. Mine usually gives a Spa Credit. Also if I have any issues with my booking,etc , they are the professionals who know how to work with Sea Dream to get the problem solved. Hopefully they can do a better job than I could and perhaps they have more influence. If things went really bad, they would not recommend the company to other clients.

 

If I book on board to get the discount, then I transfer the booking to my agent afterwards.

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I agree with all of Whatnot's points. The one downer with a TA I have experienced is the chance to get an upgrade (upsell) right before the voyage. If they are not heavily booked, SeaDream will sometimes call booked passengers and offer upgrades. If you use a TA, they call the TA and by the time the TA calls you and then calls your answer back to SD, the opportunity is usually taken by someone SeaDream called directly.

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We usually book with a TA. But we had a bad experience with our TA on our last cruise so this one we booked direct.

 

Our TA has given us thousands of dollars in credits over the past few years. But on our last cruise the confirmation he gave us specified the correct cabin (the one that we wanted). It was the highest level suite class on the ship and we made sure to choose one that wasn't under a public deck. But got to the ship and that was not the cabin we were given. Our luck we got the cabin under the public deck. He messed up and did not notice that the cabin on the confirmation he got from the cruise line did not match the confirmation he gave us.

 

We may use him again. But will be making sure everything is correct with the cruise line.

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Thanks everyone for your responses! We did an open end booking before getting off the yacht so I was curious if there were advantages to moving it to our travel agent. We booked our first voyage through SeaDream and thought that they made the process very easy!

 

Northwoods - are the credits all spa credits or are there other things you receive credits for as well?

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SeaDream does not offer on board credits (one of my nits). You can get a spa credit from your TA and if you are a member of the SD Club (which you will be after your first sailing) you get 15% off spa treatments and 15% off the wine list. That's it. I've been after them for some time to offer credits you could use for shore excursions and so on, but no luck so far!

Vandrefalk

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  • 4 months later...

I think the best reason for not using a TA is the up sell, we got the owner suite at not that much more. Another time we got the Nav Suite (not sure of the name but it was the next one down). Also we booked with SD and charged it to the AX card and got $300.00 in credits.

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Our agent never ever up sells. The benefits from using a strong TA are far better then the AX $300.00. Who are you going to turn to if something goes wrong? A call center? Some agents even rebate more then what you are getting. Most people know this and use a TA. Just my two cents.

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I usually always book directly with most vacations but with Sea Dream I agree with most above that using the TA gets the spa credit and the refund check in the mail after we cruise.

 

As far as upgrades, going up one of 3 decks total makes no difference to me. I do spend so little time in my cabin on Sea Dream that I don't even see paying for the suites to be advantageous.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

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I always use a Travel Agent. One advantage I discovered when I had to cancel a SeaDream cruise due to a death in the family. The travel agent was very helpful--getting all the paperwork needed for a refund through my insurance. A couple of times I have had problems on a trip--such as a missed flight--and each time having a travel agent to help me work through the problem really helped. (Also, my agent often throws in something extra, such as a bottle of wine or a treat for my hotel room, but I would book with her even without the extras.)

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  • 1 month later...
Our agent never ever up sells. The benefits from using a strong TA are far better then the AX $300.00. Who are you going to turn to if something goes wrong? A call center? Some agents even rebate more then what you are getting. Most people know this and use a TA. Just my two cents.

Any TA can get you the $300 SBC from Amex.

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I usually always book directly with most vacations but with Sea Dream I agree with most above that using the TA gets the spa credit and the refund check in the mail after we cruise.

 

As far as upgrades, going up one of 3 decks total makes no difference to me. I do spend so little time in my cabin on Sea Dream that I don't even see paying for the suites to be advantageous.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

 

Hey - I know you :D Checking out Sea Dream on your recommendation! I have to fit one of these cruises in! Looking at the Windstar Yachtsman's Holiday because we want to do the ship with the sails! And also Viking Ocean for the Montreal to NYC itinerary. But I would love to do one of these as well.

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  • 2 months later...

Could anyone offer a referral for a TA that is experienced with SD? My wife and I are SD "first timers" and will be looking to book a Caribbean cruise in Jan 2018. We have always booked direct with cruise lines and do not have a relationship with a TA (outside of Amex). Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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Could anyone offer a referral for a TA that is experienced with SD? My wife and I are SD "first timers" and will be looking to book a Caribbean cruise in Jan 2018. We have always booked direct with cruise lines and do not have a relationship with a TA (outside of Amex). Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Country ?

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