Finding a Cruise friendly Travel Agent

I wish the rule to not recommend travel agents was not here, but I get why it is and have no complaints.

Without making a recommendation, any suggestions on how to find a cruise-friendly TA? One that knows cruising, finds/provides great fares, provides OBC, etc.?

Referrals from our family and friends, including Roll Call Members onboard, is always credble being based on their own actual experience.

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With insight from these boards you can be you own best travel agent... the internet is a fantastic tool for information these days... I book cruise, air, hotels, insurance all directly... have been doing so 10-15 years... most TAs will not pay attention to your booking like you can.

I wish the rule to not recommend travel agents was not here, but I get why it is and have no complaints.

 

Without making a recommendation, any suggestions on how to find a cruise-friendly TA? One that knows cruising, finds/provides great fares, provides OBC, etc.?

Word of mouth. Talk to your fellow cruisers onboard. We found ours from talking to our dinner mates.

With insight from these boards you can be you own best travel agent... the internet is a fantastic tool for information these days... I book cruise, air, hotels, insurance all directly... have been doing so 10-15 years... most TAs will not pay attention to your booking like you can.

I usually book my travel directly and enjoy doing so. However, based on postings in this forum, I'd like to try a TA for my next cruise. I'm hopeful he or she might have some discount or OBC that I can't find myself.

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Word of mouth. Talk to your fellow cruisers onboard. We found ours from talking to our dinner mates.

That's a great idea; I'll do that. And, as suggested by another, to roll call participants, too.

Thanks.

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I always recommend speaking with friends who you know who cruise a lot as well as people you meet on board.

Keith

I found mine on Tripadvisor. Free OBC and zero cancellation fee. The world's largest online OTA

I get email replies within 30 minutes. Any modification, cancellation, request or change done almost instantly for free!

I wish the rule to not recommend travel agents was not here, but I get why it is and have no complaints.

 

Without making a recommendation, any suggestions on how to find a cruise-friendly TA? One that knows cruising, finds/provides great fares, provides OBC, etc.?

At the top of the page, go to find a cruise.

Go from there. At some point a banner on the top of cruise TA's will pop up

Always, read the fine print and check their BBB rating. :)

We had problems many years ago finding a good TA.

There wasn't any Internet back then.

Most of the people we knew didn't take any kind of vacations.

We gave up on the small time agencies -- thank heavens we did as around here, after 9/11 they all closed down.

So we tried a bigger agency and lucked out in finding a really great TA that we have used for over 26 years.

Just keep asking your friends, family and co-workers - it takes time to find a good TA.

Besides the already good advice.... try googling.

Word of mouth. Talk to your fellow cruisers onboard. We found ours from talking to our dinner mates.

I found my current candidate from one of those sites that let you get quotes for a specific cruise from many different TAs.

Is it against the CC rules to give the website of one of these sites that lets you compare quotes from a bunch of different TA's?

I found my current candidate from one of those sites that let you get quotes for a specific cruise from many different TAs.

 

Is it against the CC rules to give the website of one of these sites that lets you compare quotes from a bunch of different TA's?

Yes, it is against CC rules to name TAs or ask people to email you and you will give it out.

I found mine on Tripadvisor. Free OBC and zero cancellation fee. The world's largest online OTA

Wait. In another thread you were booking with a small foreign TA who did't have normal payment security protections in place. I'm confused.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2536406

I found my current candidate from one of those sites that let you get quotes for a specific cruise from many different TAs.

 

Is it against the CC rules to give the website of one of these sites that lets you compare quotes from a bunch of different TA's?

Guidelines here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/faq.php?faq=guidelines

Yes, it is against CC rules to name TAs or ask people to email you and you will give it out.

I know - but that was not my question. I wasn't asking if it was OK to name the TA I am using, I was asking about the sites where you you specify the cruise and any TA can give a quote.

I was (and still am) hoping to get a definitive answer from this forum's moderator, to whom I addressed the question. Because it seems like mentioning the particular site I used as my starting point to find a TA wouldn't be anything like naming a particular TA or TA agency, but I DON'T want to break the rules.

Guidelines here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/faq.php?faq=guidelines

I do not see where they address my question.

I know - but that was not my question. I wasn't asking if it was OK to name the TA I am using, I was asking about the sites where you you specify the cruise and any TA can give a quote.

 

I was (and still am) hoping to get a definitive answer from this forum's moderator, to whom I addressed the question. Because it seems like mentioning the particular site I used as my starting point to find a TA wouldn't be anything like naming a particular TA or TA agency, but I DON'T want to break the rules.

I missed that you posted that question to the moderator or I would not have responded in the post above with a link to the Guidelines.

You can interpret them as you choose but this:

"General discussions regarding the TYPE of AGENCY to be used to purchase a cruise will be allowed, as long as no recommendations for any source of purchase are posted." (bold is mine) I interpret that to mean that naming a website where one can get quotes is a source of purchase (i.e your "starting point to find a TA") and so is not allowed.

Sorry had this reply but not submitted as called away and see that you did reply in the meantime

I do think that this would be a "source" but you can send CC help a query directly for the definitive answer.

I know - but that was not my question. I wasn't asking if it was OK to name the TA I am using, I was asking about the sites where you you specify the cruise and any TA can give a quote.

 

I was (and still am) hoping to get a definitive answer from this forum's moderator, to whom I addressed the question. Because it seems like mentioning the particular site I used as my starting point to find a TA wouldn't be anything like naming a particular TA or TA agency, but I DON'T want to break the rules.

I know exactly what you are talking about.

Google, "Online cruise agents"

I believe you will find that site listed

I agree about talking with friends who cruise a lot. I was just having a Facebook private conversation with an acquaintance who lives about 3 hours from me. I am on the east coast of Florida and she is on the west coast of Florida. I mentioned a cruise I have booked, she mentioned hers, and then started raving about her travel agent. The agent does work with people in any area. I have been looking for someone myself. My friend sent a message to her long time travel agent (who is an "Accredited Cruise Consultant") and she is going to be calling me in a day or two. Hopefully, this will be the start of a good relationship.

Wait. In another thread you were booking with a small foreign TA who did't have normal payment security protections in place. I'm confused.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2536406

For all my past cruises, I have been using 2 of the world's largest online TA, with direct booking facility on a secure website. One of which has free OBC and zero cancellation fee.

Recently I got a quote from a small OTA from a comparison website, (just mentioned by another poster).

This small OTA quoted a fare less than the 2 giants, but wanted credit card information by email or phone. Cos they don't have a direct booking facility on a secure website.

Wait. In another thread you were booking with a small foreign TA who did't have normal payment security protections in place. I'm confused.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2536406

I would not be put off about not having a secure web booking site.

Bottom line...all credit card transactions are risky, especially on line transactions. The system leaks and not just at the time of booking/providing your data. Many retail stores can vouch for this...at least the ones who were decent enough to go public about it.

The hackers are one step, two steps ahead of the good guys. The only credit card we have had compromised (three times) is the one that we carry in our wallets and use for in person domestic transactions. The FX credit card that we have used to book travel on many international sites and used in many foreign countres has not been compromised once in five years.

I missed that you posted that question to the moderator or I would not have responded in the post above with a link to the Guidelines.

You can interpret them as you choose but this:

"General discussions regarding the TYPE of AGENCY to be used to purchase a cruise will be allowed, as long as no recommendations for any source of purchase are posted." (bold is mine) I interpret that to mean that naming a website where one can get quotes is a source of purchase (i.e your "starting point to find a TA") and so is not allowed.

 

Sorry had this reply but not submitted as called away and see that you did reply in the meantime

 

I do think that this would be a "source" but you can send CC help a query directly for the definitive answer.

At this point it isn't worth the trouble. If some wants to compare cruise prices as a way of identifying potential TA's they can do a simple Google search looking for sites that allow you to get multiple quotes. The point of my post wasn't to give a website, it was to describe the process I used to identify potential TA candidates. I accomplished that.

Funny thing is, I did a search of this forum on the two words making up the name of the website with the words concatenated, like the url. The messages that came up had the web address blanked out with ************'s but the two words separately were left intact, even when clearly referencing the website. Seemed strange, but I'd guess it was a software thing. I'll go with the blanking out as the expression of how the guidelines apply to sites like that and refrain from mentioning the sites.

I looked a long time for a TA, but I had specific requirements. I wanted one who was fairly local (neighboring states okay), who operated with a fixed address. I also wanted recommendations from someone I knew.

We met some people on a cruise last year who we became friendly with and I happened to mention that I was kind of looking for a TA in a post on Facebook.

The wife of the couple mentioned her friend who arranged all their vacations. This friend of hers meets my criteria and is even in the same state as I am.

She's handling our next cruise, so we'll see. I'm still doing all my own research just like I've been doing for years, but I'm having her do the booking details.

So far so good. Since I know her friend, I felt okay with giving her credit card info on the phone.

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