Dedicated Cruise Agents

Why aren't there any High Street Agents who truly understand the concept of cruising? There may be a few here and there, but I can't find any close to me in Manchester. Don't get me wrong, we have been okay with the online agents we've used, but sometimes it would be nice to have a face to talk to rather than just a voice.

The two main travel agents have proved useless; one couldn't find the QM2 even when we gave them specific dates and the other one quoted us £500 pp more than the online agent for the same date!!

If the industry wants to grow they are going to have to rethink how they are doing things at the moment because I'm sure they must be losing a lot of custom to the web.

I have heard this many times. Asked US discount agents. Some agencies can book and service you if you can produce a US address. Some I have heard allow you to use their office address too.We have same problem. Many of older agents have retired. New ones not as sharp or dedicated.

I've never used a high street agent for booking a cruise. Always used an online one. Like you, I wouldn't think they were very savvy about cruising. They mostly have cruise line brochures in their shops though.

It's easier just getting online quotes than trawling around the high street.

I've never used a high street agent for booking a cruise. Always used an online one. Like you, I wouldn't think they were very savvy about cruising. They mostly have cruise line brochures in their shops though.

 

It's easier just getting online quotes than trawling around the high street.

Totally agree. However, it would be nice to actually speak face to face to someone with whom you could hopefully build up a relationship with and who will look for the 'extras' that I have been known to miss, ie OBC, Upgrades, etc. Especially useful if you like to cruise a lot.

I do quite enjoy trawling the web looking for deals, but sometimes I think it would just be nice for someone else to do it :)

Glasgow has a couple of walk in places, their agents also do the on-line/phone support.

In most cases even with the major on-line places you are better phoning in the actual order as you an negotiate extras and fine tune.

In my experience I have yet to find anyone that really knows their stuff at the sort of detail needed to support anyone that has done a lot of their own research or cruised a lot.

Booking through the US is a lot easier for some lines than others

NCL easy as their own US agents will take bookings

RCCL brands often needs the phone via a TA.

you can ignore the messages that some say including that compete site that say US/CA only get a price then tell them you are UK, many will still work with UK people.

Just beware UK prices for a lot of trips are better than US these days and the perks can be different swinging a deal.

Not sure what benefit I would get from a walk in place I tried the big one in Glasgow, I already had a list and the best they would do was £50 discount but then it was already a cheap trip and there was not a lot of commission to play with.

I don't see enough demand to support walk-in high street specialists, any more than there's enough demand for a beers-only off-licence or a tomatoes-only greengrocer. Or indeed a travel-agency which only deals with holidays in, for example, the USA.

Some have a member of staff who knows a great deal more than the average, but it's pot-luck.

We use cruise-specialists, but by phone & not the internet, cos they speak our language. That's about as face-to-face as you're likely to get but we've found that perfectly adequate.

As insidecabin's comment, we can negotiate deals and freebies on the phone, to some extent playing one off against another. Doing that face-to-face means finding at least two high street agents and an awful lot of bus fares. ;)

Don't know how this thread got round to using US agents :confused:

But for my four-penn'orth, in the past we've found their prices better. But nowadays not such a big difference. And late-late deals in the UK in the UK are pretty unbeatable.

JB :)