I find Gary’s videos to be very entertaining. But you gotta be careful with his advice (or anybody’s advice for that matter.) Gary just did a video on Alaska where he bragged about his travel agent for being so smart and “finding” him a train that goes from Anchorage to Whittier. 30 seconds of Google time will find you dozens of articles on how to make the trip. Every one of them mentioning the train. There’s only a couple ways to make the journey. Also, keep in mind Gary spends a ton of money on luxury cruises. Because commissions are higher, TA’s have a lot more they can do for you when booking expensive cruises or suites.
When it comes to run of the mill cruises, an individual who like to research and plan can do everything a TA can. And by booking everything direct, you’ll never have a problem when you want to change something and the cruise line says “we can’t talk to you, you have to talk to your TA.
Keep in mind you are on a forum where most of us not only can research and plan, that’s part of the fun. Where a TA really helps us when you don’t want to have to deal with all the minutia - you just want to tell somebody that you want to take a cruise in October, have them ask you a few questions and get to work for you.