TA or Book direct with HAL?

[maxmia]

TA has given us a price for a cruise we are interested in, but when I checked with the online booking with HAL it was $120. cheaper. Also the TA wanted a bigger deposit than the one quoted on line. We use this TA for all our travelling arrangements, but am wondering if its OK to do the whole thing ourselves directly with HAL this time. We live in OZ I don't know if that would be a disadvantage. Any hints please? Thanks.:confused:

[NH Cruisers]

I booked my first two cruises through TA, was not happy either time. I have booked eight straight cruises since direct. I pay less for each cruise it seems. I do definitly pay less than the first two booked with a TA. I do book my own hotels and air too.

 

My first cruise the TA said there was no reason not to fly to port day of cruise. I was stressing enough to give me a coronary!! Always fly in day prior if possible.

 

As far as being on the other side of the world I don't know what the differences may be for you booking direct.

 

Too, I hear of some folks who get treated royally by their TA (I am not one of them). OBC's, gifts, other deals. If you are so lucky and get treated good it may be worth the extra money for you.

 

Jon,

[Kween Karen]

My prices are definitely less going through my TA......a well established well known agency.

[crusinbanjo]

TA has given us a price for a cruise we are interested in, but when I checked with the online booking with HAL it was $120. cheaper. Also the TA wanted a bigger deposit than the one quoted on line. We use this TA for all our travelling arrangements, but am wondering if its OK to do the whole thing ourselves directly with HAL this time. We live in OZ I don't know if that would be a disadvantage. Any hints please? Thanks.:confused:

 

Mrs Banjo & I had the same thing happen to us recently. Additionally the TA said the category we wanted had only 1 cabin, yet the web site had 5 cabins open. I brought it to the TA's attention, she lowered the price below the website, got me the cabin I wanted, and we got a big on board credit to spend. TA claimed that the info that they get on their computer is different from what is posted on the web site. I don't know if that is true or not, but it all worked out for us, after we said something.

 

I always tell any of my vendors / service companies, "I will be loyal to you unless YOU send off shopping for a better deal". I suspect that the next time we are ready to book, she will be more informed and better prepared..... ....or we might go shopping.

 

Our friends in OZ always use a booking agent, they seem to think things work out better for them, especially when they are coming up from down under! (Ha, had to get that in). We have booked both ways and it has worked out fine. With a TA, she does a lot more of the work, saves us lots of time. That's what makes it worthwhile!

[califgary]

TA has given us a price for a cruise we are interested in, but when I checked with the online booking with HAL it was $120. cheaper. Also the TA wanted a bigger deposit than the one quoted on line. We use this TA for all our travelling arrangements, but am wondering if its OK to do the whole thing ourselves directly with HAL this time. We live in OZ I don't know if that would be a disadvantage. Any hints please? Thanks.:confused:

 

As much as I LOVE cruise critic and the fantastic information sharing that is provided here (I just found out about an awesome cruise from cc members) I have to say that your somewhat loaded question probably wont get a definitive answer as there are alot (and I mean alot) of TAs that contribute here as well as non-TAs. Be prepared to get answers from all sides of this spectrum! Just a word of warning.

[MACPC]

We booked our first through HAL and got the same price listed on their web site.

 

Our last three we booked through TA from well-known on-line cruise group. She was recommended by a friend who has over 50 cruises, all handled by this TA.

 

She has beat all of the on-line prices. Sometimes her agency has groups of cabins they have purchased and then pass on their discount to customers. She's been great with follow-up and she has managed to get us in exactly the cabin we prefer.

[maxmia]

Thanks for replying to my post. What started this, was the 45% deposit required immediately by TA for a cruise Next Sept.11. or HAL would cancel booking. I got my back up as it was almost like a " do it or loose it" threat. He assured me that it was a HAL directive. I have used this TA many times, and never had a problem.

[smalldog]

I am in Oz and I booked my first cruise last year through a TA, even though I usually make all my own travel arrangements direct over the internet these days.

 

He knew nothing about the ship and had trouble getting any info, I ended up doing all the research myself online. He also did a dismal job of getting me accommodation pre and post cruise - I was offered one that was "a lovely hotel in an ideal location", and found out through online reviews that it was next to a noisy stadium and full of drunken uni students, so I asked for something different. Later in the process I did my own bookings for the rest of the accommodation and saved a heap of money on those other nights and found good hotels that I will be going back to.

 

This year I have booked my cruise direct with HAL. I'm not getting the special deals from TAs that others talk about on here, but I've never seen any of them offered in Australia anyway. (There may be TAs near you that specialise in cruises and do have deals, I wouldn't know - there are also a couple of online cruise booking agencies based in Oz, and they might be good for the last minute specials if you want to book at short notice.)

 

I have had no problem at all booking direct from Oz via HAL's website. You just pay with a credit card, and they contact you via email throughout the process when your next payment is due, and for online check-in etc.

[Mary Ellen]

I think what a number are missing is that the OP is in Australia. There are different booking standards/rules/regulations/laws and consumer protections there than in the U.S. There are very few North American posters qualified to accurately respond to this situation.

 

I'm sorry, maxmia, but hopefully another poster from OZ may be along before too long with some actual knowledge as to the pro/cons of using an Australian TA vs. booking directly with HAL. I haven't followed the threads too closely (as it isn't applicable to us), but there have been some threads in the past about this same situation.

 

Good luck -

 

Good - I see someone from OZ responded while I was typing.

[smalldog]

Oh and another thing... the TA's deposit last year was non-refundable. The HAL deposit was refundable right up until I think 3 months before the cruise when final payment was due.

[Charlie Chan]

Hi Maxima

 

A reply from OZ. We have booked a cruise next year with HAL. The local shopping centre TA's simply quoted the HAL listed price. After reading lots of posts on other threads, we found an online agent in Western Australia who quoted a price about 10% lower. This was significant on a 20 day cruise. We still had to pay a non refundable $1200 pp deposit. Perhaps the deposit is a fixed amount, not a % of the cruise cost.

 

Hope this is of some help.

[Osmosis Jones]

We are in Australia and booked the first 2 cruises through a TA.

The first time I was glad because it was Hong Kong to Singapore and they organised loads of things from transfers to pre & post accommodation.

 

2nd time I felt it would have been easier to organise it ourselves - granted the cruise was SYD-SYD wih no accommodation required and we are familiar with our home turf.

 

This time we have booked so far ahead, we will do it all ourselves. I booked via the HAL website and like getting all the booking info direct.

 

I think it depends on your individual requirements. I would probably use a TA if we were to go to unfamiliar countries with a lot of components of the holiday like transfers, hotels and flights that needed coordinating.

[canadarocks]

I'm Canadian so things might be different here, but we use a U.S. based T.A. because it means a large savings for us. Then I do all of the planning myself on the HAL site.

 

Best of all worlds! :D

[trophy_23]

I'm Canadian so things might be different here, but we use a U.S. based T.A. because it means a large savings for us. Then I do all of the planning myself on the HAL site.

 

Best of all worlds! :D

 

x2 We booked direct and now book through well known online agency and have found it to be quite a savings over anything we can get locally in Vancouver!