Booking through APT direct vs a TA?

[hbhau]

Hi folks,

 

my first post here after some time of lurking, so hopefully I'm doin' it right :)

 

I was just wondering, is there any difference between booking a cruise & flight directly through a company such as APT, vs calling in to a Travel Agent?

 

I guess my main concern is that TAs have at least some checks and balances, I am assuming companies like APT down here in Aus do to, but just thought I'd ask in case there was something I was missing.

 

What prompted this question is my experience of dealing with 2 different TAs re booking a European river cruise for 2015.

 

Don't get me wrong, both TAs were lovely... but first of all they both gave me 2014 dates instead of 2015 dates. OK, easy mistake to make. But then one of them rings me and says there's ONLY 3 cabins left (I'm booking for 3 couples) on the boat with the special deal, so put a hold on it NOW. So I do, thinking phew, lucky I booked when I did. Then 30 hrs later I get a call from the second TA, telling me WOW there's ONLY 3 cabins left on the SAME boat. put a hold on NOW.

 

Now math isn't my forte, but 3 - 3 = 0 as far as I knew. So what's going on here? Could just be a mistake, but is there some sort of 'used car sales' tactic going on here? I am a total newbie at cruises, so don't know the tricks of the trade.

 

So now I am wondering if I should just go via APT direct. (Although who knows, the TAs are probably just repeating what they are hearing from the wholesaler?)

 

Anyway, if anyone has any tips or advice to share, I'd love to hear it.

 

Thanks everyone.

[antipodean99]

Firstly let me declare - I am a travel agent.

Now, that out of the way I can tell you that any agent telling you there are only 3 cabins left on a 2015 cruise is having you on. The programs have only literally just been announced. You do not say which line you're looking at but there are so many ships , departures and cabins on each ship that it's just not possible.

Secondly anyone booking 3 cabins should be getting a fairly decent discount. Just ask what discount can they offer. Just like this. We hear this question all the time and you'd be surprised how much you can save.

Whatever you do, don't just buy the 1st thing you get offered.

 

Hope you get a good deal

[peterdkiwi]

The best deal I got last year for 2013 sailing and again for another booking in 2014 after we enjoyed the first cruise was with Avalon , not through a travel agent or through local website, but directly with USA Phone contact and booking centre, saved $1000's for 2 couples

[Ozjohnno]

The best deal I got last year for 2013 sailing and again for another booking in 2014 after we enjoyed the first cruise was with Avalon , not through a travel agent or through local website, but directly with USA Phone contact and booking centre, saved $1000's for 2 couples

 

I agree totally I booked our 2014 Tauck cruise in Southern France last year direct with Tauck in the USA and I too saved many dollars. As I've written before when we were planning this holiday both APT and Scenic were a dearer proposition than Tauck.

Edited January 20, 2014 by Ozjohnno

[alexandra cruiser]

so I guess I ve been lucky. I use one I got from googling luxury TAs that give cash back.I get %5 cash back prior to cruise.Get BEST price I can find on internet and then ask for THAT(just to be sure I m gettin a good deal).

This one based in Dallas,sorry can t give names.Try it for Australia,I m going with Scenic for 2014 and put a hold on 2015 one.The one for this June is fully booked ,they seem to fill up OVER a yr.in advance.

 

Good luck,hope you find one that helps.Also, they deal with all the questions and not end up on HOLd for ages everytime.PS.am NOT a TA.haha;)

[Ozjohnno]

Alexandra - I think it has a lot to do with where you live. Australians may be offered some deals for the local companies APT/Scenic but some have never heard of Tauck. I went through a local TA for our first cruise in 2011 with Tauck and Tauck's local agent was hopeless. So now I book direct and it's worked out fine.

[hbhau]

Thanks to all posters - this is incredibly useful information. I've not purchased anything yet and am glad I held off. For those Aussies who purchased via an overseas contact (I know we can't name names) did you have any concerns re the product? I guess what I am trying to ask is if all travel documents could be sent to Australia no problems, and there were no problems with travel insurance using this arrangement?

Thanks again for all your help.

[Ozjohnno]

Thanks to all posters - this is incredibly useful information. I've not purchased anything yet and am glad I held off. For those Aussies who purchased via an overseas contact (I know we can't name names) did you have any concerns re the product? I guess what I am trying to ask is if all travel documents could be sent to Australia no problems, and there were no problems with travel insurance using this arrangement?

Thanks again for all your help.

 

We booked direct with Tauck via email and phone thus we didn't use any overseas agent. The reason we booked direct this time was that we were very dissatisfied with Tauck's Australian agent (not our TA who still booked our Air for this upcoming holiday) and didn't want the same problems again. As to paperwork Tauck has sent us a number of documents already and there's been no problems. With Travel Insurance we took out ours as soon as we'd paid our deposit from an Australian company and there was nothing in their agreement about direct booking.

[Yggdrasil98]

I usually use my TA for the air tickets and my River Cruise. We have booked direct with APT and another company (not Rivers in Europe).

 

When you book with an agent, the cruise company don't want any correspondence with you. You have to put all queries through your TA. This has proved an issue with one company as it took forever to get a response, and then you would need to seek clarification and that was more time. That said, we've had errors on both ways of booking. APT changed our veggie meals to 1 regular meal last trip. Airline was adamant it was APT, so this time I couldn't be dealing with this company again (using up our credit), so I had my TA book it so she would sort it all out with them, and she rang last week asking if we had changed out diets because APT had changed our booking, new year same issues.

 

That said, I book all my own other stuff, like hotels, extra cities accommodation and trains etc myself.

 

Being in Australia, we pay top $$ like most of us, I haven't yet gone the OzJohnno route of finding a US agent.

[Ozjohnno]

I usually use my TA for the air tickets and my River Cruise. We have booked direct with APT and another company (not Rivers in Europe).

 

When you book with an agent, the cruise company don't want any correspondence with you. You have to put all queries through your TA. This has proved an issue with one company as it took forever to get a response, and then you would need to seek clarification and that was more time. That said, we've had errors on both ways of booking. APT changed our veggie meals to 1 regular meal last trip. Airline was adamant it was APT, so this time I couldn't be dealing with this company again (using up our credit), so I had my TA book it so she would sort it all out with them, and she rang last week asking if we had changed out diets because APT had changed our booking, new year same issues.

 

That said, I book all my own other stuff, like hotels, extra cities accommodation and trains etc myself.

 

Being in Australia, we pay top $$ like most of us, I haven't yet gone the OzJohnno route of finding a US agent.

 

I'm sorry if I confused anyone BUT I don't have a US agent. I simply booked with Tauck direct in the USA and paid in US Dollars. As I said above this was solely because Tauck's agent in Australia is an incompetent charlatan. I still use my very good local TA to book my international airfare but that is all.

[hbhau]

Thanks Ozjohnno, sounds like something I should take a look at.

 

Antipodean99, when you say "decent discount", are we talking about 5% of the cruise price (roughly)?

 

My thanks to everyone again for your responses - this forum has been invaluable!

Edited January 22, 2014 by hbhau

[hbhau]

Stoopid autocorrect - I meant "take a look at"!

[antipodean99]

Thanks Ozjohnno, sounds like something I should take a look at.

 

Antipodean99, when you say "decent discount", are we talking about 5% of the cruise price (roughly)?

 

My thanks to everyone again for your responses - this forum has been invaluable!

 

 

anywhere between 5 and 8%

[hbhau]

Thanks everyone, cruise is now booked and for a price we were very happy with!

 

Only problem now is the WAIT - only 20 months to go before our October 2015 departure lol.

 

Oh well, plenty of time to dream, and to think about our pre & post cruise destinations - Prague and Budapest :)

[peterdkiwi]

We booked directly with Avalon America using phone and e mail, no agents. Had to be a bit creative to start as their website requires USA postal address, use fake address (old friend , so I have right postal code), paid deposit by credit card, once booking accepted, rang and e mailed Avalon and provided correct mail address. All future communication was by e mail, no problems, just BIG $$$ savings. As stated above, have done same again for cruise this year.