Direct Booking vs. Travel Agent

[Brandywine_101]

If you book via a travel agent, will you still get your C&A points? What incentives are there for booking with an agent as opposed to directly with the cruise line :confused:

[Clarea]

If you book via a travel agent, will you still get your C&A points? What incentives are there for booking with an agent as opposed to directly with the cruise line :confused:

Yes, you still get C&A points if you book with an agent.

 

Some agents give incentives, such as on board credit, free gratuities, free specialty restaurant, free insurance, etc.

[Tak8]

I generally book with an agent for the above mentioned reasons, but realize that you lose direct contact with the line. You have a question, you have to go through your agent. Some people don't like that.

[tserface]

We've also found it's more trouble to get credit if the price goes down (this happens on lots of cruises for us) and if we want to do things like reservations. You have to go through your TA to have them make changes. If they are really responsive that may not be a big deal. We don't use a TA, but I've heard good and bad stories about how responsive they might be.

 

Unfortunately, they don't allow anyone to recommend TAs on Cruise Critic so there isn't a good way to get good advice on anyone specific.

 

Tom

[Brandywine_101]

We've also found it's more trouble to get credit if the price goes down (this happens on lots of cruises for us) and if we want to do things like reservations. You have to go through your TA to have them make changes. If they are really responsive that may not be a big deal. We don't use a TA, but I've heard good and bad stories about how responsive they might be.

 

Unfortunately, they don't allow anyone to recommend TAs on Cruise Critic so there isn't a good way to get good advice on anyone specific.

 

Tom

That's unfortunate about the not recommending TAs, but I understand though that they want to keep the site biased. Thank you.

[levonfan]

If you have a United Airlines award miles account you might want to google information on how you could get some points

[WetToes]

I use a TA. I've found I get a better rate with them, and they do offer incentives, travel insurance and OBC.

If I find a price drop and my agency is closed, they have an online form I can submit.

Works for me.

[Pedro2400]

I use a TA. I've found I get a better rate with them, and they do offer incentives, travel insurance and OBC.

If I find a price drop and my agency is closed, they have an online form I can submit.

Works for me.

 

 

I always find better rates and promo with TA and I get extra perks as well.

[Kamloops50]

I find TAS in Canada don't give any perks . Only the cruise lines if any.

 

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Edited March 16, 2015 by Kamloops50

[jtdlmc]

I had a very bad experience with a TA years ago with a WDW booking and sore off them completely until this recently booked cruise. I had initially booked it myself but because of an incentive I decided to transfer my booking over to a TA. This TA was able to do something for me that know I would not have been able to do myself (and I've seen on here many times saying it couldn't be done) which saved me a little chunk of money. Now I'm sure I will use him whenever I book a vacation. I guess it all depends on the TA - if you can find one that will go above and beyond that is great, if you find one who makes the reservation and then does nothing else, you are better off on your own.

Edited March 16, 2015 by jtdlmc

[songster2]

I use a TA, not for the perks, but for assistance if something happens that I'm unable to handle while on the cruise. On my last cruise my personal scooter became inoperable. That day was a holiday in Netherlands, and the concierge was unable to get anything done due to the holiday. My TA was able to secure a rental scooter for the rest of my B2B vacation and have it delivered to my cabin in Copenhagen.

Edited March 17, 2015 by songster2

[tserface]

That sounds like a really great reason and a really great TA!

 

Tom

 

 

I use a TA, not for the perks, but for assistance if something happens that I'm unable to handle while on the cruise. On my last cruise my personal scooter became inoperable. That day was a holiday in Netherlands, and the concierge was unable to get anything done due to the holiday. My TA was able to secure a rental scooter for the rest of my B2B vacation and have it delivered to my cabin in Copenhagen.

[FOXTROT]

We always use a TA. If you book directly with RCL & have a problem Ifeel they will not represent you. Our TA has saved us a ton of money when things go bad. Especially when airlines change things at the last minute.

[Brandywine_101]

I had a very bad experience with a TA years ago with a WDW booking and sore off them completely until this recently booked cruise. I had initially booked it myself but because of an incentive I decided to transfer my booking over to a TA. This TA was able to do something for me that know I would not have been able to do myself (and I've seen on here many times saying it couldn't be done) which saved me a little chunk of money. Now I'm sure I will use him whenever I book a vacation. I guess it all depends on the TA - if you can find one that will go above and beyond that is great, if you find one who makes the reservation and then does nothing else, you are better off on your own.

Thank you for that insight. Since I've already booked one cruise and am looking to book another, I will see what the TA has to offer. Someone told me to look for an online TA. I figured since RCL isn't giving any real discount, maybe if I re-book through a TA I'll get a better deal?

[Brandywine_101]

If you have a United Airlines award miles account you might want to google information on how you could get some points

I do have UA points and I will do a search. But I'm not sure how this correlates to my original question?

[Brandywine_101]

We always use a TA. If you book directly with RCL & have a problem Ifeel they will not represent you. Our TA has saved us a ton of money when things go bad. Especially when airlines change things at the last minute.

I hadn't considered that, thank you.. ALL for the insight. I'll do some research and see what I can find. I had a TA for a few years but she retired and no one took her place so the business closed. I'll have to find another.

[Desert Cruizers]

I use a local TA for our bookings and as mentioned there are advantages & disadvantages. I won't say one way is better then another, each has to book how they feel they are getting the best price and are happy with. Like which cabin is better, when it comes down to it, it is what your happy with. I do feel should a problem arise with your booking from the Cruise Lines, and you have an excellant TA, they will make it right and have more pull then probably I would. An example, I had a mid ship Cabin and going solo, the cruise line, not RCCL suddenly moved me way forward and notified my TA, she had me back in my original cabin in less then 5 min. I found out because I just happened to be checking my Reserv and called her.

[Summerknight]

We use a local travel agent, not a big online company. We have always gotten our price drops, no problem. I keep a pretty close eye on things, but one time she called me with a $400 price drop.

[FunCruiser56]

we have used that big online agency in New Hampshire :} and have been happy with them our last 8 or so cruises we booked. We have found them to be prompt calling back and taking care of any issues we might have. We booked a cruise while on Oasis and then transfered it to the agency because of the perks they offered. Now the only negative I can find is that they will charge you cancellation fee anywhere from $50-100 pp. And while they used to be great about giving you price drops now if you want to get a drop or improvement in perks you have to rebook and cancel the original booking. I did this just yesterday and all was handled with a email, but I came out $800 ahead so it was worth it to me to do it. I have called local TA's and they just cannot offer me the perks I want so my business goes to the big agency.

Bev

[alfaeric]

We always use a TA. If you book directly with RCL & have a problem Ifeel they will not represent you. Our TA has saved us a ton of money when things go bad. Especially when airlines change things at the last minute.

 

Understandbale concern.

 

But to us, the benefit of always being able to change our reservation weighs heavier. Many here have been upset that they got an amazing price for a given cabin with a bunch of benefits- and a lot of that comes from a TA booking a large group rate. Nothing wrong with that.

 

Unless you want to change- especially after last payment. Seems as if when the above situation happens, one is normally left with a much higher price than an even swap, plus cancelation fees- probably 5-6 threads a month during the summer season about this problem. Booking directly with the "higher" rate allows us to upgrade easily, and change cabins with a simple phone call. It's nice to book a basic stateroom, that you are happy with, but have a goal of upgrading when you know that something is available at the same price. (we've gotten an amazing corner aft for an Alaskan cruise- moving 4 times while rooms opened, a JS for a balcony reservation on the Oasis, and a few GS upgrades form JS that we "paid" to upgrade.)

 

I know people have been able to do that with a TA, but in the end, we seem to get more out of our reservation doing it directly.

 

YMMV.

[Sarvowinner]

As an Australian, RCI is very restrictive with our bookings. There are no (paid) upgrades, price changes or cabin changes allowed. The only way I can access US pricing and the flexibility afforded North American passengers is to book with a US TA. For my next cruise I initially booked a Boardwalk balcony. When I found out that the price on the US website was much lower for an Oceanview Balcony on the hump, I cancelled my Australian booking and booked with an online US TA with significant savings and a nice OBC. The issue we have is that we are subject to currency fluctuations but I paid my cruise off in full a few months ago.