Avalon Booking Advice-Use TA or book direct

[Riverroad]

I see that Avalon is advertising no single supplement for solo travelers on European river cruises. I'd like to try a solo river cruise. Am I better off booking directly with Avalon or using a TA? I know that I would need to find a TA specializing in river cruising and also know that I can't ask for a recommendation here.

[Daisi]

I have always heard to us a TA, perhaps this may help : http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2429094

The one thing I have heard is that you have someone "fighting" in your corner when you are overseas, instead of having to try to deal with the North American office. I haven't heard may times that this would be needed for Avalon, but I would say the same holds true for all cruise companies.

 

If you look on the Avalon site (at least the Canadian one), they do have a recommendation for TA's that are in "local" areas. These are TA's who have either been on their cruises (mine has) or deal with them enough for Avalon to recommend them. I contacted a couple of my local ones and found one I was comfortable dealing with.

 

Hope that helps....

[Got2Cruise]

You don't need a special travel agent if you do your homework as far as itinerary. Price it out on Avalon, as far as price, then check with a big internet agency to see if you can get cash back, paid gratuities or OBC on top

[gnome12]

For Ontarians the advantage of using a TICO (Travel Industry Council of Ontario) travel agent is that we have a compensation fund, which provides a certain amount of protection in the event of bankruptcy or insolvency of the provider.

[Shebely]

I book with a large internet travel agency that is one of Avalon's best customers. I get discounts that probably cannot be beat anywhere else. After I booked a Mekong cruise through the online agency, my travel rep sent me information about a meeting that Avalon arranged where the Mekong tour director came to their office to answer questions about the cruise. Since I cannot name the online company I use, you best bet us to do a google search. Also Avalon is, if course, not the only travel company that the online agency handles.

[janegraybc]

We have to cancel our June 23 Magnificent Europe cruise .My husband had to have surgery

We have cancelation insurance.Can the cruise be taken by a family member? How quickly must we rebook?

Thanks ..... so disappointed.

 

 

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[gnome12]

Cancellation insurance should just give you cash back, period. You can do what you want with it, either rebook or not.

 

If you do plan on rebooking, you might want to talk to the cruise company directly; they might (but only might) facilitate it without going through insurance.

 

Again, if you wish to see whether you can transfer the cruise to someone else you need to talk to the cruise company. This may or may not be possible, but it has nothing to do with insurance.