Opinions on booking with discount companies

[SkiTeton]

Aside from the Google reviews on certain "discount" cruise booking websites, I'm looking for people's firsthand experiences.

 

There is one website with the exact same price as RCCL's website but they are offering 1st and 2nd guest free gratuities, complimentary one night specialty dining for 2, and 1 free spa treatment.

 

Has anyone taken advantage of such offers? How smooth was it from booking to sailing?

[RomanceMama]

Aside from the Google reviews on certain "discount" cruise booking websites, I'm looking for people's firsthand experiences.

 

There is one website with the exact same price as RCCL's website but they are offering 1st and 2nd guest free gratuities, complimentary one night specialty dining for 2, and 1 free spa treatment.

 

Has anyone taken advantage of such offers? How smooth was it from booking to sailing?

 

We have booked through "warehouse store" travel sites and had great results. Booked with lots of benefits and when cruise was shortened due to hurricane we contacted them before boarding, they gave us on board credit to compensate and sent us additional refund on gift card. Would definitely use again. Have also used travel websites for booking with no problems or issues and recieved all benefits promised. Hope this helps.

[paulh84]

There is a lot of value to be had with some of those offers. You unfortunately aren’t going to get much useful feedback since you cannot discuss agents on here. If they have positive reviews on a variety of websites I would feel confident booking through them.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[VaTech8912]

99% of time we book through a "discount" store. We use one that does NOT have a cancellation fee with them. Obviously, the cruise line cancellation fees are in effect, regardless.

[tortoisegirl]

We booked a few times with a discount agency for the extra OBC, but decided against it after some recent experience.

 

The first issue we had is that they would only give us one free price drop (and even then, it reduced the OBC they gave us, by about half the price difference), then after that, they said there was a fee each time.

 

The second was that cancelling was a huge pain. A form had to be filled out exactly right, by hand, then certified mailed or faxed. The first time I did it "wrong" so I had to redo it - good thing we were well before final payment). The kicker was the $100/cabin fee. Re-booking was a bit less, but still, not free, despite being before final payment.

 

Ideally I'd get a personal recommendation for a travel agency that has perks, great customer service, no penalties, and you can book and do interactions online (I hate talking on the phone).

 

I've found some of those qualities, but not all. So, I booked our most recent cruises directly. At least that way I could cancel before final payment if needed with the click of a button and without paying a fee. That makes up for loosing a bit of OBC in my mind.