travel agents can be the best way to book

[Sailing12Away]

7 hours ago, gmbhardy said:

 

Are you really protected? I was under the impression that if you don’t have insurance you’re out of luck if you’re flight doesn’t get there on time.

If NCL booked your flights for you, they are obligated to get you caught up with the ship at the next port of call, regardless of insurance purchased or not.

 

If the ship arrives at it's first port the next morning (our upcoming POA sailing), no big deal - you miss one night on the ship. But in our case last cruise where we almost missed the ship due to airline problems (NCL booked our flights), that would have really sucked. It was only a 5 night cruise, and the first 2 nights were at sea. So we would have either sat in Miami for 2 nights waiting to catch up to the cruise or flown into Belize for 2 nights that we weren't prepared for. Missing 2 nights of a short 5 night cruise is a big deal. 24 hrs on a 7 day.... not as much. 

[Markanddonna]

I am in the DIY camp because I am a "budget cruiser." If I was booking the Haven, it would be a different story. How much motivation or flexibility would a travel agent have to give me any of their commission on these deals on my last three TAs? ($606 in 2014, $479 in 2016, and $629 in 2018- 14 days in OV) 

 

Some of us enjoy the pursuit of a great deal. I have enjoyed seeing my 12-day NCL Mediterranean cruise go from $1,709 to $1,199 in $100 dollar increments. I call NCL and am always surprised at how pleasant their CS folks are to accommodate my reduction. 

[Travelicious]

17 hours ago, Yo Adrienne said:

Such an interesting topic...! 🙂 

 

Although I book our hotel and airline reservations myself, I've always used a TA for our cruise bookings.  (I think we started cruising before there was the ability to book directly with NCL online.)  My TA works at a small, independent agency (she is not the owner) and is very good.  If she doesn't know an answer, indeed, she's on the phone with NCL almost before I finish asking my questions.  She doesn't charge me a commission on the cruise booking (though her agency does ask her to charge for hotel/air reservations--which she says she hates doing for her long time customers.)  She knows that I understand that they used to get a commission from the hotels/airlines, but that no longer happens.  She'll check into such things for me...but then I do my own booking.

 

I've been with her for about 10 years and the biggest thing I've found is that she's very responsive to every inquiry I have--regardless of whether I go through with the trip.  And once a trip is booked, although she's not great at letting me know about a price drop, if there is one--I just let her know and she makes the change for me with no questions asked.

 

The one area where she is stellar is when there is a problem--like "a dog with a bone."  She won't let go of the issue until it's resolved.  Luckily, I only had one time where they was a major problem--and she triumphed...a cruise was cancelled and although we got the full cruise deposit refunded, the insurance company didn't want to refund the insurance money.  She went to bat for us and got the refund.

 

I really like working with my TA...and have made referrals to her and to the agency.  I don't know how much they've made on commissions with my trips and those that my referrals brought to them, but the actual bookings have given them well over $75k of business over the years.

 

Reading through all of the comments here, though, I'm starting to wonder if we're missing out on perks.  We typically book the Haven level suites (and always have), so we get all of the specific NCL perks associated with that...but we've never actually gotten anything from our TA or the agency.  No, I don't need another tote bag, pen, luggage tag, etc....but wow, reading through all of the comments here, I realize that it sure would be nice to get a bottle of wine, some sort of onboard credit, or something--particularly when our next cruise booking is well over $10k.  

 

I don't plan to leave my TA...and I don't wanna be rude...but does anyone have any suggestions of how to politely "suggest" such ideas to them...? 

Ask your TA what perks she can offer for the booking.  Perhaps mention that others routinely provide OBC.  My TA would offer at least $300 on a $10K booking, and maybe a bit more.  It depends on the commission, I suppose.

[gmbhardy]

12 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

If NCL booked your flights for you, they are obligated to get you caught up with the ship at the next port of call, regardless of insurance purchased or not.

 

If the ship arrives at it's first port the next morning (our upcoming POA sailing), no big deal - you miss one night on the ship. But in our case last cruise where we almost missed the ship due to airline problems (NCL booked our flights), that would have really sucked. It was only a 5 night cruise, and the first 2 nights were at sea. So we would have either sat in Miami for 2 nights waiting to catch up to the cruise or flown into Belize for 2 nights that we weren't prepared for. Missing 2 nights of a short 5 night cruise is a big deal. 24 hrs on a 7 day.... not as much. 

 

That’s good information. I have three future cruises booked with the included air

so it’s nice to know you’re covered to some degree.

[erdoran]

My last booking was haven and TA gave us a credit towards our fare of about 9%.  I found and booked myself then transferred to TA after checking out several agencies for discount offers.  

[phissy]

On 6/6/2019 at 6:19 AM, fshagan said:

Only my Disney travel agent does this kind of thing (for Disney vacations). I have never had a cruise travel agent ever do anything for me. I use them only if the deal is better with something like OBC.

 

I have found that the pricing on one well known big box warehouse store's travel agency is almost always higher that what I get direct. We just booked a cruise through NCL after checking that TA. They didn't even list the sail away rate I found on line. Another large TA we've used didn't offer benefits that overcame their modest booking fee ($25). Every now and then I get a price lower on that TA.

 

But service after the sale? Never had it happen. Every one of my small independent TAs has been a huge disappointment.

I called the travel agency with the big box store and asked if he could book sail-away mini suite for us .YES, they can.

Not shown on site . (you can also select a guarantee room shown in small print which does get promos.)

we did not want promos .

same price as NCL site except he also got us $200 OBC and  extra internet minutes from NCL. Not sure how but we will take it. Will get cash card when we arrive home.

assigned cabin within the week....as it is after final payment.

 

[cruiser147147]

On 6/6/2019 at 1:41 PM, newmexicoNita said:

I would gladly give you my gals name but it isn't allowed on CC and for a very good reason. If you can private message me or email me I would gladly send you her information,

 

Please send me her info  nolacruiser at gmail dot com

 

I do not normally monitor this account unless I am expecting an email

[newmexicoNita]

4 hours ago, cruiser147147 said:

 

Please send me her info  nolacruiser at gmail dot com

 

I do not normally monitor this account unless I am expecting an email

I sent it to you about an hour ago. Good luck 

[perditax]

Can travel agents apply your cruise next certificates?

 

For the first time I’ve found an online TA that seems to be offering a lower price (for my typical lower end room) than what I can find on NCL or elsewhere, but I’d want to use the current double up deal.