Advantages of booking direct

[beloum]

Usually I book direct with the cruise line, but came across a deal with a large box retailer warehouse club that offers a gift card for booking with their travel service.  Would like of know of any advantages/disadvantages of not going through the line directly.    I am concerned about level of service in making changes, accessing booking etc.   Anyone run into issues using this type of travel service?    

[GastroGnome]

I'm in the UK so no direct experience.  But I have been able to transfer a booking from a TA to X.  And even when the booking rested with a TA I was able to deal with X directly for whatever I needed.  So until someone more helpful comes along I can't see any reason for you not to deal directly even if the booking is made through a service.  Watch the T&Cs though.  They have to be making money on this somewhere! 

[Miaminice]

Advantages of booking direct... There are none! Get yourself a GOOD TA who handles everything and as a bonus gives you a better deal.

[chemmo]

Both yes and no...

 

We have on occasions booked through travel companies when offers have been good.

 

We have had good agents who reliably would not only get us a good deal but would try really hard to get us upgrades at airport hotels etc...They answered the phone quickly and would respond promptly to any issues or queries.

 

Then we have had the disinterested who have secured our booking, made errors on our booking, been hard to contact and taken away some of the pleasure of the pre cruise experience. Some agents have little product knowledge which can cause problems for guests new to a cruise line. For example, wrongly advising on what perks come with different suite types...

 

You do need to check details like cancellation fees and ‘administrative charges’ for changes to bookings too.

 

Must be honest and say generally we do prefer to keep ownership of our own bookings but sometimes good offers do come along! 

 

Hopefully a few posters who regularly use the company you are referring to will respond with specific information both positive and negative...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PelicanLvr]

If booked thru an agent of any kind, I believe you (the traveler) do not have the ability to make many changes directly with the cruise line.  If you want to change your stateroom or get the benefit of a price change, the agent must call.  Only they (not you) can make changes to the reservation.  

 

I have called myself and tried.  I was told to have the agent call that I was unable to make certain changes. Frustrating.  

 

But, some of the deals offered by big agencies (small ones too I guess) can't be beat!  

 

Losing "reservation altering rights" with the cruise line is (to me) the big trade off.

 

Anyone else have that experience?

[hcat]

We book direct with X ,..easier, quicker, more control over res and easier to make changes.

 

Trade off is that  we pay sticker price with less OBC,  or look for sales;  and If there is a problem or issue, then we are on our own!

 

Most long time X cruisers know more about the ships/ staterooms,   and X in general  than many TAs, so we found  no real benefit there with a TA.

[Miaminice]

14 minutes ago, PelicanLvr said:

Losing "reservation altering rights" with the cruise line is (to me) the big trade off.

 

Anyone else have that experience?

I don´t see and consider them lost.
I simply call my TA or write an email, have him change what I want to change and it´s done. 
To me it doesn´t make a difference (in mindset and effort) if I call Celebrity or my TA.

[bikerunner]

I have known used my TA for many years and that does help.  She is very pro active and always quick to answer.  Yes you lose personal control over the reservation which I’m fine with since I have dealt with her many times.  I never gone thru the big box travel sites and deals there might be a little better but I’m comfortable with my ta and the xtra obc    I do usually book the room cruise myself thru celebrity and transferring over.  The only time I have booked directly with her was when she has a good group rate.  So after my long winded diatribe it’s really not simple. I prefer the ta but mainly because of the personal relationship from using them for 15 plus years.  

[ipeeinthepool]

4 hours ago, beloum said:

Usually I book direct with the cruise line, but came across a deal with a large box retailer warehouse club that offers a gift card for booking with their travel service.  Would like of know of any advantages/disadvantages of not going through the line directly.    I am concerned about level of service in making changes, accessing booking etc.   Anyone run into issues using this type of travel service?    

 

I use the big box retailer and it is almost like booking direct.  They are always there and always willing to call to make a change or get a price adjustment.  If you know what you want this may be a good option for you, but if you are inexperienced a good independent TA may be the best choice for you.  Good independent TA's seem to be difficult to find, but they may also offer incentives that can equal or exceed the value of the gift card.  If things go really bad, as in a cruise is cancelled, you will need to be your own advocate to make sure you are treated fairly.  That's not to say the cruise lines intentionally don't treat you fairly, but there are a lot of mistakes when then need to correct a couple thousand reservations and the process may take months.  Unless I get a recommendation from a trusted source, I will likely continue with the big box TA.   As long as you know what you want the big box TA offers good service and should work well for you.

[Miaminice]

27 minutes ago, hcat said:

Most long time X cruisers know more about the ships/ staterooms,   and X in general  than many TAs, so we found  no real benefit there with a TA.

Correct, I know what I want and don´t require much support... but that is why I call my trusted TA and tell him to book this stateroom number on this and that cruise. If there is any problem he tells me otherwise he knows I don´t cause much trouble and gives me a great deal. Whenever there was a problem, he really put his back into it, even when I said it´s fine. 
Bottom line: I don´t shop around because I know what I´ve got with them - and they give me the best deal and support.

 

I booked the first few cruises directly. That was many years ago. Since then I had nothing but advantages by booking with a TA - in my case one that I really know and trust. Plus a lot of money saved...
 

Edited September 4, 2019 by Miaminice

[rotoal]

5 hours ago, beloum said:

Usually I book direct with the cruise line, but came across a deal with a large box retailer warehouse club that offers a gift card for booking with their travel service.  Would like of know of any advantages/disadvantages of not going through the line directly.    I am concerned about level of service in making changes, accessing booking etc.   Anyone run into issues using this type of travel service?    

I have been thrilled with using a large box warehouse club as my TA.    Yes you do have to call your TA and stay on hold while they call Celebrity, but the gift card is a wonderful bonus.   We recently returned from a two week cruise, I made one change before final payment when I saw that the price had dropped a little bit.   Somehow I ended up with a savings that was hundreds of dollars more than I had expected.   And when the price dropped after final payment, I was able to upgrade our cabin and move from 2 to 4 perks with no change in price, although I had expected a small price increase.

 

In addition to the sizeable gift card (which was in the mail when we returned), we have a more expensive membership category, and will receive 2% back at our membership renewal date, and we have the retailer's credit card which will give us 3% back on the credit card renewal date.   

 

I think that it is well worth the few extra minutes on the phone while the TA contacts Celebrity.   

 

I once called and had a less than helpful sounding TA on the other end of the phone.  She told me that I probably wouldn't save money when the price dropped, that I would lose the one sub-category upgrade, and that I would be on hold for 20 minutes.   I told her that I would call back later and ended up with savings much larger than expected.   The quality of the Celebrity rep probably has more to do with the success and ease of making changes than the TA.

[beloum]

15 minutes ago, rotoal said:

I have been thrilled with using a large box warehouse club as my TA.    Yes you do have to call your TA and stay on hold while they call Celebrity, but the gift card is a wonderful bonus.   We recently returned from a two week cruise, I made one change before final payment when I saw that the price had dropped a little bit.   Somehow I ended up with a savings that was hundreds of dollars more than I had expected.   And when the price dropped after final payment, I was able to upgrade our cabin and move from 2 to 4 perks with no change in price, although I had expected a small price increase.

 

In addition to the sizeable gift card (which was in the mail when we returned), we have a more expensive membership category, and will receive 2% back at our membership renewal date, and we have the retailer's credit card which will give us 3% back on the credit card renewal date.   

 

I think that it is well worth the few extra minutes on the phone while the TA contacts Celebrity.   

 

I once called and had a less than helpful sounding TA on the other end of the phone.  She told me that I probably wouldn't save money when the price dropped, that I would lose the one sub-category upgrade, and that I would be on hold for 20 minutes.   I told her that I would call back later and ended up with savings much larger than expected.   The quality of the Celebrity rep probably has more to do with the success and ease of making changes than the TA.

Exactly my situation.  Between the GC, the 2% bonus and the cash back on the stores credit card, was hard to pass up.   Did have issues accessing my booking on X's website, but I think that is more a function of X having a less than stellar website, than the outside booking agency.   Thanks for all you guy's input.  

[Ex-Airbalancer]

The big box store does not participate in the bid to move up program 

and they want final payment about a week before Celebrity needs it 

besides that it they have been ok to deal with 

On the Holy Land cruise their group rate was about $1500 lower than Celebrity price at time of booking 

On the TA after the Holy land cruise there was a price drop and it was $100pp to move balcony from an OV 

called in waited on holed , and the came back we upgraded to balcony no charge , but the cash card went down by $50 

 

Mark 

Edited September 4, 2019 by Airbalancer

[ipeeinthepool]

3 hours ago, Airbalancer said:

The big box store does not participate in the bid to move up program 

and they want final payment about a week before Celebrity needs it 

besides that it they have been ok to deal with 

On the Holy Land cruise their group rate was about $1500 lower than Celebrity price at time of booking 

On the TA after the Holy land cruise there was a price drop and it was $100pp to move balcony from an OV 

called in waited on holed , and the came back we upgraded to balcony no charge , but the cash card went down by $50 

 

Mark 

 

That's a good point about the move-up program, it took me a while to figure out why I was never eligible.  Maybe I don't select the correct cruises, but I've never found a group rate at my big box TA.  The prices have always been the same as the Celebrity website. 

[Lilikins]

Pretty sure we have the same wholesale membership TA group and I love them! I called a couple months ago to change our friends rooms from inside to OV - didn’t end up happening because our TA pointed out that it was directly below casino - oops. Glad he saw it but I’m embarrassed I didn’t! He called celebrity to find out the price difference anyways and somehow was offered an even better price to just keep the same rooms they already had. It saved us a few hundred dollars. In addition, at the end of the call they always summarize your booking and at this point I found out that we received a $75 dining credit per state room. Apparently if enough members book a cruise there are extra perks like this thrown in. He said it’s not something they overtly advertise because it’s never guaranteed that your cruise will hit that magic number.

 

I initially booked through celebrity, but I am very happy I transferred over.

[kathynorth]

3 hours ago, Airbalancer said:

On the Holy Land cruise their group rate was about $1500 lower than Celebrity price at time of booking 

On the TA after the Holy land cruise there was a price drop and it was $100pp to move balcony from an OV 

called in waited on holed , and the came back we upgraded to balcony no charge , but the cash card went down by $50 

 

Mark 

 

14 minutes ago, ipeeinthepool said:

Maybe I don't select the correct cruises, but I've never found a group rate at my big box TA.  The prices have always been the same as the Celebrity website. 

 

Airbalancer, did you find your Holy Land cruise in a special section of the website or did you randomly luck out with a group rate? I've met other people saying they found great deals from this TA, but same as ipeeinthepool, I mostly see the same prices as the X website.

[kathynorth]

9 hours ago, beloum said:

Usually I book direct with the cruise line, but came across a deal with a large box retailer warehouse club that offers a gift card for booking with their travel service.  Would like of know of any advantages/disadvantages of not going through the line directly.    I am concerned about level of service in making changes, accessing booking etc.   Anyone run into issues using this type of travel service?    

 

We've used this TA a couple of times. On one occasion I had received an extra $150 OBC credit due to an issue I experienced while  making an onboard booking. I transferred to this TA and that agent accidentally dropped the $150 and said it couldn't be retrieved after the change. After several he said-she said calls (they had difficulty understanding why I received the $150 in the first place), I insisted on a 3 way discussion with Celebrity and was able to get it fixed. Other than that, all other reservations and transferred were handled seamlessly. 

[CharlieCharlieCharlie]

If you do shop around, and have proof of the price available,  many times the celebrity rep can meet the (big box) price or come close to it, and add OBC instead of the gift card. 

If you find a celebrity rep/TA that you like, they will usually work with you to get the best price available, even if it changes before final payment. Booking direct has been great for us. But using other TA’s can work out great, too. 

[Angua]

We have booked on our own, through a friend of a friend TA, and through a big box retailer over the years.

 

I felt the friend of a fried TA was the worst.  She wasn't easy to get a hold of, didn't track price drops, and in general I had to hound her to do the things i could have done myself more quickly and efficiently.  Also, even though she was supposed to be a cruise expert, she didn't know anything about the individual ship or the amenities it offered. (this was on the NCL Epic and i wanted to make sure I had a bed by the balcony in those oddly shaped rooms.  She didn't know which rooms offered that and was unwilling to do the leg work to figure it out).  She offered no additional OBC, although she did send us chocolate covered strawberries on the ship.

Booking myself gives me the most control and works well for me.  I have booked enough cruises and now am more familiar with how to find out the info i need to make sure I get the cabins and deals I want.  If it looks like a good deal on its own I will do it myself, especially if the other TAs don't have any other good perks.

 

The past few times I have gone with the big box store TA, though.  Their cash card rebate is usually substantial, sometimes up to 10% of the cost of the cruise fare.  The last 2 we booked had a beverage package included as well as a special event package that included extra perks such as a private luncheon in a specialty dining venue, some tours of the ship, and other perks (the last one was a film festival and the one we are going on in November is a brewers package).  Sometimes the benefit is substantial through the box store TA.  The benefits of booking celebrity with the box store TA are way better than with other lines right now, both for OBC and the size of the rebate card, as well as the specialty packages offered.  I don't know if it changes over time, though.

 

Contacting them is pretty easy and they are efficient at contacting the cruise line and making any adjustments.  I always compare the fares to booking directly with the cruise line and if the benefit is only marginal I will go with the direct booking and monitor the fares to see if there is a price drop.

 

Hope this helps!

[Baron Barracuda]

We have used a very large online ta for our last 30+ sailings.  Have stuck with them because they make me feel like a valued customer providing decent percs, good responsiveness and 24/7 customer service.  Always do my homework first then call and give them my desired sailing and cabin #.  Have no problem watching for price checks on my own.  While sometimes feel I know more than agent have found cruise line phone reps to be even less knowledgeable.

[2Long2NxtCrz]

I'm a bit of a control freak so usually find the cruise and cabin I want and then book direct and then will transfer to my TA for additional OBC.  So far it's worked out really well for me that way.  I have yet to see a price drop either after or before final payment.  Or at least a price drop that was at all beneficial.  I think I have just been lucky and have managed to book so far out that they prices just go up from there.

 

I will say make sure you know the terms and conditions of booking with a TA.  Some charge a fee with your initial booking, some do not.  Most will charge a fee if you cancel, even if it's a refundable deposit.

 

Also, I have never had a problem working through my TA to make changes if there is something that needs to go through them.  I can still call Celebrity for cruise planner items and went directly to them to book Air.

[Fouremco]

Over the years we have booked directly with cruise lines; booked directly and transferred the booking to a TA; and booked directly with a TA. Since the big box store opened its travel division in Canada a few years ago, we have booked directly with them.  I can't comment on how one of their TA's would do guiding a neophyte through a cruise selection and booking, as I know exactly what I want when I first call, but I've never found them unable to answer a question or not knowing how to deal with something. For example, handling Celebrity's one-category upgrades. Since switching to them, we've cancelled a cruise, re-fared cruises, changed cabins and have otherwise managed our bookings through them without a hiccup to date. As others have mentioned, in addition to a generous cash card (or OBC, depending on the cruise line), cruise bookings add to your annual 2% cash back as well as your credit card cash back.

 

The lack of participation in the move up program isn't really an issue for us, so it's really not a negative in our books. Similarly, time wasted on the telephone while waiting for our TA to deal with Celebrity isn't really an issue as I put my phone on speaker mode and go about my business.Given the many advantages, I can live with these very minor negatives.   

[mickey89]

Recently I wished to booked a Celebrity B2B cruise and our UK agent told me that I would be better off to book direct as they were unable to give the additional B2B discount which was £100 per leg (£200). The agent said that once booked we can transfer the booking to them to get their discount which was 8.6% lower than Celebrity UK website price. 

I contacted Celebrity and when I told them I wished to transfer the booking to a travel agent they said they would match their price with their additional B2B discount, I was amazed - first time that happened to me.  Being Elite this gave us the advantage over our TA as our booking is now transferable at no cost, if the need arises. First time that I have booked direct and pleased with the end result and our TA was also pleased we had a favourable outcome.

[angelhelly]

I feel like I have the best of both worlds. I have a TA for several years that works for a big online agency. So she knows us really well by now, and if she is not available (her hours are clearly identified), we can just call the main line for immediate service. 

 

The deals and discount are pretty substantial too. We get group pricing (sometime several thousands dollar cheaper), extra OBC, ... I still don't understand how we got the price and the perks we've got on our next cruise.

 

However, I shop around for cruise, and when I book, I usually know exactly what I'm looking for. For me, the TA is not there to help me pick. What I do is I usually use a site where TA's compete for your business, to have an idea of what to expect, then I contact her for a quote. Every time, they are within $100 or cheaper than the best bid I've got. And it usually stack with on board booking perks as well. It starts to seriously add up. 

 

Also, when there is a big sale, I can just quickly send her an email to check the price on our cruise, and she does the phone calls. I do not have to wait on the phone. I remember, the first time they had a BOGO for RCL, wait time on the phone was over 2 hours. But she got it changed and we got the discount with just an email. I do all business with her on Email. With my work, I can't spend time on the phone so that's a huge plus for me as well.

 

I am a control freak, but I really like deals, the value of my time and feeling like I have my money's worth. 

 

I think the thing is to find something you are comfortable with and go with it. For me, I found a TA that works with what I like and what I need.

[mrsgoggins]

1 hour ago, mickey89 said:

Recently I wished to booked a Celebrity B2B cruise and our UK agent told me that I would be better off to book direct as they were unable to give the additional B2B discount which was £100 per leg (£200). The agent said that once booked we can transfer the booking to them to get their discount which was 8.6% lower than Celebrity UK website price. 

I contacted Celebrity and when I told them I wished to transfer the booking to a travel agent they said they would match their price with their additional B2B discount, I was amazed - first time that happened to me.  Being Elite this gave us the advantage over our TA as our booking is now transferable at no cost, if the need arises. First time that I have booked direct and pleased with the end result and our TA was also pleased we had a favourable outcome.

 

I’ve also had my Celebrity Agent here in the UK do a price match (on receipt of a screen shot) for me. However, I do not think you are correct about your booking being transferable unless it was booked whilst you were on board (UK booking t&cs). I should love to be wrong though. Does Elite status make a difference?