Is There A Benefit to Booking Directly?

[dgoz]

I used a big box TA because of a good OBC deal and my local TA was most familiar with HAL. I've never cruised before and never read these boards so I went with a well know big company.This guy I deal with through the big box is a "travel consultant" and calls himself  a locally owned business or something. All I know is that he texts me and emails me all the time. Yesterday he emailed me to say that there was a deal coming on Feb. 1 and that he'd see if he could get me a cheaper fare. He's already done this for me 2 other times. I don't know if I found a unicorn or what, but I like this big box guy.

[davekathy]

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Really? Do you have to ask for that bottle of wine for each leg you book? We were on the Constellation Holiday cruise and not only booked a Galapagos cruise, but also an Antarctica B2B cruise and didn't receive any bottles of wine. But then, we were in an AQ cabin if that makes a difference.

Yep. Our experiences were pre covid. The last was September 2019. Stateroom category has nothing to do with. Not ship specific. Never had to ask either. We always book on embarkation day as soon as the Future Cruise office opens. The wine has always been part of a book a cruise on embarkation day before sail away special. Along with the wine we've always been put in a raffle for a free gift. Lucked out a few times on the gift raffle. Hopefully Celebrity doesn't discontinued this offer. The wine is delivered along with our cruise documents later in the evening. Between having the CBP and CC HH drinks we always take the wine home.   

[Ken the cruiser]

43 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Yep. Our experiences were pre covid. The last was September 2019. Stateroom category has nothing to do with. Not ship specific. Never had to ask either. We always book on embarkation day as soon as the Future Cruise office opens. The wine has always been part of a book a cruise on embarkation day before sail away special. Along with the wine we've always been put in a raffle for a free gift. Lucked out a few times on the gift raffle. Hopefully Celebrity doesn't discontinued this offer. The wine is delivered along with our cruise documents later in the evening. Between having the CBP and CC HH drinks we always take the wine home.   

Thanks! We’ll definitely have to keep an eye out for that special on our next cruise if they still are offering it. Was the promotion sitting on your cabin desk, or do you basically just have to know it exists before boarding and then just pop by the Future Cruise Desk embarkation day and book a B2B?

[bigbenboys]

We got a bottle of wine for booking a cruise at Future Cruise Desk on embarkation day. 🍷

[davekathy]

4 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Thanks! We’ll definitely have to keep an eye out for that special on our next cruise if they still are offering it. Was the promotion sitting on your cabin desk, or do you basically just have to know it exists before boarding and then just pop by the Future Cruise Desk embarkation day and book a B2B?

 We've seen advertisements at the entrance to the FCDs. I would have no problem asking either.  The promotion isn't just for a B2B cruise. Most of the cruises we book happen to be B2B cruises. 

[Ken the cruiser]

5 minutes ago, davekathy said:

 We've seen advertisements at the entrance to the FCDs. I would have no problem asking either.  The promotion isn't just for a B2B cruise. Most of the cruises we book happen to be B2B cruises. 

Cool! We often book “place holder” cruises while we’re onboard, so this is great information to know! Thanks again!! 😎

 

[TeeRick]

18 hours ago, LB_NJ said:

These days there are fewer individual agents and I am not even sure about how to find a good one.

Try this CLIA site:

https://cruising.org/en/find-a-travel-agent

[baldilocks]

We book direct with the cruise line (Royal / Celebrity). We have found that watching the prices move around on the cruise, dining, shore excursions, etc. have been very beneficial to us. We have saved $449 on one cruise when a special offer came up. We saved over $150 on shore excursions and dining on another cruise. I am not sure every travel agent can monitor booked cruises way I can...being retired and all.

[canderson]

1 hour ago, baldilocks said:

We book direct with the cruise line (Royal / Celebrity). We have found that watching the prices move around on the cruise, dining, shore excursions, etc. have been very beneficial to us.

Watching for special promos on our own and having a TA put a second set of eyeballs on it aren't mutually exclusive, so I'm not following the logic here. 

 

Does Celebrity contact you with info on repriced itineraries???

[baldilocks]

I have just read on Cruise Critic that some TA's (especially big ones) have not always kept track of changing prices and deals....especially shore excursions. I'm retired, so can poke around at my leisure to see if anything changes. This condition for some TA's may change once this Covid stuff is over. A lot of TA's have had an enormous amount of work during these difficult times. Hats off to the TA's that have been giving great service.