Let me preface by stating that I have been booking my own cruises for 20 years. This is my first time using a TA and my first Carnival cruise.   I am putting my experience on here to help others avoid the pitfalls which I fell into. I purchased over $6,000 worth of gift cards on AARP to help pay for my Carnival cruises.  I used a TA to book the cruises but purchased all the extras myself on the Carnival manage your booking site.   I had 2 b2b cruises to Norway and Baltic. I had to canc