How do you book your cruises?

[Sky Sweet]

How do you book your cruises?

[Fblack]

I call the cruise lines myself. Get prices on all available cabins in my catagory. Put a 24 hour hold on it. Then I call my TA to see if her agency has any deals going on the same cruise. Then I turn the booking over to the TA.

[theduffys]

With an Amex TA over the phone. I do all the research, settle on a specific cruise and cabin and then call her to set it up. I do this so that I have someone to fight any battles I may have with the cruise line. It has only happened once but, she got things "fixed" very fast.

[Meribeth]

We have a local cruise only travel agent. His service and prices are great.

[CINDON]

Home based Travel Agent for price and service.

[kelmac]

I've done my last 17 cruises with various online agencies. I like the control and price I get online. Travel agents slow me up! Even though my local agent is hard working and very pleasant, I don't want to sit around waiting for returned calls....,

My wife and I travel 10--12 weeks out of the year, and because of the internet, I feel more informed than most TAs. There are a few very special TAs that actually travel frequently and know the ins and outs--if you have one of those it may be worth a couple of extra dollars to have them on your side.:)

I'm now down to two online agencies that consistantly provide the best prices and good service for cruises. All other travel, I handle through dozens of online sites.

For me, half the fun of travel is the planning and booking.

 

Enjoy!

Kel

[adegner]

I book on the ship (to get the shipboard credit) then I transfer the booking to my local agent. She does not have a "brick and mortar", but works out of her house. She has excellent service and answers her cell phone at ALL hours.

[esther e]

It depends on the line. Celebrity shows cabin availability. We choose that and put a hold on it and call our agent. Oceania, we call them to see if what we want is available; put a hold on and call our agent. If we happen to be at the agency and decide on a cruise, we do it in her office. We're pretty choosy about cabins, so that's a definite priority with us.

Esther

[dileep]

We booked our last cruise on board thinking that X had the best price. When we got home, we saw an email from On Line Vacation Center advertising the same South America cruise for almost $1000 less per person. I called them and they were able to conference in X and transfer our booking (state room and deposit) to OLVC.

 

We lost the $200 ship board credit, but came out ahead overall!

 

OLVC had great service too!

[Karynanne]

We booked our last cruise on board thinking that X had the best price. When we got home, we saw an email from On Line Vacation Center advertising the same South America cruise for almost $1000 less per person. I called them and they were able to conference in X and transfer our booking (state room and deposit) to OLVC.

 

We lost the $200 ship board credit, but came out ahead overall!

 

OLVC had great service too!

 

Dileep, it is my understanding that as long as you have your original booking number, it can be transferred to your own travel agent. We have done this many times, and are able to keep our onboad credits.

 

Karyn

[greeneg]

We try to book on board for the credit like a number of people. Past 3 years we have actually gotten the best basic price that way and when you add in the on-board booking and then the RCCL Shareholder credits, it gets even better.

 

So far so good at least.

[chicagolass]

Hi Greeneg I like the idea of buying shares. What is the best way to buy the RCCL shares? and where? Thanks for any info you can share.

[Demented_Avenger]

Good Poll.

We use a cruise only travel agent. They buy blocks of cabins at reduced rates and pass the savings on to customers. She usually calls us when she has a great deal. We saved $$$$ on our next cruise to Hawaii.

We probably would have never cruised Tahiti if not for her!

Cruise Happy!!

Dennis

[USSFRef]

We booked our first-ever cruise directly with Celebrity on-line. No problems at all, and we got a great deal on the room.

[greeneg]

Hi Greeneg I like the idea of buying shares. What is the best way to buy the RCCL shares? and where? Thanks for any info you can share.

 

Celebrity is a subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Cruises. Share are listed on the NYSE and are bought and sold as with any other stock via a broker, either real or on the Net.

 

Here's a link to the RCCL Corporate Site for more info for an informed decision:

 

http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=rcl&script=100&layout=9

 

For all pratical purposes, the shareholder credit is just like an untaxed dividend so if you cruise either Celebrity or Royal Caribbean ( the benefit can be used on both), you get a better return on your investment. We've owned the stock since 2001, and they have never missed a quarterly dividend in that time at least. Not to mention a fair amount of growth in the stock price itself.

 

Hope that's useful, and no, I'm not a broker or involved in the Market in any way except as a stock owner. :)

[Sky Sweet]

Celebrity is a subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Cruises. Share are listed on the NYSE and are bought and sold as with any other stock via a broker, either real or on the Net.

 

Here's a link to the RCCL Corporate Site for more info for an informed decision:

 

http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=rcl&script=100&layout=9

 

For all pratical purposes, the shareholder credit is just like an untaxed dividend so if you cruise either Celebrity or Royal Caribbean ( the benefit can be used on both), you get a better return on your investment. We've owned the stock since 2001, and they have never missed a quarterly dividend in that time at least. Not to mention a fair amount of growth in the stock price itself.

 

Hope that's useful, and no, I'm not a broker or involved in the Market in any way except as a stock owner. :)

 

I agree with your opinion that buying Royal Carribean Stock in 2001 was an excellent investment, but do you think it would be a good investment at this point in time?

[dileep]

Dileep, it is my understanding that as long as you have your original booking number, it can be transferred to your own travel agent. We have done this many times, and are able to keep our onboad credits.

 

Karyn

 

The OLVC price was much lower so we could not transfer the credit. You are correct about transferring a booking to a regular TA along with the original price.

 

Strictly speaking, we did not transfer the booking but we transferred the state room and deposit and ended up with a new revised booking number.

[greeneg]

I agree with your opinion that buying Royal Carribean Stock in 2001 was an excellent investment, but do you think it would be a good investment at this point in time?

 

That's really a question that only you can answer for yourself. The stock is paying more than a CD at the bank does, and if you add in the cruise credits for the shares, then the rate of return is certainly better than a lot of other things right now. Of course you realize, that we are talking "small" investments here, not 10,000+ shares.....

 

Given the fact that cruise bookings and cruise line profits ( Industry-wise ) seem to be strong and getting even stronger, I can't say that I think that it's a bad investment. I've sort of wondered if the stock was going to split anytime soon, but no evidence of that at this point.

 

Again, please understand that I know so little about the market as to be embarrasing......

[Chorts]

We try to book on board for the credit like a number of people. Past 3 years we have actually gotten the best basic price that way and when you add in the on-board booking and then the RCCL Shareholder credits, it gets even better.

 

So far so good at least.

 

What is the minimum amount of shares one needs to own in order to get how much of a Shareholder Credit?

 

Enquiring minds want to know :D.

[greeneg]

100 shares is the minimum. Details on the RCCL Investor's site, link in the earlier post.

[Chorts]

100 shares is the minimum. Details on the RCCL Investor's site, link in the earlier post.

 

Ed, thanks for your quick response. Appreciate it :) .

[Sky Sweet]

Are the results of this poll similar to or different than you thought they would be?

[C 2 C]

I also own shares. It does not matter what the stock does as long as it keeps on paying 200 to 250 for every cruise. We have already received more than the cost of the stock.

 

I generally book on board. At one time this was connected directly to the TA used to book the voyage we were on. Now we book with X but transfer before we cruise to an agent offering the most.

[Sky Sweet]

On March 24, a financial analyst at Susquehanna Financial downgraded both CCL and RCI from Positive to Neutral. The reason given for this downgrade was "concerns over the outlook in the cruise industry". I personally think this downgrade was an over reaction to the tragedies that occurred last week.