Travel Agents

[jobinseattle]

What is the advantage of booking a cruise through this site or booking directly with the cruise line?

[Essiesmom]

If by this site you mean Cruise Critic, CC is not a travel agency.  They do accept advertising from many agencies though.  Which is why we are not allowed to name or discuss travel agents/agencies.  EM

[CDNPolar]

Booking a cruise with a Travel Agent or Online Travel Site is one choice or you can book direct.

 

People use an Agent for very different reasons.

 

The value of an Agent is that they can guide you in areas that you are unsure or have not navigated before.

 

The other value of an Agent is that you MIGHT receive incentives to book through them that the cruise line direct does not offer.

 

There are pros and cons to both.

 

We book direct with the cruise line - always - and then transfer the booking to an Agent.

[jobinseattle]

Thanks, I thought they were a TA. I am new to this site. I guess I will rephrase. What are the benefits to book through this site verse directly booking with the cruise line?

[Essiesmom]

1 hour ago, jobinseattle said:

Thanks, I thought they were a TA. I am new to this site. I guess I will rephrase. What are the benefits to book through this site verse directly booking with the cruise line?

And again, Cruise Critic is a forum about cruising.  It is not a travel agency, you cannot book a cruise through Cruise Critic.  But you can book cruises through agencies that advertise on this site.  EM

[MCC retired]

Op seems confused ?

Suggest OP compares Cruiseline Online rates then a couple of Online Cruise Travel Agencies rates

and Amenities.

 

[teeeej]

3 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

We book direct with the cruise line - always - and then transfer the booking to an Agent.

What is the benefit of doing it this way?

[CDNPolar]

1 hour ago, teeeej said:

What is the benefit of doing it this way?

 

We are experienced travellers in every way.  Local travel, European travel, Far East travel.  We enjoy the research and ultimately doing the booking ourselves.  Both the cruise and the air.

 

We also like to ask questions when booking to understand fully what we are getting.  This is easier if we are doing the booking, as there is no back and forth.

 

The transfer to a travel agency is only for the incentives - for onboard credit, rebates, etc.

 

We book what we want, and then transfer the booking to receive the incentives.

 

We don't want to call a TA, relay our information, have them come back with questions, or worse yet, we then have questions... so we do the full booking and move it over.  Done and dusted.

[teeeej]

1 minute ago, CDNPolar said:

 

The transfer to a travel agency is only for the incentives - for onboard credit, rebates, etc.

 

I tried to email the email address in your signature, but it says "The email account that you tried to reach is inactive."

 

 

The reasons why you use travel agents are the same reasons that I would want to, but I was curious how did you identified the "right" ones for you?

 

Do you use the same one for every cruise line?

 

Did you find that different ones have better offers for different cruise lines? 

 

Maybe you just "shop" it around each time that you book a cruise?

 

[donaldsc]

One reason I use a TA and I have a very good one is that you get service when things have gone south either before the cruise or even worse when you are sitting on the runway waiting to take off and realizing that you might not make your connecting flight.  Try calling your cruise company expecting them to solve that problem.

 

DON

[CDNPolar]

50 minutes ago, teeeej said:

I tried to email the email address in your signature, but it says "The email account that you tried to reach is inactive."

 

 

The reasons why you use travel agents are the same reasons that I would want to, but I was curious how did you identified the "right" ones for you?

 

Do you use the same one for every cruise line?

 

Did you find that different ones have better offers for different cruise lines? 

 

Maybe you just "shop" it around each time that you book a cruise?

 

For some reason that email is not available right now.. but will be again soon.

 

To identify the right TA you literally have to call and interview or ask what they offer.  Some offer by length of cruise and some by total cost.  Some offer nothing, and are not required to.

 

We use different TA's depending on the cruise line but we have one mainstay TA.  One TA offers amazing value for one cruise line, but not for others...  

[Flatbush Flyer]

19 hours ago, jobinseattle said:

Thanks, I thought they were a TA. I am new to this site. I guess I will rephrase. What are the benefits to book through this site verse directly booking with the cruise line?

Apparently, you’re still “missing the boat.”

CC is a forum for exchange of info about cruising. That it happens to have TA advertising is how it “pays the bills.” 

[jobinseattle]

I understand now.

[PurpleHays]

On 2/26/2024 at 12:12 PM, donaldsc said:

One reason I use a TA and I have a very good one is that you get service when things have gone south either before the cruise or even worse when you are sitting on the runway waiting to take off and realizing that you might not make your connecting flight.  Try calling your cruise company expecting them to solve that problem.

 

DON

^^^^This is why I use a TA. Plus, they get to sit on the phone to the useless "customer service" reps, not me. Mine has told me she's been on hold for up to to four hours. We've not really had any problems, but I won't hesitate to call her if we do.

 

[ontheweb]

27 minutes ago, PurpleHays said:

^^^^This is why I use a TA. Plus, they get to sit on the phone to the useless "customer service" reps, not me. Mine has told me she's been on hold for up to to four hours. We've not really had any problems, but I won't hesitate to call her if we do.

 

You do hope you are not putting your TA through that, and that he or she has their own contact at the cruise line that is knowledgeable and can be dealt with to get answers.

[Shmoo here]

8 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

You do hope you are not putting your TA through that, and that he or she has their own contact at the cruise line that is knowledgeable and can be dealt with to get answers.

Possibly, but, for our upcoming cruise, we used a TA (don't usually do that, but the early booking and TA OBC were too enticing).  Every time we went in to make a payment, she would call the cruise line and just talk to whoever answered.  Our last visit (final payment) she got an airheaded employee and wound up repeating herself multiple times to get things finished.

[clo]

On 2/27/2024 at 6:17 PM, Shmoo here said:

Possibly, but, for our upcoming cruise, we used a TA (don't usually do that, but the early booking and TA OBC were too enticing).  Every time we went in to make a payment, she would call the cruise line and just talk to whoever answered.  Our last visit (final payment) she got an airheaded employee and wound up repeating herself multiple times to get things finished.

You "go in"?  I know for sure that I haven't done that in over 30 years. Maybe never. Curious why you do. I believe I've talked on the phone with my O TA maybe three times in as many years. Oh, and she works from home.

[Gwendy]

One time we used a travel agent they came up with very expensive airfares with a long layover.  My daughter went online found cheaper flights, same airline, with only a 3 hour layover.  Phoned ta and she changed them to our preferences.  Told my daughter to give up nursing and take up being at ta. Lol

[Shmoo here]

41 minutes ago, clo said:

You "go in"?  I know for sure that I haven't done that in over 30 years. Maybe never. Curious why you do. I believe I've talked on the phone with my O TA maybe three times in as many years. Oh, and she works from home.

Mostly because we're not comfortable "sending" that much money over the phone to the TA who then has to call it in, or via email.

 

Actually the TA is only about 4 miles from our house, it's not a big deal to include a stop there when we head out for daily errands.