Need help Quickly on this one

[riteonglor]

I need help quickly before my question gets ousted. I have booked a cruise with a local cruise agent. Now I get a offer from Cruise Complete on a VS that is $400 cheaper then what I have been charged by my agent. Plus $50 credit, bottle of wine on board. The offer is complete with taxes, port charges,etc. My local cruise agent has charged me exactly what I can get it for right from Princess and has made no offer of anything. This is a $6000 cruise to Panama in Feb. Cruise Complete also offered a PS for the same price I'm paying for a VS. Can this be for real, does anyone out there know anything about Cruise Complete?

[gargoyle999]

I have three cruises I booked directly with the cruise line then transferred to a TA I found via a compete site. Saved me an avg of $300 per cruise. Plus a $100 OBC for the Princess cruise. I've received very good service from my TA. They discount their commission and pass the savings on. They deal in bulkI think it's the way to go if you don't need a lot of hand holding. Make sure verify the rate includes everything you mention, plus fuel surcharge. I also suggest asking if the charges that come from you making payments will be done directly by the cruise line. This is safer than having it come from the TA and hoping they pass the money on. When you contact the TA to make a payment but the charge comes directly from the cruise line you know they have the money.

 

Keep in mind you are not booking with the compete site so individual TA's from the site can vary I'm sure. I'm happy with the TA I found using the compete site!

[Toto2Kansas]

If your local agent is charging the same price that you would pay booking direct from Princess, it means they are not discounting anything. I would grab up the deal you found and run with it. Actually even a $400 savings isn't that much. We saved over $1000 on our last booking when comparing to Princess pricing, as we used a discount TA.

[4cats4me]

We're not supposed to name specific agencies here, but the one you

named used to be a CC sponsored site -- I've read a lot of dispositive

things about the Compete sight recently -- caveat emptor...

BTW -- Not much of a difference at all between the VS's and PH's and PS's

Depending on the ship, you might want to be very careful. Me personally,

I will always choose the VS over the others since I love that they're

on the aft and on the corner as well, but I'm not sure to which ship

you're referring. If it's Panama Canal then it's probably the Island/Coral?

Maybe you already said that and I've forgotten. If so, I don't recall

those ships having any aft-facing cabins.

 

Anyway, $6000 sounds like a fair price for a VS or PH or PS.

You might google different things to see what you come up with

for internet agencies. Some of them charge a cancellation fee if you

book with them.

 

BTW: The top of the line suites rarely if ever get discounted.

But it is nice to get whatever shipboard credits you might be offered.

[Toto2Kansas]

Actually, the booking I referred to with the huge savings was the largest suite on a Princess ship. The TA I use (not from the site mentioned) still discounted way below Princess pricing. So, this may depend on which ship you book whether they discount the full suties or not. ;)

[iancal]

We have used the compete site for our last several cruises , and either one of two on line TA's. I have to say that the service has been very good, in one instance we took advantage of two price decreases. Maybe we have been lucky. We found this route yielded a significant price advantage for us. But,,,,we know exactly what we wanted, it was simply a matter of processing the booking.

[riteonglor]

Thank you so much, everyone. I think I will call my agent tomorrow and just tell her of my offer on line through CC. She will probally say, well I best not assume what she will say. I have already payed a $900 depost with her and $400 for insurance. If I decide to cancel with her, will my insurance be lost or could I just call the insurance co. myself and keep it even though I would be booking with someone else?