TA or Direct

[parisbully]

We will be booking our first SS cruise on Monday. Have been on Regent and most of the mass market ships. I have only used a TA once and it was a nightmare. We live in a small coastal town without a TA. The one I did use was an internet agent. So hesitant to do that again.

 

Have been reading this board for the last few days and see that most use a Travel Agent rather than direct. Can you tell me what the advantage is?

[Host Dan]

Travel Agents (good ones) can get you better pricing, shipboard credits and other perks. I use specialist TA's that specialize in luxe travel. They are the best. Booking directly with the Cruise Line is fine, but you may "miss" some very important perks!

 

Host Dan

[meow!]

Since you seem to be familiar to booking yourself, and taking into account Host Dan's advice, the best of both worlds may be to book yourself directly with Silversea and do the research yourself (that can be fun), and when it comes time to make the final payment, look for a "specialist" TA who will give you maximum discount and perks (try a few to get the best deal before giving them your reservation). This way, you use your TA as a "ticketing agent" and get the most for yourself!

 

P.S. And if you are an American Express (true) platinum card member, when you give your reservation to the (best) agent you have chosen, remember to tell him/her to get you $300 shipboard credit, one bottle of Dom Perignon, a "bridge tour", cocktail/dinner with the captain, and special bonus American Express points. Some large scale travel agencies can get more than the standard 10% commission from Silversea (especially if they happen to hold a group ticket on that voyage), and give you back a lot more than the usual 5-6% most discount agents give. Have fun!

[parisbully]

Thanks Dan and meow. Meow, Silversea does not have a problem with my changing to a travel agent after I have booked?

[meow!]

Thanks Dan and meow. Meow, Silversea does not have a problem with my changing to a travel agent after I have booked?

Not at all. As long as you tell them the day before you make your final payment. Good luck!

[WesW]

also, consider your TA for the 360 degree cruise experience...once we came back

and were very disappointed in our first SS cruise...our TA wrote a very nice letter to

Frank Sansone outlining how SS did not meet our reasonable expectations (imo, a letter

from a TA (esp top producing agency--economy of scale impact, has more bang for

the buck than writing your own letter)...within two weeks. Frank wrote back to us along with a very generous cruise credit and promise to us SS would meet our expectations next cruise. In six months they met/exceeded our expectations with our best cruise

ever. Also, nice to have a relationship with a TA professional if you need to switch

cabins, check on your AMX cruise credit, status of early embark rerquest...I have ours forward our suite (drink, bedding) preferences to SS, other lines (as a backup to filling out the guest form online)...equally important after a 5 year relationship with our TA...we consider her a goood friend...r/wes

[Host Dan]

One word of "caution" though... I have booked the majority of my luxe cruises with a particular agent, that over the years I became friendly with. Looking to book my next cruise, and researching over the weekend while she wasn't in the office, I got an "idea" of what to expect fare wise. On Monday when she came in the office and I inquired about the cruise, her fare was considerably higher that other fares I was able to find. Don't let your TA get too "comfortable" with you, and vice versa. Always do research to know what kind of fares and perks are out there!

 

 

Host Dan

[dusababy]

P.S. And if you are an American Express (true) platinum card member, when you give your reservation to the (best) agent you have chosen, remember to tell him/her to get you $300 shipboard credit, one bottle of Dom Perignon, a "bridge tour", cocktail/dinner with the captain, and special bonus American Express points. Some large scale travel agencies can get more than the standard 10% commission from Silversea (especially if they happen to hold a group ticket on that voyage), and give you back a lot more than the usual 5-6% most discount agents give. Have fun!

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Meow - is "cocktail/dinner" with the captain a routine perk? In my experience, there are so many AMEX platinum card holders on every cruise there aren't enough days to give every guest a seat at the table.

[meow!]

From what I know, theoretically it is a routine perk, though in reality you may not receive the invitation, but few people will actually complain. They can also say that the Venetian Society meeting is a cocktail with the captain!

 

In our case, I vaguely remember being invited in 2004, the first time we cruised on Silversea which we skipped, but we were not invited in 2007, the second time we were on.