First time cruiser - booking ???

[yankeegirllost]

We are hoping to cruise this fall with some friends of ours. They have found a wonderful cruise and airfare through travelocity...have any of you booked via the Internet rather than a travel agent?

Pros/cons? Advice?

Thanks in advance!

[beachgirl55]

We booked with Travelocity. In our case after significant price drops there was little difference between many of the on-line booking sites and Travelocity. Travelocity had a $50 credit for balcony or higher categories. They were at the most $30/room higher than other sites--and we chose them rather than the unknown. If it is a complicated situation such as multiple rooms I would use a travel agent. A simple situation on-line seem to be O.K.

[dorrie9]

I am also a first-time cruiser leaving in a week. My boyfriend and I booked through Travelocity with no problems and got our boarding passes about two weeks ago. One of my friends has been on six cruises and has booked five of them over the Internet with no problems.

I have also read good things about cruise.com. Of course, after I booked my cruise on Travelocity I found the tickets were $30 cheaper on cruise.com. D'oh! Just a heads-up if you want to save some money. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[yankeegirllost]

The cruise rates are very comparable between travelocity and expedia AND my travel agent...but the airfare on Delta was KILLER through travelocity...$169 roundtrip per person. I've not been able to find anything close to that anywhere so...I'm thinking we may move forward with the travelocity deal.

[clingandclatter]

I booked my most recent cruise on Travelocity as well. We were only booking ~2 months in advance and the price at Travelocity ended up being about $100 per person cheaper than the same price anywhere else. By looking at available deck plans, we were even able to get adjoining cabins. Airfare was another story, I bought our plane tickets through Continental's website directly as that was the cheapest. If you find something on Travelocity, always check the "parent company's" website as well to see if you are getting a good deal or not.

~*~ Disney Wonder 9/02 ~*~ [url="http://community.webshots.com/album/133720649ZDrjtW"]RCCL Splendour of the Seas 4/04[/url] ~*~

[yankeegirllost]

Thanks for the advice and feedback!

[theroos]

Some info. We booked our first cruise thru Travelocity last Nov and their sevice was great! But you learn and I found out if you only want a cruise you should use one of the internet sites. Here are examples of we have booked:

RCL-VOS-May 16- 5 day Canada/Newengland-GS-grand suite
Travelocity-$2107
cruise value center-$1887
Diff-$220

NCL-Dawn-Nov 7-11 night southern caribbean-AF-mini suite
Travelocity-$3880
cruise value center-$3483
Diff-$397

NCL-Dawn-April 10-2005-7 night Bahamas-BA-balcony
Travelocity-$2273
cruises-n-more-$2047
Diff-$226

So If you have a very complex travel or ship situation then use a TA like Travelocity.
If only for a cruise use the internet sites.
By the way you can still call these internet sites and make changes. Some charge, some do not. Hope this helps.

[yankeegirllost]

theroos, can you suggest an Internet site that you have used and are pleased with? Thanks!

[cmason]

Many experienced cruisers book thru cruisequick.com . If you know what you want, in terms of ship, itenerary, insurance, etc, then this is a good option for you, especially if you have been shopping around. If you are new to cruising, book with a TA, follow their advice, and then consider doing it yourself on your next cruise.

I booked via Orbitz because they had a great rate listed for the cruise I wanted, and they took my C&A coupon at face value. Other internet only quotes I got were a few dollars less overall, but many did not take coupons, so in the end, my overall cost was comparible to the lowest rates I could find. Plus, I get the service of a live human, and their advice as well, so I am happy.

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=0000ff&cdt=2004;11;13;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]
...left until Navigator of the Seas 11/13/04

[theroos]

Use cruises-n-more (mycruisepartner.com/cruises)
or cruise value center (mycruisevalue.com)
whoever has the best price at the time you go on-line.
In my opinion since you are a first time cruiser like we were you should use sites like travelocity, cruisequick etc, so that if you have a million questions or changes they will help. It might cost a little more the first time but after that when you know what you want and what to do use the others to save money. Like I said there service is outstanding but it comes at a cost.