booking direct vs using a travel agent

[vindex]

Until reading a recent thread on this board I wasn't aware that one

could book directly through Celebrity.

 

What are the pros and cons of doing so, as opposed to booking through a

travel agent?

[wvufan]

Good topic.

 

We always book directly with the cruise line and then transfer to a TA just before final payment. Note that we are experienced crusers and know how to do all the planning for ourselves.

 

When we book directly, we are the customer and can control our reservation. For example, say we see a price decrease on a Saturday when the TA might be closed. We can call Celebrity and take care of it. Same if we see a coveted cabin has opened up and we want to change to that one. By Monday it might be too late.

 

By transferring to a TA later on, we usually get a very nice OBC. Plus, the TA may be aware of other price decreases or incentives. They might have a group already on that sailing and can add you.

 

Further, in the event of last minute cancellations by the cruise line or other problems, it is helpful to have a knowledgeable advocate and someone who can handle the problem for us. We have experienced this kind of thing before, and a good TA is most valuable.

 

The downside is that once you transfer to a TA, you are no longer a customer of Celebrity-the TA is, and the cruise line will only deal with them. That is why we wait until the last minute (before final payment) to switch.

 

Please note that there may be other issues involved for those not living in the US, so please verify any info you get here for your situation.

 

I know you will get a lot of feedback and hope this topic will help inform a lot of folks.

 

Happy Sails to You

 

OOOEEE :D:D Bob and Phyl

[Mysticks1]

Booking through Celebrity is easy for those of us in the US but I think that it is different for those in other countries. I believe I have seen it posted that some can't book directly through the cruise line.

[phinn]

I agree wholeheartly with wvufan. That is exactly how I like to book as well. I might add that I would choose TA carefully and be sure to get one that gives you the service you so deserve. I had an online TA who was out of state for me for awhile until I realized I was the one doing all the footwork and monitoring of price reductions. More recently I found a local TA that has worked well for me and that can be critical when "issues" arise. I do, however, like to do the research and initial booking directly with the cruiseline. Happy sailing!

[alicam]

I book directly with the cruiseline as I don't trust a TA to do the job right (past experience...made me sour on using one)...it has worked out well for me doing it myself

[drfun48]

TA is extremely valuable if you have a problem.

I booked the Xpedition for a triple to the Galapagos in July ,18 months ago,placing a deposit and obtaining a confirmation number.At time of final payment,Celebrity said that they had no record of this,gave my cabin to someone else, and it must have been a computer glitch.

It was only through the efforts of my TA for two weeks that we obtained an extra cabin without additional cost,since all the 3's were now taken.

Most times experienced travelers can handle their bookings,but in a crisis good TAs have more leverage and experience.

[vindex]

I book directly with the cruiseline as I don't

trust a TA to do the job right (past experience...made me sour on using

one)...it has worked out well for me doing it myself

 

Could you elaborate on what has gone wrong in your dealings with a TA?

Just curious.

 

Thanks,

[X Fanatic]

Good topic.

We always book directly with the cruise line and then transfer to a TA just before final payment.

 

We do the same. We like having control of our bookings just in case better options come along. Celebrity is available every day for extended hours. The agency we use appreciates client-free weekends whereas I check the deals daily (and more).

However some people have a wonderful TA who give great service and great pricing. Do whatever you feel works best for you.

[alicam]

Could you elaborate on what has gone wrong in your dealings with a TA?

Just curious.

 

Thanks,

 

Flights to port of departure screwed up...had to fix myself...also...booked another cruise by myself...she "demanded" the booking...I said.."sorry about your luck..it isn't going to happen"...her attitude has deteriorated since my first cruise and I don't like it

[eandj]

Flights to port of departure screwed up...had to fix myself...also...booked another cruise by myself...she "demanded" the booking...I said.."sorry about your luck..it isn't going to happen"...her attitude has deteriorated since my first cruise and I don't like it

 

Why would YOU have to fix a flight screw up if booked thru your agent? :confused:

How did your agent know you were booking a cruise on your own...unless you had her do the "work" and then turned her off. :confused:

 

It IS your choice to give up on all TA's after a bad experience with one.

 

I have used one that began to "not appreciate" my loyalty. I dropped him.

I found another one very quickly that bends over backwards to keep my business and is top notch in personal service. I have saved thousands in four cruises with her and booking so called set prices on AI land packages. Can I book these on my own? Absolutely. We travel frequently and I research extensively. But X will not come close to matching what I pay when booking with my agent.

[Duanerice1]

Hi All,

like many others, I research and book my own cruise. Before final payment I switch over to a TA. I just like them to get a piece of the pie. Even though I might not get as much OBC I like to switch to a home town agent because I want to keep them employed. I am a pretty no hassle person and seldom call the agent after I transfer the reservation. The only time I have really talked to the agent after booking was when the Solstice changed their inauguration date.

 

But, my in-laws use an agent and rely heavily on her. Unfortunately her prices are a little high but they prefer the service instead of lower prices. They are in their mid 70's and my father in law has residual issues from a stroke.

 

When they got back to Ft Lauderdale from a 34 day cruise (Holland America) they were going to miss their flight. He is in a wheelchair, there are literally thousands of people in line at the airport, cell phone running out of power and she had 30 minutes till flight time. She was really frustrated. After she called us, we called her TA and she got them booked on a later flight, no waiting in line, no hassle. That's what they pay for. One call and their problem is solved.

 

enjoy,

Duane

[jackdiamond]

I perform my own research; and, then book with a TA which is open 24/7. Of course, before booking, I have already determined the price of the cabin, and the cabin desired. Since, we are relatively experienced cruisers we depend very little upon the advice of the "specialists" with the TA or cruise line in our final determination of cruise and cabin selection.

[lucky white heather]

We're Brits..we now book directly with X but have booked via an agent too. The agency in qiestion was not keen to ask X to apply our price drops when they were appropriate as it obviously lessened their commission..so we started to book directly after giving them 30 odd cruises to book on our behalf...they shot themselves in the foot!

 

If you book directly you can ask X for help with your trip at any time and if price drops apply you can ask X if you are eligible without having to go through an agent and get an immediate answer.They will not deal with your directly if you are with an agency.

X price is not always the cheapest though.

We never transfer at the last minute just to get OBC from an agency

[vindex]

We're Brits..we now book directly

with X but have booked via an agent too. The agency in qiestion was

not keen to ask X to apply our price drops when they were appropriate

as it obviously lessened their commission..so we started to book

directly after giving them 30 odd cruises to book on our behalf...they

shot themselves in the foot!

 

If you book directly you can ask X for help with your trip at any time

and if price drops apply you can ask X if you are eligible without

having to go through an agent and get an immediate answer.They will not

deal with your directly if you are with an agency. X price is not always

the cheapest though. We never transfer at the last minute just to get

OBC from an agency

 

Yep, I've certainly noticed that reluctance from my agent to even take

my call or answer repeated e-mails requesting a price adjustment. I

suspected that some commission issue might be at play here, but your

message confirms this. No more agent for me next time. Once burned...

 

As a Brit, do you call Celebrity US to book direct?

 

Another question, are travel agents the only way to get OBC?

[alicam]

Why would YOU have to fix a flight screw up if booked thru your agent? :confused:

How did your agent know you were booking a cruise on your own...unless you had her do the "work" and then turned her off. :confused:

 

It IS your choice to give up on all TA's after a bad experience with one.

 

I have used one that began to "not appreciate" my loyalty. I dropped him.

I found another one very quickly that bends over backwards to keep my business and is top notch in personal service. I have saved thousands in four cruises with her and booking so called set prices on AI land packages. Can I book these on my own? Absolutely. We travel frequently and I research extensively. But X will not come close to matching what I pay when booking with my agent.

I had to fix it because she basically didn't know what to do...and it took almost 8 months to get my money back from the first screwup....and only after I used the words "small claims court"...the $$ came in rather quickly after that....I could elaborate more and go into more detail, but it wouldn't make the story any better

I did the work finding a cruise that worked for usand asked her if she could find a better price...she said she couldn't, but demanded the booking (therefore gaining control...and commission) ...and she isn't the only one that has done a bang up job of bungling things...but that's another story (actually....I went in to get a brochure and by the time I had gotten home (1/2 hour later), she had me booked on a cruise....I only wanted a brochure....I had to call her and say...what the hell do you think you are doing??)

[lucky white heather]

Yep, I've certainly noticed that reluctance from my agent to even take

my call or answer repeated e-mails requesting a price adjustment. I

suspected that some commission issue might be at play here, but your

message confirms this. No more agent for me next time. Once burned...

 

As a Brit, do you call Celebrity US to book direct?

 

Another question, are travel agents the only way to get OBC?

 

No,

I book direct with X HQ here in the UK ....I book initially on the computer (Celebrity .com) to hold the cabin on courtesy hold, then phone them to do the actual booking so I have a "face to face" conversation regarding the elements I want to confirm before we settle on it for definite..... eg flight times etc .

 

I have had conversations with Dutch pax onboard who wanted to book in GBP because it was cheaper for them to book in GBP than in Euros.They did eventually get this to happen after having written to UK / HQ to request it, although having been initially refused bookings by email.They were regular suite patrons so perhaps that was significant???

If you book with a US TA you would likely get better pricing and OBC more readily but perhaps the cover you have if things go wrong might not be so good..we have ABTA ( Assoc Of British TA's) to refer to in that case. I've been told it is no brainer not to book with US TA's , but I still cling to dealing locally at a time when I can phone them in daytime not during my night if there is a problem.

 

No, you ask when booking with the person dealing with your booking at UK HQ for OBC...I again learned this from the Dutch cruisers... so I asked last trip and got our first ever OBC...never got any OBC from the former TA even after all these cruises booked with them...they must have laughed all the way to the bank!

I learned the hard way that you have to press for more than just being happy you got booked at all! Suite pax should get more OBC and if you own any RCCL stock you get automatic OBC every trip.!!! I don't own any but it would be sensible to get some I think if you cruise frequently.

If I recall you are sailing from SOU and asked about the time to fly in and get to the airport etc..did you get that sorted out given your young baby and expectant wife??

[vindex]

No,

I book direct with X HQ here in the UK ....I book initially on the computer (Celebrity .com) to hold the cabin on courtesy hold, then phone them to do the actual booking so I have a "face to face" conversation regarding the elements I want to confirm before we settle on it for definite..... eg flight times etc .

 

I have had conversations with Dutch pax onboard who wanted to book in GBP because it was cheaper for them to book in GBP than in Euros.They did eventually get this to happen after having written to UK / HQ to request it, although having been initially refused bookings by email.They were regular suite patrons so perhaps that was significant???

If you book with a US TA you would likely get better pricing and OBC more readily but perhaps the cover you have if things go wrong might not be so good..we have ABTA ( Assoc Of British TA's) to refer to in that case. I've been told it is no brainer not to book with US TA's , but I still cling to dealing locally at a time when I can phone them in daytime not during my night if there is a problem.

 

No, you ask when booking with the person dealing with your booking at UK HQ for OBC...I again learned this from the Dutch cruisers... so I asked last trip and got our first ever OBC...never got any OBC from the former TA even after all these cruises booked with them...they must have laughed all the way to the bank!

I learned the hard way that you have to press for more than just being happy you got booked at all! Suite pax should get more OBC and if you own any RCCL stock you get automatic OBC every trip.!!! I don't own any but it would be sensible to get some I think if you cruise frequently.

If I recall you are sailing from SOU and asked about the time to fly in and get to the airport etc..did you get that sorted out given your young baby and expectant wife??

 

Wow, simply ask for OBC and get it. Who'da thunk it? :-)

 

As there is no french X HQ I guess I'll go through the UK one. If it's

good enough for the dutch they should be able to take my call.

 

Thanks for the informative answer! That will certainly help for my next

booking.

 

And, yes, I finally chose the early flight to SOU, better safe than

sorry. We'll manage to kill time until being allowed to board beautiful

Equinox. These few hours will fly by in eager anticipation anyway.

 

Cheers,

[lucky white heather]

Wow, simply ask for OBC and get it. Who'da thunk it? :-)

 

As there is no french X HQ I guess I'll go through the UK one. If it's

good enough for the dutch they should be able to take my call.

 

Thanks for the informative answer! That will certainly help for my next

booking.

 

And, yes, I finally chose the early flight to SOU, better safe than

sorry. We'll manage to kill time until being allowed to board beautiful

Equinox. These few hours will fly by in eager anticipation anyway.

 

Cheers,

 

If you book on courtesy hold...to get the cabin you really want ....you get a ref. no. on the printout which you get after going through the process ticking boxes on the screen etc etc .... so when you phone the booking section in the UK give them the ref. no and they then know who you are and on which ship , on which date etc....there are the old phone nos. which were 0800 ( free) and the new ones which you pay for...go for the old 0800 no. obviously!

When you get a "booking person" have all your enquiry Questions ready... they will eventually give you their direct phone no ( which costs you every time you phone them) ..which also has a voicemail message if they do not answer when you call. It will tell you when they are in the office ( date) or if they are just away from their desk..leave a message for them to call you back.

I can't guarantee you'll get OBC on your booking by just asking , but I asked ( followed the lead from the Dutch) , and they gave me it!

 

Bonne chance!

[drfun48]

Like in anything there are good and bad. The key is to do your research and find a good agent,one who is a true professional. If you do they can be a valuable asset.

[Napi's Mom]

One of the CONS: A friend just returned from a 14day cruise w/Azamara. She booked thru the company (same company as Celebrity). At the time there was a promotion for 300 OBC + Prepaid Gratuities, and was assured by the person... her "personal vacation planner" at the Celebrity (Azamara) reservation Dept., that all was OK everything was in place, with several calls between them. Onboard the ship she was told that she had NO OBC registered, and no paid gratuities. So they paid! After returning home she called the Cruiseline...was sent to the POST cruise desk. After much back & forth was told...well NO you can't talk to your Vacation Planner..they are PRE Cruise people, you are now POST cruise. Since you hadn't anything in writing...you don't get anything!! Told her next time to go to MY TA..honest agent and agency. He says HE remembered that promotion (they sell Az. cruises too) in spring. So with the direct reservation..you've got NO-ONE to bat for YOU!

[clivep]

In the past I had used TAs in the UK and usually managed to get a few pounds discount.

 

However, on our last cruise on the Azamara Journey we noticed that the prices from an online TA in Germany were FAR cheaper than the UK price so we booked with them AND got a small discount. The $300 captains club voucher could not be used with the price offered but the saving was much more than this.

 

I noticed an upcoming cruise on the Century appeared on last Tuesday's exciting deals so called Celebrity UK to see if they took part in the offer... NO WAY. They quoted a price more than double what was being offered in the US. They said that I would have a problem booking directly with Celebrity US but would be OK with an US TA. Fine, I booked it online with a US TA who also offered free prepaid gratuities.

 

We usually get ripped off in the UK. I have always been charged a fee for paying by credit card but there was no charge for paying this way with the German or US bookings.

[lucky white heather]

One of the CONS: A friend just returned from a 14day cruise w/Azamara. She booked thru the company (same company as Celebrity). At the time there was a promotion for 300 OBC + Prepaid Gratuities' date=' and was assured by the person... her "personal vacation planner" at the Celebrity (Azamara) reservation Dept., that all was OK everything was in place, with several calls between them. Onboard the ship she was told that she had [u']NO[/u] OBC registered, and no paid gratuities. So they paid! After returning home she called the Cruiseline...was sent to the POST cruise desk. After much back & forth was told...well NO you can't talk to your Vacation Planner..they are PRE Cruise people, you are now POST cruise. Since you hadn't anything in writing...you don't get anything!! Told her next time to go to MY TA..honest agent and agency. He says HE remembered that promotion (they sell Az. cruises too) in spring. So with the direct reservation..you've got NO-ONE to bat for YOU!

 

It may have happened that way to your friend but my invoice showed our OBC in clear print in the section for it..so there was no argument about it! They had not noted our OBC onboard and there is a delay after boarding before it shows up on your TV account..when ours did not show up for several days I went to guest relations and asked them what had happened to it. They said they had no note of it BUT they sent an email to the UK personal booking agent ( we were B2B in the caribbean) and the OBC was being applied to both cruises ( same amount both times)..the personal booking agent confirmed our OBC and then it appeared on the A/C but I had it in writing anyway if that had not been done.

 

There are swings and roundabouts regarding booking with a TA or direct..everyone to their own choice..we've done it both ways and it works best for us to book direct ...but that does not mean there will be no foul ups... I try to make sure everything is in black and white even if it means writing to them to make certain of what I think is the "deal" I booked and have them agree the details.My former TA never had any problems to solve for me because I did all the legwork for them..they just took the commission I earned them.

[lucky white heather]

In the past I had used TAs in the UK and usually managed to get a few pounds discount.

 

However, on our last cruise on the Azamara Journey we noticed that the prices from an online TA in Germany were FAR cheaper than the UK price so we booked with them AND got a small discount. The $300 captains club voucher could not be used with the price offered but the saving was much more than this.

 

I noticed an upcoming cruise on the Century appeared on last Tuesday's exciting deals so called Celebrity UK to see if they took part in the offer... NO WAY. They quoted a price more than double what was being offered in the US. They said that I would have a problem booking directly with Celebrity US but would be OK with an US TA. Fine, I booked it online with a US TA who also offered free prepaid gratuities.

 

We usually get ripped off in the UK. I have always been charged a fee for paying by credit card but there was no charge for paying this way with the German or US bookings.

 

 

What is the situation if your US TA goes bust before your cruise? do you have to have some kind of US Insurance cover or do you use your Brit. Ins. cover even if booking with a US TA ? We know for a fact we get ripped off by prices over here..tell me about it..but I am still reluctant to book with a US TA in case they go down and the whole cost is lost.

 

Do you get the Tuesday "exciting deals " by email? I registered for this but have never received any?

[clivep]

What is the situation if your US TA goes bust before your cruise? do you have to have some kind of US Insurance cover or do you use your Brit. Ins. cover even if booking with a US TA ? We know for a fact we get ripped off by prices over here..tell me about it..but I am still reluctant to book with a US TA in case they go down and the whole cost is lost.

 

Good point. I forgot to put in my post that as the booking would not be covered by the UK ABTA guarantee I always pay by credit card so that I can get my money back from the credit card company if anything goes wrong.

 

Do you get the Tuesday "exciting deals " by email? I registered for this but have never received any?

 

I have the site bookmarked. I don't look at it that often but happened to last Monday night and saw the cruise that we were hoping to go on was on the list. I notice that next Tuesday's was available last night.

[lucky white heather]

Good point. I forgot to put in my post that as the booking would not be covered by the UK ABTA guarantee I always pay by credit card so that I can get my money back from the credit card company if anything goes wrong.

 

 

 

I have the site bookmarked. I don't look at it that often but happened to last Monday night and saw the cruise that we were hoping to go on was on the list. I notice that next Tuesday's was available last night.

 

Obviously I am not very computer literate...I panic even turning the computer on ! But thanks for telling me anyway...if I ever get to grips with how to get them to email that list of deals to me I'll perhaps see a bargain.

I tried a new US site this morning (recommended on the boards from US cruisers for last minute deals ) .... they take bookings from UK cruisers amongst other nationalities and seemed to have every cruise in the world on there.It showed various prices for the same cruise...worth seeing.