Travel agent or Do it yourself for FP cruise+land vacation

[manasvi10]

Hi,

 

I am looking for Cruise +land vacation in FP. Pacific Princess + 4 days pre or post cruise in Bora bora or Moorea OWB in Fall 2009. I am not sure whether I should do it on my own or should do it through travel agent? I have done all my previous big vacations on my own but while googling I saw a lot of people mention about their travel agents..

 

How to find good travel agent especially for FP vacation? Do you guys have some recommendation ?

[Wendy The Wanderer]

There are local travel agents, in FP that is, who specialize in packages. You should try them. If you do some googling, you will come up with their websites. I haven't used any of them. I can't imagine that you would get a better deal going it alone.

[Toto2Kansas]

Hi,

 

I am looking for Cruise +land vacation in FP. Pacific Princess + 4 days pre or post cruise in Bora bora or Moorea OWB in Fall 2009. I am not sure whether I should do it on my own or should do it through travel agent? I have done all my previous big vacations on my own but while googling I saw a lot of people mention about their travel agents..

 

How to find good travel agent especially for FP vacation? Do you guys have some recommendation ?

 

It's against the rules here to recommend a travel agent, or we all would be giving you names to check out, sorry. :(

 

One thing about Princess, if you book direct, you will receive the cruise lines price. If you find a good discount TA, they will discount the prices you find on the Princess site by anywhere from 10%-20% depending on the stateroom you book for the cruise and the time of sailing.

Definitely at least check out discount agents for the cruise with Princess, they still allow discounting by TA's. And Enjoy, this is our favorite cruise in the entire world, and the most beauitful!

 

Edit-Keep in mind though that if you do a pre or post cruise stay, and the TA books through Princess, the price is PER PERSON. So, look closely before deciding it is a great deal, sometimes it is, other times it's not. ;) Many times we book our stay through Princess, as we just can't beat their pricing in FP, but for other areas, it is best to book on your own. And please factor in the cost of food on your land portion, things are VERY expensive in FP and meals are not included in most hotel stays without a heafty extra charge. Wish I could think of a word better than VERY, but I think you get my drift? One of those 'HOW MUCH', questions? lol

[manasvi10]

Toto2Kansas,

 

Thanks for the suggestions...We have sailed 3 NCL ships to alaska, hawaii and bahamas and I booked it on my own either on NCL website or expedia etc...This will be our first Princess cruise so your advice is really really helpful....

 

About FP prices so yes I did lot of research and have been watching the airline, hotels prices...After doing that when I googled Agents and saw the packages advertised on net, I realised that Travel agent is the way to go but as usual CC's opinion is most important for me so thought I will discuss it here...

 

I know you can not give names here ..but can you do me a favor? if possible can you please email me it on amruta_inamdar@hotmail.com especially for princess cruises and FP bora bora or moorea over water bungalow resorts....

[manasvi10]

Wendy,

 

Thanks for the information....The confirmation from cc members is really helpful....I will try to find and compare the deals just to get the ballpark numbers....

[LA_FadeAway]

I would do as others have suggested and find a discount agent for the cruise; however, I found that I was able to handle the land portion of my upcoming trip much cheaper than any TA or pkg company I talked to. I even gave one of the big pkg companies my pricing and they told me I should go with it, that nobody would beat it.