best deal - how to know

[Joie]

If lines like Carnival have rules that prices can NOT be different at different travel sites...HOW or why would you book with someone? Is there a best way to do this? I want the best deal naturally, but am scared to NOT book directly with the cruise lines. What are the benefits....and do you have to worry?

[paul929207]

A TA may provide better service than Carnival.

A TA may offer other benefits - bottle of wine, OBC, etc.

[patseacruiser]

A TA will generally monitor for price drops, make suggestions on excursions, check on anything you need. If you book with the cruise line - and I'm not saying that you shouldn't - but that's generally your last contact with them. They won't call you that your price is lower, or suggest an excursion or anything at all.

[FLACRUISER99]

A TA can also go out of business. Take your money, it just happened in my home town, so buyer beware.

[travelntreats]

As long as the TA is giving the c.card info direct to the cruiseline and the clients c.card is showing the charge made to the cruiseline..... no need to worry of them going out of business. Now if you pay by check or they are charging the payments to their agency and then paying the cruiseline from their agency,.... this could be a nightmare if they go out of business.

 

Research and referrals will help you find the TA that is right for you !

[cuyahoga11]

A TA will generally monitor for price drops, make suggestions on excursions, check on anything you need. If you book with the cruise line - and I'm not saying that you shouldn't - but that's generally your last contact with them. They won't call you that your price is lower, or suggest an excursion or anything at all.

 

This is not set in stone. Giving advice like this can make a newbie run for cover.I have never had a TA call me or do any research after I have booked but I have had calls from my PVP at Carnival.

[travelntreats]

This is not set in stone. Giving advice like this can make a newbie run for cover.I have never had a TA call me or do any research after I have booked but I have had calls from my PVP at Carnival.

And your statement is not correct either.... there are GOOD TA's out there just as there are GOOD PVP's too, but each side has the not so good ones as well !

 

A Good TA will hold a clients hand and offer suggestions, recommendations for stateroom location and watch for those possible rate drops among other things.... the PVP's basically know just what they are selling (and that is questionable at times as many have never set foot on a ship !) and cannot offer the little extras a GOOD TA can provide to their clients.

 

It's all about researching and deciding what way is best for each individual, regarding what is the best method to book ANY vacation package.

[patseacruiser]

And that poster is correct, check your credit card statement when you make payment and make sure that payment is to the cruise line. As long as you make payment to say Royal Caribbean, it doesn't matter if that travel agent goes out of business in the long run because RCI will have your booking. You're also correct that a travel agent may not contact you with a price drop but you should check that that will try their best to do it and you can do it also. I mean your agent could be out of town when the price drops and may not see it. NO ONE is perfect. I have booked direct through the cruise line and have never had their agent call to say their is a price drop. One time I caught an interior to a balcony for the same exact price. But I guess that falls under the no one is perfect rule.

[Fredr]

Hello,

 

The key is research, research, and as much research as you have time for or want to do.

 

We use a TA. We go see him ONLY after we have done lots of research including the following:

 

Determining where we want to go and how much we want to spend

and,

 

Looking at the travel - related websites such as Expedia, Vacations to Go, Orbitz, Kayak in order to get an idea of prices, itineraries, ship lay outs and so on, and

 

Looking at the cruise line's websites to see what is being charged by the cruise lines for particular cruises.

 

When we have a good idea about all of the above, we go see our TA. Remember, unless you are a very experienced traveler, it is always good to have someone in the travel industry as a back up if anything should go wrong.

[beachchick]

Many TAs do not monitor for price drops for all their clients. It would be prohibitively time-consuming considering that they may have hundreds of clients booked with numerous cruise lines on many different ships and with cruise dates that can span 18 months. We always monitor for fare adjustments ourselves because it's simply not that hard to quickly check the fare for our one or two cruises. Then it's easy to call the TA (if we've used one) to make sure it is applied (if we qualify for it; some fare reductions have very limited and specific requirements).

 

Also, TAs can't really make excursion suggestions unless they know what the client is interested in and if they (the TA) know specifics about various excursions and options.

 

For sure we would never, under any circumstances, book with a TA who didn't run the cruise charges through the cruiseline directly. We will not allow a TA to charge our CC to the agency and then rely on the TA/agency to pay for our cruise through the TAs account. If we don't see our deposit on our CC statement as (for example) "Royal Caribbean International" for however much the deposit was, then we would immediately cancel with the TA and insist on having our money returned. Of course, that is one of the questions we have for any TA: Do you run our cruise fare directly through the cruise line? (Along with "What is your cancellation policy? How do you deal with fare reductions? Will you submit cruise discount coupons if any become available for our cruise? When do you send documents? How do you handle final payment?" and a bunch of other stuff that is important to us.)

 

beachchick

[Joie]

Well I've gotten alot of different opinions......and I guess I will just doing what I am doing, which is researching myself and then give the TA my info. In the past I've have alwsys found better pricing than they have and I was the one who had to call them to let them know about a price-drop......just seemed like a waste of time for them to make money off me. But maybe the plate of chocolates that arrive in my cabin are worth it....HA!! If I had to have some special service maybe I would feel like it was worth more...but haven't yet and hope never to have to.

Thanks for all the info.

[Traveler353]

If you get lucky you will get a good Carnival PVP that will stay on top of things for you. If there are problems with the booking a PVP can take care of it directly. Why go thru a middle man?

[Fredr]

Well I've gotten alot of different opinions......and I guess I will just doing what I am doing, which is researching myself and then give the TA my info. In the past I've have alwsys found better pricing than they have and I was the one who had to call them to let them know about a price-drop......just seemed like a waste of time for them to make money off me. But maybe the plate of chocolates that arrive in my cabin are worth it....HA!! If I had to have some special service maybe I would feel like it was worth more...but haven't yet and hope never to have to.

Thanks for all the info.

 

Joie,

 

Suggest that you just calm down and remember....research is part of the fun and that you can't always get a super deal. Further, you may see a great deal but by the time you see your TA the best price may be gone.

 

As for really saving money, look at repositioning cruises.

[travelntreats]

Well I've gotten alot of different opinions......and I guess I will just doing what I am doing, which is researching myself and then give the TA my info. In the past I've have alwsys found better pricing than they have and I was the one who had to call them to let them know about a price-drop......just seemed like a waste of time for them to make money off me. But maybe the plate of chocolates that arrive in my cabin are worth it....HA!! If I had to have some special service maybe I would feel like it was worth more...but haven't yet and hope never to have to.

Thanks for all the info.

The cruiseline is paying the TA... NOT the passenger !

TA's can and do offer shore excursion suggestions, but only if the client asks for those suggestions. Many TA's have taken tours at various ports of call and can offer what their OPINION was... then it is up to the client to decide if they like that type of tour or not.

 

New cruisers can use the wealth of knowledge a GOOD TA can offer and then start doing their own planning in later cruises if they like.

 

It's all a matter of how each individual wants to handle their vacation booking... some will like the advatages a TA may or may not offer and some may prefer to do everything on their own direct with the source of travel..... All a matter of PERSONAL CHOICE !

[fideauxdon]

A TA will generally monitor for price dropsQUOTE]

 

I wish. If you have someone who does this, hold on to him or her. They're scarce as hen's teeth. Many of them claim that they do this. Most don't.