Travel agency

[jsheridan]

This is my first post on this forum. I'm not sure about the rules of these forums and don't want to "misbehave" in my first post.

I am looking at doing a cruise next year and have received several different quotes from another website. I want to know if anyone here has worked with the agency with the best (by far) price. Am I allowed to ask for reviews of a particular travel agent or is that a big no-no?

Thanks.

[Dave]

Welcome to cruise-chat.

Our forum rules are located HERE.

We look at posts which discuss specific travel agents, agencies, or on-line travel sellers as being advertising. If we allowed it then it wouldn't be long before we looked like a travel bazaar, with agents promoting themselves and so forth.

So to answer your question - talking about cruises is what we do. Talking about cruise pricing and XYZ agency is frowned upon.

[penny3333]

Hi jsheridan, welcome to Cruise-Chat. I hope you will decide to book a cruise. Just a little advice. If you have a good travel agent, that is CLIA certified or at least specializes in cruises, that is the way to go. Booking through an on-line "agency" is not the best way to book. A good travel agent is worth their weight in gold. They will be sure you get the best price available. They don't charge anymore than booking directly. In fact, more times than not, they can get a better price than what the cruise line offers. A lot of agents have blocks of rooms they book and can sell at a group rate price. They also have all the promotional information.

I use the internet to find pricing, then either book directly or use an agent. Dave has his own agent as well as others on the board. As Dave stated, we don't advertise their names, locations, etc.

I do want to warn you, cruising is addictive We hope you'll visit us often and let us know what cruise you decide to book. Best wishes!

[Dwayne]

Welcome to Cruise-Chat!

Now that the rules explained, most excellently btw. I want to add to what Penny noted. A better price by a few dollars is not always worth it in the end. I've read plenty of stories about getting a cruise a wee bit cheaper online and then being provided lousy service. More often than not even if you get a "live" person on the phone they are not an "Agent" (a person representing your best interest) they are an "Order Taker".

A recent example of this is acquaintances of mine using such an unnamed service. The cruise price actually dropped and the service made no effort to make adjustments for them. Whereas, other people I know on the same cruise that used a Travel Agent had their price adjusted by their "Agent" multiple times along with Upgrades and On Board Credits being issued.

It actually got so pathetic about their Dining preferences that "someone" had to step in and straighten it out for them. I'm not saying they are all bad. I am saying it is better to use an accredited Travel Agent versus an Order Taker in my opinion.

Dwayne

[jsheridan]

Thank you all. I have actually cruised before, but have never tried this online competitive website before and have never cruise with RCI (2 DCL, 4 NCL, 1 Celebrity, 1 Carnival). I appreciate all your input and will probably be booking my cruise sometime next week. This is a great site & I'm sure you'll see more of me once I book!

[Sonny V]

Welcome to Cruise-Chat, jsheridan. Have you decided which ship you're going to book? I've been on a lot of RCI ships, and I believe you're going to love Royal Caribbean. If you don't have a travel agent yet, I would advise you to book direct with RCCL. You will have total control of your booking directly with RCCL. If you book with an on-line agency, they own your booking and you have to go through them to make any changes. I have a travel agent and we kind of work as a team on my bookings. If she sees a great deal or a better price she calls me. It's the personal service that I appreciate--you just don't get that with an internet agency.



Sonny