booking your cruise

[lasefton]

Which is the best way to book a cruise -- do you book your cruise on line or talk to a real person form the cruise line and book by phone.

[Keith1010]

For me the best way to book the cruise is to book it with a TA because we can get additional benefits from them that the cruise line doesn't provide.

If you decide to just book it yourself, then either by phone or by their web site is fine.

Keith

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have been fortunate to have a TA for over 24 years that we can call or go and see her personally.

I am not one to deal with online TA's.

I want to get to know my TA.

[sparky-elpaso]

We usually book on-line. But for our up-coming cruise we had Future Cruise Credits we had gotten so I had to call in order to use them.

[Putterdude]

We use a TA that is b&m and online. His company does nothing but cruises and are large enough to book group fares which in the case of cruise lines that permit discounting results in lower fare and with those that don't then extra perks such as OBCs, transfers, free travel insurance and alike.

[crzy4wild]

I book online, then call closer to the sail date to check on any possible upgrages.

[Tipbob]

Originally Posted by lasefton

Which is the best way to book a cruise -- do you book your cruise on line or talk to a real person form the cruise line and book by phone.

Booked first and second cruises with online site. First went well. Haven't taken second yet (3 back-to-backs for 39 days!). Online guy has been fine and things seem to be Ok, even gotten some price reductions. Booked our third cruise next fall with a local TA because I want to see how not having to deal with everything works out. So far, like the idea of extra perks like transportation from Sacramento to SF and an escort and daily perks and parties, etc. When I booked online, I called and dealt with one person for everything. I think the most important thing is to pay attention and be proactive. There's a website you can sign up for to watch for price drops for cruises. Cost a little bit. Hope it works.

[Beopthtuh]

we book on line have a tendency to stick to 2 T A ,s

[we're sailing away....]

We only us a TA ..

[spookwife]

Originally Posted by lasefton

Which is the best way to book a cruise -- do you book your cruise on line or talk to a real person form the cruise line and book by phone.

purely personal preference. we book most of ours online directly, although on our last cruise we booked while still on board to take advantage of the OBC that was offered.

[Crew News]

We book only with a personal cruise consultant at HAL who takes good care of any questions and does keep in contact with us throughout the year. She seems to have a good knowledge of available sales, pre-cruise hotel group discounts, and access to the open cabin list.

Of course a TA should do the same.

Most veteran cruisers stick with one or the other.

[George C]

I research online then last few cruises used personal cruise consultant at HAL , who was really good ( our travel agent retired and have not found a new one yet)

[RoofingPrincess]

Prefer to book online, but have used the other methods as well.
Last cruise, bookings opened up for all Canada/New England sailings on the same day, and all of them could be booked online except ours for some reason, so I called and booked it on the phone. Transferred it to a TA later since she had put an OBC item up on a charity auction; it was $150 OBC and I was the winning bidder at $100.
For our Alaska cruise, we used my cruise roomie's TA since we wanted a particular cabin on a particular sailing. She got into the system the moment bookings opened and was able to get it for us, so we didn't have to try to do it from our own jobs.

[we're sailing away....]

We us a TA ...

[jimslady15]

we booked the first 3 on line....last one and the upcoming one 18 days we used a PVP(personal vacation planner) with Carnival, he is awesome and we will stick with him...if we ever use another cruise line we will call them first

[TravelDiva88]

I prefer to book online through the cruiseline, and then call if there are any price drops prior to final payment

[Steviewonder1]

We booked our first with a TA and then after finding out how easy it was have done all the rest on line and no issues with any of them. One note, Always get trip insurance. You will never know what it costs to get medi-vacuated off a ship in Alaska for a gall stone issue we did. It was well into 5 figures and all paid for with the insurance plus half the trip was refunded.

[Blueboss]

I used a PVP with Carnival for our last cruise since there were so many family members joining us and each wanted different types of cabins but still wanted to be together for dinner. Things went very smoothly and we called him again for this cruise. Have not needed to talk to him since we booked, just do everything online. We don't have a TA anywhere near us that knows anything about cruises.

[BlondeCruiser24]

We booked over the phone with the cruise line itself. It was really smooth and the lady that handled our booking was very helpful and friendly. I have heard that booking through a TA is very beneficial. We might look in to that for our next cruise.

[JimAOk1945]

If we are planning to drive to the embarkation point, we book it ourselves through the cruise website. Then we book our excursions through the cruise website.

If we are flying, we have our TA book the cruise and flights. Then we book our shore excursions through the cruise website.

Happy Sailing!