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Online booking or booking via travel agents


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We prefer to deal with a local TA who has had our business for 20 years. If a problem arises with reservations, price, or any other concerns, she goes to bat for us. Also, at the last minute before final payment, she has been able to get us drastic fare reductions.

 

We let her handle the problems; we anticipate the cruise, then enjoy the cruise.

 

Others may prefer working directly with X, but we prefer our TA who alleviates problems. I would rather not get into arguments with the cruise line which could create hard feelings. JMO.

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Any benefits of booking with a travel agent versus booking directly with Celebrity?

You always have the option to book your cruise directly with Celebrity and you have up to 60 days to transfer it to a travel agent of your choice if you would like to. The benefit of going with a travel agent is two fold....you can either choose a full service agent that will do their best to look out for you or you can choose one of the larger on line agencies that are really only booking machines. They will though hook you up with perks such as OBC, free gratuities, etc. You do need to inquire though about cancellation policies, many of the larger agencies will have a 50 or 100 dollar per person cancellation penalty. Good luck

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We have done both in the past. However, the last two cruises (Princess and upcoming Celebrity Summit) we have gone thru a TA and after booking for the same price as direct with the cruiseline, the TA has given us an OBC which we never would have gotten otherwise. Not much, $75 but an unexpected surprise nontheless.

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Although TA's aren't supposed to "discount" the cruise, often they book large chunks of cabins, and call it a "group cruise". The resulting price to the clients reflects their lower per cabin rate. So you can get a lower price, significant OBC's, prepaid gratuities, spa credits, free specialty dining (on an upcoming cruise I got all of the above on a low end balcony).

 

The down side: especially if you're part of the group pricing, you may have to pay the TA a cancellation fee as stated above, from 50 to 100. And no matter what TA you use (outside of direct booking w/ Celebrity), once your reservation is with a Travel Agent, you kind of relinquish control over your reservation. Most questions or changes MUST go through the agent. Calling Celebrity and expecting they'll deal with your reservation is no longer likely.

 

For the amount of perks I get, I'm willing to chance the cancellation fees, and willing to work through my (very responsive) TA for questions and changes. I've never found a better rate or a better cabin and lost it because my TA was unavailable. Some feel differently and have had different experiences.

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The only time I book directly with Celebrity is if I make an onboard booking. I have then always transferred my booking to the TA I have been using for about five years now. She is with a large interest cruise company at I found right here on Cruise Critic's site. Amazingly the actual physical location of this company is just a few miles from my home. I have gotten great group rates, OBC and pre aid gratuities on every booking she has handled. Any problem I've had or price drop I've discovered has been promptly handled by her. OBC and gratuities over the years have added up to thousands of dollars.

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I used to book with a TA and, after a few screw-ups, we booked directly. Most of the people I dealt with at the cruise line really didn't do anything or couldn't do anything when I booked with them. I decided to try a TA again and have been very happy. I had a few requests that were handled immediately to my satisfaction. She gave me over $350 OBC on a week long cruise. I transferred a January cruise to her and got another $200. When the line asked me why I was transferring, I told the agent about the OBC. She made no offers. I just booked a cruise for next June while on board and was given a $375 OBC on top of the $300 Celebrity gave with the drink package as well as $100 excursion voucher. Not too shabby. And this was an on-line agency. Excellent service.

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I now just book with Celebrity direct - they will actually give you onboard credit if you ask for it instead of transferrring it to a travel agency. I tell them what the big cruise agencies are offering and they match it. Then I can speak directly with Celebrity from that point forward in making any changes to my reservations without the hassle of going through a travel agent. I'm done with Travel Agents forever - I see absolutely no point, and while everyone claims they are "full service", I find they don't know any more about booking a trip or getting a better price than I do.

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I now just book with Celebrity direct - they will actually give you onboard credit if you ask for it instead of transferrring it to a travel agency. I tell them what the big cruise agencies are offering and they match it. Then I can speak directly with Celebrity from that point forward in making any changes to my reservations without the hassle of going through a travel agent. I'm done with Travel Agents forever - I see absolutely no point, and while everyone claims they are "full service", I find they don't know any more about booking a trip or getting a better price than I do.

 

 

 

This is amazing. Why have I never heard this before? Is it a secret or do people just not know?

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I have 2 X cruises booked with an online TA that has agents you can call. The TA gave me free gratuities, group pricing, and OBC, in addition to X OBC. They do not charge fees for cancellations or changes. They honor price drops....but if the price drops beyond a certain amount they might tell you to choose between the price drop and the benefits.

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I've done both, on our last cruise with HAL our TA was amazing, we received a 8% discount off the rack price and everytime there was a cruise reduction we were able to get the reductions, (5 in 9 months) one was $500.00, we also received OBC, beverage cards and specialty dinners. The problem dealing with certain online TA's is the fact that they will not reduce the price if there is a reduction in fare prior to final payment.............. one needs to check into this..........

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This is amazing. Why have I never heard this before? Is it a secret or do people just not know?

 

Only one way to find out for sure. Call up Celebrity and ask them. Pick out a Caribbean cruise that qualifies for the Pick Your Perk promotion, maybe something around $1000 per person. There are quite a few agencies that will offer pre-paid gratuities along with the Pick Your Perk. Ask Celebrity if they will give you the beverage package AND prepaid gratuities because you saw a travel agency that will. Let us know what they say.

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Any benefits of booking with a travel agent versus booking directly with Celebrity?

We book online then transfer to our TA. You can get perks from the ship like a lower down payment, cruise credit and sometimes additional perks from TA. On certain specials however, you cannot combine perks, but no downside to booking on board first.

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Yes, I got the drink package as well as the OBC. I was surprised as well. I asked how many days I had to switch over to an agency so I could get OBC and the celebrity agent asked how much I would get and would I be interested in letting them see what they could do. I told them and they matched it. They also said if I transferred to an agent I would lose the credit.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

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I always check with a couple of online TAs prior to booking directly with X. I have never seen TAs offer anything that makes it worth while.

I also like having control of my reservation. If prices drop, I can call and get the lower price. I have read several posts here on cc of people that could not get in touch with their TA to take advantage of a price drop.

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All posts above are very true. It can be a bit of a hassle having to go through a TA to make a change, IF you prefer the hassle of sitting on hold for hours at a time trying to get things sorted out if any problems come up. It is simply a trade off. You are given the freedom to do things on your own but when you are on your own, who is in your corner if there is a discrepancy?

 

On a side note, I am blown away that X would basically bribe a client to stay as a direct booking vs allowing their customers to work with a TA. First of all, carnival did this with agents and now has no telephone support for agents along with dropping commission amounts to almost zero. They charge the exact same cruise fare regardless of who it is booked through. X is just being greedy with your money and not willing to support agents. This is not the majority of the representatives but obviously there are some. If you are comfortable with impersonal service, that is each individuals choice. If you are not receiving "full service" or your agent seems to be less than knowledgeable, move on. There are plenty of good agents that provide port info and more info between booking and sailing. A good agent is just as excited for your vacation as you are.

 

(Disclaimer, I am an agent but totally agree that some are sub-par and their are some benefits from a clients perspective to book directly. Need to weigh pros and cons of both ways and decide what fits your style better from there)

 

Happy sailing!

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I now just book with Celebrity direct - they will actually give you onboard credit if you ask for it instead of transferrring it to a travel agency. I tell them what the big cruise agencies are offering and they match it. Then I can speak directly with Celebrity from that point forward in making any changes to my reservations without the hassle of going through a travel agent. I'm done with Travel Agents forever - I see absolutely no point, and while everyone claims they are "full service", I find they don't know any more about booking a trip or getting a better price than I do.

 

As a travel agent for a small company I have to completely disagree with this:mad:, I cruise and research cruises (as well as other destinations) a lot, I just spent several days with a client educating him about the promotions, ports, flights, etc., much more than he is going to get from a Celebrity agent. We were even researching and were going to book his miles reward flights and hotels, which we gain absolutely nothing for. I sold Celebrity to him and what thanks do I get, Celebrity steals the booking by making him an offer he couldn't refuse (matching some insane online agency price) and then telling him if he transferred it to us he would lose the deal. I did, as a final courtesy, let him know what a crappy cabin the wonderful Celebrity agent had put him in, he would never have known any better. He wanted us to have the commission because he appreciated all of the work we put in to planning the trip but I can't blame him for taking the better deal.

 

Policies like this are one more nail in the coffin of small business and it stinks!

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All posts above are very true. It can be a bit of a hassle having to go through a TA to make a change, IF you prefer the hassle of sitting on hold for hours at a time trying to get things sorted out if any problems come up. It is simply a trade off. You are given the freedom to do things on your own but when you are on your own, who is in your corner if there is a discrepancy?

 

On a side note, I am blown away that X would basically bribe a client to stay as a direct booking vs allowing their customers to work with a TA. First of all, carnival did this with agents and now has no telephone support for agents along with dropping commission amounts to almost zero. They charge the exact same cruise fare regardless of who it is booked through. X is just being greedy with your money and not willing to support agents. This is not the majority of the representatives but obviously there are some. If you are comfortable with impersonal service, that is each individuals choice. If you are not receiving "full service" or your agent seems to be less than knowledgeable, move on. There are plenty of good agents that provide port info and more info between booking and sailing. A good agent is just as excited for your vacation as you are.

 

(Disclaimer, I am an agent but totally agree that some are sub-par and their are some benefits from a clients perspective to book directly. Need to weigh pros and cons of both ways and decide what fits your style better from there)

 

Happy sailing!

 

Could not agree more!:)

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You will note that I said that "I" would never use an agent again - I didn't say everyone shouldn't. And for the record, I have done many, many bookings directly on my own and then transferred to a local agency down the street from me so they could get the commission with absolutely no work on their part required. I have also transferred to the larger discount agencies when the OBC made it very worthwhile.

Also....it is not "my" responsibility to make travel agencies or agents relevant. It is "their" responsibility to provide me with a value or service that I deem necessary to pay for. If a price drop or upgrade opportunity occurs on an evening or weekend when they are not open...I want to grab it - not be inconvenienced by having to go through them - and this has happened to me. The Internet has really hurt small businesses in the travel sector, not just those selling cruises. I get that. But unless Celebrity stops allowing direct bookings I'm not going to pay to use a middle man for something I can easily do myself.

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I always check with a couple of online TAs prior to booking directly with X. I have never seen TAs offer anything that makes it worth while.

I also like having control of my reservation. If prices drop, I can call and get the lower price. I have read several posts here on cc of people that could not get in touch with their TA to take advantage of a price drop.

 

This is the way I feel - and message boards like this one are full of helpful individuals who will give you great advice and suggestions if you have any questions, issues or concerns with your direct reservations.

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We have a local TA with whom we have been booking for years (pre-internet) and we get great service. She will also research hotels and flights. Once when we did not even book the flight through the TA, our agent was kind enough to help us rebook when one of our connecting flights was cancelled.

 

A good TA is worth it. But if we did not have a great relationship with a great TA, I do not know that I'd bother.

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We have a local TA with whom we have been booking for years (pre-internet) and we get great service. She will also research hotels and flights. Once when we did not even book the flight through the TA, our agent was kind enough to help us rebook when one of our connecting flights was cancelled.

 

A good TA is worth it. But if we did not have a great relationship with a great TA, I do not know that I'd bother.

 

Completely agree.

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I have 27 completed cruises and I have never had to contact my online TA, ASAP. I've gotten every price reduction, cabin change, and upgrade if the price drops within 30 days, I've asked for. I did it all through e-mail. If I would have booked these all through the cruise lines, I figure conservatively, I would have $6,000 less in the bank than I have now. Throw in Choice Air for European cruises and transatlantics, and Priceline.com for hotels and that number is well over $10,000. Why Choice Air? Our last transatlantic, we paid $368 p.p. from Phoenix to London, one way, on Delta. Through Delta, it would have been $1500 p.p. And yes, we did pick our own flights and own seats.

To us, the rewards greatly out weigh the risks, if any.

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You will note that I said that "I" would never use an agent again - I didn't say everyone shouldn't. And for the record, I have done many, many bookings directly on my own and then transferred to a local agency down the street from me so they could get the commission with absolutely no work on their part required. I have also transferred to the larger discount agencies when the OBC made it very worthwhile.

Also....it is not "my" responsibility to make travel agencies or agents relevant. It is "their" responsibility to provide me with a value or service that I deem necessary to pay for. If a price drop or upgrade opportunity occurs on an evening or weekend when they are not open...I want to grab it - not be inconvenienced by having to go through them - and this has happened to me. The Internet has really hurt small businesses in the travel sector, not just those selling cruises. I get that. But unless Celebrity stops allowing direct bookings I'm not going to pay to use a middle man for something I can easily do myself.

 

Your original comments about TA's would suggest that nobody should. Anyway, you are not "paying" the middle man if you use an agency that doesn't charge a booking fee, if Celebrity's unfair policy of undercutting TA's was done away with (and I hope it is) it would be a level playing field because we do a lot of the footwork plus free services as well as offer OBC's (just can't compete with Celebrity offering large OBC's.) BTW I am available by email nearly all of the time and this booking I lost, well I worked on it and responded on nights and weekends, just want to correct that bit of information, not all TA's are like you mention, and we are useful to people who don't have the time or desire to thoroughly plan their trips. I would suggest if people are going to use a TA to ask if they are available outside of business hours for weekend price drops, etc. Sorry but your comment caught me at a bad time and I feel the need to respond so that people don't believe all travel agents are like the ones you describe.

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