mnocket

OK, I'm probably going to trigger a lot of strong opposition, but here's where I've landed on the question TAs. Wouldn't it be wonderful if there really were TAs who offered deep discounts while also providing knowledgeable, responsive, bespoke service. I frequently see posters claim they have a TA that provides such service along with a 10% discount. My conclusion is that they are exaggerating at best. It's like the old saying about high quality, low cost & timeliness - you can have any 2, but not all 3. Should people really be surprised that when it comes to travel agents, you get what you pay for? A high discount TA simply can't afford to spend a lot of time servicing the individual needs of clients. They need high volume to make their low fees possible. These high discount TAs tend to be more order takers than what we think of as traditional travel agents. In many cases they are more like call center workers than travel agents. So, is this bad? It depends on what you want & need. If you do all your own research and know exactly what you want, and are willing to forfeit your ability to deal directly with the cruise line in exchange for a steep discount, then one of these discount, high volume TAs may be right for you. In such circumstances I tend to consider one of the big box TAs Now if you want a TA who's knowledgeable, willing to take the time to curate your travel arrangements to your specific needs and (this is a big one to many people) willing to spend hours on hold and working with the cruise lines to resolve issues, then it's simply not realistic to expect that they are going to be willing to take a big cut in their commission in order to offer you a large discount. A little extra OBC? A dinning credit? A boarding gift in your cabin? Sure, but don't expect a 10% discount. Finally, when it comes to finding a TA... It's easy to find a moderate discount TA - just go to a big box TA. High discount TAs are even easier - just one of those websites where multiple TAs compete for your business. Now a full-service TA? That's a different story. I've found it really hard, neigh impossible so far, to find a TA who is really knowledgeable about a particular cruise line and able to guide me through all the booking decisions. I'm sure they exist. There are TAs who specialize in certain cruise lines and are frequent cruisers themselves. When I'm trying a new cruise line for the first time, I'd really like to find a TA who specializes in that line. The problem I've found is that most claim a familiarity with specific cruise lines that they really don't have. The best way to find such a TA is by a referral from another cruiser. This wouldn't be so difficult if I was sailing on that cruise line, but I'm not - I've never sailed on that particular line. So it's pretty much a matter of searching the web for someone who appears to fit the ticket. A very hit-or-miss proposition. One last thing. I'm sure there are a few unicorns out there - full service TAs who know you and what appeals to you. Who have access to group rates and are willing to match those opportunities to your desires. They can, in fact, occasionally offer you full service along with great rates. I'd love to find one of these, but they are as rare as unicorns🙂

Do you question that the cruise companies conduct a thorough analysis of their various options when deciding about ship retirement, refurbishment, acquisition, etc?

Yep, it's a 7-day + 14-day. So I can book 1 meal in each restaurant for the first segment and then repeat for the second segment. I can book after boarding, but no need to rush unless I really care about a particular day & time. Got it. Thanks.👍

I tried searching for an answer, but either the search function is severely limited, or I don't know how to properly use it. So, we're taking our first Windstar cruise on the Pride in a little over a month. Can someone give me the inside scoop on making reservations for the specialty restaurants? It's a 21 Night cruise so I'm assuming we'll want reservations for several nights. Since it seems we can't make reservations until we board, what's the best way to proceed? Specifically, we tend to prefer to be flexible and not plan dinners way in advance. Will this be a problem? Is there typically a mad rush upon boarding to book dinner reservations? If we don't book all our specialty dinners on the first day, do we risk the reservation books filling up and we'll miss out? How common is it that people can show up without reservations and get seated due to cancellations? Obviously, I have no idea how this works on Windstar. Any advice is appreciated.

lol I see what you did there🤭

That's certainly adequate. It's interesting to note that Starlink is capable of 10X that download speed. Much depends on how the cruise lines chose to implement it (throttling, onboard infrastructure, etc.)

I'm hoping that once Brazil implements their e-visa program, it will be easy to apply directly on the government website and there will be no need to pay extra for a visa service's assistance. Time will tell.

Yes, as of Oct 1st US citizens will be required to obtain a visa to visit Brazil. When Brazil announced this change, they said they would implement an e-visa program and that US citizens could obtain the visa entirely online at a cost of $80. Brazil being Brazil, this online mechanism is not yet available. I've got an Amazon cruise in Dec and I'm a tad concerned that the online e-visa won't be ready in time. My backup plan is to wait until Oct 1st and if the e-visa is still MIA, I will use the existing, but cumbersome, mail-in visa application. It would be nice if Regent communicated a bit about this new visa requirement, but they have been silent. I suspect there will be a number of people who will remain unaware of this change and will run into problems (we are beyond final payment). On other cruise lines/itineraries the cruise line has sometimes stepped in and obtained the visas for a fee. As of now, everything is kind of up in the air. Here's an existing thread on the subject from the South America port board....

Yep. I've found this to be true on many mass market cruise lines. Always such a letdown.

No you will not see people leaving tips on the table left and right. For instance, I would estimate that when I'm sitting in a bar I only notice 5-10% of the patrons leave a tip. A small minority. It's totally a personal choice.

There is absolutely no reason for you to feel you must, or should, tip over and above the standard gratuity charge. It is not expected and certainly not required. If someone gives you outstanding service that goes above and beyond what is expected, you may want to give them something a little extra, but that is totally up to you and is the exception. Some people still hand tip envelopes to everyone who provided regular service, but they are a small minority (this was the standard practice before cruise lines implemented a daily gratuity charge). Despite what some may say, routine tipping above the included gratuity charge is not the norm.

Wow! Very concerning comments here. I've been considering an Antarctic cruise and I've seen some very encouraging vlogs from people who have taken them on Atlas. However, it seems that in many respects, Atlas is not ready for prime time and they don't seem to be improving the situation. Not having water toys available on warm weather cruises, when this is a major advertised feature, makes one question the integrity of their management. You don't boast a feature that you're not able to deliver - and yet they continue to do so.

Interesting. Why is that? I understand that light packing is considered a virtue by some, but to me it's not really a concern. For the most part, my luggage is handled by others. The only inconvenience is waiting to pick it up at the airport baggage carousel - a very minor inconvenience as I'm a relaxed traveler who doesn't schedule myself such that I must run from place to place. An inconvenience to me would be having to worry about laundering clothes in order to dress for dinner, but that's just me. Everyone is different, so there's really no need to feel sorry for people traveling with giant suitcases. We get along just fine🙂

Yeah, but it's a big box TA and I made final payment via their website instead of calling and talking to an agent - lesson learned. No human was involved. Still you're right their system should have alerted someone that the payment was denied and they should have contacted me. Should, woulda, coulda. The experience just made me think that it would be nice if the RSSC website showed payment details.

That's what I did. Here's a little backstory... I made my final payment for a December cruise on my big box TA's website. A couple days later I realized I never received any kind of confirmation from either the TA or from RSSC - so I called the TA. They said the payment had in fact not been made and they resubmitted it. It turns out my credit card company (Chase Sapphire Reserve) denied the payment as I had just made final payment on another cruise a few days before and the new charge exceeded my credit limit. I called Chase and had my credit limit increased and everything is now fine. The point is, no one informed me that the original final payment didn't go through. Had I not become concerned that I did not receive an acknowledgement of payment and follow up, my cruise would have been canceled a few days later for failure to make final payment. I would now be dead as my wife would surely have killed me.😔

Bora Bora. Now most cruise ships can't even stop there due to their size and new regulations.

OK, I booked through a travel agent and understand that I must make payments through the TA. However, I find it strange that when I make a payment there doesn't seem to be any way to see an acknowledgement of that payment on the RSSC website. Sure after I make the final payment, the Final Payment check box on the Manage My Booking page shows as filled in, but no details of when paid or how much. In fact there doesn't seem to be any way see how much I paid for my cruise on the RSSC website - I have to go to the TA's site for that. Just seems strange to me. I mean if someone was dealing with a disreputable TA that pocketed the payment instead of forwarding it to RSSC, you really wouldn't know if RSSC received the payment or not.

Wow. I had no idea this was the case. My experience with outsourcing has been that quality almost always suffers in exchange for lower costs. Although I guess the fact that they have been doing it for many years runs contrary to my experience as the decline in service seems to be a recent phenomenon.

These kind of changes are why I've decided to move up to luxury lines. Sure I have to take fewer cruises, but the ones I do take deliver the experience I expect. Quality over quantity. Maybe this is the game RCCL is playing?

I'm eagerly awaiting the release of the 2025 Antarctica schedule. I hope the pre-cruise experience is improved by then.

I like F1 racing and I've thought about going to a race, but it's very expensive and you only get to see a short section of the track. I imagine it's very hard to get a sense of the overall progression of the race. It just seems like one of those sports that is best viewed on TV.

So glad to read your post. I'm on the Dec Amazon cruise - my first RSSC cruise. It's reassuring to hear someone say it's a great ship for that itinerary.

Does anyone know what that means, or is it just meaningless corporate-speak? Is there such a thing as "out of market responsibility"?

Exactly, it you want to do an expedition cruise to Antarctica you're going to spend at least that much.

Agreed. My knee jerk response was "Sure, if your spouse doesn't mind"😁