Eric&Pam

This is why we have always loved cruising. We book 1-2 years ahead, pay a little bit every few months, and before you know it, it's all paid for,

You pay the the extra $40 at the time of booking.

Sadly, some agents don't earn a real commission, and may only make $25 per booking. Especially those with big box agencies or those who are entirely focused on offering the lowest price. Post booking services in these cases will be minimal if anything at all. Then there are the lazy agents, who although they may be earning the standard commission, are only interested in booking your reservations, and not properly servicing it. There are plenty of good agents out there, but CC rules prohibit sharing such information.

Hiring a local, full-service travel agent could make things easier for you. It wouldn't bring the jobs back to the states, but you'd be supporting a local small business, and they then become your point of contact. You'd no longer have to call overseas.

There are so many factors that can affect your arrival and disembarkation time, and most of them are out of Virgin's hands.

To be clear, the current status match program only gives "Blue Extras", not "Deep Blue Extras"