Booking direct or via TA?

I have seen a few threads on here about this topic and am a bit confused.

We are planning to book a cruise in the next couple of weeks, and were thinking of using our TA, assuming that we might get better deal. However, in reading the other posts, that may not be true.

I know when we booked our trip to WDW last year, they got us a much better deal than we would have gotten booking directly, but it sounds like cruises may be different.

Also what is the deal with price drops. If we book a room at one price, but then it drops before we sail, we can get a credit or something? Is this something I need to monitor, or is it automatic?

First, we are not allowed to mention Travel Agents by name. So the name you mentioned will likely get edited.

With some reading, you would see there are advantages and disadvantages to booking each way. There is no "best" way. You would also see that most, if not all, cruise lines will give youthe price drop if it is bbefore final payment. After final payment adjustments depend on cruise line, vary considerably, and are not definite. Some Carnival fares won't be adjusted.

YOU need to catch the price drop and seek it.

My travel agent gives me OBC as well as running interference for me. She spent a day and a half getting the cruise line to give me the OBC they promised in the brochure but were trying to get out of. She is a professional and knows how to get things done.

If you book through a TA you have to go through the TA with questions, problems not calling the cruise line directly. I rather like that.

We prefer to use a TA and have been fortunate to have had a good one for over 24 years.

She can take care of problems that sometimes creep up.

We can call her any time -- stop in and see her any time.

It is up to you to monitor the price of your cruise. If the price drops, you do not automatically get the price drop. There is where a good TA comes into play to help you get the lower price or shipboard credit.

If you are not sure which will give you the best deal, get quotes from the different places. Call the cruise line or visit their website and get a price. Call or visit your local TA. Go to some of the online TAs.

Many of the cruise lines will not allow a TA to discount the price, so you may see the same price in all places. The difference you may find is that some TAs will offer perks. It may be OBC, free insurance, bottle of wine, itc.

Some lines do allow a TA to discount. For instance, we sail with Princess and usually find a TA that will take 10 to 15% off the Princess price and throw in some OBC.

While onboard, I booked a future cruise because they gave me a good deal. When I got home I asked my TA if she could do better. She sure did and I transferred the booking to her agency.

A good TA can be your best friend if problems arise.

Additionally, a good TA should get to know what your travel preferences are over a continued relationship and can give you a head's up on favorable deals for the destinations you dream of.

Sorry about mentioning their name. I thought that I saw someone else mention them by name, so did not realize that I was not supposed to do that :)

In terms of price breaks, we are looking at a GS or OS on the Grandeur, and as it looks like there are only 8 of one type, and 5 of the other, and both seem to sell out quickly, I am not sure if the price will come down, unless they do not sell them out, correct?

In terms of changes, this does concern me a bit if I understood all the comments. When I booked our trip to WDW last year though our TA, we were able to book shows, dinner reservations, etc. directly with Disney. But if I understand the comments correctly, I would need to do all that through my TA? That does not make any sense. I can see if we wanted to change our room or something. But if I want to book time at AO for my son, I need to call the TA?

My travel agency has a points system where we get 4 pts for ever $1 spent, then we can use 1000-10000 pts on a future booking for up to 300 off pp.

So they match the lines price, and then take that money off out of their commission.

Its nice, though I do have to go through them if i want to do things like change dining times or other adjustments. I can still use the cruise line's site to book excursions and entertainment, etc.

I have heard many people talking about having to go thru the TA for changes if you book thru a TA. We have rarely had to make a change, but it was much easier to do it thru the TA.

We were on a b2b2b earlier this year. We had Anytime Dining for the first leg and Traditional for the other two. We wanted to change to AD for all three. In the middle of the first leg, I asked the Head Waiter. He said I would have to sine up to talk to the Maitre 'd on turnaround day. So I went to my cabin, emailed my TA and 15 minutes later had confirmation that it was done.

In terms of changes, this does concern me a bit if I understood all the comments. When I booked our trip to WDW last year though our TA, we were able to book shows, dinner reservations, etc. directly with Disney. But if I understand the comments correctly, I would need to do all that through my TA? That does not make any sense. I can see if we wanted to change our room or something. But if I want to book time at AO for my son, I need to call the TA?

Nothing has changed, you'll still make all of your reservations for on the ship online and not through the TA. You will have full control of those. You just can't make changes to the cabin or main reservation without going through the TA.

I have seen a few threads on here about this topic and am a bit confused.

 

We are planning to book a cruise in the next couple of weeks, and were thinking of using our TA, assuming that we might get better deal. However, in reading the other posts, that may not be true.

 

I know when we booked our trip to WDW last year, they got us a much better deal than we would have gotten booking directly, but it sounds like cruises may be different.

 

Also what is the deal with price drops. If we book a room at one price, but then it drops before we sail, we can get a credit or something? Is this something I need to monitor, or is it automatic?

Whether or not your TA can get a better deal is something you'll have to check with your TA. However, getting you a better deal is not the only service a TA offers. I have taken 22 cruises and I use a TA. The only "perk" my TA offers is good service. You will not realize what that is worth until something goes wrong, or more importantly, something that could have gone wrong doesn't.

Unless your TA offers a price monitoring service, you will have to check for price drops yourself.

If you have a good travel agent I would use them, ours retired and we have been booking directly recently and have also had good luck with them also, have had a few upsells offers dealing directly with the cruise line.

In terms of changes, this does concern me a bit if I understood all the comments. When I booked our trip to WDW last year though our TA, we were able to book shows, dinner reservations, etc. directly with Disney. But if I understand the comments correctly, I would need to do all that through my TA? That does not make any sense. I can see if we wanted to change our room or something. But if I want to book time at AO for my son, I need to call the TA?

No, once you have your booking number you can book all the extras yourself online. You only have to go though the TA for things directly related to your cabin (mostly price changes, cabin upgrades or dining time changes).

I dont know if US TAs are better but I do not deal well with british ones.

I prefer to book direct as I can see exactly whats what.

Just curious, what can you see when booking with a cruise line that you don't see booking with a TA?

I have taken 25 cruises and never used a TA. I use a "cruise agent" , better informed than TA's.....:)

I have seen a few threads on here about this topic and am a bit confused.

 

We are planning to book a cruise in the next couple of weeks, and were thinking of using our TA, assuming that we might get better deal. However, in reading the other posts, that may not be true.

 

I know when we booked our trip to WDW last year, they got us a much better deal than we would have gotten booking directly, but it sounds like cruises may be different.

 

Also what is the deal with price drops. If we book a room at one price, but then it drops before we sail, we can get a credit or something? Is this something I need to monitor, or is it automatic?

I have done both and am dealing with a TA right this minute who now says (after I transfer my booking from Princess) that she is sorry for the confusing lingo but 50.00 OBC she offered is actualy from the cruiseline .

I replied I an not confused I clearly asked you if the 50.00 you were offering was in addition to the 50.00 I already had from the cruise line she answered YES.

I will transfer my booking back to Princess if this is not fixed, It is the principle not the money. Hopefuly she does the right thing.

BTW get everything in writting if you do use a TA, I have and can prove what was offered.

Reader

Just remember that TA's charge the exact same price as RCI, they are not allowed to charge different.

The way they give on board credit or money off is by taking it out of their commision they get from RCI

When you go through RCI, they keep all of that extra unless they are running some onboard special.

A good TA can be a god send, a mass market one that counts you as just another number can be a nightmare.

Thanks for all the viewpoints - I actually booked our first cruise this morning directly with RCI. There were two deciding factors:

1. I had emailed the TA I spoke to in person about a week to ask her about any deals that they offered for cruises, and she never emailed me back. That is a big no-no in my book.

2. I wanted to get a specific cabin type on a specific date, and thought if anyone would know if it was available or not, it would be RCI. It turned out that all these types of rooms were booked, so we booked two weeks later. In addition, I wanted early dining as we will be traveling with my young son (4), and the RCI agent put me on the waiting list, and checked to see how long the list was.

I have to say that I was very pleased with the service at RCI. I know I have seen some people talk about a lack of knowledge with some of their reps, but I was very pleased with the one I had.

Thanks for all the viewpoints - I actually booked our first cruise this morning directly with RCI. There were two deciding factors:

 

1. I had emailed the TA I spoke to in person about a week to ask her about any deals that they offered for cruises, and she never emailed me back. That is a big no-no in my book.

 

2. I wanted to get a specific cabin type on a specific date, and thought if anyone would know if it was available or not, it would be RCI. It turned out that all these types of rooms were booked, so we booked two weeks later. In addition, I wanted early dining as we will be traveling with my young son (4), and the RCI agent put me on the waiting list, and checked to see how long the list was.

 

I have to say that I was very pleased with the service at RCI. I know I have seen some people talk about a lack of knowledge with some of their reps, but I was very pleased with the one I had.

I agree with point number one and disagree with point number two. You can find out what rooms are or are not available on RCI's website by attempting to book the category the room is in an then request that room number - at least I could do that for the last cruise I booked. I then e-mailed my TA a list of about eleven cabins in the order that I wanted (first to eleventh). I ended up with my sixth choice. I knew the first five where taken, but just in case some cancelled between the time I checked and the TA booked for me, I gave her the list.

As to your last comment - that is true of TAs also. Which is why after booking several group cruises (where you have to book with the TA handling the group) have have always gone back to my TA, because she treats me like someone who is important to her, not like just another name on a list.

This is true - you can view which cabins are available on the RCI website; however, there were a few postings in the RCI forum where multiple people suggested that this site may not be always accurate. In my case, there were three dates that we were considering - two in Sept and one in Oct. Any of these dates would work for us, but one of these was more preferred as our 10 year anniversary and my birthday fell on this cruise. According to the RCI web site, only one of those cruises had GS cabins available, so I felt it would not hurt to go directly to RCI just to confirm that we could not get a GS on the date we really wanted. :)

Also, my first point kind of eliminated working through the original TA that I had spoken to. Don't get me wrong. She was wonderful to speak with at the office, and spent over an hour with me discussing resorts and pricing options. The cruise option was barely discussed as at the time, I was leaning towards an island resort. However, when we switched gears towards a cruise, I emailed to see what kinds of pricing/deals she could offer in this area, and did not hear back from her in over a week. It may be that if I went into the office, she would have "worked" it for me, but we were facing a timing issue - the number of GS cabins fell from 5 to 2 from Thursday to Sunday, and I was not confident that this specific TA would react quick enough to secure a GS cabin for me before they were all gone.

But you are correct - if she had shown quicker response to my original query for information, I probably would have either gone into the office, called her, or emailed her to handle all the details, and she may have even called RCI to do exactly what I have done. Not sure why she was unresponsive - maybe she was too busy with other clients, or she just does not like to use email.

There is more than one TA in the world. If you were not happy, switch and send an email to the company the TA worked for explaining why. A little effort on your part but sometimes that is the only way to affect change. The TA industry is very competitive and the consumer is the boss.

Once I called my TA (in Canada) from China because of a problem with internal flights and she found a solution within 60 minutes.

I sure hope that you are ALL right. I booked directly with a PVP from CCL, and so far he sounds sincere. He did tell me that he couldn't call me and tell me of price drops, OBC, ar any other discounts, upgrades, etc. But he did tell me to call him whenever I felt like it to ask if anything was available, and he could tell me then. Either he is a good story teller, or he's sincere. You have to hope that he is reliable. I have till 8/29 to find out how good a deal I got. R.A.

The RCI agent I had told me this - "you go online every day to check email, so just keep checking our site too. If you see the price drop for your cabin type, call me and we will adjust your price."

I figure it only takes 5 minutes to quickly check the price, so that is what I intend on doing :) Day 1, and price has not changed :(

I wonder what happens if the price goes up :eek: