Pros and Cons: Travel agent vs RCCL directly

Hi all.

Sorry if this has been asked before but I have been away from this site for quite a while.

I have always booked all my previous cruises with a cruise travel agent.

I am planning my next cruise and would like to know your opinions of whether it is better to use a travel agent vs contacting Royal Caribbean directly.

Whats the difference? Is there a cost difference? If there is a price drop what happens? all opinions and advice appreciated.

I'm way too controlling to give up control over my reservation. I want to be able to call and make changes, take advantage of price drops, etc. I would likely drive a TA to drink :)

But if you're not like that, TAs may have access to lower priced group room blocks, on board credits or the free bottle of champagne in your cabin when boarding.

It's really a personal decision. There are pros and cons to each.

Travel agent pros:

They can usually get you On Board Credit (OBC) to spend on board, in addition to whatever perks the cruiseline is offering.

They can make recommendations as for excursions, pre cruise hotel discounts and special deals, teach you the ins and outs of cruising.

They can also help if you have trouble pre cruise or post cruise, whether with service issues or bill issues.

They save you time by filling out forms, telling you exactly what you need to bring to port, things like that

Travel Agent Cons:

Sometimes you can get a bad travel agent, who does NONE of the things I listed in the Pros

Sometimes you can get a Travel Agent who doesn't know much about cruising and tells you either incorrect or out of date info

If you want to make an adjustment to your booking (for example, upgrading your cabin), you must call your travel agent to have she/he do it for you, because you cannot call the cruiseline directly

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For me, I find that there are more pros with a travel agent than without one. The only annoying thing for me is having to go through the travel agent to change things about your reservation.

The key is, find a good travel agent. Ask friends who have cruised before who they have used, why they like them, etc. Get one who *Specializes* in cruising, one that you have a good rapport with, and don't be afraid to stop using them and move to a different agent if they don't do a good job.

I started out booking cruises from the cruiseline, because I was a "newbie" and didn't know any better. But as I started to get to know people from cruising, they passed their tips onto me, and we tried travel agents. I have gone through a few before settling with the great one I have now.

Examples of great things my current TA has done for me: Always gives me OBC for cruises in addition to cruiseline offers, is available pretty much always to call the cruiseline for me and answer any questions I might have, gives me great rates on hotels for pre cruise that are not available online, has gotten me additional perks as surprises, like chocolate covered strawberries and wine in our stateroom, a birthday cake, etc. Always calls and asks me how cruise was after the cruise. When I had a horrible experience at a hotel she booked for me, she called the hotel manager and got me a free night, etc

I hope some of this info helps! Just do some research, as some friends because referrals are usually from very satisfied people. I would never refer someone I didn't trust.

Also, if theres a price drop before final payment, if you choose a travel agent, they can call and get an adjustment for you.

If theres a price drop after final payment, even if you don't choose a travel agent, you have 48 hrs to get a price adjustment.

T.A. on cruise for us..

TA can give you better priceses (some times only if they have a group rate) and will ALLWAYS give you OBC. as long as they are good you can get the same as with Royal and unlike royal they have contacts to get the TRUE answer when you call. Also if say your agent is closed and you need to do something you can get a supervisor at royal to override and make changes directly with out dealing with your agent. I have done it years ago on a sat night for a cruise that was leaving the next day

We started out using TA's but eventually started booking direct when I realized I was doing all the leg work anyway and the perks just weren't worth the lack of control. I've looked at some of the on-line TA's advertising enormous OBC but after doing a mock booking (SURPRISE!) the OBC is only $50. I do ask for recommendations from others but haven't found one that I thought was worth it yet. Like Matt, I'm a bit of a control freak.

More threads on the same subject:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2386376

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2326982

Excellent post, aubreyc! :)

We have cruised many, many times and for the first time we used a TA. Never again. I have never had an experience like this and I will never ever use TA again.

We've never used a TA and always booked directly on the phone with a RC rep. This will be our 12th cruise and we just like having the ability to call RC for any questions/change to our reservations. We've also had several upgrades, but I don't know if that's related to booking directly with RC. It works for us and we've never had any problems.

I'm way too controlling to give up control over my reservation. I want to be able to call and make changes, take advantage of price drops, etc. I would likely drive a TA to drink :)

 

But if you're not like that, TAs may have access to lower priced group room blocks, on board credits or the free bottle of champagne in your cabin when boarding.

 

It's really a personal decision. There are pros and cons to each.

Ditto this:)

We are fairly low maintenance. We've found a TA with good hours, offers good perks, and will get price drops for us if we give them a call. We've gotten at least $5,000 in perks over the years and received the exact same product as if we had booked directly. If we miss a price drop once or twice (it hasn't happened yet), I think we are still well ahead.

TA can give you better priceses (some times only if they have a group rate) and will ALLWAYS give you OBC. as long as they are good you can get the same as with Royal and unlike royal they have contacts to get the TRUE answer when you call. Also if say your agent is closed and you need to do something you can get a supervisor at royal to override and make changes directly with out dealing with your agent. I have done it years ago on a sat night for a cruise that was leaving the next day

TA's will not ALWAYS give you OBC. Not all TA's do that. A lot of small local travel agencies do not give any perks.

You have to do your homework if you want to find a good TA

I would much prefer to maintain control of the reservation but the TA I use has averaged about 8% back to me as OBC on the dozen or so cruises I have booked through her ... basically that's a free cruise for me for booking through her so far with many more to go ... so I give her my business and bug her mercilessly when I want changes made :)

If I book with RCCL & have a problem who will they side with? We have always used a TA. She has more than paid for herself with solving several problems.

long, long ago I was a travel agent and when I quit I was always able to do my own booking. then I guess you could say I got a bit lazy and contacted a TA for a long European cruise. She did book the trip for me, but I wound up doing everything else myself. There were some major issues and I was unable to contact her.

That did it, I decided to do it myself going forward. Except, this year I contacted a TA for a quick cruise since I read on here about the OBC and other nice perks that others get. So, get the cruise booked through this TA, we were told all that was available was late dining. We do not do late dining, so I asked to be wait listed. That has not happened and since the cruise is fully paid now I can't get a hold of this agent either.

NEVER again, there truly are great TA's out there, but finding them can be quite the challenge.

I booked Regent myself and Oasis myself and have not had one issue and prefer to be in charge of my travel and not depend on others.

V

I use an online TA every cruise.

They have the best search website and you can compare all cruise lines for a particular month/week. Without having to go to the dumbed-down RC website that does not work half the time.

I find exactly what I want and then call them.

I let them deal with & sit on hold with the cruise lines.

There is always someone there if I need to make changes.

I get gratuities paid for and an onboard credit sometimes discounted group rates.

Travel Agent for us. Ours has a service that alerts them to price drops and they call and let us know. Love our TA!

We have two really good TAs, one for our group cruises and one for when it is just us. We are firm believers in TAs, but realize they aren't all as good as ours. :)

I have used our TA since 2002 and as previously mentioned, do all the leg work. So I can ask, why do I use our TA, well like silentbob, are low maintenance, and have stayed with our TA for the satisfaction of knowing she and her office will look out for our Reservation, handle any problems that might occur and most important, trust her. The bottom line is whichever way we book our cruises, as long as we are happy with the price and service received, stay with what works best for you.

DT1304 if your comfortable booking with the cruise line, then continue to do so. My one personal experience which our TA handled a situation for us, was when the cruise line decided to move us to a forward cabin from our booked mid ship. She called them and told them firmly to move us back which was done immediately. Had I booked directly with them and called to get our room back, it may not have been handled as quickly.

I use an online TA every cruise.

 

They have the best search website and you can compare all cruise lines for a particular month/week. Without having to go to the dumbed-down RC website that does not work half the time.

 

I find exactly what I want and then call them.

 

I let them deal with & sit on hold with the cruise lines.

 

There is always someone there if I need to make changes.

 

I get gratuities paid for and an onboard credit sometimes discounted group rates.

Same here :)

I have used our TA since 2002 and as previously mentioned, do all the leg work. So I can ask, why do I use our TA, well like silentbob, are low maintenance, and have stayed with our TA for the satisfaction of knowing she and her office will look out for our Reservation, handle any problems that might occur and most important, trust her. The bottom line is whichever way we book our cruises, as long as we are happy with the price and service received, stay with what works best for you.

 

DT1304 if your comfortable booking with the cruise line, then continue to do so. My one personal experience which our TA handled a situation for us, was when the cruise line decided to move us to a forward cabin from our booked mid ship. She called them and told them firmly to move us back which was done immediately. Had I booked directly with them and called to get our room back, it may not have been handled as quickly.

Agreed. :cool: We have had the same situation where the cruise line chose a cabin in a different area than we booked. TA took care of it poste haste. We have no experience with booking directly through the cruise line, but if people have and it works for them, that is good too

some other good things I was thinking about pros and cons

Make sure you pick a travel agent who works for a reputable company...in the past, I have come across a lot of travel agents that have fares are drastically lower than the cruiselines, but then they add the NCF fees and it comes out to be the same or more than the cruiseline. While this is all fine and well, I prefer an agency who is more upfront about costs, and doesn't charge an NCF.

Also, a lot travel agents have a dedicated representative from the cruiseline that works directly with your travel agents company, which can be a huge plus. Gives them a direct line to specialized sales people within the cruiseline and there's no waiting on endless holds for them and their representatives actually have a clue about Royal Carribbean and their policies.

I cannot tell you how many times before having a travel agent I would call into a cruiseline and would be shaking my head after the call, in disbelief that these people actually work for the cruiseline in question. It's like they have no idea on what cruiseline policies are, what room types are, etc. This is frustrating to a seasoned cruiser, who is on Cruise Critic, but I can't imagine how frustrating it would be to a novice.

pakercruising some may ask why I/we don't demend more perks from our TA, which I won't dispute, however the way I look at our particular cruising habits, our pleasure of cruising comes from the Ports and people we meet. My husband drinks only beer so I buy the beer pkg for him, myself I seldom drink, maybe an occasional Pina Colada or Wine, so we really don't require a lot of OBC. We thoroughly enjoy our cruises and don't feel we have missed out on anything. I call our TA, let her know we wish Cruise & cabin X and I am done, receive our invoice in an email shortly after and only contact she or her associates if I see a price drop or to switch a cabin if needed. She is local so we have that personal contact. She works for a large chain which I can't mention naturally with 3 people in her office and has taken care of us for 12 years.:)

I think I would like your DH. :) I only drink beer, so was glad when they started offering the beer and wine package. I barely break even. We feel the same way about the perks.