Book with TA or Direct?

[nbsjcruiser]

We are now booking direct for all our cruises. TA's have become a PITA I have to say. Phone calls not returned, emails not answered; it simply isn't worth it to us anymore. We had a TA for our first few cruises and she started that nonsense. I'd call to book a cruise or make an inquiry about one I already had booked and I'd get "I'm with as client and I'll call you right back". The call would never come. Emails would go unanswered as well. Eventually we decided to book our own. A few years later we saw a pretty good deal with another local TA and we decided to give it another shot. After booking 3 cruises with this TA, once again the nonsense started. We saw a price drop on a cruise we had so we fired off a quick email - no response. Called the office - no returned call. Multiple calls and emails later she finally responded. She was completely out of touch with what we were asking and finally after several calls with DW the issue was finally resolved.

 

The funny thing is, any TA working with us doesn't have to do much. We pick the ship, date, room and we make our own flight arrangements and insurance arrangements. We may make a call now and then to get a price drop or change a room but that's about it. I don't think its asking much to have a call returned in a timely fashion or an email responded to.

 

Anyway, that's it for us. No more TA's for us. Once bitten, twice shy I guess.

[hazeleyez3]

You folks that said you use a TA, do you use one online or go to an office local to you? I have a timeshare and booked thru the exchange company. I got a $200 credit for giving up some of my timeshare in exchange, but they didn't offer me any other extras. I might be better off going with a TA not affiliated with my timeshare and save my week of timeshare.

 

 

Ours has her own agency, but lives in another state. Communication is usually by email, though occassionaly we will talk on the phone.

 

She has been wonderful for us, no change fees, great turn-around time, extra perks, and the thing that sold us....she was a HUGE help with some problems my mother (who was booked on the cruise) had in 2009. She worked out everything with Royal while I focused on my mother at home.

[KarlS]

Here's a personal-experience cautionary note about booking with an online agency that starts to become unresponsive to your emails & phone calls. Of course, your mileage may vary. ;)

 

Back in 2000 we booked a third cruise with a Ft. Walton Beach, FL, online agency. We'd always had a good working relationship with this agency for two prior cruises. Great discounts and good communications. Never a problem. After we'd booked this third cruise and paid our deposit, we noticed on our next credit card statement (remember back 13 years ago we didn't have instant online access to our credit card statements?) our deposit was charged to the agency and not directly by the cruise line. We sent questioning emails to our cruise agent, which went unanswered, as did phone messages we left.

 

We started snooping around online, and discovered there were others talking about this agency's lack of responses. We checked with the cruise line. They hadn't gotten our deposit, and we weren't registered anywhere in their database. Ding. Ding. Ding. Red flag!

 

To make a long, tedious story a tiny bit shorter, this agency had begun to use funds from client deposits and final payments for it's operating expenses and to support the owner's personal lifestyle. Apparently the pyramid scheme-like deception had gotten too shaky to continue. Most clients didn't discover the fraud until it was too late. People lost their deposits and their final payments if they'd paid with a check, since the owner of the FL agency skipped town. Luckily, we'd always paid with a credit card, so we applied for a refund, and after lots of paperwork and phone calls, we got our deposit reversed, and we booked directly with the cruise line.

 

The Ft. Walton Beach Police Investigations Unit began collecting data from all over, and the owner of the agency was brought to trial, but nothing ever came of it.

 

So, (if you're still reading this long tale), the moral to this story is to always use your credit card for deposits and final payments, so you'll have the security of being able to go to your credit card provider if anything goes wrong. Most local and online agencies are on the up-and-up, but there's always a minimal risk.

 

For all of our cruises since this incident, we've been lucky enough to book with a cruise agent in Colorado (we're in northern VA) we met on a cruise, and we've become personal friends with her over the years. We don't get discounts or OBCs, but she's always been responsive when we've discovered price reductions, and we feel she's always there to help with any loose ends. Would we book directly with the cruise line? Sure. But not until our current trustworthy cruise agent doesn't book for us anymore.

 

...Karl

 

PS. We return you now to your otherwise interesting thread. Cautionary/rant/thread-hijack light is now out. Smoke 'em if ya got 'em. :)