What's the point of a using travel agent?

[melsuli]

Swings and roundabouts folks, I suppose the moral of the story is 'always shop around'. ;)

[Cisco333]

For a European cruise, you are allowed two perks. However, you do need to book OV or higher. The 1-2-3 and PYP have always been that way, so you really are not due any perks and probably why you are being billed thru Celebrity. Once again, either Celebrity gave your TA wrong information, or your TA failed to tell you that you needed to book a higher stateroom. Check the prices and see if you can upgrade.

 

For what it's worth, I would not have picked Choice Air. You can usually do better booking a flight on your own. I think it's too late to cancel that, though. If not, I'd cancel the whole cruise and start over with someone else or direct with Celebrity. ;)

 

Lately I have noticed Choice Air has some very good prices....I could not do better on my own.

[grandgeezer]

The only time we use Choice Air is for to/from Europe, doing transatlantics.The price is normally 1/4 of what I could find elsewhere. We've done this four times with the same results. In October, we are flying from Phoenix to Barcelona for $510 p.p. on Air Canada. When I got my reservation number, I went to Air Canada's website and changed our seats. For the continental US flights, I can always do better directly through the air line.

[Go-Bucks!]

Our next cruise in Sept 2015 to Hawaii, just after pricing was released last month, she got us into a promotional group booking. I got a 1A verandah for a 2C price plus $175 obc from Celebrity and $300 obc from her. Just this week I asked about 123go promotion, if we available to take advantage of the offer. Not only were able to get 123go Classic Beverage pkg, we got to keep all of our obc and cruise rate without rebooking.

 

This why I use a T/A.

 

 

Us too!! We booked a European cruise on Celebrity for Oct, 2015 through an agency. Got $300/pp cheaper price, $492 OBC, free drink pkg, free gratuities and 1 category upgrade. Some of that was received from Celebrity directly, but some was from the TA.

 

We have always used a TA because most of our cruising has been on Princess and they allow TA's to discount their prices drastically, where Celebrity does not. So using a TA has always been a no brainer, but we're still seeing the advantages of it on Celebrity.

[Wendylet]

Were you not advised of the obstruction prior to selecting your cabin? I know on S class, I have seen/read that those cabins are listed as having a 10% obstruction. I booked a cabin like that but due to my research here, knew it had the obstruction--can't remember if X mentioned it or not. But after the first day I never even noticed it anymore. I did enjoy the extra large balcony that it came with! I think you were very lucky to get the free dinner AND the credit!!

 

No it was not categorized as "obstructed" and that's why I was so upset as I would never have booked that. That's why the TA fought so hard for me. She told me that following my issue it was then correctly categorized as obstructed. I think both the free dinner and the credit was appropriate since we couldn't see off the balcony unless we were sitting down looking through the glass!

[screwsmcernst]

Last October I booked my forthcoming Eastern Med Cruise (Aug 2014) direct with 'X'. I Booked Flights via them too. I Booked my own accom for the additional night in Rome.

By saving my cruise to 'favorites' I was able to check the price movements and pounced when balcony cabin price dropped below my original 'inside'.

 

I feel that booking direct with Celeb was pretty painless, their support was fine when I called them, and i'm pretty much ready to go..

 

So what benefits does a travel agent give the consumer in 2014? :confused:

 

My TA is a friend of mine. When I am looking for a cruise, I will search for the best price on line, then I will call her and tell her what I found. She will either give me a better deal usually with OBC, or she will say she can't beat that, and I book on line.

[NATOuk]

I obviously can't speak for others, but in my experience we prefer using a US Travel agent despite being UK Citizens.

 

The reason for this is mainly due to three reasons:

 

1. In the last few years I've noticed there seems to have been a change in UK Pricing - pretty much every travel agent comes in practically the same as booking with Celebrity/Royal Caribbean direct, with the exception of one or two offering a little onboard credit. Therefore it makes very little difference where it is booked.

 

Compare this to the US where there seems to be pretty fierce competition and prices vary quite a bit and substantial onboard credit is offered in many cases too.

 

For this reason I have found the same cruise booked through a US Travel Agent can be several hundred pounds cheaper AND includes some onboard credit!

 

2. If the price of my cruise decreases after booking, a US Travel Agent can get us the cheaper price any time up until final payment. No such luck with a UK Travel Agent (this happened to us before where the price dropped by about 50% and only after weeks of letters/calls/tweets/emails we got an upgrade in compensation but it was a long hard fight).

 

3. Due to my wife's work, she has very little flexibility regarding her holiday/vacation time and sometimes we would like to book ahead but aren't 100% sure of her time off until closer to the time.

 

With the US Travel Agents we have used, they don't charge a cancellation fee at any time up until final payment so we have the flexibility to cancel and get our full deposit back if we can't make a particular cruise date.

 

Unfortunately the UK Travel Agents are dependant on Celebrity/Royal Caribbean's policy of non-refundable deposits so we could lose £300 if we have to cancel. I've heard of the cruise lines offering to transfer the deposit to a new cruise but this seems to be more a goodwill gesture than a firm policy.

 

Overall, for us there's next to no gain in using a UK Travel Agent for our cruise holidays, the only exception would be if we are cruising somewhere involving long/awkward flights where a UK Travel Agent is responsible for getting us there/back in the event of problems under UK/EU laws.

[hirobmay]

 

For this reason I have found the same cruise booked through a US Travel Agent can be several hundred pounds cheaper AND includes some onboard credit!

 

Thanks for that post. Are you allowed to share the name of the US travel agency you use?

[helen haywood]

The reason I just used a TA was the cabin category I wanted on the cruise I wanted was listed as Sold Out on the X site but the TA had one!

[phoenix_dream]

Another US cruiser here. On the cruise I just booked, in addition to the Celebrity promotions, I could have gotten a group booking rate for a particular cabin category had I chosen it. I did not, but beyond the Celebrity perks I got free gratuities and a $200US onboard credit, quite a savings.

 

There are negatives to some TA's. This particular one charges for cancellation, above and beyond what Celebrity charges. They also do not have office hours as extensive as Celebrity's, although I understand they are soon expanding them. The extra perks are usually worth the risk for us.

[NATOuk]

Thanks for that post. Are you allowed to share the name of the US travel agency you use?

 

I don't think the forum rules allow me to name drop specifically, but google for the best price cruises

[junetraveler2014]

We get perks from our TA that you don't get when booking direct with Celebrity. We also like having a person to assist with any issues that might come up.

It must be nice to get a good TA or even a good Celebrity rep. Celebrity rep did not know his business and price was too high...switched to local TA. Wound up doing my own research and was able to save us big bucks. When arrived on ship there was no "Thank you " from our agent. Contacted agent when we got back...seems celebrity messed that one up. TA was refunded monies for gift, yet we booked a royal suite through them and they didn't even send us a gift certificate to McDonalds. For the record I have used this agency to book 6 suites from them. I guess the point is, you have to watch out for yourself no matter what or who you do your booking with. The old saying is, if you want it done right, do it yourself. Happy sailing:rolleyes:

[jagoffee]

It must be nice to get a good TA or even a good Celebrity rep. Celebrity rep did not know his business and price was too high...switched to local TA. Wound up doing my own research and was able to save us big bucks. When arrived on ship there was no "Thank you " from our agent. Contacted agent when we got back...seems celebrity messed that one up. TA was refunded monies for gift, yet we booked a royal suite through them and they didn't even send us a gift certificate to McDonalds. For the record I have used this agency to book 6 suites from them. I guess the point is, you have to watch out for yourself no matter what or who you do your booking with. The old saying is, if you want it done right, do it yourself. Happy sailing:rolleyes:

 

Assuming that you are saying that you did not receive any OBC from your TA your experience is "amazing". I would have found a different TA long ago. Many TAs offer significant Additional OBC, no cancellation fees, and outstanding service.

[junetraveler2014]

Assuming that you are saying that you did not receive any OBC from your TA your experience is "amazing". I would have found a different TA long ago. Many TAs offer significant Additional OBC, no cancellation fees, and outstanding service.

No assumption there, and you are right, should have left a long time ago...but seems where I come from local TA's are not adequate at representing you and also have had troubles with online reps because you do not get the same person when you call and they "Have to review your file" and then accidents happen; for instance, our passage was accidently cancelled, lost our suite just a fiasco! I could write a book, but who would read it, right? I just don't have an answer for the OP, wish I did!:o

[shofer]

We have used the same TA for years and here is a good example of how a local person can help you.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=712650

 

Sue

[firstcruiserDB]

I've tried searching, but can't find an answer to this. Hopefully, someone can help!

 

I usually book directly with the cruise line. Our last cruise reservation, however, was transferred to an online TA after booking with the cruise line. He was able to lower our fare, and get us some nice OBC. We were worried about it, but all worked out.

 

When we returned home, we called the same TA to book our next year's cruise on Celebrity. This time, no lower fare, and just a modest OBC. Hardly worth giving up my control of the reservation at Celebrity.

 

So.....I'm wondering......Would I have received more incentives to transfer rather than just booking directly with the TA? (Please don't flame, any saving is better than nothing. I surely appreciate even a small amount, as I know this comes from his commission. I will not look elsewhere. I just want to know what to do next time!)

 

Thanks for your info and opinions. I appreciate it!

[Robb]

I did not read all the previous posting, but the reason I use a travel agent (and it is a local 'brick and mortar' service) is because it cost me nothing extra, she always has everything planned perfectly--thus freeing me to not worry and get on with my packing ( I am a little anal about that). Never has she miss a minor detail. Just my two cents tossed in here. :D :D :D

[KirkNC]

We save 5-10% off the cruise line price with an online TA.

[firstcruiserDB]

I'm not really sure why my post was moved and merged with this one. I was asking an entirely different question than the OP. I don't want to know the benefits of booking with a TA. I know that. I want to know if it is better to have the reservation transferred or just book directly with the TA. Seems like two completely different posts to me. Sorry if I did something wrong!:confused:

 

Would love to know anyone's opinions, though.

[jagoffee]

We save 5-10% off the cruise line price with an online TA.

 

Sounds like Princess. I never get a discount on Celebrity just OBC. I also do not usually have the opportunity to take advantage of group rates.

 

But I am impressed that you have been able to get a 10% discount on a Celebrity cruise.

[Hlitner]

I'm not really sure why my post was moved and merged with this one. I was asking an entirely different question than the OP. I don't want to know the benefits of booking with a TA. I know that. I want to know if it is better to have the reservation transferred or just book directly with the TA. Seems like two completely different posts to me. Sorry if I did something wrong!:confused:

 

Would love to know anyone's opinions, though.

 

We think that answer to your question is simply "it depends." And we say this having been on an awful lot of cruises. Most of the time we see little reason to book directly with any cruise line but sometimes it can make sense. On our last Celebrity Cruise (Eclipse) we decided to book a future cruise on the same ship. Celebrity was running their 1-2-3 promo, but it would have still been running when we got home so we could have waited and booked with one of our "short list" of favored agencies. But DW suggested that we should try and book one of the "hump" cabins which are always in great demand. I stopped in the future cruise office and they had one hump available plus we got the usual future cruise credit and an Elite Plus upgrade. We decided to book to get that particular cabin and then immediately asked the future cruise folks to transfer the booking to an online cruise agency. We then sent an e-mail to the agency, told them what we did, mentioned that we had taken the drink package option, and suggested to our agent that they pick up the tab for our gratuities (worth over $300). They liked our suggestion so it was a win-win.

 

But normally, we just do not see any advantage to dealing directly with the cruise line (and we are talking any cruise line). All of our favorite cruise agencies will always beat the best deal from the cruise line and we are sometimes talking saving thousands of dollars on a single booking (for longer cruises). Most of our cruise agencies (all but one) have great online booking engines and we normally do our bookings with a few clicks of the mouse. It is about the same number of clicks as if we did it on the cruise line site, but the agency gives us money for our time :).

 

Hank

[wpgcycler]

The "online cruise agency in New Hampshire" we used provided paid gratuities and an upgrade from classic to premium beverage package for our next cruise. We were very happy with how they helped us with our first cruise too. Google is your friend.

[kevinyork]

The "online cruise agency in New Hampshire" we used provided paid gratuities and an upgrade from classic to premium beverage package for our next cruise. We were very happy with how they helped us with our first cruise too. Google is your friend.

 

 

Yes we booked both of this years Eclipse cruises with them. They had group rates for both that were $1100 pp less for 15 nights than the prices elsewhere. Plus we got The Classic package, upgraded by the agent to Premium, $400 OBC and free tips. We could not get anywhere near this offer elsewhere.

 

We are thinking of booking onboard for next year to get the onboard booking OBC and drinks package and then transferring it back to that agent to get their perks on top.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[socaldave]

The benefit in using a travel agent is learning to separate the best shore excursions from the "also rans."

 

The descriptions are not adequate for my OCD. I sail on the Equinox in less than a month with my entire family taking several staterooms and have zero guidance on shore excursions. I've learned my lesson.

[travelpeon]

I use a TA for savings, benefits, and convenience. The cruise TA I've used has a customer service team which communicates via e-mail so I can communicate more easily and across time zones. Greatly appreciate being able to shoot an e-mail and having someone take care changing rooms, beds together, ask questions rather than having to call and be put on hold with Celebrity.

 

I do not use them for excursion guidance.