Who do you book your cruise with?

[bitzy]

Newbie here, first cruise on the Dream I booked with a TA. Second I booked online with Carnival. I get emails from all the websites about cruise deals, not just Carnival. Are any of those worth booking with?

 

Also most, Carnival included, offer cabin upgrades, obc and such. I'm so confused with the offers. Are they legit? My second cruise last month was on the Sunshine, and I was going solo and happened on a single supp waiver. I was thrilled! Will I get that kind of a deal again?

 

So tell me if it's worth it to to look at the cruising sites and book with them.

[sjcruiser]

I have been booking with Carnival more frequently due to the rates, and OBC being offered, or its easier when booking for family/more than one cabin. I have booked with Carnival and Royal when an online travel site is close to the cost of the cruise line, and is offering obc, specialty dining for two, and/or free hotels stays that can be used anytime. I prefer to book with the cruise line directly as is something goes wrong, the price drops, or changes need to be made to the reservation, you can call them directly in place of going through the middle man, who then must contact the cruise line.I also have family and friend who book exclusively with some of the well known cruise specific online websites, and get similar deals or rates that you probably get, and love booking through them.

[092306]

We used to book through a TA, but now book directly with Carnival. We find it easier to do it directly.

[OCruisers]

We always book with our long time and trusted TA.

Thing is ... we have an extremely good TA. :)

LuLu

[Single_dreamer]

I booked my first RCL cruise with a TA, but canceled. Later, change my mind then re-booked with RCCL directly. (Much cheaper and OBC, etc). Honestly, I was very nervous about the whole thing, but I have to say the RCCL agent went above and beyond to really ease my nerves.

 

Out of guilt, went back to book my 2nd cruise with the TA for Celebrity 7 nite Southern on the Summit. Totally and completely overpaid. I should have done my homework. Booked the 1,2, 3 sale and with the amount of money I paid at that time, I really booked the I paid for 1, 2, 3 people sale, instead of solo. :)

 

Third cruise I found online at a lower rate. Did my homework on CC. Then went to the TA and said, book this cruise please. It worked out just fine, except I was not able to make any changes without calling her and at times she was hard to reach or had problems with the Carnival site. I tried to book with her today, she was out. I called Carnival and got a fantastic rate on an 8 nite cruise to Southern Carrib. I'm trying to decide whether or not to keep it.

 

Good luck! And yes, there is a great forum about all of the solo supplements. There is one website in particular that posts all the CCL single cabins in advance. They are limited in number, so book early and be flexible with dates and itineraries. The other down side is that the deposit is often double unless there is a sale. I also did not book anything on board during last cruise because the agent said she had no solo sailings available.

[pirate4me2]

I always book myself online. I put alot of time into cabin selection and like being able to make any changes/price drop adjustments myself. I'm a very independent person and do not want to rely on someone else to do things for me.

[Lovefuninthesun]

Up to this point, have always booked directly with Carnival or RCCI. I am a control freak.

That said, for the first time I just booked a short getaway cruise through an online TA because of a no- deposit deal. We'll see how it goes.

 

 

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[bitzy]

Good luck! And yes, there is a great forum about all of the solo supplements. There is one website in particular that posts all the CCL single cabins in advance. They are limited in number, so book early and be flexible with dates and itineraries. The other down side is that the deposit is often double unless there is a sale. I also did not book anything on board during last cruise because the agent said she had no solo sailings available.

 

 

Can you tell me where the forum site is for single supplements?

[Litewait]

TA~ not always had the best or correct info using a PVP.:(

[bitzy]

I also like to do all my booking myself. Since my first cruise I found a forum, after the fact, and learned so much. Still more to lear

[LambKnuckles]

My first two cruises were with a TA... now I only use my PVP. I plan it on line -- but let my PVP do the actual booking.

[bury me at sea]

TA in a small town one person agency. I find the cruise I want. I watch for price drops because I enjoy the hunt. He does the rest. I believe in small towns we usually like to do business with people we know. If he retires before I stop cruising I would probably book directly with a Carnival pvp.

[LambKnuckles]

TA in a small town one person agency. I find the cruise I want. I watch for price drops because I enjoy the hunt. He does the rest. I believe in small towns we usually like to do business with people we know. If he retires before I stop cruising I would probably book directly with a Carnival pvp.

 

Shop Local is a GREAT philosophy!!! GOOD FOR YOU!!! ...and loyalty!!!

 

In Austin, there's just too many... and I have a great PVP, who knows me, now, and caters to what I need!

[T2C]

Blood related TA. Know he's honest and I get direct contact 24 hours a day :-)

Also, if there's any problems he handles them and I put some money in a family members pocket, some of which I get back in photo cash he gives us

[Luvtoeat]

Normally book with an online TA that always comes up with a graet rate. Booked direct with Carnival when we got the free cabin offer. Recently got a decent casino rate from Carnival and booked direct but then had booking tranferred to TA. Our August cruise must not be filling up as the Casino offer went down about $120.00.

[nursepixie]

First cruise ever and I booked online through carnival.

 

 

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[WAHMto5]

We have an awesome PVP for the past few years that we always go through;)

[MTJtraveller]

I search and search online for best price. Last two times I booked with the Airlines Cruise TA whom I carry the affinity credit card from. I was able to receive 4 miles for every dollar spent on the cruise (balcony) plus my credit card companies 2 miles per dollar spent at the airlines website. This trip comes to 46,000 miles, almost enough for a RT plane ride to the cruise. I'm pretty happy.

[RWolver672]

We always booked through a TA. Our next two cruises are booked through a PVP. We usually have multiple families cruising together and it's so much easier for one person to call and make the arrangements first, then tell whomever you are booking with that there will be more families contacting them for booking in the same area. If you do it on-line, one person has to put a deposit down on all of the cabins to hold them. I'm not about to do that.

 

A TA or a PVP can put a hold on cabins and then each family can contact them for deposit. It seems like every cruise we've booked, there has always been changes made between the time we book and when we actually sail. It's much easier to just call someone and have them make the changes.

[ConshyCrock]

Since it's just the two of us, we've always booked directly through Carnival's website. We used a TA on our first cruise and, in hindsight, she was no help whatsoever. Much like when it comes to buying insurance, we've cut out the middle man and do it ourselves.

 

 

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[Bobby_Mac]

We've always used our PVP. I like dealing with the source, not a third party. Also, our PVP seems to do things for us that aren't listed on the website.

[jenn-]

This is our third Carnival cruise. The first two I booked on their website. This one I used my PVP because I think he sounds nice enough and he never bothers me unless I am hunting on their site. That said, he couldn't really do anything I couldn't have done myself on the computer. We have booked a Norwegian cruise through travelocity and had no problems with it either.

[buddylover]

We do a combination of both. It is definitely worth it to book directly as you have more control over your booking and price drops, changes etc. However, we have also still used a TA when there were "Perks" offered that we could not resist, that the cruise lines themselves did NOT offer (such as OBC, dinners in the steak house, spa treatements etc). So it's a mixed bag for us.....I shop around when I have decided on a specific cruise/date, and then book where it is most beneficial to us.

[NolaZach]

Newbie here, first cruise on the Dream I booked with a TA. Second I booked online with Carnival. I get emails from all the websites about cruise deals, not just Carnival. Are any of those worth booking with?

 

Also most, Carnival included, offer cabin upgrades, obc and such. I'm so confused with the offers. Are they legit? My second cruise last month was on the Sunshine, and I was going solo and happened on a single supp waiver. I was thrilled! Will I get that kind of a deal again?

 

So tell me if it's worth it to to look at the cruising sites and book with them.

 

I booked with VTG the first cruise, the second cruise on the website and yesterday on the Carnival website.

 

I was playing around and none of them could really do anything but match the price carnival was giving.

I booked early saver to save $70 a person, but I got an 8f on the Lido and it is the room I wanted so I'm happy.

 

 

I feel the price was good, much cheaper than Disney World was last vacation.

[WindsorFred]

We used to book through a TA, but now book directly with Carnival. We find it easier to do it directly.

 

 

Same here. First 2 we booked thru a TA, same one both times, as we were "newbies". From then on found it easy to just book ourselves online. We are selective on our cabin and deck and normally book at least 10 months in advance and cruise with our BF's so is normally 2 adjoining balcony cabins and has been up to 3 a couple of times. Pretty simple online, just do your research beforehand.