Where do YOU book your cruise?

[ItsAllAboutTheSass]

For Carnival we book on their website. For Royal, we use a TA.

[Relayer]

Book direct with CCL mostly but have used TA and big company sites. Never a diff in price though most up to date available cabins direct with CCl. One company offers pretty good post cruise rebates but look closely at thier "fees". Bottom line little if any net price diffence. Little more direct control on dining etc when going direct.

[KPfromCT]

I prefer to book directly on their website, so I can be in complete control of the booking.

If there's a price drop, which we had like 10 for our recent cruise, I wanted to be able to call Carnival directly and get the reduced rate, instead of depending on a TA, or 3rd party vendor.

No way.......

I have read too many nightmare stories about people who have lost out because if their TA calls to get the lower fare, their commission drops.

 

I need to be in control of my own booking..

 

OBC is not going to sway me.:D:D:D

[tandemcruzr]

Research on line and then call our PVP.

[innkeeper17]

After my second cruise, back when, I have used a PVP. Its nice to get assigned one, they get to know your habits and cruises that fit your tastes. The good ones will even go to bat for you if something happens. As another poster said, if the price changes I just call her and its done. Sometimes she has beaten me to it.

[thehare]

We use a warehouse travel service for Carnival cruises. The warehouse service does charge a $25 processing fee but send us two $25 gift cards for the warehouse after the cruise --1 for using them and the 2nd a perk for the new booking. I had no problem calling the service about price drops and getting upgrades (rather than OBC) for our cruise last year on Carnival; with prices drops we went from 2 interior to 2 balcony cabins. We booked a last minute Carnival cruise this past Saturday through the warehouse; we went rock bottom with 1a guarantee cabins. Our rooms were assigned yesterday and we ended up with 4F cabins. So far I haven't had any problems with the travel service.

[WAHMto5]

I always use our Carnival PVP, the best!

[EasyBreezy83]

Seems like directly though Carnival is the winner here. Thanks everyone!!

[jsfromsc]

I check the Carnival web site for cruises and then call my PVP when I decide what I want to book.

[Ehpride]

I check prices and availability on carnival.com and then call Carnival to book.

 

I'm not interested in using a TA because I actually like doing the legwork myself and don't want to have to go through a third party to get price drops or make any changes.

 

 

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[katielynn5108]

Imapris - PVP = personal vacation planner

 

 

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[Vitamin_Sea]

Seems like directly though Carnival is the winner here. Thanks everyone!!

 

 

You wont always get the lowest price using CCL but its your money.

 

Good Luck;)

[Bookbug53]

You wont always get the lowest price using CCL but its your money.

 

Good Luck;)

 

Since agencies are not allowed to book a Carnival Cruise for less than Carnival's own base price I am not sure how you get a lower price. :confused:

[Baby_Bear]

Since agencies are not allowed to book a Carnival Cruise for less than Carnival's own base price I am not sure how you get a lower price. :confused:

 

Its possible they are factoring in incentives offered by the TA. My TA offers me OBC on every cruise. So while the base tariff is the same, I usually have a nice amount of OBC that helps offset the cost of gratuities, drinks on board, etc. So at the end of the day its less money out of my pocket.

[Sparky2]

We book our next year's B2B while on our current B2B to get the OBC. I have already researched what cruises we want to book.

 

I used to book next year's B2B shortly after we get home when they had the Future Cruise Certificates. Sure miss those FCCs.

[Bookbug53]

Its possible they are factoring in incentives offered by the TA. My TA offers me OBC on every cruise. So while the base tariff is the same, I usually have a nice amount of OBC that helps offset the cost of gratuities, drinks on board, etc. So at the end of the day its less money out of my pocket.

 

I know that Carnival has set restrictions on the amount of incentives that agents can now offer. Even going so far as to limit the amount of OBC and the value of gifts so the agent does not appear to be a 'cheaper' rate. They also lowered their commission percentages and set higher quotas to be met to be paid certain tier percentages. This is one of the main reasons some agents steer clients away from Carnival. Of course these are not the reasons they use when doing this. ;)

[cwb348]

We always book our next cruise while on board as this gives us $100-$200 onboard credit for the new cruise. When we get home, we transfer the booking to our pvp so he gets credit for it, and then is available to answer all questions for us, apply for price reductions, etc. We have booked with United and other TA in the best for their perks, but got tired of them not being able to answer any specific questions. If you don't book through Carnival directly, they won't answer questions and instead tell you to contact your TA.