Fofalola Posted July 25, 2015 #1 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Hello all I keep reading people's advice about making sure you have a good T/A that can get you discounted fares, OBC and do price watch for you. Could you let me know if applies to UK cruisers also and, if so, does anyone want to recommend a 'cruise specialist' T/A that can get these things for you? Ta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray66 Posted July 26, 2015 #2 Share Posted July 26, 2015 does anyone want to recommend a 'cruise specialist' T/A that can get these things for you? Sorry, it's against Cruise Critic rules to recommend travel agents. Best thing is to do a Google search for them and then get email quotes to compare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fofalola Posted July 26, 2015 Author #3 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Thanks Ray66 Can you at least confirm that these types of offers are open to UK cruisers also? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray66 Posted July 26, 2015 #4 Share Posted July 26, 2015 (edited) I do know of a couple of online T/A's that give lower fares than the cruise line. Have you tried clicking on the Deals tab at the top of this page? ;) As for OBC, when I've been offered it, it has always been the same as what the cruise line offers. Edited July 26, 2015 by Ray66 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodenboy Posted July 27, 2015 #5 Share Posted July 27, 2015 (edited) We always book through a TA. Our TA always seeks out the best price and very often fights our case with regard to price drops. As a general rule, UK cruisers will not get any money back (either by reducing the cost of the cruise or as OBC) if companies drop the price of the cruise after your booking. That said, if you have a TA who is willing to keep "nagging" at the UK representative, they may do something as a "gesture of goodwill" just to get the TA off their back. I am speaking from experience here. Edited July 27, 2015 by rodenboy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scillycruisers Posted July 28, 2015 #6 Share Posted July 28, 2015 (edited) My first cruise (out of Florida) was booked through a UK TA, just because it seemed easiest. There were no perks and they were pretty useless - taking 3 days to answer an email and having a really long wait if you tried to phone. After that I switched to an online TA based in the USA who specialised in the cruise line and got a really great service, a good OBC and a lovely gift to welcome us in our state room. We did have to book the cruise in U.S. $, but by paying when the exchange rate was good this wasn't a problem. By naming the same TA when we booked a further cruise while onboard the ship we were able to get all the onboard booking perks, plus those from the TA for the same cruise. The cruise price was the same booked through the TA as booking direct. They would also pass on any price drops where relevant. The fact that they were in the U.S. And we were from the UK was irrelevant. Edited July 28, 2015 by Scillycruisers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiggertastic Posted July 28, 2015 #7 Share Posted July 28, 2015 I agree, we've had fabulous service from USA online TA but we do compare and often get much better deals when we book onboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare insidecabin Posted July 29, 2015 #8 Share Posted July 29, 2015 Look around for cruise specialists there are loads of them. as others have said also look at the US and EU for suitable TA's. There are also a few UK focused travel forums a couple are cruise related some more general travel good for deals and flights they are not TA's but point at the deals out there. Pricing is a mess at the moment with all the packaging deconstructing to find the best option is not as easy as US,UK,EU have different deals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fofalola Posted July 29, 2015 Author #9 Share Posted July 29, 2015 Thank you all for your help on this. Now the search is on for a US/Europe based Princess Cruise Line specialist... Hummmm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heatherbelle Posted August 17, 2015 #10 Share Posted August 17, 2015 You cannot book a Princess cruise through a U.S. TA you have to book with a UK one sadly. Princess are far cheaper in the main in the U.S. too, so it's really annoying. You can book RCL, NCL, DCL Celebrity and Carnival with US TA's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare insidecabin Posted August 17, 2015 #11 Share Posted August 17, 2015 Booked a princess through Germany no problem. My last princess UK price was 1/2 US price and I got my gratuities and OBC @ 1.66 $£. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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