Pros/Cons of using TA

[suzyluvs2cruise]

Nevermind...

Edited April 22, 2016 by suzyluvs2cruise

[John&LaLa]

I see it a bit different. To me Matj inferred that he had "control" like you would if you were booked directly with RCI. Control to me means I can access my reservation via the website or call and take care of anything.

 

I think Paul's interpretation is how Matt sees it. Technically an agent is someone who works on your behalf.

[Fastback89]

If your planning on flying to the cruise port I would recommend using a TA. They seem to have more connections with airlines and transfers and finding the best deals..

[KPfromCT]

We're taking our very first cruise on Royal Caribbean. Normally Carnival people. ;)

 

My co-worker recommended his travel agent to us. She had the same exact price as the website, however, she threw in the following:

 

VIP Priority Check-In

Free dinner for 2 at a specialty restaurant

Bottle of champagne in the cabin

$50 OBC for the cruise

 

It was a no-brainer for us. We don't normally deal w/ travel agents, as I used to be one, myself. But just for the perks, it was worth it.:D:D

 

AND, we were able to still book our shows/restaurants online. Win Win.:D

[mcatmcat]

[emoji677]️it also depends on the type of room you are getting, the perk for a person booking an interior won't be the same for a person booking a suite

[FSUNole]

Honestly, as a "millennial" I see TA's as a dying breed.

 

What you will find as you branch out in travel, TA's can be invaluable for more complex travel... I've had 2 land trips (Africa and Peru) that included a good bit of internal travel, etc that would have taken me MONTHS to create as fantastic of a trip. Booking a cruise is no big deal but you may want to consider one of the warehouse travel agencies... When Royal was doing the $300 OBC sale, I also received $190 from the warehouse. I don't need them to book my cruise but I like the added incentives. Plus, they were always available when I called.

[frank808]

Same here - I use everyone's favorite wholesale warehouse for booking cruises through their travel site. I do the fun OCD research for myself, and tell them what I what, which deck, and they very nicely honor whatever RCI is currently offering, plus a nice chunk of OBC on top. Then I link our cruise reservation on Royal's site to make dinner/show reservations, etc. online through Royals' cruise planner portal.

 

Occasionally I've had to call to check on price drops (which I've found, easily, by being subscribed to the cruise emails). Never once had any issue with either the cruise line or the TA customer service line, though I have found that wait times to get through to Royal have been much better when the TA calls!

 

Honestly, the best of both worlds: Perks from TA, control for planning my existing booking. I highly recommend to anyone looking into vacation planning.

 

NO cancellation fees at all when outside of Royal's 75-day-prior-to-boarding payment deadline, either. The one time I had to cancel a cruise (I know: blasphemy!), we got our down payment and interim payments refunded directly within 3 business days. :D

Sadly its now 90 days before the cruise for no penalties. And i have also booked 12 cruises through my favorite warehouse club. Also did you try their car rental? I would say 85% of the time they are the cheapest.

Edited April 22, 2016 by frank808

[nbsjcruiser]

For me, it's one email to the TA and it's done. Less than 1 minute of my time. You do have to have a good TA though.

 

I've missed price drops because of delays and non returned calls and I've missed them with 2 different TAs. I won't say I'd never use one again but it will take a special deal for me to use one.

[EJ33333]

Godzukihop,

 

Thanks for that great hint.

 

I saw an advertisement from that TA in the Boston Globe, but was wary of using an online TA I had never heard of.

 

I checked out their prices and they were the best I could find anywhere for the cruise I am looking for.

 

I even now see that they are one of Cruise Critic trusted Partners.

 

Thanks for your help

[deepcman]

I book directly with the cruise companies for the reasons nbsjcruiser mentioned and also cause their USD to CDN exchange rates are better than the banks. In the past I found best price cruises (all one word)dot com to offer the best deals

[SweFlo]

I like having contol over my own bookings, but after booking the Cyber Monday deal I saw a great deal from a TA. On top of RCIs $400 OBC and free VOOM, we got an extra $300 OBC plus two specialty dinners. So it was worth transferring over to the TA... Unless a similar deal, I think I would prefer to do my own thing next time. 😊

[voyager70]

Haven't used a TA in 15 years. Than again I know what I'm doing. So much nicer to have complete control over the booking. Don't mind giving up a little OBC or whatever. That being said a lot of older folks like using a TA.

Edited April 24, 2016 by voyager70

[OCruisers]

Absolutely no Cons -- All Pros with our long time TA! :D

[firefox247]

Haven't used a TA in 15 years. Than again I know what I'm doing. So much nicer to have complete control over the booking. Don't mind giving up a little OBC or whatever. That being said a lot of older folks like using a TA.

I know what I'm doing as well--probably way more than my TA does--but it isn't "a little OBC." My TA got me an additional $260 in OBC." To me, that's a large amount. Others do see it differently though, so I see the other side.

[voyager70]

I know what I'm doing as well--probably way more than my TA does--but it isn't "a little OBC." My TA got me an additional $260 in OBC." To me, that's a large amount. Others do see it differently though, so I see the other side.

 

I've also gotten several significant price drops ($500 plus) over the weekends which a TA could not have honored. To each his/her own.

[CubsFanRS23]

Have always booked direct but using OUR favorite warehouse TA for the first time. Booked a Star Class suite for Oct. 2017 on Harmony 2 months ago. Shopped around and everyone, including RCI, was identical with only a couple TAs offering $50 OBC -- except for the warehouse TA. Same price as the rest but $900 OBC.

 

Would also agree with others on the flights. If you are doing non-standard type things, especially anything international, a TA is a pretty good idea. They have special numbers (used to anyway) to call the airlines and could access to more/better info.

[atnolan94]

I don't think TAs are bad. I do find it interesting that younger people, like myself on page 3, tend to be the ones who don't use TAs. However, this thread has inspired me to actually reach out to a few TAs.

 

I think with all of the information available online now, we don't necessarily need a TA to tell us what we can already find. However, I was not aware of all the perks they provided...very interesting.

[peacefulOR]

After reading about a weekend sale for RCCI, I checked the major online agencies and was able to transfer our booking to one. Saved over $300 on fare, same free gratuities, plus an additional $50 OBC, a spa treatment, and specialty dinner for two. Wow! I'm most pleased and may switch to a TA if this continues to go well. Sailing date is 09/23/2016. Could it drop again? First time trying this

[Clarea]

After reading about a weekend sale for RCCI, I checked the major online agencies and was able to transfer our booking to one. Saved over $300 on fare, same free gratuities, plus an additional $50 OBC, a spa treatment, and specialty dinner for two. Wow! I'm most pleased and may switch to a TA if this continues to go well. Sailing date is 09/23/2016. Could it drop again? First time trying this

Sure, prices can drop (or rise) any time.

[gethin90]

This will be my second ever cruise but first cruise where I have booked it myself. If I was to book with RCI again I would use a TA.

 

my flights got cancelled with BA (there is a separate thread about this) and now I have received my private transfer vouchers with my old flight times and details on it. I find them helpful when I ring but I find they don't really know how to deal with my problems.

 

A TA would have taken all these issues away really and would have meant about 4 hours less on the telephone.

[Citymom92]

We used a TA to book our first upcoming cruise. And while they were very helpful, I feel like the TA was just okay. I had to wait a few times to get responses and ended up coming to this forum to find out the answers (thank you cruise critic!) My TA also did not offer any freebies or OBC or anything. Does that happen with only long time cruisers who are spending $5K and up? This cruise for our family cost us in the $3K range, so maybe we didn't spend enough? Do you have any recommended TAs who are helpful, responsive, and gives freebies and OBC bonuses?

[firefox247]

We used a TA to book our first upcoming cruise. And while they were very helpful, I feel like the TA was just okay. I had to wait a few times to get responses and ended up coming to this forum to find out the answers (thank you cruise critic!) My TA also did not offer any freebies or OBC or anything. Does that happen with only long time cruisers who are spending $5K and up? This cruise for our family cost us in the $3K range, so maybe we didn't spend enough? Do you have any recommended TAs who are helpful, responsive, and gives freebies and OBC bonuses?

Most online TAs don't give a hill of beans how much you book with them or how much your cruise is worth. Their OBC offer is usually a straight percentage off the base rate, from my experience. For my first cruise on RC, I think I got $250, and my total bill was something like $2.7k. YMMV on traditional TAs. They might care a little more.

 

If you book directly with RC, you can transfer your booking to another TA and get all the benefits they offer if you do it within 60 days of initial booking. I'm not sure about TA to TA though. I'm guessing it would require a release from the first one which they really would not have an incentive to sign. Regardless, TA recommendations are banned here, so unfortunately we won't be able to give you specific recommendations.

Edited May 5, 2016 by firefox247

[Citymom92]

Well that is very interesting for sure. At least now I know that next time I need to shop around a little more. I guess if we book onboard this upcoming cruise in July, that's through RC, and then when I get home, we look to transfer that booking to a TA? Is that how the onboard bookings work?

 

Yes, I doubt my TA would agree to let me switch at this point. It's okay, I'm relatively pleased with my experience. Would have been nice to get some little perk to keep my business though! Also good to know that you can't recommend TAs on Cruise Critic. I guess I should have figured that out when I couldn't find a single name of one in searches!

[BLAMBKY]

We used a TA to book our first upcoming cruise. And while they were very helpful, I feel like the TA was just okay. I had to wait a few times to get responses and ended up coming to this forum to find out the answers (thank you cruise critic!) My TA also did not offer any freebies or OBC or anything. Does that happen with only long time cruisers who are spending $5K and up? This cruise for our family cost us in the $3K range, so maybe we didn't spend enough? Do you have any recommended TAs who are helpful, responsive, and gives freebies and OBC bonuses?

 

 

 

The first time I used my TA nothing was mentioned about OBC either but there was a nice little card in my cabin telling me that I had $ from their agency. Might still get a little surprise like I did.

[firefox247]

Well that is very interesting for sure. At least now I know that next time I need to shop around a little more. I guess if we book onboard this upcoming cruise in July, that's through RC, and then when I get home, we look to transfer that booking to a TA? Is that how the onboard bookings work?

 

Yes, I doubt my TA would agree to let me switch at this point. It's okay, I'm relatively pleased with my experience. Would have been nice to get some little perk to keep my business though! Also good to know that you can't recommend TAs on Cruise Critic. I guess I should have figured that out when I couldn't find a single name of one in searches!

Yes, if you book onboard, you should be able to transfer to a TA without an issue.