Unprotected Posted December 11, 2017 #1 Share Posted December 11, 2017 Hello! I know the curise I want... I’m trying to decide who to book through. Is *************.com a legitimate source... I found the best price through them. Just double checking before I book. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarea Posted December 11, 2017 #2 Share Posted December 11, 2017 Hello! I know the curise I want... I’m trying to decide who to book through. Is *************.com a legitimate source... I found the best price through them. Just double checking before I book. Thanks One of the rules of this website is that we cannot discuss specific travel agents. I'd check with others who use agents and get recommendations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easyboy Posted December 11, 2017 #3 Share Posted December 11, 2017 Maybe you can confirm from your source or relatives & friends who have used them. Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taglovestocruise Posted December 12, 2017 #4 Share Posted December 12, 2017 Prices vary little TA to TA to cruise line. It's the perks like pre-paid gratuities, additional OBC, specialty dinning, a beverage package and free insurance. If your TA dosen't offer some of them you should go someplace else. 10 to 15% of the cruise price in perks is not uncommon. happy cruising Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul929207 Posted December 12, 2017 #5 Share Posted December 12, 2017 Prices vary little TA to TA to cruise line. It's the perks like pre-paid gratuities, additional OBC, specialty dinning, a beverage package and free insurance. If your TA dosen't offer some of them you should go someplace else. 10 to 15% of the cruise price in perks is not uncommon. happy cruising This is not true. Some cruise lines allow a TA to discount fares. Others do not. For those allowing discounts, there can be a significant difference in prices Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toofarfromthesea Posted December 12, 2017 #6 Share Posted December 12, 2017 Hello! I know the curise I want... I’m trying to decide who to book through. Is *************.com a legitimate source... I found the best price through them. Just double checking before I book. Thanks If you know the cruise you want you could use one of those websites where TAs can give competing quotes. If you search for something like 'cruise quotes' you should find such sites. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted December 12, 2017 #7 Share Posted December 12, 2017 Ask friends who you know and respect and who cruise if they have a recommendation for a TA. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Kruizers Posted December 12, 2017 #8 Share Posted December 12, 2017 Welcome to Cruise Critic. Also ask the TA's if their agencies charge a fee if you need to cancel the cruise before final payment. Some do and some don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATC cruiser Posted December 12, 2017 #9 Share Posted December 12, 2017 Just to let everyone know, the big box travel agency that you can shop at locally, now includes the price of your cruise when they figure your 2% rebate yearly rebate for being an executive member. They are still offering store gift cards, or onboard credit too. Sent from my iPad using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iancal Posted December 12, 2017 #10 Share Posted December 12, 2017 (edited) We never book with the cruise line unless their price is 'right'...which it usually is not. We deal with an agency that provides us with fare rebates in the form of OBC's (on board credits). We also prefer to deal with large on line agencies because they tend to have far better availability in off hours or stat. holidays. We look for several things. No charge for booking, re-pricing, or changing cabins. No agency charge for cancellations. Our cruise payment (credit card) must be processed by the cruise line not the agency. We will never, ever pay cash or debit card for a travel product in the future. Having said that when we contact the agency it is to either get a firm written quote or to place an order. We realize that we get less hands on service from an on line or warehouse agency but we do not require anything else. And we seldom re-price because most of our buys are in the final payment window. Nor do we want the TA to be our new best friend. Just give us the price, book the cabin and thank you very much. Two additional services that one on line TA provided to us on booking was to make us aware of special offers that we had not seen on the web or considered. The second service was that she typically passed on prior customer feedback on some ships/cruise lines if asked. But she only did the latter after we became regular customers as it were. In many instance the only time we spoke live on the phone was to provide her with our credit card details. The rest was by email. Edited December 12, 2017 by iancal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCC retired Posted December 12, 2017 #11 Share Posted December 12, 2017 This is not true. Some cruise lines allow a TA to discount fares. Others do not. For those allowing discounts, there can be a significant difference in prices Correct. Princess , Cunard and HAL are 3 that allow discounting , just not advertising that discount rate . Must contact TA for "their" rates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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