Why can’t anyone name TAs?

[messej01]

I can’t seem to find any bargains ever. I’ve subscribed to so many cruise websites and resellers and still nothing. What am I doing wrong?

[SinbadThePorter]

Cruise Critic is itself a cruise aggregator. You can use them to find and buy cruises. They don't see why they should allow other TAs to get free advertisements on their boards.

 

If you've only recently been looking for cruise bargains then the main reason you haven't been finding them is maybe that there aren't really that many around at this time of year.

 

Others may disagree, but I find that the best time for good deals is October/November.

 

In the meantime, if you look at the El Cheapo thread there are all sorts of clues.

 

Also, another method is to obsessively watch cruise websites for those cruise prices that only hang around for a few hours or less.

 

Also too, there are some Facebook groups worth looking up.

Edited February 8, 2019 by SinbadThePorter

[Chiliburn]

What cruise line or class of cruise line are you looking for.

most of the cruise lines are owned by Carnival or Royal Caribbean and they have same marketing. They are the masters of hype and false advertising.

 Usually their sales have no savings so ignore the sales.

as sinbad said there’s a couple of times a year,I think November,December is good.

 Most agents will have a similar price. Off peak times you can get a bargain.

 Work out when you can go and roughly where a keep a eye on the price 

[M-H-B]

Also, for Royal, I called them and told them the cruise I wanted to go on and queried pricing. The guy couldn’t match what I was willing to pay on that call but asked if I wanted to leave my details and they’d call me if they could offer that price. 

Lo and behold it was 3 days later that someone called and offered me a deal that was lower than my limit. I don’t know if it was just good timing close to a sale they were going to have anyway or what went on in the background but I got the price I wanted and didn’t have to deal with their website or a TA. 

Worth a shot, particularly if you know what cruise you want and the price limit you’d pay like I did. 

[Chiliburn]

1 hour ago, M-H-B said:

Also, for Royal, I called them and told them the cruise I wanted to go on and queried pricing. The guy couldn’t match what I was willing to pay on that call but asked if I wanted to leave my details and they’d call me if they could offer that price. 

Lo and behold it was 3 days later that someone called and offered me a deal that was lower than my limit. I don’t know if it was just good timing close to a sale they were going to have anyway or what went on in the background but I got the price I wanted and didn’t have to deal with their website or a TA. 

Worth a shot, particularly if you know what cruise you want and the price limit you’d pay like I did. 

I’d like to know more details about that. That’s very interesting.

how did you come to the price you wanted to pay?

[sewgood]

1 hour ago, M-H-B said:

Also, for Royal, I called them and told them the cruise I wanted to go on and queried pricing. The guy couldn’t match what I was willing to pay on that call but asked if I wanted to leave my details and they’d call me if they could offer that price. 

Lo and behold it was 3 days later that someone called and offered me a deal that was lower than my limit. I don’t know if it was just good timing close to a sale they were going to have anyway or what went on in the background but I got the price I wanted and didn’t have to deal with their website or a TA. 

Worth a shot, particularly if you know what cruise you want and the price limit you’d pay like I did. 

 

Interesting information. Sounds worth trying if the cruise you want to do is a little bit above your price point.

Good to know you were able to do this with RC.

 

[sewgood]

12 hours ago, messej01 said:

I can’t seem to find any bargains ever. I’ve subscribed to so many cruise websites and resellers and still nothing. What am I doing wrong?

 

I find the bargains by checking the hot deals or cruise of the day pages on a cruise TA website.

I find by the time you get an e-mail about a bargain, everyone else has that info and it is already booked out.

The better the bargain the faster it goes.

Just remember that with a lot of bargains you may not be able to choose the room you want. If you are are flexible about where your room is (it may be next to the lifts or under the buffet or right at the front of the ship) this can work for you.

Everytime I have taken a last minute cruise I have been lucky with room allocation, even the time we received a room under the buffet (5 mins of noise during the night when they cleaned)

[M-H-B]

1 hour ago, Chiliburn said:

I’d like to know more details about that. That’s very interesting.

how did you come to the price you wanted to pay?

 

It was not long before Xmas so it was based on what I could afford 🙂  but generally I was looking for not more than what would equate to about $125AUD per night. It’s mh first cruise so didn’t want to overpay for an experience I’m not completely sure I will enjoy, if that makes sense. 

I told RCI a max of $850 per person for the 7 nighter I wanted to go on and when they called back they offered $790. 

[Russell21]

37 minutes ago, M-H-B said:

 

It was not long before Xmas so it was based on what I could afford 🙂  but generally I was looking for not more than what would equate to about $125AUD per night. It’s mh first cruise so didn’t want to overpay for an experience I’m not completely sure I will enjoy, if that makes sense. 

I told RCI a max of $850 per person for the 7 nighter I wanted to go on and when they called back they offered $790. 

Bear in mind that you will more than likely get just what you paid for.

[M-H-B]

28 minutes ago, Russell21 said:

Bear in mind that you will more than likely get just what you paid for.

 

Yep, going in with my eyes open. The cabin assignment looks pretty good so not doing too badly so far. Did end up deciding to pay extra to give The Key a go anyway. I’m spending my money on choosing the benefits that I want rather than a higher base fare so I’ll only have myself to blame 👍🏻

[Kiwi Kruzer]

2 hours ago, sewgood said:

 

Interesting information. Sounds worth trying if the cruise you want to do is a little bit above your price point.

Good to know you were able to do this with RC.

 

 

26 minutes ago, Russell21 said:

Bear in mind that you will more than likely get just what you paid for.

 

Also bear in mind that every cruise is different and every cruise will have a different demand . Instead of the last minute prices coming down , they can also go up.

Any really last minute bargains are usually given to a selected group of TA's who have a large client base of regular cruisers and as stated above can be snapped  up  within the hour, either to the TA's themselves or their regular clients. 

[Chiliburn]

2 hours ago, sewgood said:

 

I find the bargains by checking the hot deals or cruise of the day pages on a cruise TA website.

I find by the time you get an e-mail about a bargain, everyone else has that info and it is already booked out.

The better the bargain the faster it goes.

Just remember that with a lot of bargains you may not be able to choose the room you want. If you are are flexible about where your room is (it may be next to the lifts or under the buffet or right at the front of the ship) this can work for you.

Everytime I have taken a last minute cruise I have been lucky with room allocation, even the time we received a room under the buffet (5 mins of noise during the night when they cleaned)

The money the spending to build new ships,you would think that they can work out some noise.

 I like cabins next to the lift,because I’m lazy.

[Chiliburn]

28 minutes ago, Kiwi Kruzer said:

 

 

Also bear in mind that every cruise is different and every cruise will have a different demand . Instead of the last minute prices coming down , they can also go up.

Any really last minute bargains are usually given to a selected group of TA's who have a large client base of regular cruisers and as stated above can be snapped  up  within the hour, either to the TA's themselves or their regular clients. 

I think some of the big agents buy blocks and sell them.

one thing I learned is the agent owns the booking and you are a resale.

 I once wanted to add a person to a booking.I called RC and they said because of privacy and I wasn’t the owner of the booking ,they couldn’t help me,but call the agent.

Edited February 9, 2019 by Chiliburn

[sewgood]

6 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

 I like cabins next to the lift,because I’m lazy.

 

I've never had a cabin near the lifts but I notice on the deck plans they seem to be the last cabins in an area to sell.

I have asked passengers who have a cabin right near the lifts if they can hear the bing and they say they can't, some have said they can sometimes hear passengers talking loudly while waiting for a lift.

I must admit I can hear people walking down the corridor late at night if they are talking loudly.

[Chiliburn]

17 minutes ago, sewgood said:

 

I've never had a cabin near the lifts but I notice on the deck plans they seem to be the last cabins in an area to sell.

I have asked passengers who have a cabin right near the lifts if they can hear the bing and they say they can't, some have said they can sometimes hear passengers talking loudly while waiting for a lift.

I must admit I can hear people walking down the corridor late at night if they are talking loudly.

No more noise than anywhere else.

The only problem we had was with a grand suite that had a door bell and there was a heap of kids onboard.

 I’ve come to the conclusion,right near the lifts and on top of the promenade or under the pool deck.easy access to the main public areas.

As said I’m lazy.and don’t like lifts

Edited February 9, 2019 by Chiliburn

[sewgood]

Our first cabin was an inside under the pool. No problems with noise and it was very handy to go to the buffet.

Which may or may not be a good thing.

[GUT2407]

Pretty much always book close to the lifts now, usually first cabin door off the lift lobby, just can’t walk that far anymore, never had a noise complaint yet.

[Chiliburn]

1 hour ago, GUT2407 said:

Pretty much always book close to the lifts now, usually first cabin door off the lift lobby, just can’t walk that far anymore, never had a noise complaint yet.

You need to conserve that energy,you could waste away with starvation in those long corridors 

[Chiliburn]

4 hours ago, sewgood said:

Our first cabin was an inside under the pool. No problems with noise and it was very handy to go to the buffet.

Which may or may not be a good thing.

Don’t know what people complaining about,maybe they don’t drink?

[GUT2407]

55 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

You need to conserve that energy,you could waste away with starvation in those long corridors 

Yep, or collapse in ball of pain, screaming my head off even.