USA Travel agents V UK travel agents?

[fudge]

As the original poster I may have phrased the question wrong? My question was, has anyone had a quote from a TA in the USA and compared the price with a UK travel agent?  I was wondering what if any was the difference? 

[lincslady]

As usual, fudge, we have got away from the original point of the thread.  Maybe now someone will come back with useful information.

[MJN1]

3 hours ago, fudge said:

As the original poster I may have phrased the question wrong? My question was, has anyone had a quote from a TA in the USA and compared the price with a UK travel agent?  I was wondering what if any was the difference? 

Fudge, see my reply @ #11....

Yes, there is. If you use a VPN and go via a USA or UK server, you can go to the respective SB or SS websites in the USA or UK (or Germany) and see the list prices in the local currency.

[highplanesdrifters]

3 hours ago, fudge said:

As the original poster I may have phrased the question wrong? My question was, has anyone had a quote from a TA in the USA and compared the price with a UK travel agent?  I was wondering what if any was the difference? 

No easy answer.  I am told by friends that it varies depending on the specials, cruise line, itinary, etc.

[Texas Tillie]

It's always important to consider the currency conversion rate. The credit card I use overseas has a very favorable rate that changes constantly, seen if more than one charge is made on the same day, even though it's negligible, out to the 4th or 5th decimal. Also, you must use a card that doesn't have a fee for using it in a foreign currency. I'd think (but sometimes have been surprised!) that anyone who can afford to sail Silversea is this sophisticated when it comes to finances.

[Mocamps]

I live in the UK but have booked cruises using UK agents, US agents and direct with the cruiseline. What works out best varies according to the cruiseline and the various offers available at the time.

 

With SS I have almost always booked through a UK agent as I have found the best deals here. That said, I do think that I usually pay the balance several months before sailing and possibly before SS themselves require the balance to be paid. I have also found that with UK agents there is usually a clause that states that, straight after booking and paying a deposit, that deposit will be lost if I cancel - even if that is a year ahead of the sailing date! The exception to this was that Covid rules were usually much more flexible and I think that  may still be the same in certain circumstances. 

 

With other cruiselines I have had the best prices through American agents and I do like the fact that with those agents I can cancel without penalty right up until the final balance is paid. That means that if the cruise is subsequently discounted you can usually get the discounted price. That only seems to happen in the UK if there is some kind of Best Price Guarantee. I have found in the past that US prices seemed to be quite a bit cheaper but that seems to have levelled out in recent years (possibly due to the exchange rate?) and it is best to shop around. And sometimes different countries have different inclusions such as drinks packages etc.

 

Finally, some companies will only allow residents of US and Canada to be able to book in US. I found that once with Star Clippers who were offering heavily discounted prices in US but not in the UK. I tried to book in the US and it wasn't possible - so I didn't book at all!!

 

Best tip - do your homework and shop around!

 

 

 

 

[JJphotos]

I realise I can't ask for a recommendation here for a UK agent, but as we are considering our second SS cruise, I wondered how I could find a good agent rather than going direct (just looking to see if we can get a better deal)? I've tried google, but a recommendation is worth a lot more, so wonder why CC don't like people recommending one? 

[Daveywavey70]

3 minutes ago, JJphotos said:

I realise I can't ask for a recommendation here for a UK agent, but as we are considering our second SS cruise, I wondered how I could find a good agent rather than going direct (just looking to see if we can get a better deal)? I've tried google, but a recommendation is worth a lot more, so wonder why CC don't like people recommending one? 

Because Cruise Critic first and foremost want to sell you the cruise themselves. They are part of Tripadvisor. 

[david63]

27 minutes ago, JJphotos said:

just looking to see if we can get a better deal

I tried that a while ago and whilst at first sight some TAs appear to have a good deal my experience was that after looking closely at what they had to offer the deal was not that much better than going direct, and in some cases worse than going direct.

[JJphotos]

56 minutes ago, Daveywavey70 said:

Because Cruise Critic first and foremost want to sell you the cruise themselves. They are part of Tripadvisor. 

Ah, I didn't realise that but that makes sense.

31 minutes ago, david63 said:

I tried that a while ago and whilst at first sight some TAs appear to have a good deal my experience was that after looking closely at what they had to offer the deal was not that much better than going direct, and in some cases worse than going direct.

Thanks. Thinking of going over xmas this year and the TAs I have looked at are looking further out than that. I must admit I was happy direct last time.

[markham]

… then you are not talking to the better UK TAs. Remember that cruise lines need TAs to sell their cruises and pay commissions to them. It is from those commissions that my TA offers me around 6-10% price reduction for cruises on many cruise lines. This depends on the line, of course, and logically it is the larger volume-selling agents that have the biggest commissions to work with. Do you think a cruise line would voluntarily do so on a direct booking? Not likely. 
 

As has been emphasized before, having a valued TA (your personal confidence in them/ the pipeline for the cruise line) on your side to explain/clarify any cruise line lapse/problem is smart, and a sort of insurance policy for you. There is no conflict of interest as there certainly would be if a cruise line’s sales agent sided with you on one level but could not move the line to help or compensate you. 

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

Edited July 5, 2023 by markham