Are there any travel agents that provide advice beyond just booking travel?

[GeezerCouple]

2 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

We booked many cruises with an agency that provided FREE basic insurance,The first time we called the company we were assigned to a TA who was extremely helpful .We never felt that she was trying to talk us into anything.

 

IF the "FREE basic insurance" is a factor in selecting such an agency, one should *really* double check just what that insurance does - and does *not* - include.

 

Determine what one's own travel insurance needs are, and then make sure that the "free insurance" actually covers that/those features.

For example, coverage for "pre-existing medical conditions" is often excluded.  However, also understand that travel insurance typically defines "pre-existing medical conditions" quite differently than how most of us tend to think of it.  This could be a positive thing or a negative thing, depending upon one's specific circumstances.

 

Also double check $$ limitations of coverage, be it for overseas medical care or to cover unused vacation costs or what is needed to get home early, or such.

 

Not only would a "less than desirable policy" possibly be of little use once one looks into it, but some of the better travel insurance policies/coverages must be started within about 10-21 days of the very first payment (depends upon state of residency).  So if one decides later that the freebie isn't so good, it might be too late to get the kind of policy one prefers or needs.

 

So many of the complaints about travel insurance claims being denied are because the basis of the claim was never covered in the first place... and that is really unfortunate.

Speaking with a travel insurance broker or agent who will explain these issues can be a very good call to make!

We happen to use www.TripInsuranceStore.com [but CALL them; don't rely upon short online summaries of policies; those simply cannot cover all of the features or exclusions].

 

GC

[mom says]

Geezer Couple, I doubt that Len was referring to anything that happened in this century. Really, when was the last time you saw free travel insurance for cruises?  And even then, what could constitute "basic insurance"? It's meaningless.

[lenquixote66]

16 minutes ago, mom says said:

Geezer Couple, I doubt that Len was referring to anything that happened in this century. Really, when was the last time you saw free travel insurance for cruises?  And even then, what could constitute "basic insurance"? It's meaningless.

What century do you think I referenced ? This was a very well known Travel Agency .They offered basic insurance.It was a comparable policy to many travel insurance carriers.It is not meaningless.

[leishirsute]

Is there any cruise forum where TA names can be shared?

 

Curious

[GeezerCouple]

41 minutes ago, leishirsute said:

Is there any cruise forum where TA names can be shared?

 

Curious

Others have been mentioned in earlier posts right here.

Markanddonna made a couple of suggestions, for example.

Have you tried those?

GC

[mom says]

1 hour ago, lenquixote66 said:

What century do you think I referenced ? This was a very well known Travel Agency .They offered basic insurance.It was a comparable policy to many travel insurance carriers.It is not meaningless.

Len,  knowing your penchant for stories from back in your younger days, I assumed it was some time in the 20th century. Please tell me what basic insurance is? I never knew there was a one size fits all travel insurance policy.

[Host Kat]

2 hours ago, leishirsute said:

Is there any cruise forum where TA names can be shared?

 

Curious

 

From the Guidelines we all agreed to follow when registering for our free Cruise Critic memberships:

 

Travel Agent Recommendations

There shall be no third-party recommendation (whether positive or negative in content) of travel agencies on any forums within Cruise Critic. General discussions regarding the TYPE of AGENCY to be used to purchase a cruise will be allowed, as long as no recommendations for any source of purchase are posted.

Touting of your personal cruise agent or cruise line "personal cruise consultant" (or any other venue by which you purchase a cruise) is not allowed on our message boards. Postings that contain "tell them John sent you" will be removed without notice.

This means you should not ask about someone's travel agent, nor should you respond in kind. Offering to email someone your travel agent's name or info is also not allowed, nor is asking members to email you for the information.

Cruise Critic will remove violations of the "third-party recommendation" guideline without warning. Additional posts may result in permanent suspension of your posting privileges.

 

Advertising is Not Allowed

Cruise Critic has strict guidelines prohibiting blatant advertising, commercial sales and solicitation posts on all of our message boards.

Our Cruise Community is meant to be an exchange of advice and tips where cruisers can talk about their travels -- not a marketplace for advertising and selling services. There are thousands of cruise professionals online and if we didn't insist on a non-solicitation policy the cruise boards would be very quickly overrun with nothing but ads.

Cruise Critic defines advertising as an individual or company's attempt to generate business or other commercial enterprise, either directly or indirectly, by using our Cruise Board. Solicitation includes, but is not limited to, requests to be E-mailed, the posting of phone numbers for your business, constantly mentioning that you are in the travel business, and the referring to or posting of one's own Web site address.

There shall be no third-party recommendation (whether positive or negative in tone) of travel agencies on any forums within Cruise Critic. General discussions regarding the TYPE of AGENCY to be used to purchase a cruise will be allowed, as long as no recommendations for any source of purchase are posted.

Touting of your personal cruise agent or cruise line "personal cruise consultant" (or any other venue by which you purchase a cruise) is not allowed on our message boards. Postings that contain "tell them John sent you" will be removed without notice.

This means you should not ask about someone's travel agent, nor should you respond in kind. Offering to email someone your travel agent's name or info is also not allowed, nor is asking members to email you for the information.

It also means you cannot post links to travel agencies, no matter what the specific reason.

Cruise Critic will remove violations of the "third-party recommendation" rule without warning. Additional posts will result in permanent suspension of your posting privileges.

 

BTW, this means no cryptic hints either.

 

Also:

Do you sell cruises; are you sponsored by the cruise lines; do the cruise lines pay you to say good things about them?

Cruise Critic is not a travel agency; we do not sell cruises. We do not rate or recommend travel agencies. Our mission is to help travelers plan the best possible cruise vacation.

We are not sponsored by any cruise line. Like most websites, we do accept advertising and, at times, partner with cruise lines for contests, events (such as Meet & Mingle parties).

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[donaldsc]

9 hours ago, leishirsute said:

Is there any cruise forum where TA names can be shared?

 

Curious

 

Telling you the name of a cruise forum where TA names can be shared would be the equivalent of us actually telling you the names of the TAs.  Both are not allowed.

 

DON

[ontheweb]

11 hours ago, leishirsute said:

Is there any cruise forum where TA names can be shared?

 

Curious

Buy any major Sunday paper such as the NY Times and check out the travel section. There will be a lot of advertising by TAs. Start making phone calls.

[lenquixote66]

12 hours ago, mom says said:

Len,  knowing your penchant for stories from back in your younger days, I assumed it was some time in the 20th century. Please tell me what basic insurance is? I never knew there was a one size fits all travel insurance policy.

 

12 hours ago, mom says said:

Len,  knowing your penchant for stories from back in your younger days, I assumed it was some time in the 20th century. Please tell me what basic insurance is? I never knew there was a one size fits all travel insurance policy.

We booked cruises with this company beginning in 2014.If one purchases travel insurance there is generally a few options.Basic would be the least expensive.

[jsn55]

On 9/6/2023 at 1:07 PM, leishirsute said:

Hi,

I'm on a travel agency search and so far have not had great luck in locating an agency that provides advice on topics such as:

+ is it more economical to book my own air and trip insurance

+ does the cruise handle special dietary needs

The agencies I've contacted talk a great game but when I ask more detailed questions about cruises or desired destinations, they send me URL's for me to do my own research.  I'm not seeing any value in a travel agency if they are mainly about booking travel.

 

Is that how travel agencies work now?  Maybe I have incorrect expectations of service offerings from travel agencies.

I'm seeking an agency that will consult with me and not just send me URL's for me to the research.

 

I think that you should do the research you can and boil things down so you can ask questions of a TA on the topics that aren't readily available to you.  In order to know which cruise is best economically, for instance, you just compare the numbers.   The only way you get an answer as to the 'best plan' is to add up the specifics of the total trip: cruise fare, air, pre and post hotels, transportation, insurance.  It all has to be done on an individual trip basis.  A TA can't read your mind, all these components are individual choices.   If you compare 6 different cruises, there will be millions of individual bits of information to put into the mix in order to come up with a bottom-line cost that is meaningful.  A good cruise-expert TA can give you general parameters based on your answers to questions, but only you know all the myriad details of what you'll like.

[BruceMuzz]

Are there any travel agents that provide advice beyond just booking travel?

Only the really good ones.

[LocoLoco1]

Search for ESCORTED cruises, that is probably what you need. Often considered an ‘onboard hand-holder’ service, these cruise organizers/agents cater to people who need/want more info.  GOOGLE up ‘Escorted Cruises’ to find out what’s out there; (there’s one out of Seattle that’s well-known), More $expensive$, but some cruisers think it’s worth it. 

[LocoLoco1]

On 9/6/2023 at 3:28 PM, CruiserBruce said:

You can get a lot of that info here by looking around the appropriate areas of Cruise Critic, and asking questions when you don't find the info.

Hi, What of those onboard ‘Hand-holders’ I often see on longer cruises? Don’t they usually work for Agents that $charge$ for handling every little detail if one is willing to pay?? I’ve met a few ‘Mother Hens’ onboard who travel with small groups, often with Asian clients and more mature clients as well, but I don’t know how such a service is arranged. Do you??

[CruiserBruce]

6 minutes ago, LocoLoco1 said:

Hi, What of those onboard ‘Hand-holders’ I often see on longer cruises? Don’t they usually work for Agents that $charge$ for handling every little detail if one is willing to pay?? I’ve met a few ‘Mother Hens’ onboard who travel with small groups, often with Asian clients and more mature clients as well, but I don’t know how such a service is arranged. Do you??

I have no idea what you are talking about.

[LocoLoco1]

2 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

I have no idea what you are talking about.

OK

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, LocoLoco1 said:

Hi, What of those onboard ‘Hand-holders’ I often see on longer cruises? Don’t they usually work for Agents that $charge$ for handling every little detail if one is willing to pay?? I’ve met a few ‘Mother Hens’ onboard who travel with small groups, often with Asian clients and more mature clients as well, but I don’t know how such a service is arranged. Do you??

Some Asians (primarily Japanese and Chinese) travel as part of a group with a tour group leader who accompanies the travelers/cruisers and is able to handle any language cultural issues.  In fact, we were once on a HAL Canada/NE cruise that had a group of about 200 Japanese (many of whom spoke little English).  Their tour leader would get on the ship's PA system to translate any announcements and the Captain's daily update.   We chatted with a few of the Japanese (many of the men spoke decent English) as well as their tour leader (she had hosted land/cruise tours all over the world).  She told me that many of the men spoke fluent English because of their international business background.  But lots of the ladies (spouses) were "housewives" and had very little English knowledge.  Keep in mind that this group was primarily older folks, and many had no formal English when they went to school.  These days, most younger Japanese do get some English as part of their schooling.

 

There are also a few cruise agencies that will sometimes have a "host" onboard who will staff an information desk and host some parties.  We have also seen this for one particular "travel consortium."  I am not sure we would call that "hand holding" although the reps are often around to answer questions.  Some of these groups will also book their own excursions.  

 

 

Hank

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Some Asians (primarily Japanese and Chinese) travel as part of a group with a tour group leader who accompanies the travelers/cruisers and is able to handle any language cultural issues.  In fact, we were once on a HAL Canada/NE cruise that had a group of about 200 Japanese (many of whom spoke little English).  Their tour leader would get on the ship's PA system to translate any announcements and the Captain's daily update.   We chatted with a few of the Japanese (many of the men spoke decent English) as well as their tour leader (she had hosted land/cruise tours all over the world).  She told me that many of the men spoke fluent English because of their international business background.  But lots of the ladies (spouses) were "housewives" and had very little English knowledge.  Keep in mind that this group was primarily older folks, and many had no formal English when they went to school.  These days, most younger Japanese do get some English as part of their schooling.

 

There are also a few cruise agencies that will sometimes have a "host" onboard who will staff an information desk and host some parties.  We have also seen this for one particular "travel consortium."  I am not sure we would call that "hand holding" although the reps are often around to answer questions.  Some of these groups will also book their own excursions.  

 

 

Hank

On the NCL Prima cruise we sailed on last month, there was a large contingent of deaf people. They had sign language interpreters. I don't know if the deaf group (someone on our roll call said there was a TA who specialized in deaf groups) or NCL provided this service.

[LocoLoco1]

There IS an Umbrella group of very select Travel Advisors/Agents that are called Virtuoso Agents, their staff usually are seasoned Int’l travellers. Excelsior, MN has one, and I have seen that badge on certain agent’s front entrance door. We cruised with a Bird-watcher group aboard who had such an agency to handle everything for them. I guess there’s 100’s worldwide. Maybe start there..??