I need your help! (freedom questions)

[Gixer]

After a lot of dithering we have decided not to cruise in Jan 2009 but are going to wait until Dec 2009 - this way we get to sail over Xmas and also do a back to back and sail over New Year too :D

 

When will prices/availability to book be released for Dec 2009? I can only see released dates up until Apr 09 at the moment.

 

Who is the best person to book with? we dont have a local travel agent so any web reccommendations?

 

Do we have to get off the ship if we sail back to back? would we need to go through the whole check in procedure again?

 

I would like a hump cabin just for convinience - but I dont have a clue which deck to book, is there a price difference between the decks?

 

Thanks for all your help!

[cb at sea]

You can book it yourself directly with RCI, if you want. That way, there are no "middlemen" to deal with! I've found flights are cheaper to book yourself, as well. But all of this depends on you comfort level in doing so!

 

The higher the deck, the more costly. Make sure you have the deck plans in front of you when booking, so you'll know exactly what you're getting! (All of the different cabins are color-coded) Don't book blindly!!!!

We like the upper deck and junior suites--very easy getting to the pool deck, which is where we spend our time!

[negc]

Prices and itineraries should start being published in March or April so you don't have much longer to wait. CC rules do not allow us to recommend specific TAs but I suggest that you check with friends and family members who travel to get their recommendations. You can book directly with the cruiseline but if there are any problems before, during, or after your cruise, the cruiseline's CSR works for them and is unlikely to be the strong advocate for your position that a good travel agent would be. There is no savings by booking direct with the cruiseline and you really sacrifice very little control by using an agent. You might even benefit from the knowledge and experience that a good TA can offer. :)

[honeydog714]

I would never book without our TA, first she always gives us a gift or obc or something, second she is ALWAYS available. About a year ago we flew into miami the night before our cruise, it was a saturday around 5pm when we were at the hotel and I said to my husband I wanted to go for a swim and asked him where the big suitcase was that my suit was in. He told me to look in the closet with the other bags, well as you probably have guessed it was not there! We called the airline to see if it was with lost luggage and as I was reading out our luggage tags I saw there were only three checked bags that means my bag was not even checked, talk about total panic, my gown was in there plus most of my stuff. After some yelling and crying we figured out the bag must have been left on the car park shuttle back in CA. Ok so now what could I do? Our cruise leaves in the morning and I am without 70 percent of my stuff- our TA always gives us her home number in case of emergencies so I called her, she calmed me down took all the information and called me back in a half hour. She arranged for the car park people to take the bag back to the airport to the Fed Ex terminal, it was overnighted to miami and we picked it up on the way to the port in the morning. Do you think Royal Caribbean would have done that for me? On a Saturday evening there probably wouldn't even be anyone to answer the phone. She may not be a mega agency but I would never travel without her,she is worth her weight in gold!

[ehfl]

I agree with CB....avoid the middlemen and the finger pointing that can result. Just book it directly with the cruise line.

[negc]

I agree with CB....avoid the middlemen and the finger pointing that can result. Just book it directly with the cruise line.

 

That way if anything goes wrong you can point your finger at the cruise line and they can, if they wish, ignore you and write off your future business. Of course if your TA brings them a significant amount of business they might be more amenable to a satisfactory resolution of the issue.:rolleyes: