Do you book with a TA

jsme · December 29, 2005

I have done it both ways. I prefer to use a TA though. Joey I have to agree with Janet on this one. I am sure you would too....lol

Don't you prefer for people to use a TA?

Pebbles2000 · December 29, 2005

We try to book onboard ship then transfer to a T/A.

Joanandjoe · January 11, 2006

If by "book ourselves" you mean online or with the cruise line, we're not brave enough to book online, and the cruise line usually doesn't have a good price. We did book directly with a cruise line once, but that was for a special, direct bookings only, promotion on a now-defunct cruise line, Regal (for the Regal Empress).

We prefer to use a TA, but to check her prices (funny, all our TAs have been female) against the discounters. If the price difference is big enough, we book with the broker--but usually the TA will match (or come within $50 of matching) the discounter price. The score so far: 1 cruise booked with the cruise line, 2 with discounters, 5 with TAs.

KeithnRita · January 11, 2006

We've done online, cruise direct, and with a TA. Our last two cruise has been with a TA and we plan on using her for any future bookings.

nanatravel · January 20, 2006

I use our local TA who manages a large American Express agency. We have used others when tagging along on a Group cruise, but TA's seem to be the best bet. However, I like to do my own research. I know before involving someone else, what I don't want and what a good price and cabin choice should be. On our last cruise, the agent got a better senior rate than a Cruise Line Sale rate. She did that homework and helped us change cabins too.

Bon Voyage

Nanatravel

hazelson · January 20, 2006

TA all the way - I like to do my griping, complaining and hassleing in person :grin: :grin: :grin:

We are very easy customers though - we know when, where and how we want to go. We just tell her the date, the ship, the cabin number, the dining preference and let her do the rest. She is also keeping a file of cruises that we want to do in the future - so if anything crosses her desk she can just give us a call.

mildavis · January 23, 2006

I've done both. Haven't taken the cruise booked with the travel agent yet so I'll let you know. I feel like I've done just as much leg work as if I had done the booking myself but it was nice to leave the details to someone else.

jbcruisers · January 24, 2006

:grin: I not only use a TA, I take her along! This year we have about 30 people going on the Carnival Miracle on Feb. 5th. She handles everything! When our documents came in, she had a pre-cruise party, during which she provided everyone with a goodie bag full of little cruise necessities, along with a Q&A session that was full of information. I don't think I would ever try to book on my own.

eagleforest · February 8, 2006

I generally book onboard. Gives me onboard credit which means FREE Drinks... Or a free gift.

Its amazing 10 years ago we used TA's or called the hotel / motels ourselves.

With the computer and the internet we have eliminated some jobs and created others

schatje · March 16, 2006

I've used TA's in the past but this year I booked with Princess direct because we purchased "future cruise sales" so we could get ship board credits. But then I found a web site called www.cruisecompete.com and ended up getting a quote that was $147.00 less then what Princess booked me for plus they were offering an additional $50 on board credit per cabin. It's kind of a long story but the Princess "Rep" taking my booking messed up big time so a supervisor ended giving me extra credit for our room plus the difference in govt. taxes between the port they messed up on and the one I originally wanted.

I lucked out this time by getting a total of $283.44 ship board credit on an inside cabin.

cruise compete is a site where multiple brokers bid or quote your cruise. You get all the bids on one page so you can choose which one you want.

I saved quite a bit, it went from $1374 for one week, for two people to,

$1227 which includes govt taxes etc. plus the extra $50 on board credit.

Part of the long story however was to be on the phone for over 2 hours trying to straighten things out with Princess. I remained polite but firm at the same time if you know what I mean.

I will let you know how the TA works out. She is with Cruises-n-more.

I hope I don't hear a horror story about this company now :undecided:

Happy Sailing :smiley: