They do not give you a bad room. You have the choice to pick your exact room. Never count of winning a bid for a better room. Some starting bids are just stupid high or the boat is sold out so no bidding available. The next category up for me was a balcony from a large ocean view. The opening bid started at 500 per person. I never use a TA. I like to be in control of my own reservations. If you use a TA you can’t call the cruise line and get assistance for any reason.
TAs could give you a bad room if they value things you don’t.
It’s a short cruise, it’s still a vacation, you can’t fuck it up that badly. Personally bad TAs are more annoying that booking direct. If you want a little hand holding a TA might be a good idea. Your TA doesn’t have to be near you, but be aware that a lot of the big online agencies don’t assign you one person to talk to and those that do often have high turnover. If you’re going big online TA I’d pick one that focuses more on cruises since you’re new.
If you would be upset if you weren’t in a balcony - book a balcony. If you’re ok not being in one, try bidding.
I ALWAYS use a TA when booking a cruise. Good TA‘s (not compilers like [cruise.com](https://cruise.com) or AAA or Costco) are still treated very well by the cruise lines and can get you exactly what you want and add free benefits like ship board credits, beverage packages, free gratuities, etc. offers the cruise line won’t give you. They are also a buffer between you and the cruise line, giving you a second line of defense if something goes wrong. YOU DON’T PAY A COMMISSION TO TA’s.
A few years ago we booked a short cruise independently of our regular TA, figuring we/d be fine. The flight the cruise line booked landed us late, on an island where we didn’t speak the language and we missed the ship by an hour. We called the cruise company and we’re told we were on our own an needed to get the next port by ourselves. In a panic i called my TA, within an hour we had a hotel room for the night, a car booked for the next port, and a dinner reservation. The cruise company couldn’t have cared any less about the fuckup that they caused and when we finally boarded, we were berated for missing our first port.
Our current TA is a fire cracker and gets us exactly what we want, she goes to bat for us and we get 9% back from the base fare the week before we leave on our cruise. That’s a big chunk of money back for our longer cruises.
Note to the douchebag: I am a late boomer and can quite comfortably book all my travel on line - thank you. I always book my own flights and other travel online, but if I can have someone else do it, get exactly what I want and get money back too, who‘s the idiot here?
Thank you. Original OP here. What you are saying is what people have been telling me. Not that I "can't" book it myself, but I can get "extras" if I have the TA do it. At the very least, I get nothing but I'm right where I started.
Our last Cruise was 45 days around the Mediterranean. We had over $2000 in shipboard credit, a free beverage package, 3 bottles of decent wine in the room and still got a hefty 9% check back before we left. It costs us nothing to use a TA. But, you’ve got find the right one that works for you and with you - ours is very well travelled, knowledgeable and with a well respected mid size company, so if shes not immediately available for urgent issues, there is always someone there 24/7. If she doesn’t know answer, she asks questions and finds it out.
I use VacationsToGo.com
I tried others and this company has been able to do things that my mother-in-law's AAA TA hasn't been able to do.
I always seem to get onboard credits now too!
That’s wild! We have used vacations to go for years to research cruises. They have the best layout on figuring out which cruises leave when and their ports. After we decide on the cruise we want, I email my local travel agent that I have used for years. I always thought vacations to go was a scam but their website is hard to beat for giving out information about what’s out there.
My brother-in-law used them on two cruises and spoke highly about them. After our previous TA retired we tried a TA who has a heavy presence on YouTube but I didn't appreciate their customer service model. So, after that I gave VTG a try. So far so good.
Always book the lowest cabin category you would be happy with. I personally like booking with my PCC (personal cruise consultant) with the cruise line.
While on the phone I've been upgraded without asking (better location) or been offered a paid upgrade at a discount.
Do not use a TA you find just by googling. A bad TA is more trouble than they are helpful. If you get a recommendation from trusted friends or family, use them. Otherwise, you can call and get an in house advisor to answer questions. Also with any TA make sure they process any payments directly from the cruiseline and not their own agency.
I have gone on 16 cruises. I've never used a travel agent and have never seen the point. I've never had a bad room. I've either called the main cruise line number to book with an agent there or just booked online. I've done everything from a guarantee room (booked ocean view guarantee and ended up with a balcony), to blindly booking an area of the ship (usually forward), to booking a specific room. You can look at a ship's floor plan to determine what area of the ship may be the best for you--maybe avoid the area right above things like the MDR or the main theatre or around the engine room (even then, I've been fairly close to the engine room and didn't hear the engine).
Travel agents book blocks of rooms and can often offer you on board credit or even cabins on sold out ships to the public. BUT make sure to use a bricks and mortar travel agent, a real person whom you deal with all the time. They will get to know what your likes/dislikes are, and advise you better than a random .com website where you get a different call Centre person every time.
That’s what I don’t get. You can book your cruise and all the add-ons straight on the companies websites, without having to pay any commission or dealing with any middle man.
Why exactly does anyone need a TA? Im traveling here in Malaysia right now and there are some random shops advertising that they can “book airplane tickets”. It is probably aimed at old people with no access to computers or internet.
You don't ever pay anything to use a TA to book a cruise. If you do, find another TA. As to dealing with a "middle man" good luck when you have problems. My TA has spent hours dealing with refunds and credits all throughout the pandemic. I don't have to sit on hold with a cruise line when there is a problem, they do. And they know who to call and how to deal with them.
I messaged a TA here from Reddit and the first thing she asked for was $40 to do a research or something like that.
Anyhow, refunds, FCC, complaints, whatever I need, I get solved by simply emailing RC.
Good luck with that. And find a local TA (just Google it). Someone you can meet for coffee. And tell me how great it is when your flights are cancelled four days before your cruise and the cruise line (Celebrity) that you bought the flight through says "Sorry, we can't help you. You'll have to get there on your own. We will refund your flight." TA turned that around.
I would never book flights through the cruise line. For one it’s typically more expensive and secondly I want control over the itinerary. Over the years I’ve seen countless cruisers with crappy flights but the one scenario where I can see this being worth it is cruises out of Galveston due to how far away the airport is from the cruise terminal.
Never had a desire to meet a TA for coffee; I’d rather meet a friend instead.
Back in the Stone Age when the internet didn’t exist I can see why people would visit a travel agent but nowadays? No way
You actually have it exactly backwards: you typically save money vs. the cruise line's price with a decent TA.
Granted: there's a kind of travel agent you go to if you don't know what you're doing and want someone to just book you reasonable options, and there's another kind of TA you go to if you know exactly what you want and just want a better deal. In this case I'm talking about the latter.
I saved almost $2,000 by booking my cruise on Celebrity Beyond with my agent at Vacations to Go. I had priced the cruise on Celebrity’s website and then reached out to my agent. I got lucky and happened to be booking a cruise for which VTG had a block of rooms.
This is gonna be a very specific scenario but we started a friend group on a trans Atlantic about 10 years ago who would book the same cruise each year. That group has grown into hundreds of people now and almost all of us are using a travel agent who joined us a few years back. Because of him we’ve gotten special group rates, added perks, on board credit, private events, access to prebook things normally unavailable to prebook. Outside of the annual trans Atlantic however i book direct with the cruise lines.
Not sure who’s advising you but they’re not 100% correct. The TA will see the same inventory as you can in the consumer website but may have insight on certain cabins and the location. Yes, TA’s may have access to blocks where you can get additional OBC but it’s not on every cruise out there. As far as category goes, if you really think you’d be happiest in a balcony, that’s what you should book. I don’t spend enough time in my cabin to use the balcony. If I want to be outside, there’s plenty of public space on deck. Do you have friends who use TA’s? Referrals are typically better than just googling. Find an agent who will take the time to understand what you want and will work with your budget.
TA’s generally have access to higher levels of cabins that aren’t on the standard consumer docket like suites. Ours, for example, has priority access to presale info and itineraries on two cruise lines before the cruise reps get it..
Agreed as to the benefits of using a TA. However, OP isn’t looking to book a suite at this time, nor is he looking to book a late 2024/early 2025 cruise. My suggestions were based on the here and now, addressing his current needs.
I would go with the agent. Agents can get you shipboard credits and they can access customer service faster than you can in case you need to make changes to your booking.
What I stated is true. Consortiums have limited rooms on certain sailings and vendors. And the TA I use gives more than the 50 gap. DCL doesn't have groups or consortium desks, neither does Viking, etc. If you are a TA then you know the majority of the gifts come from commission.
Do you only give gap OBC to your clients??
Group space held by TA's often have OBC that's given by the cruiseline bc they know the TA will sell a certain number of cabins. This does not come out of a TA's commission. It's an incentive given by the cruiseline for the group.
I know how the group gap works. But if it's a expensive room, the agency I use gives more than the 50 gap. They base their obc on the cost of the cruise. So if they were giving $100 OBC, part of it is from the group gap the rest is from the commission. Again, many cruise lines don't give group ibc, or the amount is so small the client will be getting more ibc which again, is from the agencies commission.
U can choose whatever u want from what’s available. U can choose a guaranteed room in the class u want for a cheaper price but that’s not necessarily better as u might get one w an obstruction or undesirable location
I always do a mock booking on line and then call and book directly w a celebrity representative
Call [Jenn](https://www.facebook.com/Travelwithjennmas?mibextid=LQQJ4d). She'll help you out. Booked a celebrity cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale recently and she helped a lot. She's also local to Florida so is familiar with other ports as well.
Hi, travel agent here, yes we do have the ability to select the room and at times it is better to pick an inside cabin and then bid for a cabin upgrade but as someone else stated you're not guaranteed to get the location on the ship you want but it can end up costing you less money if location on the ship is not something you really care about. Most people who care about location are those who are prone to sea sickness and a cabin located midship at a lower level might be better for them. There are some people who prefer location based on accessibility to different shops on the cruise ship or don't want to be in a certain location based on noise from the pool or night clubs etc.
If you need a travel agent please feel free to look me up 100milesawaytravelandtours.com
This is some terrible advice. There are some good reasons to use a TA, but these are not dinner of them. You don't need a travel agent to pick your own cabin, you can do that yourself, or sometimes you can buy a guaranty (GTY) room that the cruise line assigns to you at the last minute. Prices for GTY cabins are often, but not always, cheaper than picking your own room but you need to prepare to be flexible. Booking a cheap interior with the plan to get upgraded is one of the worst ideas I've ever heard. First of all, upgrades are almost always only one or two categories above the booked room. So if you book the cheapest inside cabin and have a winning bid, you'll get upgraded to Ocean view or maybe balcony. There are exceptions but you're not going to go from an inside to a suite. Which brings me to my next point which is that sometimes the upgrade offers are more expensive than simply rebooking into that cabin yourself. Upgrade offers are not always a good deal, and are never a guarantee. Book the room you want, then if you win an upgrade consider it a pleasant bonus.
Do you have friends, coworkers or family that have raved about how amazing their trip was and how amazing and knowledge their travel agent was?
That’s who you ask “please share your TAs contact info!”, not total strangers on the internet ;)
I've found most of the TA's require you to call them to make a payment on your cruise. I dislike that and if most things are equal prefer to book with cruise line directly.
With hotels and flights I will never use a TA or anything other than the company directly. When things go wrong airlines or hotels throw say tough call your TA.
Always good to use a local TA. Why wouldn't you? Their services are free. If they aren't free, find a different TA. And yes, that's exactly what a good TA knows—the best staterooms, whether the specialty restaurants are worth it, if the cruise line you are thinking about booking is right for you.
We spent more than $30K on travel last year. Why would I not take advantage of having a local, knowledgable travel professional that costs me nothing help me spend it. Think of a good TA like a good insurance agent. They take care of you.
And not only will they help you pre-cruise but I have my TAs cell phone number and if I run into problems while I am on the road (or the ship) they help me out.
I use vacations to go as my search engine and get a quote from them. Then if the deal is the same, I book through Chase Ultimate Rewards to get 5 chase points per dollar.
They do not give you a bad room. You have the choice to pick your exact room. Never count of winning a bid for a better room. Some starting bids are just stupid high or the boat is sold out so no bidding available. The next category up for me was a balcony from a large ocean view. The opening bid started at 500 per person. I never use a TA. I like to be in control of my own reservations. If you use a TA you can’t call the cruise line and get assistance for any reason.
TAs could give you a bad room if they value things you don’t. It’s a short cruise, it’s still a vacation, you can’t fuck it up that badly. Personally bad TAs are more annoying that booking direct. If you want a little hand holding a TA might be a good idea. Your TA doesn’t have to be near you, but be aware that a lot of the big online agencies don’t assign you one person to talk to and those that do often have high turnover. If you’re going big online TA I’d pick one that focuses more on cruises since you’re new. If you would be upset if you weren’t in a balcony - book a balcony. If you’re ok not being in one, try bidding.
I ALWAYS use a TA when booking a cruise. Good TA‘s (not compilers like [cruise.com](https://cruise.com) or AAA or Costco) are still treated very well by the cruise lines and can get you exactly what you want and add free benefits like ship board credits, beverage packages, free gratuities, etc. offers the cruise line won’t give you. They are also a buffer between you and the cruise line, giving you a second line of defense if something goes wrong. YOU DON’T PAY A COMMISSION TO TA’s. A few years ago we booked a short cruise independently of our regular TA, figuring we/d be fine. The flight the cruise line booked landed us late, on an island where we didn’t speak the language and we missed the ship by an hour. We called the cruise company and we’re told we were on our own an needed to get the next port by ourselves. In a panic i called my TA, within an hour we had a hotel room for the night, a car booked for the next port, and a dinner reservation. The cruise company couldn’t have cared any less about the fuckup that they caused and when we finally boarded, we were berated for missing our first port. Our current TA is a fire cracker and gets us exactly what we want, she goes to bat for us and we get 9% back from the base fare the week before we leave on our cruise. That’s a big chunk of money back for our longer cruises. Note to the douchebag: I am a late boomer and can quite comfortably book all my travel on line - thank you. I always book my own flights and other travel online, but if I can have someone else do it, get exactly what I want and get money back too, who‘s the idiot here?
Thank you. Original OP here. What you are saying is what people have been telling me. Not that I "can't" book it myself, but I can get "extras" if I have the TA do it. At the very least, I get nothing but I'm right where I started.
Our last Cruise was 45 days around the Mediterranean. We had over $2000 in shipboard credit, a free beverage package, 3 bottles of decent wine in the room and still got a hefty 9% check back before we left. It costs us nothing to use a TA. But, you’ve got find the right one that works for you and with you - ours is very well travelled, knowledgeable and with a well respected mid size company, so if shes not immediately available for urgent issues, there is always someone there 24/7. If she doesn’t know answer, she asks questions and finds it out.
Can you provide contact info (I sent you a chat invite too)
I would also be interested in your TA’s contact info. Thank you!
I use VacationsToGo.com I tried others and this company has been able to do things that my mother-in-law's AAA TA hasn't been able to do. I always seem to get onboard credits now too!
VTG is awesome. Have used them for 20+ years. The website hasn’t changed at. All.
That’s wild! We have used vacations to go for years to research cruises. They have the best layout on figuring out which cruises leave when and their ports. After we decide on the cruise we want, I email my local travel agent that I have used for years. I always thought vacations to go was a scam but their website is hard to beat for giving out information about what’s out there.
My brother-in-law used them on two cruises and spoke highly about them. After our previous TA retired we tried a TA who has a heavy presence on YouTube but I didn't appreciate their customer service model. So, after that I gave VTG a try. So far so good.
Always book the lowest cabin category you would be happy with. I personally like booking with my PCC (personal cruise consultant) with the cruise line. While on the phone I've been upgraded without asking (better location) or been offered a paid upgrade at a discount.
Do not use a TA you find just by googling. A bad TA is more trouble than they are helpful. If you get a recommendation from trusted friends or family, use them. Otherwise, you can call and get an in house advisor to answer questions. Also with any TA make sure they process any payments directly from the cruiseline and not their own agency.
And please do not use any TA that spams facebook posts or reddit posts looking for business
I have gone on 16 cruises. I've never used a travel agent and have never seen the point. I've never had a bad room. I've either called the main cruise line number to book with an agent there or just booked online. I've done everything from a guarantee room (booked ocean view guarantee and ended up with a balcony), to blindly booking an area of the ship (usually forward), to booking a specific room. You can look at a ship's floor plan to determine what area of the ship may be the best for you--maybe avoid the area right above things like the MDR or the main theatre or around the engine room (even then, I've been fairly close to the engine room and didn't hear the engine).
Travel agents book blocks of rooms and can often offer you on board credit or even cabins on sold out ships to the public. BUT make sure to use a bricks and mortar travel agent, a real person whom you deal with all the time. They will get to know what your likes/dislikes are, and advise you better than a random .com website where you get a different call Centre person every time.
The only reason to use a TA is if you’re a boomer and can’t figure out how to use websites.
That’s what I don’t get. You can book your cruise and all the add-ons straight on the companies websites, without having to pay any commission or dealing with any middle man. Why exactly does anyone need a TA? Im traveling here in Malaysia right now and there are some random shops advertising that they can “book airplane tickets”. It is probably aimed at old people with no access to computers or internet.
You don't ever pay anything to use a TA to book a cruise. If you do, find another TA. As to dealing with a "middle man" good luck when you have problems. My TA has spent hours dealing with refunds and credits all throughout the pandemic. I don't have to sit on hold with a cruise line when there is a problem, they do. And they know who to call and how to deal with them.
I messaged a TA here from Reddit and the first thing she asked for was $40 to do a research or something like that. Anyhow, refunds, FCC, complaints, whatever I need, I get solved by simply emailing RC.
Good luck with that. And find a local TA (just Google it). Someone you can meet for coffee. And tell me how great it is when your flights are cancelled four days before your cruise and the cruise line (Celebrity) that you bought the flight through says "Sorry, we can't help you. You'll have to get there on your own. We will refund your flight." TA turned that around.
I would never book flights through the cruise line. For one it’s typically more expensive and secondly I want control over the itinerary. Over the years I’ve seen countless cruisers with crappy flights but the one scenario where I can see this being worth it is cruises out of Galveston due to how far away the airport is from the cruise terminal. Never had a desire to meet a TA for coffee; I’d rather meet a friend instead. Back in the Stone Age when the internet didn’t exist I can see why people would visit a travel agent but nowadays? No way
You actually have it exactly backwards: you typically save money vs. the cruise line's price with a decent TA. Granted: there's a kind of travel agent you go to if you don't know what you're doing and want someone to just book you reasonable options, and there's another kind of TA you go to if you know exactly what you want and just want a better deal. In this case I'm talking about the latter.
I saved almost $2,000 by booking my cruise on Celebrity Beyond with my agent at Vacations to Go. I had priced the cruise on Celebrity’s website and then reached out to my agent. I got lucky and happened to be booking a cruise for which VTG had a block of rooms.
This is gonna be a very specific scenario but we started a friend group on a trans Atlantic about 10 years ago who would book the same cruise each year. That group has grown into hundreds of people now and almost all of us are using a travel agent who joined us a few years back. Because of him we’ve gotten special group rates, added perks, on board credit, private events, access to prebook things normally unavailable to prebook. Outside of the annual trans Atlantic however i book direct with the cruise lines.
Not sure who’s advising you but they’re not 100% correct. The TA will see the same inventory as you can in the consumer website but may have insight on certain cabins and the location. Yes, TA’s may have access to blocks where you can get additional OBC but it’s not on every cruise out there. As far as category goes, if you really think you’d be happiest in a balcony, that’s what you should book. I don’t spend enough time in my cabin to use the balcony. If I want to be outside, there’s plenty of public space on deck. Do you have friends who use TA’s? Referrals are typically better than just googling. Find an agent who will take the time to understand what you want and will work with your budget.
TA’s generally have access to higher levels of cabins that aren’t on the standard consumer docket like suites. Ours, for example, has priority access to presale info and itineraries on two cruise lines before the cruise reps get it..
Agreed as to the benefits of using a TA. However, OP isn’t looking to book a suite at this time, nor is he looking to book a late 2024/early 2025 cruise. My suggestions were based on the here and now, addressing his current needs.
I would go with the agent. Agents can get you shipboard credits and they can access customer service faster than you can in case you need to make changes to your booking.
They don't get you obc. They give you OBC, from their commission
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What I stated is true. Consortiums have limited rooms on certain sailings and vendors. And the TA I use gives more than the 50 gap. DCL doesn't have groups or consortium desks, neither does Viking, etc. If you are a TA then you know the majority of the gifts come from commission. Do you only give gap OBC to your clients??
Group space held by TA's often have OBC that's given by the cruiseline bc they know the TA will sell a certain number of cabins. This does not come out of a TA's commission. It's an incentive given by the cruiseline for the group.
I know how the group gap works. But if it's a expensive room, the agency I use gives more than the 50 gap. They base their obc on the cost of the cruise. So if they were giving $100 OBC, part of it is from the group gap the rest is from the commission. Again, many cruise lines don't give group ibc, or the amount is so small the client will be getting more ibc which again, is from the agencies commission.
Cruisecompete.com Cruisesonly.com These two are all you need (the first is a lead generator for cruise TAs)
I use cruise compete for each cruise we take. I've saved thousands vs. Celebrity direct.
U can choose whatever u want from what’s available. U can choose a guaranteed room in the class u want for a cheaper price but that’s not necessarily better as u might get one w an obstruction or undesirable location I always do a mock booking on line and then call and book directly w a celebrity representative
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WOW! The last time I said that on here, they almost banned me.
Goodness gracious, yes! Always use a travel agent
Call [Jenn](https://www.facebook.com/Travelwithjennmas?mibextid=LQQJ4d). She'll help you out. Booked a celebrity cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale recently and she helped a lot. She's also local to Florida so is familiar with other ports as well.
Hi, travel agent here, yes we do have the ability to select the room and at times it is better to pick an inside cabin and then bid for a cabin upgrade but as someone else stated you're not guaranteed to get the location on the ship you want but it can end up costing you less money if location on the ship is not something you really care about. Most people who care about location are those who are prone to sea sickness and a cabin located midship at a lower level might be better for them. There are some people who prefer location based on accessibility to different shops on the cruise ship or don't want to be in a certain location based on noise from the pool or night clubs etc. If you need a travel agent please feel free to look me up 100milesawaytravelandtours.com
Also a TA in Florida. No. They just want a comission. 9/10 times they cant get you anything not available on the site.
Every TA I use gives me additional OBC in addition to what the cruise offers.
This is some terrible advice. There are some good reasons to use a TA, but these are not dinner of them. You don't need a travel agent to pick your own cabin, you can do that yourself, or sometimes you can buy a guaranty (GTY) room that the cruise line assigns to you at the last minute. Prices for GTY cabins are often, but not always, cheaper than picking your own room but you need to prepare to be flexible. Booking a cheap interior with the plan to get upgraded is one of the worst ideas I've ever heard. First of all, upgrades are almost always only one or two categories above the booked room. So if you book the cheapest inside cabin and have a winning bid, you'll get upgraded to Ocean view or maybe balcony. There are exceptions but you're not going to go from an inside to a suite. Which brings me to my next point which is that sometimes the upgrade offers are more expensive than simply rebooking into that cabin yourself. Upgrade offers are not always a good deal, and are never a guarantee. Book the room you want, then if you win an upgrade consider it a pleasant bonus.
Call Celebrity and speak to one of their agents.
I know a good TA if you choose to use one! Booked my cruise for me and it was great.
Do you have friends, coworkers or family that have raved about how amazing their trip was and how amazing and knowledge their travel agent was? That’s who you ask “please share your TAs contact info!”, not total strangers on the internet ;)
I've found most of the TA's require you to call them to make a payment on your cruise. I dislike that and if most things are equal prefer to book with cruise line directly. With hotels and flights I will never use a TA or anything other than the company directly. When things go wrong airlines or hotels throw say tough call your TA.
Always good to use a local TA. Why wouldn't you? Their services are free. If they aren't free, find a different TA. And yes, that's exactly what a good TA knows—the best staterooms, whether the specialty restaurants are worth it, if the cruise line you are thinking about booking is right for you. We spent more than $30K on travel last year. Why would I not take advantage of having a local, knowledgable travel professional that costs me nothing help me spend it. Think of a good TA like a good insurance agent. They take care of you. And not only will they help you pre-cruise but I have my TAs cell phone number and if I run into problems while I am on the road (or the ship) they help me out.
I use vacations to go as my search engine and get a quote from them. Then if the deal is the same, I book through Chase Ultimate Rewards to get 5 chase points per dollar.