Should You BOOK Directly with the CRUISE LINE, TRAVEL AGENT or ONLINE? Cruise Tips & Secrets 2021

Are the travel agent rates lower than the free rooms (except port fees and taxes) / casino rates that cruise lines offer?

Just wanted to ask your advice.........how to find a cruise buddy...........I can share with anybody.....I am a 72 years old Aussie born in Glasgow Scotland.... this will avoid the huge supplements ..........it is terribly frustrating booking as a single...I have been trying to book for ever

Booking Directly with the cruise is more expensive.

Nice video!
I am an agent at Vacations to Go.
And you have explained this beautifully.
I usually always try to give them a better deal or some sort of perk for booking with me.
- Agent Evette ext. 7900

I don’t imagine you’re allowed to take sides, but would you be able to poll your viewers and ask them what their preferred travel agents are? Does it matter if I’m Canadian?

Are you a travel agent?

Just reached out to a TA was told they charge 99.00 for first 6 people and then 50 for each additional person as a consultation fee. Is that the norm?

I personally will never use a travel agent again. This was my experience with one. Usually I just book direct:

I booked a surprise cruise for my wife. I specifically said to only contact me and not my wife....of course 3 months in she sends my wife an email with full details....and didn't even remember I said not to contact her.

Finally she thought we cancelled our cruise for whatever reason and she was reaching out to confirm cancellation.... luckily we saved it.


Never again

Can someone suggests the best travel agents? I spoke to some local travel agents in bay area but they told me they will charge extra money for the cruise bookings etc. TIA

Binge watching your channel.
I would be a first time cruiser.
I’ve waited all these years and your videos are awesome, informative and gives me the confidence I need.
You’ve covered most of my questions but one. To go on excursions,, does the ship have an elevator for a slightly handicap person?
I’ll continue to watch your channel to see if I can get that answered.

This video is quite informative and help us with whom we should go with

Can you tell us how to find excellent travel agents for certain cruise lines and destinations?

And I think the travel agent might be better because if you have a ton of questions they should be able to answer the only exception to this is if you have friends that are experienced cruisers and you can ask them to help you plan it out

I have some friends who are planning a vacation to Mexico at a beach resort and like many people it will be at an all inclusive resort and will stay at the resort and is premises the entire time. My question is what advantages other in winnowing down the choices of where exactly to go in Mexico and who to stay with what would be the advantages of using a travel agent in this case?

The problem I’ve experienced with TAs is that they may not have all available cabins when compared with the cabins shown on the cruise company’s web site.

I like to research Cruises myself question these third part cruises discount sites online are they safe to book with compared to booking directly online with the cruise company. Im very careful since there is so many scams out there and want to insure Im booking with a reputable company can you offer some advice on this. I love the videos you do very informative and great information. Thank you

Anyone have a number for a good travel agent for princess cruises?

Do you have a cruise adviser

We used a TA twice - for our first cruise and our first Disney trip. I think TA’s are great for first timers, but being the natural planner that I am, I prefer to book myself.

We booked a Virgin Voyages RS suite and the price dropped overBlack Friday. The Mega RS suite was cheaper than our suite aft. they would not give us travel credit, a price reduction or anything.

All this is about it booking with a travel agent lmaoo

I love that lip color on you. Thanks for your videos. Great information.

I live in southern California, do you have any idea where I can find a cruise specialist travel agent? Thanks!

I am going on a group cruise in September and most of us used an agent. I will not do this in the future. I have booked my 3 previous ones on line and like being able to do that and change things and such. I don't like having to have a middle man.

Hi Ilana. Just watched your video on booking a cruise through a travel agent vs direct. Good info on both perspectives.
Quick question for you (or any posters).. My wife and I have only been on 3 cruises so far, and have used a travel agent (recommended by a co-worker) for all bookings so far.
The travel agent I use said that she will be retiring very soon. I asked her an off-the-record question about who she recommends that I use for future bookings when she is no longer with the company. She still seems to be loyal to the company that she currently works for and tells me to just continue booking through them.
My question is if you have any pro/cons about booking cruises through Costco Travel, as they offer fairly good sized Cash Cards for booking through them. But I wonder if the amount of the Cash Card would be worth any issues that may be typical on booking through Costco.
Hopefully this gets read and replied to.
Thank you for your wonderful videos that you put out.
Cheers from Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
David

We always booked directly with the cruise line and it worked out well. However, a AAA travel agent encouraged us to use her and we agreed. Big mistake! After a few months, she left the and were never notified. Then the new agent left after a few month for health issues. Now our new one is worthless and doesn’t respond to emails, but we can no longer call our cruise line since they can only now talk to our travel agent. Take away, we should have asked the questions mentioned in this video before booking with AAA.

I prefer not to book with a travel agent. If i make a mistake its on me if they make a mistake u hear a million reason why and your stuck with it

Can you book a cruise 2 years out or more??

I use a TA. I find the cruise I want at the price I want and can call the TA (or any in their office, someone is always free) and be done in 10 minutes.

My wife and I are in our mid-sixties and retired. About five years ago we started cruise (in our case with Princess, mostly because my sister is an elite member on Princess and recommended that cruise line). My wife is 99% deaf and I am 65% deaf, so effective and precise communication is challenging.

For our first cruise, I attempted to navigate various online methods to setup the cruise. I tried the usual, Costco, direct with the cruise line, ect.
I found that when using Costco or directly with the cruise line, the reservation was pretty easy and straight forward. However, I personally found it both labor and time intensive, to sort out all the other stuff. Eg. Transportation: Airport, Hotel, Ship, ect, including baggage handling, in something larger than a beat-up minivan with 15 people jammed inside. Flight seating requests (we prefer aisle seats with the aisle between us). We also prefer connection layovers that are between 1.5 hours to 2.5 hours, so we can stretch, eat and relax. Also, if it is monetarily sensible, we prefer to leave from our local small airport, rather than drive three hours to a city and stay in a park and fly hotel, then do the reveres on the way home). Private or limited person Tours and events.

My travel agent handles all of this for us, and we appreciate it.

Anyway, that's what we do and why we do it.

If you have an "issue" with a cruise line, it is always better to have an agent on your side! A good travel agent is worth her weight in gold; a bad one is a pain. And yes, I always use an agent. Be sure your agent has sailed the line you are interested rather recently--you want up to date info and experience. Don't necessarily believe anything that the voice at the other end of a phone working for the cruise line tells you. Many of these people have never even seen a ship, let alone one owned by the line you are interested in. Your TA has many resources, including clients. He/she will learn from their clients. For instance, my cruise partner has a mobility issue. My TA contacted me about another client who had. a question about accessibility features and whether the room they thought they wanted had what they needed. Not only could I answer her question from personal experience, but I was able to send a photo that she could share with her client. That's so much better than someone reading off a computer page!

Love your Blog and I am a subscriber! My wife and I are booked on Symphony of the Seas in June of 2024. We were supposed to cruise on Oasis this year but had to cancel. RC re-booked us for Symphony in June of 2024 but could not guarantee us a balcony instead offered us what they call an Outside Guarantee for an additional $400 per person I believe. Have you ever heard of this? The picture that comes up simply shows a porthole. Are we getting ripped off? We are very concerned that we are being overcharged for something that will not meet our needs come time for the cruise. Now we are sorry we booked the cruise ourselves and wish we had gone through a travel agency... What are your thoughts on this post, Please, any help here would be Deeply Appreciated...

I’ve booked cruises both ways. However, I have wondered about booking the flights and hotels pre and post-cruise, whether it’s better to book them direct with the cruise line…on the same principle as booking shore excursions with the cruise line…so that if anything goes wrong it’s up to the cruise line to ensure that we get on the cruise.

Always always always book online. I get great deals online thru the lines own site. 7 cruises in six months this year and only paid $100 each. And I cruise solo. Would be $50 if I went with another person.

do you have recommendation of cruise travel planner?

I have travelled with Princess a couple of times and always booked myself. Having recently moved to Europe, I have been unable to directly contact them online😢. Still working at it

I booked w Top Business Class Travel Agency in San Francisco! STAY AWAY FROM SCAMMERS!
The Agent booked me on a Economy Flight from JFK to Athens Greece even though I asked for Premium Economy! Discover Card paid them, even though I proved thru emails between the travel agent and I that he disregarded what I asked for!
I now owe $1877 for a flight I couldn't take! I could not sit with my feet down on a 10 hour flight. I highly advise staying away from that Agency & Discover Card!

A question for people who has $50 like me in their budget, WHAT YOU ARE DOING HERE ! I dont have an answer

I need a travel agent in Fl… what do I look for??

What should I look for when choosing a travel agent?

Well, I was waiting for a travel agent recommendation but I didn’t hear it 😂, did I miss it? I need one that’s good.

I joined Carnival's VIFP program. If I use an agent, will I earn my points being booked through a 3rd party?

Great video. Despite having cruised several times (albeit under unusual circumstances most people wouldn’t encounter) I’ve decided to finally investigate the utilization of a travel agent for a cruise, and this video was the top result from my search.

This one was fun.

I started out looking through an agent. Well this a gent was awful he didn't listen to us he sent us 5 cruises that we didn't want and when we would email him about what we wanted he took weeks to get back to us. Needless to say we booked directly and had no issues.

I’m way too controlling to use a travel agent. Lol I always book directly with the cruise line and airlines so if there are any issues I can deal directly with them instead of a third party.

One thing I came across is that you want to make sure that whoever you book with, it is in your local currency. I was going to go with an online cruise site but realized that since they were going to be billing me in US dollars my credit card company was going to ding me for not only the exchange rate but a foreign currency charge of 2.5% as well. Since I am Canadian it worked better for me to book directly with the cruise line themselves because they charged me in CDN$ so there were no extra fees.

As an agent obviously I prefer everyone books with a travel advisor. Even before I became an agent myself, I used an agent because of the ease, good rates and other services the provided ie; flights, pre and post cruise hotel, excursions, etc al. We are certified by the cruise lines that we book for so we have all the knowledge to help plan and book your cruise. We are the ones that sit on hold with customer service, sometimes hours, to take care of any problems that may arise. We're also the ones that actually value our customers and take pride in our business. Whereas, the cruise lines are out to sell the cruise and make money, bottom line. In addition, if you use an agent, you are supporting a small business and helping someone provide for their family.

TA better cruise line not too helpful