NYCdreamer

I've looked at:
1) cruise411.com
2) Cruisebrothers.com
3) Moments-notice.com
4) Expedia.com
5) Travelocity.com
6) Cruisesonly.com
7) Cruisebrokers.com

Any other ones you can recommend that I check out?
I need to book a 10-12 night Mediterranean trip for this summer.

Thank you!

gail

When booking our cruise for next week I checked prices at many of these sites. Price was essentially the same everywhere - some looked cheaper at first but reading fine print had to add taxes, port fees, etc.

Some here have reported getting same price but additional on-board credits or perks by using a live travel agent - but I have no experience with that.

jacketwatch

Ihave found that the travel club with costco always beats, and by a sig. margin, Travelocity and Expedia. I think www.cruisecompete.com will also beat their prices. I can't speak about the other 5. Never have tried them thogu I could be wrong inre to Cruiseonly. I may have tried them too but found them to be higher.

triathlete

I'll second the vote for http://www.CruiseCompete.com

The best prices aren't published on the web (cruise line rules). Through CruiseCompete you can enter one request and get competing quotes from a number of agencies all at once.

Good luck!

bcirish

I looked at all of them and actually got a really good price from one advertised in a cruise magazine but it was strangely $250 less than anyone else ( that also happens to be the amount of the port charges so was a bit concerned ) I checked with a friend who does a lot of cruising ( several a year ) and she directed me to Cruise Specialists out of Seattle - I looked at their site - cruisespecialists.com -requested a quote and got back an email and a phone call and great service and a better price than any of the others I found online- I am headed to the Mediterranean for ten Days at the end of May. Sharon, the consultant was a great help. For more information I can email you off forum. Good luck - kind of scary when ou are spending that much money!

narob

For experienced cruisers cruisequick.com is terrific!

NYCdreamer

Thank you all!! I will try the ones you recommended. It's my parents' birthday (60th and 64th) and my husband, daughter and I will accompany them. I think they'll be stressed if they don't have us to explain things to them - also, they don't speak English well.

Looks like I need to book either pre or post cruise land tour as well. This one will cost us!!

spurs

Try Alex at [email protected]. I've always found the best price with him.

sceneisle

If you don't know exactly what cruise you want to take, try vacationstogo.com. If you know what cruise you want, it's hard to beat cruisecompete.com.

Txtrav1

At everyone's suggestion I used cruise compete for over several days and my best deal came from cruises-n-more. Also called vacations to go and cruises-n-more beat them by a significant amount. VTG said they couldn't match my deal. Had excellent service from cruises-n-more. Trip booked and got exactly what I wanted with no issues at all. Keep in mind every deal may be differnet depending on what cruise line you are looking at. I was doing NCL

maryanne1

Have used Vacations to Go for 2 Caribbean cruises and 1 Alaskan cruise and always found agents very helpful. Even if you don't book with them the info they provide on the website helps to make comparasions.

eandj

I see you are probably in NY? I am in Wisconsin, but found Easy Escapes Travel (in NY), by chance and have used them for last 3 years. Not just cruises. Cathy Sanchez will beat ANY quote I give her. I use Vacations to GO as a starting point. We have been really pleased. Be careful that any quotes you get, DO include all the fees and taxes. They can add hundreds to your price. Have fun shopping!

murielg510

i have used CRUISEVALUE before and have had good success..we just booked a 15 day r/t cruise to hawaii on princess and the price was 300 per person cheaper than booking it thru the cruise line...go figure....

eenusa

Best Price Cruises has done good by me; I just booked my third cruise with them.

Brahmama

I've used GeGe at Buycruises.com for 4 cruises and always had great results - PLUS - she has a direct phone line so you can talk to her about any issues.

Good luck!

Brahmama

oh, and if you're looking at Oceania, we use
Shari at cruzunlimited.com

BudgetQueen

I have booked about 8 cruises with Cruises N More over the past few years. Could not find a lower price.

But a few days ago, they could not match my two bookings with Cruise con, so I booked with them, the two trips for this fall.

It pays to get on several email lists and compare prices. If you need nothing more than a valid ticket, then this is the way to go.

flbronc

Vacations To Go beat any price I could find - including cruise compete. Great folks there..

golfette

Please forgive me in advance if I am being untoward, but how do we know that these posts are not the posts of TA's themselves? E-mail is such a blind venue.

As to on-line TA's, whichever you pick, what kind of service do you get & what if something goes wrong? Are they there for you?

I would love to use an on-line TA, their prices ARE lower, but I'm nervous dealing with on-line TA's considering how much you're spending and how important the details are.

Would appreciate your comments. By the way, we booked directly with HAL. Called AAA and 2 other land-based TA's & their prices were higher. Go figure!

ROSWALT

I don't believe 3 travel agencies have higher prices than HAL. First, make sure you compare apples to apples. Then, you need to understand how travel agencies work. They get prices from cruise lines and keep some money as commissions. To attract customers, out of commissions they would give you a discount, or onboard credit, free insurance etc. If they start charging more than cruise lines, they'd go out of business. Why book directly with cruise line when you have tons of TA competing with each other for your money? Take advantage.