BOOKING A CRUISE ONLINE IS IT SAFE
 

I found a good deal online with Cruises.com at $500. cheaper for an outside cabin than booking at the Princess website. Any advice ? Is it a safe thing to do ?

I have booked many cruises on line with Vacationstogo.com. with absolutely no problems.

Your credit card offers protection from scams. What we have done when booking thru an on-line travel agent/third party is to then check cruiseline website which should indicate your payment was credited to your account.

But be really sure there is a $500 difference. I did not think Princess discounted to travel agents (some lines do,k some not). There are all sorts of add-ons - taxes, port fees, fuel surcharges - that type of things - that the cruiselines include in their price quote and sometimes do not show up until the final booking page with on-line sales.

We have never had a problem with cruise.com. We have booked directly with them because their prices are so good and we don't always wait for our TA to start the day at 10AM. Our TA is independant now and uses tcruise.com. She is so busy she only takes past passengers, referrals and groups. She used to be with a BIG on line company before becoming independant - she's booked only cruises for close to 20 years now!

I've done 3 cruises, all booked online with cruise.com.

These are very useful comments - thank you. If I understand well, I can still go to my TA and she can get those good rates for me right? It is better in my opinion, to deal with a TA in case something goes wrong. Thanks again.

I found it absolutely safe for my Alaska with Princess via SmartCruiser. And there was a very large discount.

In general, booking a cruise is a very safe transaction as long as you: 1) use a credit card; 2) make sure it will be the cruise line and not the agency that charges the card; 3) ask lots of questions so you're sure you know exactly what you're getting, and 4) get the answers in writing.

I think cruises.com is a good company, but I always get competing quotes from http://www.cruisecompete.com. If you can't get a better deal there than at cruises.com, I'd suggest you go ahead and book with cruises.com. If you get a better deal on CruiseCompete, you can read customer reviews of the agency offering it right on the site.