I'm planning to cruise Hawaii on NCL. Does anyone have recommendations on which cruise broker/website etc will offer the best deal and is reputable? Thanks for your help!

I used Pavlus Travel (Discounted Tours, Cruises and Vacations) 800-704-0385 to book few ski trips and cruises.
Best of luck with your plannings.

Find a GOOD local travel agent (ask around locally) and use her/him. You are much better off. The web based ones have a bad habit of deserting you if there is a problem and you ask for help....remember they all sell the same thing and with a person to person relationship you are much better off.

Laura G at cruise Con has always done a super job for me and friends.
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lots of good ideas on saving money

Call Ann Stilson at 888-800-1177, her direct free number or email at [email protected]. DO NOT put Ann@ in front of this. She has booked about 45 cruises for us and has great prices! She has done only cruises for about 18 years and before that was with NCL. Shre is very knowledgable about all the ships. She is so busy she only does repeat passengers, referrals and groups. When she asks, tell her Bonnie from NC said to call as I've been told she will ask how you learned of her.

www.cruisesonly.com 24/7 live human service

I book with whichever agent has the best deal. To find out, go to http://www.CruiseCompete.com.

You just pick your cruise, and let the agents compete to come up with the best offer. I've saved a ton of money over the years, because you never know which agency will have the best deal on the sailing you want until you ask for quotes.

As to reputable, you can also read user reviews of each agency and see their ratings. Why take one recommendation when you can view dozens?

I 2nd the recommendation for cruisecompete.com. I have had great experiences and AWESOME prices with them. No problems at all.

I am currently seeking some prices for Hawaii on NCL for June 2007. I am currently using cruisecompete. I am finding May would be a cheaper month to travel. Perhaps not as warm.

The temperature is not why the prices are less in May. It would be negligible. The reason is June is a higher priced season due to family travel. This is true no matter where you go.

OH yes of course that is so true. I have only had one person respond to cruisecompete is this typical? I thought there would be more than one person. Not much of a "compete." Perhaps it is the weekend.

I second Pavlus Travel. I have used them twice now for cruises and have never found a lower price and their service has been great. Cruise compete prices were not even close.

I now use both cruisecompete and cruisquick.com.

But, very important: you must know the exact date, ship, and cabin category, or even better, the exact cabin, that you want in order to use these sites effectively. If you specify "outside" for example, that is not enough. You can be on an upper deck, lower deck, front, back, or obstructed - and still be an outside cabin. So you must do your research first, then you are comparing apples to apples. If I don't care exactly which cabin, I'll specify a range in the comments section "verandah deck, mid ship" for example. The quotes usually include the cabin number, so you can check the deck plan online.

diann, whenever I've used cruisecompete, I've gotten 3-5 responses, sometimes up to a week after my original request. So, you'll probably get a few more. Go to cruisequick and see what they quote too.

Bonnie,
Is that where you get all the 299 cruises from? Where do you cruise out of?

Do you get last minute deals?

It wouldn't be surprising if response was slower on CruiseCompete or anywhere else this time of year. January-March is known as "wave season" in the cruise business. As much as 40% of the cruises for the year are booked during this time period, and agents are often struggling to keep up with demand.

We recently used on line agent, www.cruisedeals.com. Got a really great cruise and a decent price from them. Good luck.

My last few cruises I have found on www.vacationstogo.com it is a great site for research.

However, I booked through our travel agent of 20 years and she was able to meet or beat the price and hold our hand on little things that the www sites can't do.