Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - cruisequick.com

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How trustworthy is Cruisequick.com as the prices are lower than other sites? How do I find out how legitame they are?

Ask for their references and plan to spend some time checking them out. Unless you are cruise-savy I would not book over the net. Paul

I book my own travel. After finding out many years ago that many TA's don't do nearly as good a job as I can do myself, I search, and book myself. Never had a problem, but I make sure that who I am dealing with is reputable! I'm not sure what difference "cruise savy" makes......many TA's have never been on the ships in the first place. I remember one not knowing where Venezuela was. Then another booked a one hour change of planes from Delta to Air New Zealand in LAX on a Friday evening! I got that changed in a hurry. Most people are quite capable of taking care of their own travel needs. That is why these boards are so helpful, as people can ask questions of others. IMHO

After 10 cruises booked through a local TA, we recently investigated the world of on line travel agencies for our 11th & 12th cruises. We know what we want, and didn't feel the need for any TA assistance as to cruise line, ship, itinerary etc. So we researched 6 of the major, well known on line sites, and found that the highest price quoted was $600 PP & $800PP less than our regular TA offered us for the same bookings. All of the on line sites quoted reduced fares, but Cruisequick.com offered the lowest, beating the next closest on line site by $100PP & $150PP for each cruise. We are computer savvy people who do a lot of work on line, so we were not turned off by not having a person to talk to. All communication with Cruisequick is done via e mail.Some may be turned off by this, but we found it quick and easy. We chose our cruise line, ship, itinerary, date of sailing and stateroom category on line, and received a price back via e mail within 30 minutes. We then requested a specific stateroom for each cruise, and when Cruisequick advised they were available at the price quoted, we booked our cruises. We paid our deposits via credit card over a secure internet line, and within 24 hours we received e mail confirmations from the cruise line, confirming our deposits, booking numbers and stateroom assignments.Two weeks ago we received notice via e mail that final payment was due for our 12/4 cruise.Payment was made via credit card over a secure internet site, and we received confirmation from the cruise line of payment in full. Of course we did call the cruise line direct and confirmed that all is in order. Frankly, if our usual TA was slightly higher than the on line agency, I would have remained with her. But $600 & $800 PP is too much of a variance. Loyalty should work both ways, but obviously our usual TA didn't feel that way and was charging us top dollar. Please feel free to contact me via e mail for any other questions you may have.

Paul, Can you tell me why you do not recommend booking over the internet?

After I read this post, I went to the site and got a price for the cruise I am already booked. Cruisequick was $1017 plus tax and HAL is $1027.15 with tax. This is for Maasdam, Inside Passage, Sept. 18, 2003. I haven't gotten a quote back for the other half of our trip(back to Ft. Laud from Vancouver), plus a month ago HAL changed a port from Astoria, OR to Seattle, and the CQ website still had Astoria. They might be cheaper than an agent at your home but not from my example.

John, I stated if you are cruise savy then book. If you are at all concerned that things might not go right and you do not have the time to search for hours over the net then go with a travel agent and compare prices. There are many travel agents that reduce their prices, some very dramatically. Except, of course, when someone books the lowest insdide cabin and then a travel agent does not really care whether that person goes somewhere else. Spend your time calling travel agents rather than spending time searching the net. At least you do not have the fear of getting burnt. You have peace-of-mind. Paul

Syl I book strictly with a TA.If you choose to do that instead of the internet,as some of the posters advise,I suggest you search for a "Cruise Only" agent in your area.There are indeed some agents who only sell cruises.I treied the internet for my own travel and contrary to what otehrs say, I couldnt cut the mustard.Way too much for me.Good Luck Jason

Paul, You said " At least you do not have the fear of getting burnt. You have peace-of-mind." Now realistically speaking, many TA's go out of business, and people have lost their money. So, I don't think it makes a whole lot of difference, as long as they send it to the cruise line! I have more peace-of-mind taking care of my own business than having to worry about a company folding. Sorry, I know you are a TA, but do you work out of your home, as I notice you are on webtv which would be unusual for a company in an office.

He is alos contradicting some of his posts from the past stating not to "USE" TA's by getting price quotes form many of them. And of course all his comments are biased towards a TA. He is one. And according to him he has a huge business. Although for some strange reason he does not have his own web site. I don't know of a business today that doesn't. Makes you wonder doesn't it?

I am simply making a statement. Anyone can do whatever they please and believe what they please. This is what is nice about living in the good 'ol USA. It is a fact that travel agencies close but very few just leave you without previous notification. Not so for dot-coms. Just make sure you get the proper documentation. As far as guessing what I do, how old I am, or what I eat for breakfast .... keep guessing. The winner will get a new Ferrari. Paul

Travel agency owner, 73 and Post Toasties. I am curious about something you said, Paul. You said that travel agents wouldn't be able to beat prices for the cheapest inside cabin so they don't care about that business. At what level do you start to care? Outsides, balconies, suites?????

4 cruises - 6 cabins booked thru cruise quick no problems...even got a rfund when the price went down...great prices

For whatever it's worth: here's some take-it-or-leave-it advice. Haven't dealt with Cruisequick, because I found a better price at mycruisevalue.com. I'm pretty displeased with their customer service skills, but in the end, I guess I'm okay with it because I've gotten such a great deal. On another note: I find it really disgusting to hear a travel agent talk about not really caring about the budget traveler. I'm not an inside-cabiner myself, but I'm willing to bet that many of those who are, are living out a dream when they take that cruise.

I've used a number of dot coms to book travel and I have never had any problems. I agree with torpeedo. We should have a choice with all travel as the airlines have given us. Use an agent pay for the service. Do it yourself, save. It's getting this way. Agents should be required to charge a fee. If they are worth their fee they'll stay in business.