Peter

Question: if 100 people booked the same cruise with their favorite travel agent and another 100 people booked that same cruise with their favorite on-line booking engine (expedia, orbitz, cruise.com, cruise411, etc), which group would have the aggregate lower fare?

Bob

Peter:<BR><BR>I have a question for clarification/definition of terms. <BR><BR>Cruise.com gives me a number for a travel agent in Pennsylvania who I make arrangements with over the phone. <BR><BR>So do you count Cruise.com in the online camp or the travel agent camp?<BR><BR>(Cruise.com always beats the prices I find online on Travelocity--not by huge amounts, but I usually save $150-$250.<BR><BR>(BTW--some good informative posts from you lately. Thanks!)

Peter

Bob - thanks for the compliment. When I mentioned cruise.com I was thinking of their on-line booking option. I know that all of these .com's have 800 numbers to call, but then you have to deal with the question of whether they are really travel agents or not. I'm just trying to keep it black and white.<BR><BR>By the way, for those that don't know me, my opinion is that the on-line prices will be cheaper. I just don't see what value the travel agent provides to the transaction.

Phil

Try icruise.com. I got lowest price of all with them. They are prompt and reliable. Check it out....

Paul Therault

Experienced travel agents perform a valuable service. They do not particularly care whether one books a $499 cruise on the internet since they do not make enough to pay for their paper. The large dot-coms make $50 on a booking and sell in volume.<BR><BR>On suites and upscale cruises a travel agent (who has more to work with) will certainly beat a dot-com price if they desire.<BR><BR>How about getting a video of the ship, a video of the ports, printed info on the ports, reviews of the ship, brochure of your specific ship. Also detailed info from the time you leave home to the time you return?<BR><BR>Granted some people do not care about this, but many do.<BR><BR>Paul<BR><BR>