travel agent
 

I used cruisecompete based on some suggestions here. I found two that I liked the price and was wondering if anyone has used Skyscraper tours and Winston and Sons? Could let me know the negatives/positives. thanks

We had a lot of problems with Lori and Skyscraper Tours. Emails and phone calls were not returned. Final payment (agent calling cruise line with credit card number) was severely delayed. I worried that the cruise line was going to cancel my booking for non-payment. Definitely not an agency I would recommend.

Attagirl - you have been very busy. You have never posted here before and now 17 posts in less than one hour. That might be a new record.

Frankly, I was turned off on cruise travel agents , butI just found one that really worked with me America's Vacation Center and I spoke/dealt with Laura Fenton. 1-800-377-0917 Parrot Mom knew what she wanted and Laura was quite patient and we talked and talked and talked.. A friend of mine who is absolutely clueless about cruising has been dealing with her. To me travel agents are a blind item..Some of them are just "sales" people and will not help you when you have problems..What Iwant most of all in cruising (over 20+ cruises) is SERVICE AND good prices. We have special needs like a cabin near an elevator,mid ship,etc. and Laura seems to have found the perfect cabin for our next two week cruise..

This so called site she touts is quite odd as well - it appears to be written by someone whose first language is not English. Very odd phrasing and it really says nothing - an example being when it refers to a ship of RCCL as the "Caribbean". Seems pretty suspect to me.

We have used Winston and Sons for the past five years to book our cruises, and have recommended him to all our friends.
Winston goes above and beyond to find the best deals on all cruise lines, and follows up with excellent service.
He remembers his customer's needs, such as my needing to be midship to avoid that dreaded nausea feeling, and trys to book accordingly. He's very easy to work with, and is a true travel professional. He gets my five star vote!

thank you. I did find Skyscraper and looked at website and tried to look at BBB reports; cannot find a website or anylisting for Winston & Sons or BBBreport in Orlando. I think when in doubt, move on. thanks again for input.

I can recommand to contact Deborah of:
http://www.cruisesbydeb.com/index.php
Nice lady and very good personal service.

I wouldn't recommend Winston and Sons - a work at home agent, you can't depend on and not with the BBB. But I do recommend Danielle at Cruise Vacation Outlet also found on Cruise Compete - they were the agency of the year on that site - she has a great personality and the company has an impressive BBB rating. I'm sure she can get you the same great rates.