Travel Agents!
 

Hi everyone I am trying to book a cruise and am in need of help deciding which travel agent to use or not use! We have gotten the best prices from Cruises n-More and America's Vacation Center. Does anyone have any feedback on these companies that would make my decision easier!!!!
thanks!

I've booked a few cruises with Cruises N More, with no problems.

Be really careful with prices since they are really sneaky. When we did cruicecompete for quotes for Princess cruise, the quotes seemed simple but the devil was in the fine print - who included taxes, fuel surcharge, port charges, on-board credit - and who did not. Some lines do not allow discounts at all.

I eventually bought cruise thru an agent (not one of the ones you mentioned) and had a minor glitch when I later wanted to book transfers to ship - Princess would not talk to me since I used agent for cruise booking and the specific person I was emailing at agency had left. A simple phone call fixed the problem, but worth noting.

When I have mentioned this here before I got lectured at by travel agents telling me "I told you so" - but for us the money saved was worth the non-service. Decide if it is for you.

Find a person, walk into their office, and put down money face to face.

We have used the same travel agent for about 20 years and the agency has three agents who do nothing but cruises.

I can not tell you how much this has paid off over the years. One trip we got a $900 shipboard credit. Another time I booked four cabins for all the family and the price went down $1000 before final payment and I got the lower price.

I am not sure, but I doubt any on-line service would do that for me.

YES, ANY booking agent can get you the lower price. KEY is to keep track of pricing trends yourself. There can be significant savings using online booking agents, and it's rare that live agents, paying for storefronts and office space can match them.

I used cruise compete a lot & found
Cruises -n-more to be the best price & service & they will get you the refund if the price goes down,

I have found that for the most part, most travel agents have the same pricing. Yes one has an upgrade or one is giving away cabin credits or something.

Go with the Agent that you feel most comfortable with.

I personally rather do my travel booking online. Why? Because I cannot always get to the Travel Agency before it closes each day. Then I have to wait for the Agent that helped me before ... a real hassle.

Online booking has come along way, heck A big travel publication said that last year 51% of all travel was booked online. Remember that most of the online agencies have little to no overhead, so they can pass the savings on to you.

Once you book the cruise and get a confirmation, you will be mainly dealing with the cruise line. So the agent is secondary, unless something is messed up on the booking.

Just look for the little lock on your browser that says the site is secure, before booking. Or if you look at the URL , sometimes it will say "https:" instead of "http:" the "s" is for secure. Make sure to check your choices before hitting the button to go to the next screen.


Save the time, money and the Gas and book online, just my 2¢

We use a small agency- two or three people. They really take care of things. I doubt that their prices are too high. They give you their home phone and handle problems anyu time.