Cruises - booking a cruise

We (2adults+small child) would like to go on cruise this December from Tampa (since we live there). We never been on cruise before. I've noticed that most cruise websites (co-branded like USairwayscruises, skymilescruises and united, also cheaptickets) give the same price. The difference is only which miles you'll get (US airways, DL or UA). Since all of you have experience with cruises, is it a really good deal (or practice) to purchase a cruise from airline websites? The reason I'm asking is that I just found out about cruisecompete.com and travel agents give lower prices for the same cruises than airline sites. Are there any 'hidden details/tricks' in the TA's quotes? Is it preferable to book a cruise via travel agent?

We (2adults+small child) would like to go on cruise this December from Tampa (since we live there). We never been on cruise before. I've noticed that most cruise websites (co-branded like USairwayscruises, skymilescruises and united, also cheaptickets) give the same price. The difference is only which miles you'll get (US airways, DL or UA). Since all of you have experience with cruises, is it a really good deal (or practice) to purchase a cruise from airline websites? The reason I'm asking is that I just found out about cruisecompete.com and travel agents give lower prices for the same cruises than airline sites. Are there any 'hidden details/tricks' in the TA's quotes? Is it preferable to book a cruise via travel agent?

I have found that using a good, reliable, on line travel agent who specializes in cruises is my best best. They always give you something for your business. I am going on a cruise in June and I am getting $100 in on board credit plus my gratuties paid. That comes to an approximate total of close to $300 off the price. It really depends on the value of miles. To me, it is easier to get large amounts of miles from other places.

How convenient to be able to depart from Tampa. It's so convenient and easy to navigate. We have sailed with the Carnival Legend from there to the Western Caribbean and enjoyed it very much.
Yes, you should use an online travel agent.

Check out cruise compete and then look at the cruise line's website. This close to the cruise date there might not be any difference since it will be at or past the full pay date.

If you want to go Carnival let me know and I will give you the name and contact of the person I use to book our Carnival cruises. she works directly for Carnival and always gives us a good deal/room.

Last time I checked DL's vacation website, they charged a premium for their services and offered nothing more. I usually book on online TA that would throw something in for your business. For example, on board credit, free gratuity, free transfers, bottle of champagne, etc.

Last time I checked DL's vacation website, they charged a premium for their services and offered nothing more.

That's my experience also.

I'll recommend for your first time taking a little more time and finding a real live human travel agent for that personal contact and expertise to answer your questions and help steer you in the right direction with something that works rather than just something that's cheap. There is a different between price & value.

Happy sails & sales. :)

I'll recommend for your first time taking a little more time and finding a real live human travel agent for that personal contact and expertise to answer your questions and help steer you in the right direction with something that works rather than just something that's cheap.

That has absolutely been our experience. ^ We've been dealing with the same outstanding agent for several years after she was recommended by fellow cruisers. She happens to be a couple of thousand miles away in YYZ. Her company, like others, sometimes has bulk cabins reserved on cruises we're considering, which can also sweeten the deal.

It's the only aspect of our travel experiences for which we utilize a travel agent and we'll continue to do so happily. :)

Check out cruise compete and then look at the cruise line's website. This close to the cruise date there might not be any difference since it will be at or past the full pay date.


Can you clarify? You seem to be suggesting that a discount TA will not give a discount if the sailing date is within final payment. Admittedly, I haven't booked inside final payment in several years, but I don't see any reason this would be true. In fact, I'd suspect they'd be even more willing to discount since you can no longer cancel with no cost at that point so their risk is reduced.

If you want to go Carnival let me know and I will give you the name and contact of the person I use to book our Carnival cruises. she works directly for Carnival and always gives us a good deal/room.

Are you saying that your PVP can offer discounts not available to the general public? I'm pretty certain that is not true. A PVP may have some insight into the best rooms and maybe a better view as to what is available, but a regular (cruise-centric) TA really should have that also. Given, a PVP only has to know about Carnival ships but then you are limited to Carnival only.


I have to agree with tcook: find a real live TA who gives good service and rely on them for awhile. Once you get hooked on cruising (and you will, having a nice variety with no airfare), you can study up to become more knowledgeable and then use the discount from an online TA who offers discounts. (Note that many do not offer discounts.)

My mom has booked cruises with a travel agent affiliated with AAA and she's been pretty happy with them.

Depending on the TA and when you book the cruise, the TA may have already returned their batch of cabins to to cruise line control. So it might not be any better booking with a TA unless you have an established relationship with them.

I booked a cruise through an on-line TA thinking it was a good deal. It was inside the final payment so I made full payment at booking. They gave me a ship board credit. The next day the cruise lines own site had the cruise cheaper than I paid including the on board credit. The TA said they could not do anything about the price difference but that I would be given a cabin upgrade, which I considered a worse cabin that I had, it was just on a higher level. So no real advantage using a TA in my case. And the customer service sucked.

MY PVP always gets me the best cabin for a great price. I have no hassle getting price drops or on-baord credits since I can do them myself and not wait for a TA to get around to it. If I have any problems I can deal directly with the cruise line.

I have learned to check the cruise lines own website and compare it to the Ta's quote. It may not be a good deal if you do not know the TA and the prices are close.

I booked a cruise through an on-line TA thinking it was a good deal. It was inside the final payment so I made full payment at booking. They gave me a ship board credit. The next day the cruise lines own site had the cruise cheaper than I paid including the on board credit. The TA said they could not do anything about the price difference but that I would be given a cabin upgrade, which I considered a worse cabin that I had, it was just on a higher level. So no real advantage using a TA in my case. And the customer service sucked.

MY PVP always gets me the best cabin for a great price. I have no hassle getting price drops or on-baord credits since I can do them myself and not wait for a TA to get around to it. If I have any problems I can deal directly with the cruise line.

Yes, you can however you may not get what may be as objective an opinion as dealing direct as through a TA.

Also not every cruise line will downgrade your pricing post final payment. I know Holland America specifically won't do it and at most on a one-off basis may yield and offer a cabin upgrade if available.

Depending on the TA and when you book the cruise, the TA may have already returned their batch of cabins to to cruise line control. So it might not be any better booking with a TA unless you have an established relationship with them.


A TA only has a batch of cabins if they have a group on that ship on that date. That has nothing to do with the online discount TAs. A TA with a group might give you a better deal, but being in a group can have significant disadvantages: #1 being that you don't necessarily get price drops because group pricing is separate from individual pricing.



I booked a cruise through an on-line TA thinking it was a good deal. It was inside the final payment so I made full payment at booking. They gave me a ship board credit. The next day the cruise lines own site had the cruise cheaper than I paid including the on board credit. The TA said they could not do anything about the price difference but that I would be given a cabin upgrade, which I considered a worse cabin that I had, it was just on a higher level. So no real advantage using a TA in my case. And the customer service sucked.


Yeah, that sucks but it's true of most consumer lines. After final payment they don't need to give you a price drop or credit. They don't have to give you the upgrade either.

As far as that goes, you can always refuse the "upgrade". Of course, since the OTA was giving poor service they may have done it without asking.



MY PVP always gets me the best cabin for a great price. I have no hassle getting price drops or on-baord credits since I can do them myself and not wait for a TA to get around to it. If I have any problems I can deal directly with the cruise line.


The only way I know of that you get price drops after final payment is if you're booked as Early Saver on Carnival, which has it's own drawbacks. In that case, you can submit for your own price drop (OBC) on the website.

I do agree that it's easier to deal directly with the line, but on my upcoming cruise I'm getting a $163 discount from the OTA. That's a 5.5% discount off the full price, or roughly 7% off the comissionable fare (as I understand the breakdown.)

Difficult to pass that up just for the possibility of a little inconvienence, but that's my 2 cents, of course.


I have learned to check the cruise lines own website and compare it to the Ta's quote. It may not be a good deal if you do not know the TA and the prices are close.

Any TA should be quoting the standard price. If not, run away...


But let's take a step back: what cruise line(s) are you talking about? You experience seems to be so far off the way Carnival operates (and RCCL and Princess, etc, AFAIK) that I'm wondering if you're cruising one of the smaller lines or one of the European lines?

Thanks for replies.

We have decided to sail on Norwegian Star from Tampa on 7 day cruise. I used cruisecompete.com service to get a quote, one of the TA quoted SJ stateroom for $2536 and can give $150 OBC. Regular sites (like usariwayscruises) price the same room for $2726 and give $100 OBC. But I see that on usairwayscruises.com you can choose GTY stateroom where you might be upgraded to the highest stateroom category, while quote from cruisecompete.com is for specific stateroom only. So, the question here is will cruise line give highest stateroom as an upgrade if choosing GTY stateroom?

Another question is - is SF category better than SJ? SJ seems to have much more space, but comes without balcony. This will be our first cruise and I want to be it perfect.

So, the question here is will cruise line give highest stateroom as an upgrade if choosing GTY stateroom?

Moving from SJ Family Suite into a higher category while possible might not happen given several category upgrades normally occur more often in the lower cabin categories such as interior or ocean view and less often in suites since they are much fewer in number and are usually booked well in advance. IMHO save the price difference and get a cabin assigment in a good location amidship. Some higher categories such as SF while offering alrger aft balconies are actually smaller overall than the SJ.

You could of course pay the extra amount and take the cabin guarantee option and still wind up with the SJ category so upgrades aren't given on every booking all the time, especially if by "December" you mean over the Xmas & New Year's holiday season when occupancy on the Star is likely to be high.

Happy sails!

Thank you for reply, tcook052.

We choose December 11-18 cruise, so plenty suites are for sale now. But we have decided to book specific stateroom. The only question that left is - which one SJ on 12 deck or SF (aft position) on deck 8. To have a balcony is very tempting, but overall SF is about 305 sq. ft (SJ is 495 sq. ft) and also my wife is a bit afraid to have balcony since we sail with our very active 3 year old daughter. Decisions, decisions....

Personal opinion...I would forego the balcony with a little kid like that. If your wife worries a lot about things in general, then worrying about the balcony every minute while in your room will not add to her enjoyment and will make it stressful.

Cheers.

We (2adults+small child) would like to go on cruise this December from Tampa (since we live there). We never been on cruise before. I've noticed that most cruise websites (co-branded like USairwayscruises, skymilescruises and united, also cheaptickets) give the same price. The difference is only which miles you'll get (US airways, DL or UA). Since all of you have experience with cruises, is it a really good deal (or practice) to purchase a cruise from airline websites? The reason I'm asking is that I just found out about cruisecompete.com and travel agents give lower prices for the same cruises than airline sites. Are there any 'hidden details/tricks' in the TA's quotes? Is it preferable to book a cruise via travel agent?

Find a good local brick and mortar agent. Rates will be the same but you are likely to enjoy shipboard amenities (perks) plus just the experience of someone who books people regularly.

A cruise is not like an airline ticket!

Worldspan
130th cruise coming Nov 20th (Allure of the Seas)

Personal opinion...I would forego the balcony with a little kid like that. If your wife worries a lot about things in general, then worrying about the balcony every minute while in your room will not add to her enjoyment and will make it stressful.

FWIW (and slightly OT) I agree. I still remember our then two-year-old son trying to climb up the rail on a ferry deck while yelling excitedly "Big bath, big bath!" :D

Agree with the others that a balcony cabin can wait until she's a little older and you've become hooked on cruising.

Having just taken twin 2YOs on a cruise, I'd actually lean towards the balcony. The kids were never ever allowed out there by themselves. Admittedly they may have been able to open the door if they were stronger, but you can get a stick-on alarm for that kind of thing. (I believe some balconies have a latch at the top of the door, but Spirit did not. Pop over to cruisecritic and somebody on the family board will know about the Star.)

It also looks like a couple of those balconies are wraps which is a great thing. Plus, you just can't beat this view:

http://stegbauertwins.com/IMGP7695.jpg

Note that the balcony rail is well above her head. As I said, they were never out there by themselves and we were careful not to leave any furniture close to the glass when they were out there. Only you can judge your daughter's skills, but our team of monkeys are quite able.

Another thing to consider (and the reason we upgraded) is that you are somewhat stuck in the cabin for nap and bedtime. Having a balcony to relax on while the child sleeps is a very nice thing. Having a suite with a separate bedroom would be better, but the balcony serves well also.

Of course, if your wife will worry the entire time it is surely not worth it. You have to make the call if it's an idle concern or if it'll ruin her vacation.

Bon Voyage!