Good stuff, Happy. I think for a frequent cruiser like you who is high revenue for your TA, you'll get great service and the TA will bend over backwards for you to put you in their block bookings or otherwise get you discounts. For the rest of us -- the one-offs or the every other year or even every year cruisers -- it's hard to find a TA that will do that for you. I've had a few people who are heavy cruisers refer me to their full service TAs, and while they will help me out to keep my friends happy or if they view me as a potential future relationship, it's not the same.

For the family trying their first cruise, or the infrequent cruiser, I actually think it's hard to beat costco. Their discounts are really good, and they actually work pretty hard to help you out. I think they have good enough contacts with the lines that getting you out of a deposit after final payment and other stuff is sometimes possible depending on the situation. And they have folks there who concentrate on cruises, so they can give you a little bit of TA style service, though not nearly what a knowledgeable TA can give you.