BEAV

Just because someone books through an Internet Travel Agency doesn't mean they can't first gather some data and information on the agency. When I had some doubts about a particular on line agency, I googled them, went to TripAdvisor, etc, and was able to confirm my suspicions.

Also, many people believe if you book your cruise with an on line agency (you physically book your own cabin, etc, through via their website) that you cannot contact someone directly with the agency if/when you need to. Booking your cruise on line does not mean you cannot get assistance via phone from your agency! There is only one agency that I know of that works entirely via email, however they make that known up front before you ever begin the process.

Now, after all that hot air (!), to answer the OP's question, I have booked in the past with both Best Price Cruises and Cruise Vacation Outlet. From my personal experience, I would give the edge to Cruise Vacation Outlet because they do not charge a cancel penalty whereas Best Price Cruises does. Also, the agent I booked through at Cruise Vacation Outlet went way beyond the call of duty to rectify a scenario to my complete satisfaction.

Just because an agency has a website and/or on-line booking capability, does not mean it's impossible to still get personal service. The service I got from the agent at Cruise Vacation Outlet was just as superior as I get from an agency I'm currently working with who runs a brick-and-mortar type "store".

DJ_Iceman

Good points, Beav, but I don't think anyone was saying you CAN'T get good, personal service from a discount on-line agency. It's just that there's a risk that you WON'T.

I'm in the camp that wouldn't risk something as important as my rather expensive vacation with my family by going through a middleman I don't know. It's worth it to me to pay a couple hundred dollars more or to give up a little OBC to have the peace of mind I get from not having to worry whether or not my discounter is applying my payment correctly or if they'll be responsive if I run into a snag.

To people who don't have such worries, who save money by using CruiseCompete, and who get great personal service when they need it--good for you!

BEAV

I guess my point should have been asked as a question.

"What defines an Internet Agency"?

For example, I know personally one TA who gives quotes via CruiseCompete who operates her own brick-and-mortar agency in the small town where she resides. She has a website, just like most businesses do today, however you can't "book" a cruise on her site. But because she participates in CruiseCompete, does that label her an Internet agency?

Does this mean you deal directly with the cruise lines? Just curious!

BurBunny

Highly unlikely for a couple reasons. First is that CruiseCompete isn't an agency itself - it's a matching service.

While one of the agencies who purchased your lead may have taken out group space, that's just a hold giving them the ability to sell the cabins at a set price up to a certain date, called a recall. If the sailing is selling well, that recall date can be moved up by the cruise line. At the recall date, all unsold space is released back to the cruise line.

The group space does have the benefit that it locks in a rate early in the booking cycle, often giving a price advantage.

It is extremely rare that an agency actually pre-purchases cabins for resell. That is most common in a charter situation.

rje

Have used both bestpricecruises.com and crusevacationoutlet.com several times each and have good experiences with them. Would not hesitate to use either again.

tcook052

A mistaken impression unfortunately. The potential downsides of going 'at risk' and prepaying some cabins keeps online agencies who live on razor thin margins earned largely on volume from gambling and possibly being stuck with an unsold cabin and eating the cost entirely or facing a deep discount to move the product in a slow market. No, the assumption is much the same as I've heard spoken aloud here about airline consolidators buying blocks of airline seats and 99% of the time it simply isn't true in either case. As other posters have mentioned there may be some groups these volume online agencies are taking advantage of but that's a very different thing than your impression.

There are two ways to book a cabin; cabin guarantee and cabin assigment. The former is great for those who are ready to trade cabin location for a possible cabin upgrade and it works on occasion as you experienced while the latter is booking a specific cabin prior to sailing but in doing so you give up the possibility of a cabin upgrade. Cabin guarantees allow the cruise line to sell more of one category than another and adjust who is staying where closer to sailing, giving some a complimentary upgrade in the process.

yscleo

I had used cruisecompete several times before. Did not end up using bestprice of CVO, but did get quotes from them before. As such had checked them out and seems like many people had used them no problem.

Many cruiselines these days do not allow others to publishe a lower rate than them. With some TAs, you can call and they can they offer a lower rate. Someone mentioned vacationstogo. That is a TA, but I had NEVER found them to give better rates than cruiselines themselves.

There are some people who would never deal with a TA, especially "internet TA", just like some people would feel more comfortable buying airline tickets directly with airline, not realizing TAs can sell them just as well. When it comes to international flights, especially flights to Asia, some people feel more comfortable paying hundreds dollars more directly to the airlines, rather than getting discount rates from TAs. To each their own.

BEAV

Several years ago when I was looking for some highly sought-after cabins (aft facing cabins w/huge verandas) the cruise line directed me to a small independent agency who was holding several of them. No, it was not a group block, but rather the agency had placed actual deposits on several of them. The owner, knowing how popular these cabins were, put down his own money (deposit) when the sailing first opened. Come final payment time, if he had any remaining cabins unsold, he simply cancelled them and got his deposit back. Absolutely no risk to the agency.

tcook052

Yes its done fairly much as outlined but sorry it's still considered a group and something that is capacity controlled by the cruise line. However groups are done well in advance and going at risk on unsold cabins after after final payment is something few agencies could risk and was what I was meaning with my comments to previous poster.

OfficeGlenn

Thanks everyone for their advice.

At the end of the day, I have decided to go with the quote from Cruise Vacation Outlet. The agent there was very responsive to my questions, and I felt comfortable making the booking there, even though their quote wasn't the absolute lowest.

In reviewing some message boards relating to cruising, it seems one of the most important things when booking a cruise online is to make sure that payment is made via credit card, and you confirm that payment will be processed by the cruise line, and show up as a charge by the cruise line on the credit card statement, and that you make sure to check this. After the charge goes through, you should get a confirmation number of the booking, and you can check this directly with the cruise line that the deposit was properly applied.

The other thing I found, in reviewing the various different quotes on cruisecompete is some agencies charge additional fees, so make sure you read the fine print, and ask those questions about extra fees, so that you are comparing apples to apples.

I know some people aren't comfortable booking online, but the savings are substantial. I will be saving approximately $700 per person ($1400 total) over the best price any local TA could offer on this particular cruise.

BEAV

You are absolutely correct. Cruise lines should process your credit card payment and not the TA. In that scenario, should the TA go out of business, the cruise line doesn't have your payment. That has happened to a lot of cruisers, most recently those customers of eCruisestore.com.


I know I harp on this subject a lot (!), however, in my opinion, you didn't book your cruise "online". If you booked and dealt directly with a TA over the phone, then it is no different than doing the same thing with a local TA in the area you reside. I'm just of the opinion that there are a lot of good agencies out there that suffer the stigma of being labled an Internet TA.

Bottom line here is that you've done your homework on the agency and feel comfortable dealing with your agent. Do enjoy your cruise!

tcook052

Is there a way to book travel online without using a CC?

Best undiscounted price, you mean. Did you ask any local TA's whether they would match a discounted online price when you were obtainging quotes?

MHO, and it is naturally biased being a TA, is that finding a good local agent with lots of experience can add another dimension and level of knowledge and expertise to what even a veteran cruiser brings to the process and to me this is worth a small premium.

cordelli

You could use a debit card, you could send them a money order or check, they could do a bank transfer from your account, you could use a gift card.

So yes, there are a few ways to book an online cruise without a credit card.

SRQ Guy

You can generally send a check. It's not the best way to go, though.

tcook052

...and I thought divulging my CC online was sensitive enough information but giving my bank account information to a complete online stranger? I must be horribly old-fashioned.