wrp96

Years ago when I was between travel agents, I used Southwest to book a cruise. It was like booking through Expedia or Travelocity, in fact I think it was actually one of those companies running it at that time. It's fine if you know exactly what you want, don't need any hand holding, and don't expect to make any changes. But remember they are your "travel agent" and not the cruise line, so if you have any issues, questions, etc, you need to contact them and not the cruise line.

philemer

I used Costco Travel to book our fall cruise w/NCL and I've called NCL a few times to get questions answered & once to make a partial payment with my AMEX card (can't use AMEX on Costco's site) and they, NCL, have been very helpful. For any major changes I would call Costco but the wait times can be a pain.

jjla

Could you please share the TA?

philemer

Send him/her a PM with your request by clicking on their username.

Randyk47

I sent you a private message with her information.

nldogbert

Hi,
I am quite new to this cruise thing. Together with some friends we would like to book a cruise for 2024 and I have checked out some websites including cruise.com and the cruise company itself and noticed that prices were the same.
Is there any other better websites (reliable and trustworthy) to get additional discounts/credits?
The one I am interested in is the one to (southern) carribean. Best so far I have seen is from Carnival.

Thanks in advance!
Cheers!

YVR Cockroach

Discounts of any sort? Depends on how much the cruise is (and when you book). In general, the more expensive, the more leeway for discounts of various sorts. You might also be limited to who you can deal with as a (presumably) NL resident. Not exactly sure about your age and tastes when it comes to lifestyle but Carnival may be... "interesting".

nldogbert

Well, nothing too fancy. The age group is around 30-70, as it's combined with a family and parents.
What do you mean by " interesting" ? My last cruise was > 15 years ago with Holland-America. Truthfully I am not really such a cruise person, just because one of the member in my party wants to celebrate his birthday on a cruise once in his life.

Cheers!

YVR Cockroach

Decorum, or lack of. Carnival and Royal Caribbean have this "WalMart of the Seas" reputation (as does to a slightly-lower degree Norwegian/NCL). Might be fun with young children/teens and if you're in your 20s/early 30s but not so much otherwise.

Princess has a little more decorum, Holland America even more as well as Celebrity (for the "mass market" cruise lines. You also have your choice of MSC and Costa but those are said to be chaotically Italian. Might, given your location, determine if there are any cruises that depart and return to the ABCs (might be less hassle than entering the U.S. at least 2x).

Back to pricing. If the cruise is later in 2024, "wave season" sales early in the new year may be the best once you figure out which cruise line(s) you've short-listed. Also watch for season as late summer into autumn is hurricane season.

The (very) big ships have a lot of top deck space dedicated to noisy activities so there's less room to enjoy being outdoors. For example, my wife and I were very briefly considering a coastal cruise. Found out that there's a go kart track that takes up about 1/3 of the available top deck space, a "ship within a ship" exclusive area ($$$$$) that takes up another 1/3, so there's 2 small pools (with a water slide) for the rest of the up-to 4,905 passengers.



The Norwegian Bliss