While this TA is obviously incompetent, I wonder how easy it is to cancel
and change cruises when you book directly? I always have and probably
always will book with my TA, George Leppla. I don't see any disadvantage
but I do see advantages to using a TA. And like you, I do most of the leg
work. But I follow the cruises like a hawk and if anything changes to my
advantage (price drop, etc...) I only have to email him and it's taken care
of. And he'll also make changes when and if he becomes aware of better
offers. Try doing that with a direct booking.

And to those who say they better deals not going through a TA, I'd like to
know where? Are you talking about the occasional $50 credit on Travelocity
or such? IMO, not worth it.

--
Greg



"mgb" wrote in message
...
This is not a slight on TA's. They do valuable work but I ask a legitimate
question to the group - why should experienced cruisers, people like me,
bother?

Long story but here's the details:

We've been using the same TA since 2001. Service has always been
excellent. Last year we took 2 cruises and booked a 3rd. The 3rd is where
I've seen a noticeable difference. We initially booked on one of the
larger cruise ships with RCI and gave the TA the deposit and went on our
way. We did all the legwork; picked out the ship, date, room, itinerary
and notified the TA that we wanted air with a deviation to go down 2 days
early. Piece of cake from a TA point of view I should think.

Well a month or so later we changed our minds. We decided on a smaller
ship, same date, an extra day, better itinerary and $1000 cheaper - it was
a steal so we took it and decided to change. Again, we did all the
legwork. We called it in to the TA but she was on vac so we left it with
her fill-in and went on our business. Well a couple of days later we
noticed that the TA booked the wrong number of people and our credit card
was actually refunded. So we called back in, got it straightened out and
they re-charged our card. At that time we asked for a full printout of the
cruise showing deposit and what was remaining with the date due. We wanted
this for our records since the paperwork we had now was outdated due to
the change. The fill in TA never sent it (even after 3 or 4 phone calls)
so I decided to heck with it, we'll wait for our regular TA (about another
6 weeks) to come back and we'd get it done.

So after the TA came back we went in to book a last minute cruise and at
the same time relay the story and ask for the printout. Well we took our
cruise but the updated printout we wanted never came. My wife did make a
couple of phone calls after we came back from our cruise but never did the
TA call back. Once she said, "Oh I'm right in the middle of booking a
flight for someone. I'll call you right back". The call never came. It was
close to Christmas and since the cruise was still a long way off I decided
to back burner the thing until after Christmas.

I decided two weeks ago to get in touch with the TA and ask what was left
for a balance and when was it due. After 2 weeks of 1 eye-to-eye meeting,
3 emails and one phone call I finally got it. End of story you say? Read
on . . . .

When I looked at the balance it was $1000 too much. So I called back in to
see what was going on and was told by our TA that she'd look into and get
back to us the next day or at the latest today. Well as I was talking to
her, I suddenly realized that the price she quoted was the exact amount
quoted on the larger ship that we originally booked but later changed. All
she did was yank out the original paperwork without a thought as to what
she was actually sending. So I told her what she had done and clarified
the error and have yet to hear back with a true balance.

So my question is "Why bother?". I could call the cruise line directly and
get the exact same price she gets me. We're experienced cruisers and know
what we're doing and if all I'm going to get is the run-around for the
same price I could get directly from the cruise line, I don't see the
point. In this internet age I do all the work to book a cruise, all my TA
does is take my money and tell me a bunch of stuff I already know.

What do you guys think? Should an experienced cruiser book directly with
the cruise line? If the price from the TA is the same price that I can
get, what benefit do I get from having a third party? In our case
sometimes the TA books with a tour company like Air Canada Vacations so in
effect I have a 3rd and 4th party in the mix, all for the same price I
could get.