travel agent?

woulld it be less expensive to go ahead and book a cruise with a
travel agent are there any pros or cons?

We found that our cruise was the same whether we booked with our travel
agent or went direct through Princess.
However, if you want a guarantee that you will get on the ship before it
sails you need to book it all including air and cruise through the cruise
line.
We generally get to the departure city the day before the cruise so we book
our airfare ourselves.

wrote in message ...

woulld it be less expensive to go ahead and book a cruise with a
travel agent are there any pros or cons?

On 7/13/2013 3:45 PM, Jr. wrote:

wrote in message ...

would it be less expensive to go ahead and book a cruise with a
travel agent are there any pros or cons?

We found that our cruise was the same whether we booked with our travel
agent or went direct through Princess.
However, if you want a guarantee that you will get on the ship before it
sails you need to book it all including air and cruise through the
cruise line.
We generally get to the departure city the day before the cruise so we
book our airfare ourselves.

HUH? While the way to make sure that you make it on the ship (if not
flying in the day before) is to use the cruise supplied air, there is
absolutely no reason why you have to book it yourself with the cruise
line and not have a travel agent do it.

If you use a travel agent, you can often get them to give you On Board
Credit (OBC), sometimes up to several hundred dollars. While you may
sometimes get OBC from the cruise line as part of a promotion, this is
typically also available if you book with a travel agent, AND you can
get additional OBC from the agent. Also, a good TA will watch for price
drops on your cruise and try to get you the price reduction. If you book
directly with the cruise line, you have to watch for price reductions
yourself.

I recently used Celebrity's Choice Air and was pleasantly surprised that
they were close to $100 cheaper than the price I was able to find using
Kayak (they were higher than Kayak the first day I looked). I am flying
in early so the benefits of booking with the cruise line won't be of
much use to me, I only booked with them because of the price. And I used
a travel agent to book my cruise because she gave me $300 OBC.

On Sun, 14 Jul 2013 00:24:13 -0400, Bill
wrote:

On 7/13/2013 3:45 PM, Jr. wrote:

wrote in message ...

would it be less expensive to go ahead and book a cruise with a
travel agent are there any pros or cons?

We found that our cruise was the same whether we booked with our travel
agent or went direct through Princess.
However, if you want a guarantee that you will get on the ship before it
sails you need to book it all including air and cruise through the
cruise line.
We generally get to the departure city the day before the cruise so we
book our airfare ourselves.

HUH? While the way to make sure that you make it on the ship (if not
flying in the day before) is to use the cruise supplied air, there is
absolutely no reason why you have to book it yourself with the cruise
line and not have a travel agent do it.

Air fare is not really a big sinceI live less than a couple hours away
from port

On 7/14/2013 2:50 AM, wrote:
On Sun, 14 Jul 2013 00:24:13 -0400, Bill
wrote:

On 7/13/2013 3:45 PM, Jr. wrote:

wrote in message ...

would it be less expensive to go ahead and book a cruise with a
travel agent are there any pros or cons?

We found that our cruise was the same whether we booked with our travel
agent or went direct through Princess.
However, if you want a guarantee that you will get on the ship before it
sails you need to book it all including air and cruise through the
cruise line.
We generally get to the departure city the day before the cruise so we
book our airfare ourselves.

HUH? While the way to make sure that you make it on the ship (if not
flying in the day before) is to use the cruise supplied air, there is
absolutely no reason why you have to book it yourself with the cruise
line and not have a travel agent do it.

Air fare is not really a big sinceI live less than a couple hours away
from port

I have a cruise port less than 2 hours away and I still have to fly to
the cruise I recently booked. Not all cruises leave your local port,
even if it is 2 hours away. And I was replying to the person who
responded to your post, who claimed that you needed to buy from the
cruise line itself so you could be assured of making it to the cruise if
you had flight problems as well as responding your original question. As
often seems to be the case, you missed the main point of the reply to
you question.

The reason we are going the day before is twofold.
1. airfare was cheaper by booking it myself
2. Though Princess would guarantee a free trip to the next port if we missed
the ship we are going from Los Angeles to Hawaii and we would miss four days
at sea waiting for the ship to get to Hawaii. So we decided to go the day
before so we don't miss the sailing.
Flying from the Midwest in the winter is risky due to snow and ice so we
don't rely on Princess to get us to the port.

"Bill" wrote in message ...

On 7/14/2013 2:50 AM, wrote:
On Sun, 14 Jul 2013 00:24:13 -0400, Bill
wrote:

On 7/13/2013 3:45 PM, Jr. wrote:

wrote in message ...

would it be less expensive to go ahead and book a cruise with a
travel agent are there any pros or cons?

We found that our cruise was the same whether we booked with our travel
agent or went direct through Princess.
However, if you want a guarantee that you will get on the ship before it
sails you need to book it all including air and cruise through the
cruise line.
We generally get to the departure city the day before the cruise so we
book our airfare ourselves.

HUH? While the way to make sure that you make it on the ship (if not
flying in the day before) is to use the cruise supplied air, there is
absolutely no reason why you have to book it yourself with the cruise
line and not have a travel agent do it.

Air fare is not really a big sinceI live less than a couple hours away
from port

I have a cruise port less than 2 hours away and I still have to fly to
the cruise I recently booked. Not all cruises leave your local port,
even if it is 2 hours away. And I was replying to the person who
responded to your post, who claimed that you needed to buy from the
cruise line itself so you could be assured of making it to the cruise if
you had flight problems as well as responding your original question. As
often seems to be the case, you missed the main point of the reply to
you question.

On 7/13/2013 10:06 AM, wrote:
woulld it be less expensive to go ahead and book a cruise with a
travel agent are there any pros or cons?

Often cruise air is more costly. Cruise line are usually leaves the day
of the cruise. If the weather is too bad to fly you still won't make the
cruise on time. The cruise line may fly you to the next port but you
still miss part of the cruise.

Use a travel agent. Have the agent book your air for the day before the
cruise, with a hotel. That way you have some wiggle room. An agent can
also check for price reductions. If you go with the Cruise Line, you
have to check for those yourself and it's harder to get one if you do it
yourself. Through an agent you may get some other perks like on board
ship credit. On one cruise I took, the agent had a fresh bowl of fruit
waiting in our cabin and two bottles of champagne.

--
____
Brian M. Kochera ABCDT
Animal Behavior College Certified Dog Trainer

Sit Stay And Beyond LLC
Dog Manners Not Mayhem

"The poor dog is the firmest of friends, the first to welcome the
foremost to defend" - Lord Byron
____
View My Shutterfly Page http://photosbybrianmk.shutterfly.com/
My Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/brian.kochera1

In article , Brian K
wrote:

On 7/13/2013 10:06 AM, wrote:
woulld it be less expensive to go ahead and book a cruise with a
travel agent are there any pros or cons?

Often cruise air is more costly. Cruise line are usually leaves the day
of the cruise. If the weather is too bad to fly you still won't make the
cruise on time. The cruise line may fly you to the next port but you
still miss part of the cruise.

Use a travel agent. Have the agent book your air for the day before the
cruise, with a hotel. That way you have some wiggle room. An agent can
also check for price reductions. If you go with the Cruise Line, you
have to check for those yourself and it's harder to get one if you do it
yourself. Through an agent you may get some other perks like on board
ship credit. On one cruise I took, the agent had a fresh bowl of fruit
waiting in our cabin and two bottles of champagne.

You can book cruise air for the day before. Recently many cruise lines
have improved their air program. It is worth checking the cruise lines
air fare and checking on doing your own air and comparing.

I agree with your second paragraph about using a travel agent.

--
Charles

On Thu, 01 Aug 2013 21:59:20 -0400, Charles
wrote:

In article , Brian K
wrote:

On 7/13/2013 10:06 AM, wrote:
woulld it be less expensive to go ahead and book a cruise with a
travel agent are there any pros or cons?

Often cruise air is more costly. Cruise line are usually leaves the day
of the cruise. If the weather is too bad to fly you still won't make the
cruise on time. The cruise line may fly you to the next port but you
still miss part of the cruise.

Use a travel agent. Have the agent book your air for the day before the
cruise, with a hotel. That way you have some wiggle room. An agent can
also check for price reductions. If you go with the Cruise Line, you
have to check for those yourself and it's harder to get one if you do it
yourself. Through an agent you may get some other perks like on board
ship credit. On one cruise I took, the agent had a fresh bowl of fruit
waiting in our cabin and two bottles of champagne.

You can book cruise air for the day before. Recently many cruise lines
have improved their air program. It is worth checking the cruise lines
air fare and checking on doing your own air and comparing.

I agree with your second paragraph about using a travel agent.
if any of you would have read the entire thread I said I Do not need
air travel

On 8/2/2013 10:51 PM, wrote:
if any of you would have read the entire thread I said I Do not need
air travel

I am so terribly sorry. I was confusing your clueless posts with those
of someone else.

Feel free to answer your own questions in the future. I certainly won't
and hopefully no one else will, either.