Find a Cruise Travel Advisor

Table Of Content

• They can create a group rate and handle everyone's bookings
• Expert guidance. No booking fees.
• Imagine Cruising
• We Make Vacation Planning Easy
• Going on the same cruise ship twice. Is it boring the second time around?
• Destinations & Ports
• Helping leisure selling travel agents successfully manage their at-home business.

Any of these delays could prevent a shore excursion operator from returning guests on time to a port of call and risk the ship departing without them. Your local professional travel agent is a great resource to help you plan your cruise. If you would like the assistance of a travel agent near you, select from the options below.

They can create a group rate and handle everyone's bookings

Which itinerary you choose impacts which destinations you'll visit and which shoreside activities will be available to you. It can be overwhelming to evaluate the options on your own if you've never cruised before. You should consider booking a cruise through a travel agent because a knowledgeable agent can help you understand the nuances of a cruise purchase and help you make the best decisions for your vacation preferences. Going online to book an airline ticket or hotel stay is a familiar and fairly easy transaction. When you book a cruise, however — particularly your first cruise — you might want to reconsider the impulse to handle the transaction yourself through a cruise line website or an online advertiser with cheap prices. This DIY approach might not be the best way to find your dream vacation at sea.

Margaritaville at Sea Launches New Travel Agent Incentive - Cruise Industry News

Margaritaville at Sea Launches New Travel Agent Incentive.

Posted: Mon, 08 Apr 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Expert guidance. No booking fees.

Princess Cruises, Fincantieri Postpone Delivery of Another Ship - Travel Agent Central

Princess Cruises, Fincantieri Postpone Delivery of Another Ship.

Posted: Mon, 22 Apr 2024 15:38:18 GMT [source]

Cruise Planners travel agent is merely a selling agent and makes no warranty expressed or implied. Cruise Planners, an American Express Travel Representative, has a tremendous reputation for quality, service, and very competitive pricing for ALL of your travel needs. Cruise Planners travel advisors will help you discover exciting adventures around the world. To learn more about Cruise Planners and the executive team, click here. We have a pulse on the land travel and cruise industry and have up-to-date information on what's hot and happening in travel, as well as access to the best travel rates.

Imagine Cruising

Travel agents will never leave you in the dark regarding how much is left to pay off and how much longer you have to do so. Plus, if your cruise fare is eligible for repricing, they will continuously check the rate to see if decreases. If that happens, they will contact the cruise line and get them to honor the lower price. Once cruising restarted during the pandemic, Jarvis said, Travel Leaders vetted both new and previous excursion vendors for its Distinctive Voyages product.

Cruise lines prefer that you use a travel agent rather than going online and booking directly. They have small in-house reservation teams, and when you have a question while making a booking, good luck in getting an expert on the phone in a timely manner. Rinat Glinert, COO of Venture Ashore, said the brand has a back-to-ship guarantee and takes into consideration port conditions, holidays, traffic and ship arrivals and departures during the initial planning of experiences. The day of the tour, guides stay in touch with Venture Ashore to communicate about weather and other conditions. The difference is that most cruise lines do not pay commission on third-party tours, and guests often look for higher-quality experiences than what cruise lines offer, said Tom Baker, president of Cruise Center in Houston.

Since they keep track of current vacation promotions, they can alert you as to when the best time to book is. Additionally, a travel agent will be able to assist in rebooking flights in the event that yours is cancelled or delayed. Weather is unpredictable, and you never know when you will fall victim to airline chaos (one of the best cruise tips is to arrive the day before your cruise!). The last thing you want to do when trying to kickstart your vacation is wait in line at the customer service desk in the airport or on hold with the airline. Some travel agents also will monitor your cruise fare and, if the price drops, alert you to the difference and try to get you a refund, onboard credit or an upgrade. When you're ready to purchase your cruise, you can either go directly to the cruise line you've chosen, or you can book a cruise with a travel agent.

Cruise lines will not talk to you if you have booked through a travel agent. This can be frustrating if your travel agent is out sick or on vacation, or if the travel agent has made a mistake and is not fixing it. As in all professions, some agents are more helpful and easier to work with than others. In rare instances, when working with a travel agent becomes impossible, cruise lines usually will try to get the booking transferred to them.

Beyond the excellent advice and onboard perks cruise sellers can provide, one of the greatest things about working with a travel agent is she or he will have your back if something goes wrong. Travel agents, on the other hand, have much more of an incentive to keep you coming back, as their customer list is significantly smaller than the cruise line's. If something goes wrong with your booking or on the ship itself, a good travel agent will be on the phone with his or her contact at the cruise line immediately to try to get everything fixed. Agents often have access to group pricing (buying cabins in bulk at lower per-room rates), which the agency consortium or franchise group they belong to has been able to negotiate with the cruise lines. Along with group pricing, they might have special perks to offer like onboard spending money, prepaid gratuities, a free bottle of wine or comped dinner in a for-fee restaurant.

Helping leisure selling travel agents successfully manage their at-home business.

With an overwhelming world of choices, we understand you may need some personal assistance to plan your perfect vacation. From finding the right destination to choosing the best departure date, we're here to help. Plus, our experienced travel consultants have access to exclusive vacation deals to make sure you get the best value for your time and money. A travel agent is someone who is passionate about travel and providing the highest level of customer service . An agent's primary goal is to curate the best possible travel experience for their clients, whether that be on a two-week Europe land vacation, weekend trip to New York City, Walt Disney World, or a cruise. Look for travel agencies that are cruise-only or a home-based agent who specializes in cruises.

If you are using a full-service travel agency, ask for the cruise desk. In addition to sharing their expertise, the agent may have negotiated group space at lower rates with the cruise line, which could save you money on the cruise fare. The agent might also have first access to sale prices because the cruise lines notify their agent partners and loyalty club members first before they announce a sale to the public. Plus, the price of your cruise includes accommodations, meals, entertainment and activities — and in some cases drinks, tips, shore excursions, Wi-Fi and other extras. A travel agent can help you determine what your cruise fare gets you. The cheapest base cruise fare does not always provide the best value or best overall vacation deal.

Generally speaking, the prices that travel agents can provide are the same as what the cruise lines offer. Travel agents are prohibited from rebating their commissions -- in order to lower pricing or give significant onboard credit rewards -- by almost every single cruise line. Some agents still practice rebating, but if they're caught by the cruise lines, they could lose their selling privileges. They are an invaluable resource, helping yousave time, money, and avoid the stress of vacation-planning. A travel agent is afulfiller of dreams, offering all the tips you need about our ships, activities, and destinations!

Bookings can be made online or over the phone with either the cruise line or the travel agent. You will not be able to research and book everything in a single sitting. Let a travel agent save you time by giving you personalized suggestions or handling the booking themselves. In choosing a cruise travel agent, you will want to tap into the person's specific expertise about the cruise line and ship you are considering. Anyone can read a ship deck plan outlining ship spaces (which you can find online), but you are looking for people who really know their stuff. You might get more personalized care from smaller agencies than from the huge online agencies, though websites such as icruise.com, Cruise.com and Cruise411.com also have experienced cruise agents.

That's what happened last month when a group of eight missed the last tender to the Norwegian Dawn during a 21-day cruise up the coast of Africa. Our directory offers listings for Celebrity Cruises' offices and representative worldwide. Travel professionals are there to help you plan your next vacation aboard a Carnival fun ship. Elizabeth graduated from New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute with her M.A. Growing up, she had the privilege of traveling frequently with her family and fell in love with cruising after sailing on the Oasis of the Seas her freshman year of high school.

You aren't just booking general passage on a ship, either, as you will be asked to pick a specific cabin and when you prefer to dine. Making a mistake in these categories can ruin your cruise experience, as there are such thing as "bad" cabins and dining times (think noisy or claustrophobic cabins, dinner at 8 p.m. with cranky children, etc.). When you book a cruise, you are making a vacation decision that goes way beyond a flight or hotel nights. Which ship you choose determines your dining and evening entertainment choices for the duration of your vacation.

Such is the case for Valerie Scope, owner and travel advisor of Sea Our Style Travel in the West Palm Beach area. She focuses on cruises in the Caribbean, Mexico and Alaska, and she uses Shore Excursions Group and other independent vendors with whom she's built a relationship. But if she is booking a client in Europe, Australia or New Zealand, where she doesn't have experience with operators, she'll recommend guests take excursions offered by the cruise line. Under normal circumstances, you may only transfer a booking from the cruise line to a travel agent, and that transfer must be done within a certain timeframe after the booking is made. Generally, the transfer must be made before final payment is due and before the cruise is paid in full.