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PaulRC

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I am thinking of adding another cruise for 2021.  Just a short 4 day one.  Anyway I some questions.  I was going to call RC directly but in the back of my head all I can hear is echoes of all the threads I have read in this blog saying "Use a TA".  My questions about this.  What's everyone's opinion of AAA TA and / or what is a good recommendation of a good.. No wait a great TA.  I do live in the Columbia SC USA area, but maybe that does not matter.

Thanks

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4 minutes ago, PaulRC said:

I do live in the Columbia SC USA area, but maybe that does not matter.

I don't believe where you or your TA is located matters. Nearly all of them can handle a global clientele.

But you're on the right track for wanting to use a TA. You have everything to gain, and nothing to lose!

The official sponsor TA of RoyalCaribbeanBlog is MEI Travel, and it is the agency I use for all of my bookings.

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I would not personally use a AAA travel agent for cruise travel. They are very generalized travel agents there, so unlike a TA who is focused on cruise travel, they have a lot of shortcomings in my mind:

  • They don't know the differences between the various cruise lines, or even the ships within the lines, and which is likely the best fit for your / your family's preferred cruising style
  • They won't know which cruise line might be best for a particular destination, whether for ship selection or itinerary options
    • Great example: My current TA strongly urged me to check Princess for our planned 2022 Mediterranean trip. She openly said that for the Caribbean she'd understand me sailing with Royal or Celebrity, and Princess wouldn't be her first choice either; but in the Med (and also Alaska) the Princess itineraries were the best to be found and good value for the dollar. I was dubious, and really wanted to sail Celebrity for that trip, but after spending weeks waiting for the various lines to release their itineraries and comparing them all for my time frame and budget, I found out that she was spot on.
  • They likely aren't going to do the regular checks on new sales and pricing to see if they can save you money; and even if you do that work, they may not be interested in doing a reprice for you with all that waiting on the phone.
    • Full disclosure on this -- My personal experience with AAA travel is limited to a pair of Disney bookings, but with that I found they very much wanted us to get all the options figured out up front so they could book everything and move on. Never got follow-up from them on anything, either before or after the trip. And I pretty much had to figure out any questions I had on my own, or by calling Disney World myself.

Better to find a travel agent who is part of an agency focused on cruising, who you can get a lot of recommendations from. You won't necessarily (or even likely) get a discount vs the rates listed on Royal's (or any other line's) site, unless they happen to have group rates available. But the good ones will be the ones who tick those boxes.

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Hi Paul- Full disclosure here- I am a Travel Agent. 

We will always offer the same price Royal Caribbean does, with a few exceptions (and those exceptions are special contracted group rates that are lower than you could get booking direct). The benefit to booking with us is that you have an advocate in your corner to help you plan your trip. This means: 

- You have someone to continue to look for and apply discounts should any be released (which is very often with RCCL), so that you do not have to spend time doing the same, or potentially missing a better offer. 

- You have someone to help you navigate the Cruise Planner program.

- You have someone to help you make your dining reservations if you'd like. 

- You have an expert in all things cruising and travel to help you plan the best vacation you can. 

- You have someone you can come to directly to ask questions to instead of spending time looking around on the internet for your answers. 

- You have someone to turn to should something go wrong while you are traveling. This has been key for 2020/ early 2021 bookings. 

And the best part is, we provide all of this for FREE to you. You get our concierge level service at no extra charge. The difference when you book with me is the difference between information and expertise. Anyone can look up information on the internet. When booking your trip with me you know you have an expert in your corner that can help tailor your trip to your desires and make sure you see everything you want to do!

Also- you're paying for our services anyway- what we are paid comes out of the cruise line's pocket. So it's factored in whether you use a TA or not. 

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I've dabbled with some big box store and outfits like AAA.  Many of them are outsourced to agencies that wear many different hats.  They may answer the phone for one company one call then another company another call.  

In general my experience with these types of outfits is that they are fine when everything goes well and there no issues to deal with.  Prior to the pandemic many sailings worked this way.

The problems begin when things don't go right or you start getting off the well established "normal" path.  If you introduce FCC or FCC has to be reissued then a cruise cancels and now the FCC is from 3 cruises ago.  It's when things don't go well that I've regretted using these types of companies.  

It seems to me like all these agents want to do is book new cruises.  Maybe their comp plan works that way.  Simple requests are no problem like a cabin change.  If an issue will require them to spend hours on the phone with a cruise line they start inventing rules on their own.  "Nope, not allowed to do that, goodbye".  Sometimes they don't reply to an email.  

The last thing I would want during pandemic cruising is booking direct or booking through these types of travel companies.  

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1 hour ago, JLMoran said:

I would not personally use a AAA travel agent for cruise travel. They are very generalized travel agents there, so unlike a TA who is focused on cruise travel, they have a lot of shortcomings in my mind:

  • They don't know the differences between the various cruise lines, or even the ships within the lines, and which is likely the best fit for your / your family's preferred cruising style
  • They won't know which cruise line might be best for a particular destination, whether for ship selection or itinerary options
    • Great example: My current TA strongly urged me to check Princess for our planned 2022 Mediterranean trip. She openly said that for the Caribbean she'd understand me sailing with Royal or Celebrity, and Princess wouldn't be her first choice either; but in the Med (and also Alaska) the Princess itineraries were the best to be found and good value for the dollar. I was dubious, and really wanted to sail Celebrity for that trip, but after spending weeks waiting for the various lines to release their itineraries and comparing them all for my time frame and budget, I found out that she was spot on.
  • They likely aren't going to do the regular checks on new sales and pricing to see if they can save you money; and even if you do that work, they may not be interested in doing a reprice for you with all that waiting on the phone.
    • Full disclosure on this -- My personal experience with AAA travel is limited to a pair of Disney bookings, but with that I found they very much wanted us to get all the options figured out up front so they could book everything and move on. Never got follow-up from them on anything, either before or after the trip. And I pretty much had to figure out any questions I had on my own, or by calling Disney World myself.

Better to find a travel agent who is part of an agency focused on cruising, who you can get a lot of recommendations from. You won't necessarily (or even likely) get a discount vs the rates listed on Royal's (or any other line's) site, unless they happen to have group rates available. But the good ones will be the ones who tick those boxes.

 I will initially book a cruise myself, then I'll turn it over to AAA. And for what it's worth, I pay for AAA every year and their travel services are included. And as with other travel agents you can get some perks by having them handle your reservation.

 As for your comments and some of the comments from other posters, I do agree. While yes AAA's travel agents are more generalized, they kinda' have to be and it's understandable. But I have found some individual agents can be more cruise oriented then others. But even with that I've had to explain certain things to them that they may not necessarily have known. I know it seems like I'm the one doing the work, especially when it comes to looking for price reductions every day (kind of used to it), but I'll just call and/or email them if and when I find a lower rate and they'll take it from there. And yes as others have noted they are your advocate if and when something goes wrong. I've had them settle issues with past and future cruises when it comes to rooms, pricing, FCC and other issues. I would not have been able to solve some of them by myself. I don't have that magic number they call?

 Something else that I'm able to do that I know some others can't is (perhaps it's just personal but) if I have to do something big with a cruise like final payment, or re-scheduling or even FCC & cruise planner credit I can visit an office and do it in person. It's something I've always preferred to do when it comes to business. I'll make an appointment, go in and see what I need to be done then and there, and get the paperwork. A simple price reduction I can do over the phone or email, something more involved, if I can be there to see it done, I will.

 

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17 minutes ago, PaulRC said:

@Sharla  If I am just in the thinking about it phase and have questions so I can give "my Boss", My wife..   who might just deny the whole thing is it still ok to call you, or any TA or is this just maybe wasting your time?

Good question! We get paid when the cruise sails (or is cancelled but paid in full). However it's not a waste of time to quote, book, or anything and change it. It's all part of the services we provide. MEI-Travel is not the only agency out there and we get that, but we do personalized service and I don't ever pressure you to book if you're not ready.
 

So ask us to quote or anything, that's not a problem at all! 

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3 hours ago, JLMoran said:

I would not personally use a AAA travel agent for cruise travel. They are very generalized travel agents there, so unlike a TA who is focused on cruise travel, they have a lot of shortcomings in my mind:

  • They don't know the differences between the various cruise lines, or even the ships within the lines, and which is likely the best fit for your / your family's preferred cruising style
  • They won't know which cruise line might be best for a particular destination, whether for ship selection or itinerary options
    • Great example: My current TA strongly urged me to check Princess for our planned 2022 Mediterranean trip. She openly said that for the Caribbean she'd understand me sailing with Royal or Celebrity, and Princess wouldn't be her first choice either; but in the Med (and also Alaska) the Princess itineraries were the best to be found and good value for the dollar. I was dubious, and really wanted to sail Celebrity for that trip, but after spending weeks waiting for the various lines to release their itineraries and comparing them all for my time frame and budget, I found out that she was spot on.
  • They likely aren't going to do the regular checks on new sales and pricing to see if they can save you money; and even if you do that work, they may not be interested in doing a reprice for you with all that waiting on the phone.
    • Full disclosure on this -- My personal experience with AAA travel is limited to a pair of Disney bookings, but with that I found they very much wanted us to get all the options figured out up front so they could book everything and move on. Never got follow-up from them on anything, either before or after the trip. And I pretty much had to figure out any questions I had on my own, or by calling Disney World myself.

Better to find a travel agent who is part of an agency focused on cruising, who you can get a lot of recommendations from. You won't necessarily (or even likely) get a discount vs the rates listed on Royal's (or any other line's) site, unless they happen to have group rates available. But the good ones will be the ones who tick those boxes.

Haha, I don't post much but you drew me in.

My wife was a AAA travel agent for about 10yrs during the late 90's thru early 2000's and I would say your comments are a little generalized and more geared towards individual agents themselves.  I know this will not be the case with all branches but the branch my wife was at still has some of the most traveled agents that I know and always provided top notch service no matter the destination. 

With that said between the wife being an ex agent and myself being a control freak, we typically handle our cruise bookings on our own.  Like many here on the forum I watch for price drops like a hawk and its just easier for me to pick up the phone and get the price adjustment.  We then transfer our booking to a friend who still works at AAA so she gets the commission and then add on our travel insurance.

The wife earns more money now in a completely different career field but I will say we have never traveled as much as when she worked at AAA travel.

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On 12/18/2020 at 10:30 AM, PaulRC said:

I am thinking of adding another cruise for 2021.  Just a short 4 day one.  Anyway I some questions.  I was going to call RC directly but in the back of my head all I can hear is echoes of all the threads I have read in this blog saying "Use a TA".  My questions about this.  What's everyone's opinion of AAA TA and / or what is a good recommendation of a good.. No wait a great TA.  I do live in the Columbia SC USA area, but maybe that does not matter.

Thanks

We have used AAA exclusively because we are members.  We have enjoyed going to the local office (MD and NC) to discuss plans with an agent, and we've had fantastic support when problems have come up (e.g., lost luggage).  We find that our agent is knowledgeable about multiple cruise lines and can integrate land packages with cruise packages, such as when we took our son to Australia for a semester abroad program.  That said, we have heard great things about MEI and would consider them if we ever stop being AAA members.  I might also add that when we started cruising, RCI didn't have so many automated tools and resources.  Still, I like to talk to real people, so a TA will always be my first choice.

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