American Express Travel - Anybody use them, comments?

[tonycpslfl]

Does anyone have any comments about using American Express Travel for booking cruises on RCL?

[Matt]

Welcome to the message boards.

When using any travel agent (AmEx Travel is indeed a travel agent), there's a couple of basics I would look for:

1. No fees for their services

2. Being able to work with the same agent for all bookings (no round-robin person handling each request)

3. First-hand knowledge of Royal Caribbean. They should have not only cruised with Royal, but be familiar with their ships, policies, know who Vicki Freed is, and have a good relationship with their Royal Caribbean BSM

[DoomSlayer]

Unless you have a ton of points you are wanting to use, I would recommend a more traditional travel agent using the criteria Matt suggested.  They are a large company and will treat you as a number unless you have a Centurion Card or High Limit Platinum card and can use their premier concierge services.  This has been my experience.

If points are your reason for asking -- Point conversion from Amex to cruises is terrible, you will get a better value for your points using them with airline partners for flights.

Hope this helps.

[tonycpslfl]

Matt & DoomSlayer; Thanks for your comments.  Good suggestions.  As far as points with Amex, they are all Delta Miles so I won't be attempting to convert them,  as I'm a multi-million miler (life time gold status) with Delta and the points really help with the upgrades to first class.  

Thanks again.

[BrianB]

Keep in mind that one of the best reasons for using any TA is their ability to continually monitor your specific booking and take advantage of any price drops prior to final payment date. That, and being able to deal with the occasional unforeseen changes and difficulties that occur with many reservations. 

Most big company TAs don't give that personalized service. Their goal is volume, not servicing individual bookings. Once you book through a TA, they 'own' the reservation and you can not make any adjustments on your own. So, if you choose to use a TA...choose wisely.

Just sayin'...

[JazzBassMan]

My wife and I use AMEX Travel for our bookings. We mostly use them for the "Cruise Privileges Program". Our TA has been the same TA for every booking. He's reasonably responsive, but nothing I would call amazing. My wife and I usually sail in a JS or higher, so the 300 OBC and bottle of champagne in the room (5 nights sailings and longer) are nice, but other than that, I wouldn't call our experience with AMEX anything special. 

[asquared17]

29 minutes ago, JazzBassMan said:

My wife and I use AMEX Travel for our bookings. We mostly use them for the "Cruise Privileges Program". Our TA has been the same TA for every booking. He's reasonably responsive, but nothing I would call amazing. My wife and I usually sail in a JS or higher, so the 300 OBC and bottle of champagne in the room (5 nights sailings and longer) are nice, but other than that, I wouldn't call our experience with AMEX anything special. 

and to be fair, a lot of non-amex travel agents are able to offer this option as well if you pay with amex platinum - it isn't always available/for every sailing, but we've done it the past couple times and been happy with the $300 OBC and the champagne as well.

[DoomSlayer]

3 hours ago, asquared17 said:

and to be fair, a lot of non-amex travel agents are able to offer this option as well if you pay with amex platinum - it isn't always available/for every sailing, but we've done it the past couple times and been happy with the $300 OBC and the champagne as well.

This has been my experience.  The OBC / champagne offers are usually promotions they send out occasionally and I have been able to use them through my TA when I pay with my Amex card.  Be careful of some questionable TA's that don't pay Royal Caribbean directly with your card because you may miss out on this benefit (when offered).

[mk-ultra]

The only portion of a cruise I use AMEX to book are hotels.  There are some pretty good deals (mostly perks) when booking a Fine Hotels and Resorts or Hotel Collection property.  For the cruise itself, I prefer to not have to go through a TA.