Compare travel agents?

[Navymom]

Would it be worth my while to compare several travel agents for the same sailing to see if one has a better price over another? I suspect they may have different onboard credit but didn't know if all agents get the same block room pricing from RCCL.

[twangster]

It depends what you are seeking. 

The travel agencies that offer the most discounts tend to take that out of the commision paid by Royal so you can end up with travel agents that have very little skin in the game.  Often these agents have no time to spend servicing your booking so expect little service.  Maybe you want to change cabins or upgrade.  No money in the booking for an agent to invest their time doing that, so they might not. 

Some of these companies manipulate the system and you'll find you need to make payments to Royal and to the agency for the cruise. That's a big red flag.  If the cruise goes off as planned you've done great, if anything happens you'll find yourself cheated out of FCC and having a difficult time getting refunds or credits.

If you are okay with a reduced level of service that's great.  On the other hand if it's the service that you are seeking then consider your approach.

There is no free lunch in the travel agency world.  The old adage "If it seems too good to be true it probably is" remains valid.   

 

[Ryan79]

@twangster is correct. I attempted to respond with a similar response but it turned into a word salad and I gave up. Service can be much more valuable than potential OBC should anything happen between booking and embarkation. A cancelled cruise, an overbooked cruise, a cancellation on your end, modify cabin location, modification cabin class, or cabin occupants can be headaches that a good TA can absorb for you free of charge. 

[SweetPea]

I agree. To put it another way, i had no issue with my bargain TA, until Covid/shutdown. My FCCs for canceled cruises were never what i expected (much less) and i was never able to figure out the fuzzy math and their explanations of refund breakdowns were lofty at best. They still don't make sense, 2 years later. 

Trying to lift and shift during that time was a nightmare with them as well. 

[wordell1]

I would discourage you from choosing a TA that way. I use a full-service TA, but I would actually rather book it myself directly with Royal before using a "bargain" TA.  

If you use a TA, you cannot call Royal directly about issues - you must use your TA.  If you have a bad (or mass market) TA this can be a big problem.  As @SweetPea stated above, many people found out with all of the cancellations what the value of a good TA was.

I now use MEI which sponsors this site. I highly recommend them.

These are your basic choices - 

1 - Use a full-service TA - Get the rates published by RCI and occasionally a discount because of group rates or special offers.  Your TA does all the work and you just let them know what you want - costs nothing extra.  A good TA can also watch for reprices - I have actually saved much more through this service than I ever would have gotten in discounts from other TA's.

2 - Book directly with Royal - no problem but you may need to spend some time on the phone dealing with issues if they come up.  It can be a lot of time if you need to cancel/rebook as an example and FCC's as a result of a cancellation are especially troublesome.  You can reprice this way, but you must find the lower price yourself and call Royal to get it.

3- Use a "Bargain" or Mass Market TA - Can sometimes get onboard credits, cheaper prices, or other perks as part of the booking.  These can provide great value if there are no issues. If you have problems or cancellations, you will have a nightmare getting the TA to spend the time required to get it fixed.  The TA's at the mass market travel websites are not experienced and do not always understand the ins and outs of cruising.  Repricing is often not allowed on these sites.

[Navymom]

Awesome advice everyone. Thanks so much. This is the first time I've used a TA. She's been in business here in Texas for 8 years and I think she's attached to a larger company. I got a better rate with her group rate than I could have with RCCL and she gives $50 onboard credit, which I figured was pretty normal. My first cruise with her will be this August and I'm currently booking another for Feb 2024. I chose her because she is local and I was able to meet with her face to face. We'll see how this turns out!

[Traveling Mike]

I would start the conversation out with "What do I want from my Travel Agent".  Then you can start your comparison based on your needs.

[Reigert2008]

7 hours ago, Navymom said:

Would it be worth my while to compare several travel agents for the same sailing to see if one has a better price over another? I suspect they may have different onboard credit but didn't know if all agents get the same block room pricing from RCCL.

You should certainly do your homework to make sure your TA and you are a good fit.  I had A TA with AAA for many years who booked all Disney World trips,  four Disney cruises, and three Royal Caribbean cruises.  She was nice and great to work with, but at the time AAA had a policy of not  repricing and you paid AAA who then paid Royal.  So, we switched to a different agency that a family friend was a TA for.  She was great but once again the agency had some weird policies and then dropped the ball during COVID.  I was already shopping for a new agent when COVID happened, and was randomly matched with an agent from MEI and it’s been a great experience. 
 

In case you don’t know, MEI can book way more than cruises!  We’ve used our MEI agent for six cruises, a trip to Disneyland, and an Adventures By Disney trip. 
 

Could we get some OBC for using another agency? Maybe, but we tend to book inside cabins so the OBC wouldn’t add up to much, plus we don’t spend anything once on the ship, since we pre-pay for everything in the cruise planner and sometimes the OBC isn’t available in the planner.   For us, the benefits of using MEI are priceless.

 

If you’re interested in working with MEI, do like I did and request a quote using the form on RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com

 

*If anyone cares, I still have AAA for the discounts, triptiks, guide books, and roadside assistance. . A lot of it is digital now,but I’ve been a member for 25+ years and don’t plan on leaving

 

Good Luck!

[OCSC Mike]

I’m in the middle of using MEI for the 1st time myself. I almost always booked on my own over the years (unless I needed a TA for a certain sale rate) using last minute deals & GGG sales since we live an hour from PC & have flexibility at certain times of year.

Now that prices are a bit crazy, I decided to explore other options. I admit I am most interested in the pricing my TA was able to offer for this particular cruise (significantly below what I could get on my own) but so far the service via e-mail has been excellent as well.

I’ve already had him price what will likely be our next cruise after that. The price is only a tiny bit lower than what I could get myself but what’s interesting is I have always booked guarantees (we don’t care much about our cabin) so that’s what I use as my baseline price. Using the TA, I have been able to choose my cabin in both cases.

I’ll miss playing the GTY game (ok, maybe not) but even if his price is similar to what I would pay on my own, being able to choose my cabin is obviously worth something (maybe not as much to me as to RC according to their pricing) but definitely a benefit. If I compare apples to apples, his price for that next cruise is also a good amount less, just not as much as this 1st one.

[ChessE4]

6 hours ago, Reigert2008 said:

You should certainly do your homework to make sure your TA and you are a good fit.  I had A TA with AAA for many years who booked all Disney World trips,  four Disney cruises, and three Royal Caribbean cruises.  She was nice and great to work with, but at the time AAA had a policy of not  repricing and you paid AAA who then paid Royal.  So, we switched to a different agency that a family friend was a TA for.  She was great but once again the agency had some weird policies and then dropped the ball during COVID.  I was already shopping for a new agent when COVID happened, and was randomly matched with an agent from MEI and it’s been a great experience. 
 

In case you don’t know, MEI can book way more than cruises!  We’ve used our MEI agent for six cruises, a trip to Disneyland, and an Adventures By Disney trip. 
 

Could we get some OBC for using another agency? Maybe, but we tend to book inside cabins so the OBC wouldn’t add up to much, plus we don’t spend anything once on the ship, since we pre-pay for everything in the cruise planner and sometimes the OBC isn’t available in the planner.   For us, the benefits of using MEI are priceless.

 

If you’re interested in working with MEI, do like I did and request a quote using the form on RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com

 

*If anyone cares, I still have AAA for the discounts, triptiks, guide books, and roadside assistance. . A lot of it is digital now,but I’ve been a member for 25+ years and don’t plan on leaving

 

Good Luck!

We use AAA agent and pay the cruise line, not AAA. So the policy you mentioned has changed or didn't apply to MD and NC. If we switch to MEI it will be because our TA is slow to answer emails. She gets back to us with good recommendations, but never gives us the interim reply that she is working on it.

[FSUFAN]

I use Costco Travel but I have an Executive Membership that gets me 5% back in rewards and then a Costco Shop card that has a cash value depending on the price of the cruise.  We are going to Alaska, and I got $190, we have a trip to Norway (via HAL) and got $310.  So, the card plus the 5% back (2% standard reward, 3% travel reward).  The Norway trip meant $508 back in Costco Cash for a $3,966 cruise (7 nights, mid ship, deck 7, balcony/veranda cabin on the HAL Rotterdam) plus an added $100 OBC.

They have an online system for making minor changes like switching cabins, changing dinner options, etc.  I don't get to compete with Royal-Up, but that is not a great perk for me personally.  I can get a person on the line if needed for major changes. 

We don't seem to cruise as much as most on this board so maybe if we were sailing 4-5 times per year, I might need more hands on.

[Adpcruise1]

I used BJs Travel for a few cruises and when our Christmas cruise was missed thanks to Southwest's flight fiascos, I realized I don't care for 3% back in BJ card  or whatever they are promising. It was the worst experience of my life.  I had to call BJs and wait on hold while they called Royal.  Some BJ assistants couldn't figure out how to pay for my children's cabins for this summer's cruise (who were right next to ours). Hours and hours of time spent.  And I had travel insurance and had to deal with that separately, so my patience level for "being on hold" was sorely tested.

I finally had a successful cruise in April and I'm still waiting for that BJ card.  Though I was told it would be 5-9 weeks after cruise to get it.

My old TA passed away during COVID (not from COVID) and her replacements were not as sharp. Sigh.

 

[TessFromFlorida]

Personally, I book myself and buy CardCash gift cards at ~10% off to pay for my cruise. Saved over $700 off of our next vacation using gift cards.  

[Allen2]

We are believers in Travel Agents, and our long-time "guy" passed away.  We read here about MEI and used them and had a miserable experience that took almost a year to resolve.  Then we quickly returned to Agency #1 and dealt with two different agents - one of whom has made us happy through many cruises. Agency #1 does the 'extras' for us, including specialty meal, OBC, and other. Guess the moral here is that it is our satisfaction, our money, and we should not stay where the service is unsatisfactory!  

[Xaa]

11 hours ago, TessFromFlorida said:

Personally, I book myself and buy CardCash gift cards at ~10% off to pay for my cruise. Saved over $700 off of our next vacation using gift cards.  

Say more words about obtaining and using these 10% discount cards.

[Xaa]

I think I see.  At the link below, you can buy RCI Cards discounted because they bought them at an even higher discount.  Then you use them to pay for your cruise.  I'm currently seeing 9% discount.

https://www.cardcash.com/buy-gift-cards/discount-royal-caribbean-cards/

Lots of restrictions.  Most applicable to me is the restriction on using them for a group fare and you must book directly (no TA).  Nice little trick though, I have one non-group rate coming up that I owe about 4900 on.  Looks like I could grab 2x $2000, 1x $500, 1x $250, 1x $100, 1x $50 and end up saving about $441.

Here are some snaps from the link above.

 

[OCSC Mike]

On 5/10/2023 at 5:28 AM, OCSC Mike said:

I’m in the middle of using MEI for the 1st time myself. I almost always booked on my own over the years (unless I needed a TA for a certain sale rate) using last minute deals & GGG sales since we live an hour from PC & have flexibility at certain times of year.

Now that prices are a bit crazy, I decided to explore other options. I admit I am most interested in the pricing my TA was able to offer for this particular cruise (significantly below what I could get on my own) but so far the service via e-mail has been excellent as well.

I’ve already had him price what will likely be our next cruise after that. The price is only a tiny bit lower than what I could get myself but what’s interesting is I have always booked guarantees (we don’t care much about our cabin) so that’s what I use as my baseline price. Using the TA, I have been able to choose my cabin in both cases.

I’ll miss playing the GTY game (ok, maybe not) but even if his price is similar to what I would pay on my own, being able to choose my cabin is obviously worth something (maybe not as much to me as to RC according to their pricing) but definitely a benefit. If I compare apples to apples, his price for that next cruise is also a good amount less, just not as much as this 1st one.

So I popped into my cruise planner today for the March 2024 cruise I just booked yesterday using MEI for the first time and unexpectedly found some OBC. I had no idea where it came from as OBC was never mentioned by my new TA. I was actually afraid it was an IT glitch b/c I have the same exact amount sitting in my cruise planner for my cruise next month. It turns out it was indeed a surprise from the TA. I was already happy with my experience... now I'm even happier.

Just thought I'd share.

[TessFromFlorida]

On 5/11/2023 at 5:04 AM, Xaa said:

Say more words about obtaining and using these 10% discount cards.

The cardcash.com website sells gift cards and gift certificates that can save you a decent amount of money. I was very (VERY) nervous about spending so much money on gift cards/certificates after learning about it from someone here on a Royal Caribbean Blog message board, so I purchased a $50 gift certificate for $45.50 to "test the waters" and went through the process outlined in the directions to apply it to my balance. It took 9-10 days for the credit to hit. After that, I went all in and purchased $4,000 worth of gift certificates (two $2k certificates for $1,820 each). Again, it took about 10 days to hit, but it worked. I saved $365 in total. I was sure to go through this process about 3 weeks before final payment was due in case there was an issue.

I want to add that I had already used $1,600 worth of gift cards from a Total Rewards program at work towards payment for my cruise (a program in which coworkers gift you points that you can use to purchase a variety of items on a shopping portal- I chose RC gift certificates).  I share this because by doing this, I was not paying for my cruise by using any one particular credit card. Some credit cards include trip insurance if you pay for the trip with the card, so buying certificates may not be an attractive option for some. 

[TessFromFlorida]

On 5/11/2023 at 9:27 AM, Xaa said:

I think I see.  At the link below, you can buy RCI Cards discounted because they bought them at an even higher discount.  Then you use them to pay for your cruise.  I'm currently seeing 9% discount.

https://www.cardcash.com/buy-gift-cards/discount-royal-caribbean-cards/

Lots of restrictions.  Most applicable to me is the restriction on using them for a group fare and you must book directly (no TA).  Nice little trick though, I have one non-group rate coming up that I owe about 4900 on.  Looks like I could grab 2x $2000, 1x $500, 1x $250, 1x $100, 1x $50 and end up saving about $441.

Here are some snaps from the link above.

 

You got it! I also saved 9%- I had 10% on the brain for whatever reason. It is a great find and completely legit.