GigiT Posted May 6 Report Share Posted May 6 Is there any benefits or differences from booking a cruise directly with Royal Caribbean or with an outside agency such as Direct Cruises, etc for a Royal Caribbean cruise? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedNoodles Posted May 6 Report Share Posted May 6 The benefit for booking with a GOOD travel agent is that you have one person dedicated to your trip. My TA can make suggestions for sailings, look for group rates, check for price drops, and, most importantly, take care of a problem should one arise. And they do. My last problem would have taken me 3+ days of being on the phone to take care of. But my TA took care of it, solving the problem and saving me probably dozens of hours on the phone. I know nothing about Direct Cruises, but I would never book through somewhere like Costco, Cruise.com, etc. They are often left out of things like Royal Up and other promotions AND I love that I have someone that I can email/phone or text whenever I have a question or problem. A good cruise TA will not charge for their services, as they all get a commission from the cruiseline. Some take their commission AND charge customers a fee (I'm looking at you, Travel Leaders), so know what the policy is before you work with someone. Many of us use MEI Travel (a sponsor of this blog, but more importantly, some of the nicest, incredibly talented TAs you'll ever find). If you go to the home page of this blog, there's a big yellow form you can fill out and someone from MEI will contact you. But if you don't want to go that route, just be sure you know what you're paying for when you find someone. Good luck! WAAAYTOOO, Sharla, Ryan79 and 4 others 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted May 6 Report Share Posted May 6 If by benefits you mean cheaper prices? Yes. But sometimes cheaper prices sometimes come with worse service. So just do homework on a travel agent if you go that route. Pen, Ryan79 and Baked Alaska 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted May 6 Report Share Posted May 6 Also keep in mind that some of the big, online agencies do not participate in RoyalUp, so if RU is something that you want to have as an option, be aware of which big agencies have excluded themselves from this program. Baked Alaska, rjweber3, Sharla and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted May 7 Report Share Posted May 7 You stand to greatly benefit from using a good travel agent: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2024/02/05/best-royal-caribbean-travel-agents Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrismelissa Posted May 11 Report Share Posted May 11 We used to book directly with RC, but we told about MEI Travel, and have been useing them ever since, there outstanding WAAAYTOOO, Plasticbrain, CharmMicah68 and 3 others 4 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biaggio Posted May 12 Report Share Posted May 12 Costco travel. Lower prices, great service, and cheaper trip insurance RCIfan1912 and Doug_Texas 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCIfan1912 Posted May 12 Report Share Posted May 12 2 hours ago, Biaggio said: Costco travel. Lower prices, great service, and cheaper trip insurance When you say great service does that mean when you need something changed or a price drop happens there is someone to talk to about it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharla Posted Monday at 04:59 PM Report Share Posted Monday at 04:59 PM 22 hours ago, Biaggio said: cheaper trip insurance This is relative- all agencies can offer non-Royal Caribbean insurance. What's important is the benefits on the insurance. I don't know what Costco's covers but just because it's cheaper doesn't mean it's equal to. ZBrady, WAAAYTOOO, USCG Teacher and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biaggio Posted 17 hours ago Report Share Posted 17 hours ago Insurance Coverage is comparable and if the price drops I call them for a credit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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