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Having a good, cruise-savvy travel agent is like having a trusted administrative assistant. You can just turn stuff over to them and you know it’s going to get handled correctly. |
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If this is your very first cruise, it may be wise to work with a travel agent. They have experience and a personal perspective. They’ve probably been on this cruise or one similar to it. They can advise you about such things as how to secure your travel documents, when your money is due and the best deals for cabins and upgrades. They also have more variety in recommending travel options to and from the port. And if something goes awry, you have an experienced advocate working for you. |
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The growing popularity of independent online booking services can be seductive because they offer a wide variety of discounts. And the truth is, if you know what you want you can make some pretty good deals for yourself. But here, again, if this is your first time, we recommend that you work with someone who knows the ropes. It will make the process easier. |
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Not All Travel Agents Are Created Equal When It Comes To Cruising. |
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Some are terrific resources and can make your cruise almost perfect. Others don’t know their ass from a clump of seaweed. Still others are knowledgeable enough but they operate more like a fast food restaurant than a personal service business. Choose wisely and it will make all the difference with your cruise. |
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In our opinion the WORST criteria for choosing a travel agent is price. The second worst criteria is just because you know them. When it comes to cruising, you can find deals all over the place, and any knowledgeable agent knows it. They’re not going to stiff you on price. In fact, the major cruise lines require their agents to stick with the cruise line prices. The agents aren’t allowed to dicker around with the cost. The reality is that everyone’s base price is going to be basically the same. |
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Travel agents make their money on commissions paid by the cruise lines and on any “add-ons” they provide (such as trip insurance). The cruise lines are constantly offering special deals to travel agents to entice them to promote different cruise packages. A good travel agent will have created relationships with the cruise line professional staff and will know about the special deals. Obviously, cruise lines find ways to reward those people who send them the most business, but those are usually the same agents that offer great service to their clients (duh!). |
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That Being The Case, The REAL Value Of Your Travel Agent Is Their Expertise And Level Of Service. That’s one reason we are skeptical of online companies in general, you just never know about the service level. We’re not saying to avoid the online companies, we’re just saying pay particular attention to the service, especially if you are new to cruising. There CAN be some pretty good reasons to use online booking, and we'll talk about those a bit later. |
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Your best bet is to find a travel agent that has sold a lot of cruises, and has also taken a lot of cruises. There are a lot of factors that influence the quality of your cruise experience, many of which are not understood unless someone has actually been through the cruising process a number of times. That experienced perspective can save you money and headaches. |
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Having a good cruise-savvy travel agent is like having a trusted administrative assistant. You can just turn stuff over to them and you know it’s going to get handled correctly. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case with every agent. The last thing you want to deal with on your cruise (especially if it’s your first one) is to find out during the check-in process, or once you get on board the ship, that a key piece of information has been dropped out. |
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One area where a travel agent can be a big asset is with your transportation to and from the departure port. Finding the best fares for flights, trains or buses can be a time consuming and frustrating process. Let someone else handle it. You’ve got to pack and shop and day dream and all that important stuff. |
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The name of the game with travel agents is SERVICE, SERVICE, SERVICE. Check references, talk to people who have used the agent, and, if you aren’t satisfied for any reason, don’t use that agency again, no matter what excuses they give. How else will they learn? |
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Service becomes increasingly important if you are booking a group. The likelihood that something will go wrong increases exponentially with the number of people you are working with. Don't take chances if you're booking a group. Some agents actually specialize in doing group packages. Here again, get references before you commit. We've heard ridiculous horror stories about people not being able to board the ship, not having the necessary documentation, transportation connections being missed and budgets being blown out of the water because of missteps by the agency. |
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The Upside To Using An Online Agency |
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The growing popularity of independent online booking services can be seductive because they offer a wide variety of discounts. And the truth is, if you know what you want, you can make some pretty good deals for yourself. We still maintain that, if this is your first time, you'll probably benefit from working with someone who knows the ropes. But, for many cruisers, online agencies can be the way to go. |
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There are two main advantages of online booking agencies. One is that they make it a point to know about the latest deals. Click onto any online site and you'll see a smorgasbord of last minute deals and various specials that are being offered by different cruise lines. Some of the sites (though not nearly enough in our opinion) also offer special pricing for excursions once you get to your ports of call. |
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Now, the truth is, any accredited agent can probably get you that deal, or one very similar. But there's a good chance that, on any given day, a particular agent won't know about the particular deal. On line agencies make it a point to research and target those special deals. So, if you have cruised before and know the basic ropes, you may do very well hooking up with an online agency. At the very least, you should check out the online agencies to see what specials are being offered. If something strikes your fancy, it may then be possible to book the cruise package directly with the cruise line. But, that may not be much of a benefit. You probably won't save money by booking directly with the cruise lines, and sometimes the cruise lines will make deals available to online sites that are not offered by their own online agents. |
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A second reason to visit online agencies is because they can search for cruises across the board. Once you enter the criteria for your cruise, they'll give you options from a number of different cruise lines delivering that cruise. When you visit cruise line websites they only show you their cruises, naturally. So you can easily explore options with the online sites. |
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Another potential plus for the online sites is that they usually promote different vendors who provide products and services related to cruising. For a number of reasons, cruise line don't usually have those affiliate relationships. Yes, it can seem like nothing more than advertising. On the other hand, many of the links that show up on these sites do offer products or services that you may do well to consider. Special coupons for particular shore excursions, for example, can really enhance your cruise. |
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The bottom line with online agencies is that they can be a real benefit to those who know the basics, If you're an experienced cruiser, if you have an adventerous streak, or if you don't mind figuring out the details yourself, go for the online guys. BUT (and this is a BIG BUT) if you're booking your very first cruise, we think your best bet is to work with an experienced travel agent. |
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Network Marketing: The New Breed Of Travel Agent (aka "Home Based Travel Agents") |
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It shouldn't be much of a surprise that one of the fastest growing segments of the "professional" travel agent industry is in the network marketing arena, or what has come to be known as "Home Based Travel Agencies". Basically, Network Marketing travel agents have combined the idea of an online agency with the personal touch. The home-based, online Agency has access to virtually the entire world of travel, but the agents themselves don't have to spend thousands of dollars to become travel agents. They can pay a fee to their sponosoring organization and BOOM! They're in business. |
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Internet travel websites are real, honest to goodness products, which provide travel packages at prices comparable to retail. (Actually, many are private labeled Travelocity websites.) Their prices are comparable to Expedia and Orbitz. The downside is that most of the people that become this type of agent are seriously lacking in real travlel-booking experience. So, if you know somebody who does this, and you're comfortable with the whole online-booking process, go for it. |
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Many home-based travel agents take their business very seriously and provide as good as (or better) service than you would get from a traditional agent. But, the "unfortunate" reality of homebased travel is that many people who become involved are doing so because the sponsoring MLM has marketed a dream of wealth, luxury and passive income. For very good reasons, many people become travel agents so that they can make money off their own travel, or at least get reduced rates for it. THESE ARE NOT THE PEOPLE YOU WANT BOOKING YOUR CRUISE! |
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We hasten to say that many home-based travel agents are professionals in every sense of the word. THESE ARE THE PEOPLE YOU WANT BOOKING YOUR CRUISE. And the really reputable MLM travel companies (CrusieOne, YTB, to name two) do indeed provide training for their agents. But, when you're dealing with one of the home-based agents there is no way to know how extensive their knwoledge-base is, or how committed they are to "travel as a business" as opposed to "travel as a hobby and maybe I'll make some bucks". |
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Don't be terribly surprised if one or two of the people you ask about home-based agencies are critical. The inevitable reality in the travel world is that these home-based agencies are here to stay and they are taking a big piece of the action away from "brick-and-mortar" agencies as well as the online agencies. Understandably, the more traditional travel agencies might try to steer you away from these resources. |
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In the end, the key criteria are SERVICE AND EXPERIENCE, particularly in the cruise world. Whoever can do that for you is the right person to be using. |
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