Have You Ever Used Cruise Compete?
 

Thank you George for such an informative post, and for taking the time
to "set the record straight."

Have You Ever Used Cruise Compete?
 

I went to George's site and selected to book a celebrity cruise.
It took me to celebrity and asked for the same information that I could
enter if I booked directly with celebrity.
The only difference is George's company was now my travel agent.
The prices between celebrity and george were the same.
Why would someone want to have george put as t/a on their reservation if he
is doing nothing to deserve it.
The other guy makes sense about dealing with t/a's vs: booking direct.

brunger

Have You Ever Used Cruise Compete?
 

"Bruger" wrote in message
...
I went to George's site and selected to book a celebrity cruise.
It took me to celebrity and asked for the same information that I could
enter if I booked directly with celebrity.
The only difference is George's company was now my travel agent.
The prices between celebrity and george were the same.
Why would someone want to have george put as t/a on their reservation if
he is doing nothing to deserve it.
The other guy makes sense about dealing with t/a's vs: booking direct.

brunger

Either you haven't been paying attention... or you're not grasping it.

There are dozens of reasons that can arise later on... like price
reductions, upgrades, finding help with local vendors for shore
excursions/tours, etc. And even up front, a TA probably knows more about
the ship that you do... they know cabins locations to avoid, et. What about
group rates? Many TAs belong to a consortium, and can get group rates on
some sailings. TAs may know if there is a big group on board that might
take over half the ship. Maybe they know a special on a cruise line that
you didn't think you could afford (like Crystal or Regent)... Things like
that.

But if you want to book direct... knock yourself out. Just don't come
crying later when the price drops after final payment and they won't do
anything for you...

--Tom

Have You Ever Used Cruise Compete?
 

"Seehorse Video" wrote in message
...

"Bruger" wrote in message
...
I went to George's site and selected to book a celebrity cruise.
It took me to celebrity and asked for the same information that I could
enter if I booked directly with celebrity.
The only difference is George's company was now my travel agent.
The prices between celebrity and george were the same.
Why would someone want to have george put as t/a on their reservation if
he is doing nothing to deserve it.
The other guy makes sense about dealing with t/a's vs: booking direct.

brunger

The TA is going to be making an average of 29 phone calls that I don't
have to make, each of which plays several minutes of beautiful music while
on hold.


But the point is that a good TA knows the answers to these questions WITHOUT
calling the cruise line and most TA's can make changes to reservations
without calling the cruise line. A lot of the reservations I make don't
involve a single call to the cruise line and that saves the cruise line a
lot of money.

Travel agents provide a service to the customer AND the cruise line.

I'm retired but my time is better spent doing something else. You need to
do what you're comfortable with, whether it's repairing your car or booking
your cruise. I prefer to relax and let the pros do their thing. Especially
when it's free.

Agreed. Years ago I used to change the oil in my car. Now I would rather
pay the local guy $30 to do it. I save time and aggravation and for some
reason, crawling around on the garage floor with the car up on jackstands
just isn't as much fun as it used to be. vbg

YMMV....


--
George Leppla

Countryside Travel http://www.CruiseMaster.com
Blog http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/my_weblog/
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/CruiseMaster

Have You Ever Used Cruise Compete?
 

"Bruger" wrote in message
...
I went to George's site and selected to book a celebrity cruise.
It took me to celebrity and asked for the same information that I could
enter if I booked directly with celebrity.
The only difference is George's company was now my travel agent.
The prices between celebrity and george were the same.
Why would someone want to have george put as t/a on their reservation if
he is doing nothing to deserve it.
The other guy makes sense about dealing with t/a's vs: booking direct.

brunger

The TA is going to be making an average of 29 phone calls that I don't have
to make, each of which plays several minutes of beautiful music while on
hold. I'm retired but my time is better spent doing something else. You
need to do what you're comfortable with, whether it's repairing your car or
booking your cruise. I prefer to relax and let the pros do their thing.
Especially when it's free.

Harry Cooper

Have You Ever Used Cruise Compete?
 

In article , Bruger
wrote:

The other guy makes sense about dealing with t/a's vs: booking direct.

What other guy? You are the other guy.....

Please, if you are going to set up a sock puppet you need to do better
than that!!!

--
Charles