travel agent?
 

woulld it be less expensive to go ahead and book a cruise with a
travel agent are there any pros or cons?

travel agent?
 

We found that our cruise was the same whether we booked with our travel
agent or went direct through Princess.
However, if you want a guarantee that you will get on the ship before it
sails you need to book it all including air and cruise through the cruise
line.
We generally get to the departure city the day before the cruise so we book
our airfare ourselves.

wrote in message ...

woulld it be less expensive to go ahead and book a cruise with a
travel agent are there any pros or cons?

travel agent?
 

On 7/13/2013 3:45 PM, Jr. wrote:

wrote in message ...

would it be less expensive to go ahead and book a cruise with a
travel agent are there any pros or cons?

We found that our cruise was the same whether we booked with our travel
agent or went direct through Princess.
However, if you want a guarantee that you will get on the ship before it
sails you need to book it all including air and cruise through the
cruise line.
We generally get to the departure city the day before the cruise so we
book our airfare ourselves.

HUH? While the way to make sure that you make it on the ship (if not
flying in the day before) is to use the cruise supplied air, there is
absolutely no reason why you have to book it yourself with the cruise
line and not have a travel agent do it.

If you use a travel agent, you can often get them to give you On Board
Credit (OBC), sometimes up to several hundred dollars. While you may
sometimes get OBC from the cruise line as part of a promotion, this is
typically also available if you book with a travel agent, AND you can
get additional OBC from the agent. Also, a good TA will watch for price
drops on your cruise and try to get you the price reduction. If you book
directly with the cruise line, you have to watch for price reductions
yourself.

I recently used Celebrity's Choice Air and was pleasantly surprised that
they were close to $100 cheaper than the price I was able to find using
Kayak (they were higher than Kayak the first day I looked). I am flying
in early so the benefits of booking with the cruise line won't be of
much use to me, I only booked with them because of the price. And I used
a travel agent to book my cruise because she gave me $300 OBC.

travel agent?
 

On Sun, 14 Jul 2013 00:24:13 -0400, Bill
wrote:

On 7/13/2013 3:45 PM, Jr. wrote:

wrote in message ...

would it be less expensive to go ahead and book a cruise with a
travel agent are there any pros or cons?

We found that our cruise was the same whether we booked with our travel
agent or went direct through Princess.
However, if you want a guarantee that you will get on the ship before it
sails you need to book it all including air and cruise through the
cruise line.
We generally get to the departure city the day before the cruise so we
book our airfare ourselves.

HUH? While the way to make sure that you make it on the ship (if not
flying in the day before) is to use the cruise supplied air, there is
absolutely no reason why you have to book it yourself with the cruise
line and not have a travel agent do it.

Air fare is not really a big sinceI live less than a couple hours away
from port

travel agent?
 

On 7/14/2013 2:50 AM, wrote:
On Sun, 14 Jul 2013 00:24:13 -0400, Bill
wrote:

On 7/13/2013 3:45 PM, Jr. wrote:

wrote in message ...

would it be less expensive to go ahead and book a cruise with a
travel agent are there any pros or cons?

We found that our cruise was the same whether we booked with our travel
agent or went direct through Princess.
However, if you want a guarantee that you will get on the ship before it
sails you need to book it all including air and cruise through the
cruise line.
We generally get to the departure city the day before the cruise so we
book our airfare ourselves.

HUH? While the way to make sure that you make it on the ship (if not
flying in the day before) is to use the cruise supplied air, there is
absolutely no reason why you have to book it yourself with the cruise
line and not have a travel agent do it.

Air fare is not really a big sinceI live less than a couple hours away
from port

I have a cruise port less than 2 hours away and I still have to fly to
the cruise I recently booked. Not all cruises leave your local port,
even if it is 2 hours away. And I was replying to the person who
responded to your post, who claimed that you needed to buy from the
cruise line itself so you could be assured of making it to the cruise if
you had flight problems as well as responding your original question. As
often seems to be the case, you missed the main point of the reply to
you question.

travel agent?
 

The reason we are going the day before is twofold.
1. airfare was cheaper by booking it myself
2. Though Princess would guarantee a free trip to the next port if we missed
the ship we are going from Los Angeles to Hawaii and we would miss four days
at sea waiting for the ship to get to Hawaii. So we decided to go the day
before so we don't miss the sailing.
Flying from the Midwest in the winter is risky due to snow and ice so we
don't rely on Princess to get us to the port.

"Bill" wrote in message ...

On 7/14/2013 2:50 AM, wrote:
On Sun, 14 Jul 2013 00:24:13 -0400, Bill
wrote:

On 7/13/2013 3:45 PM, Jr. wrote:

wrote in message ...

would it be less expensive to go ahead and book a cruise with a
travel agent are there any pros or cons?

We found that our cruise was the same whether we booked with our travel
agent or went direct through Princess.
However, if you want a guarantee that you will get on the ship before it
sails you need to book it all including air and cruise through the
cruise line.
We generally get to the departure city the day before the cruise so we
book our airfare ourselves.

HUH? While the way to make sure that you make it on the ship (if not
flying in the day before) is to use the cruise supplied air, there is
absolutely no reason why you have to book it yourself with the cruise
line and not have a travel agent do it.

Air fare is not really a big sinceI live less than a couple hours away
from port

I have a cruise port less than 2 hours away and I still have to fly to
the cruise I recently booked. Not all cruises leave your local port,
even if it is 2 hours away. And I was replying to the person who
responded to your post, who claimed that you needed to buy from the
cruise line itself so you could be assured of making it to the cruise if
you had flight problems as well as responding your original question. As
often seems to be the case, you missed the main point of the reply to
you question.

travel agent?
 

On Sunday, July 14, 2013 12:17:10 PM UTC-7, Jr. wrote:
The reason we are going the day before is twofold.

1. airfare was cheaper by booking it myself

2. Though Princess would guarantee a free trip to the next port if we missed

the ship we are going from Los Angeles to Hawaii and we would miss four days

at sea waiting for the ship to get to Hawaii. So we decided to go the day

before so we don't miss the sailing.



I did the same cruise this past winter. I have one tip I wish I would have known; Unless you have priority boarding, do not get there early. They had us sitting in this giant glass enclosure, packed together like a feed lot crossed with a hot house. The water ran out, the eighty degree temperature caused no concern to the staff, Don't get too close to the priority boarding area (where the AC is better) or you'll get yelled at. For three hours we sat like the unfortunates at Ellis Island while the diamond platinum card holders got to pass by, looking down their noses as if we were beggars. And we couldn't leave the area if we wanted, all the while being assured we'd begin embarkation in "just a few minutes". We all sat there like monkeys looking at each other figuring out how we all got trapped.

travel agent?
 

We are platinum so we have priority boarding.
Thanks for the tip.

wrote in message
...

On Sunday, July 14, 2013 12:17:10 PM UTC-7, Jr. wrote:
The reason we are going the day before is twofold.

1. airfare was cheaper by booking it myself

2. Though Princess would guarantee a free trip to the next port if we
missed

the ship we are going from Los Angeles to Hawaii and we would miss four
days

at sea waiting for the ship to get to Hawaii. So we decided to go the day

before so we don't miss the sailing.



I did the same cruise this past winter. I have one tip I wish I would have
known; Unless you have priority boarding, do not get there early. They had
us sitting in this giant glass enclosure, packed together like a feed lot
crossed with a hot house. The water ran out, the eighty degree temperature
caused no concern to the staff, Don't get too close to the priority boarding
area (where the AC is better) or you'll get yelled at. For three hours we
sat like the unfortunates at Ellis Island while the diamond platinum card
holders got to pass by, looking down their noses as if we were beggars. And
we couldn't leave the area if we wanted, all the while being assured we'd
begin embarkation in "just a few minutes". We all sat there like monkeys
looking at each other figuring out how we all got trapped.

travel agent?
 

On 7/14/2013 3:17 PM, Jr. wrote:
The reason we are going the day before is twofold.
1. airfare was cheaper by booking it myself
2. Though Princess would guarantee a free trip to the next port if we
missed the ship we are going from Los Angeles to Hawaii and we would
miss four days at sea waiting for the ship to get to Hawaii. So we
decided to go the day before so we don't miss the sailing.
Flying from the Midwest in the winter is risky due to snow and ice so we
don't rely on Princess to get us to the port.

What does any of this have to do with your earlier comment

However, if you want a guarantee that you will get on the ship before it
sails you need to book it all including air and cruise through the
cruise line.

You made it seem like you needed to book directly with the cruise line
and not use a travel agent, as if this will make any difference in
making your ship. Unless that isn't what you meant and you just weren't
clear, that is not at all true.

And I'm not sure what you're using to reply to messages here, but it's
broken. You're not adding a "quote" character in front of quoted
material and if someone didn't read carefully, they would think that you
posted stuff that others wrote.

travel agent?
 

Thanks Bill. Whatever. LOL!

"Bill" wrote in message ...

On 7/14/2013 3:17 PM, Jr. wrote:
The reason we are going the day before is twofold.
1. airfare was cheaper by booking it myself
2. Though Princess would guarantee a free trip to the next port if we
missed the ship we are going from Los Angeles to Hawaii and we would
miss four days at sea waiting for the ship to get to Hawaii. So we
decided to go the day before so we don't miss the sailing.
Flying from the Midwest in the winter is risky due to snow and ice so we
don't rely on Princess to get us to the port.

What does any of this have to do with your earlier comment

However, if you want a guarantee that you will get on the ship before it
sails you need to book it all including air and cruise through the
cruise line.

You made it seem like you needed to book directly with the cruise line
and not use a travel agent, as if this will make any difference in
making your ship. Unless that isn't what you meant and you just weren't
clear, that is not at all true.

And I'm not sure what you're using to reply to messages here, but it's
broken. You're not adding a "quote" character in front of quoted
material and if someone didn't read carefully, they would think that you
posted stuff that others wrote.