Curious why use a TA?

[PrincessAbby'sMom]

Originally Posted by neg58

You have to transfer before PIF. Some rates have to be PIF when booking (FL, Military, some (most) *GT), some because of the terms of that rate, but most because they are only offered within the PIF dates.

A TA can get you those special rates, however. I've booked 3 cruises with FL rates and for all I've had to pay immediately so I needed to do it through a TA in order to get the TA OBC.

Nancy

Thanks.... I would have almost felt like it was cheating if I did it anyways! Just curious! Thanks!

[super mike b]

I used to used to book direct, but got tired of being on hold with DCL all the time. I found an excellent TA and will never look back. We still book on board when possible, but having a TA makes moving things around, etc. much easier.

[yoopertravelers]

How do you find a TA? We live in a small town and there aren't any here I'd enjoy some OBC

[nabi]

we use a TA because we don't have time to wait on hold to make any changes that can't be done online. that's it.

[jlwhitney]

Originally Posted by MikeAndNick

Here are a few just off the top of my head.

1. It does not cost anything to me and I get OBC.
2. My TA has gotten me better prices that I could find on the Disney site.
3. We had a problem with not using some credit on our room after the cruise. Talking to Disney they told me it was my fault and I just lost the money. I talked to my travel agent and they made some calls to non phone people at Disney Cruise and got the money added to my next cruise.
4. When we are looking for something special they will watch for it and call me when it come up.
5. My travel agent has 10 to 40 rooms per cruise booked. When they call it pulls much more power than if I call and have one room.
6. When I have a cruise holder (booked from my last cruise) they will watch the date and call me to remind me to move it forward.
7. If I have questions on anything I can call them because they have someone on staff that had been there and done that.
8. They give good advice and help when there are problems. When we had to make an insurance claim that helped me submit the claim and make sure it was correct.

Note: I always do my price research before I call my TA to make sure they are getting me the best price.

You will get the same price for the cruise wheter you book online or through a TA. They can't sell the cruise for lower than what Disney is selling for. The only thing they can do is give you OBC or other gifts.

[MNKelly]

Originally Posted by Silver Queen

Thanks, posters! I'll keep this in mind. If we go with a TA it will probably be AAA so no OBC, but we may try it.

AAA gave us 4 8x10's & 3 6x8's from Shutters for our cruise...$120 value!

[insureman]

Originally Posted by MNKelly

AAA gave us 4 8x10's & 3 6x8's from Shutters for our cruise...$120 value!

The AAA OBC was much better a few years back, right now we get the photo package as you stated and some sort fruit platter in our state room.

[FJS961]

Originally Posted by jlwhitney

You will get the same price for the cruise wheter you book online or through a TA. They can't sell the cruise for lower than what Disney is selling for. The only thing they can do is give you OBC or other gifts.

The size of the OBC from a TA should be / usually is related to the cost of the booking. For my high end bookings, I've been offered as much as $1000. Hmmmm, lets see ... 1K back to spend on excursions, etc or $25 (or NOTHING) booking directly with DCL?

[tweis]

Originally Posted by chrisrunty

Thanks for the replies everyone! Since we do a DCL once a year we already book a future one on board so we get the 10% and OBC every cruise. So really it's about OBC mainly? You get that in addition to what DCL offers for OBC?

YES, you get the OBC for booking onboard PLUS the OBC from the TA. So it really pays (pun intended) to book with a TA that offers OBC.

[jlwhitney]

Originally Posted by FJS961

The size of the OBC from a TA should be / usually is related to the cost of the booking. For my high end bookings, I've been offered as much as $1000. Hmmmm, lets see ... 1K back to spend on excursions, etc or $25 (or NOTHING) booking directly with DCL?

Yes but the cost of the cruise that you are paying for is the same. Yes OBC helps, but based on how much you spend onboard. I dont think we have ever spent or could spend that much onboard.

[Meghatron]

Originally Posted by jlwhitney

Yes but the cost of the cruise that you are paying for is the same. Yes OBC helps, but based on how much you spend onboard. I dont think we have ever spent or could spend that much onboard.

Tips alone for our next cruise will be $672; more if we like our servers. Going to Las Caletas will be $300+. Add in the occasional drink, additional excursions, souvenirs from the Castaway Cay shop (our first and possibly last visit because we live on the west coast) and I could easily spend $1k onboard. That's not even touching the spa.

[MillauFr]

You should be getting about 10% of your cruise fare minus taxes as a credit. Not sure why you would book direct and pass that up. I got $595 back from Costco when I booked with them.

[trickiwoo]

I'm the same as you, I've always booked all my Disney trips myself and have never used a TA. I did use a TA for my cruise to get the onboard credits.

On my last cruise I booked a 7-night on the Fantasy with a verandah room and got $200 in onboard credits from my TA plus an additional $25 in onboard credits from Disney. On the most recent cruise I booked, I went with a 4-night on the Dream with an inside room and got $50 in onboard credits from my TA and an additional $50 in onboard credits from Disney.

So yeah, just having that additional money to spend onboard on excursions, at Palo, on drinks, on shopping, etc. is definitely worth using a TA!!! And it doesn't cost you anything to use a TA!

I use Dreams Unlimited (which owns the DISboards.) I've had a fantastic experience with them! And I liked it because they pretty much just booked my trip for me, got me my OBC, and then I got a log-in for the DCL website to book all my excursions, dining reservations, spa reservations, etc. all by myself like I prefer doing. I never had to tell my TA my requests, I was always able to just do it all myself.

But my TA was there to answer any questions for me if I had any or to help with anything I needed help with.

Now, I can't speak for any other TA because I've only used Dreams Unlimited, but I thought it was the perfect combination of doing things yourself when you want to, and having your TA help you with things when you want them to.