Travel Agent or Self???

[frdeb1999]

We also always use a TA for both WDW and DCL. I think if you do your homework and get everything in writing you'll be fine. We prefer using a TA as they can do everything for you....but we are still able to make our ressie's for excursions and such. We have used the same one for a couple years now and she's wonderful...yes, she is a official disney one, just not connected to this site. I can't say enough good things about her and the company she works for.

 

[CobraKai]

BLS: "They [travel agents] are the primary source of bookings for most of the major cruise lines."

Have never used a TA, until they can save me more than a few hundred dollars, it doesn't seem to be worth the hassle. And to me hassle is having to do anything like call and talk to someone for hours, or even worse, visit their office.

The DCL Web site is very easy to use, and there is more information on this forum for a newbie to find than any TA will have memorized. It seems the odds of having a great TA experience are less than having a bad one.

BLS doesn't see them going away in the next 8 years though, 2006 employment was 101,000, with 2016 employment projected to be 102,000.

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos124.htm

 

[Eeyore1928]

I am one...so yes I use one!

 

[karibritt01]

I use a travel agent.

I need a good TA... can you refer me to one?

We have booked our 3rd trip (first cruise) through AAA and have had nothing but good experiences. I use them because of the discount (WDW) and OBC. She has been very easy to work with, answers all questions, sets up everything I request, reminds me when dates are approaching for ressies, etc. I think you can get a good or bad agent through any agency, though. Maybe find someone happy with their experience, and get a referral.

 

[MikiDisney]

Another question just popped into my mind. Do the majority of you use a travel agent to book your Disney cruise? I've never, ever used a TA to book any of my WDW stays, even prior to having DVC. I am sort of a control freak, LOL, and after reading "ImTooTxcitedToSleep"s post about his TA, I'm even more concerned about using one.

I know there are so many people out there with 1000 different opinions so one more won't hurt. Unlike a lot of othere DIS'ers I have always used a TA. I found mine by accident and she has saved me hundreds of dollars on each of our trips including DLC. She has been able to get me discounts that I couldn't get for myself or would have missed if she had not been on top of everything. I can't say enough good about her! I have given her name and number to anyone I hear might be going to WDW and they all STILL use her. I am very much a control freak and she is very patient with me and all my emails and phone calls with every question you could possibly think of asking! Now let me finish by saying she is a DISNEY SPECIALIST and knows so much about both Disneyland and Disney World, she is there at both at least 3-4 times a year, if not more. Okay, I will stop..... TA's are a great thing IF you find the right one! WE DID

 

[swilphil]

I say TA because you can get OBC, and there's some little things that they can help you with. When the price of my cruise went down, I called my TA and left a message because I wanted the new price. She took care of it immediately, and I spent a total of about 5 minutes for two phone calls. Sometimes dealing with DCL directly can be much more time consuming. My TA specializes in cruises, with lots of DCL experience. If you PM me, I can get her information to you.

I did handle my own Palo/excursion ressies, but she would have done it for me if I had wanted her to. She also helped me get cheaper trip insurance and ground transfers than what DCL was offering.

 

[chris44]

I used a TA that comes recommended by one of the unofficial disney sites only because they had one of the SPH rooms available. I won't use this TA again, though, because about the only help or service I have received is just booking the cruise. When I've made inquiries about things such as deadlines, excursions, transportation, all she does is direct me to the DCL site and says I can book everything directly with DCL (which is true, I just had hoped for some info or suggestions, etc.)

So I decided not to use her to book the land portion of our trip or our transportation because she was just so unresponsive to my inquiries and often did not respond to my phone calls or emails in a timely manner. The only reason I kept the reservation with her was so I wouldn't lose the SPH room we wanted. This TA did not offer any OBC but offered a 5% rebate or something like that.

I have always done the non-cruise booking myself, and in the future, I will do the cruise booking myself. Just my two cents . . .

 

[itutorfortravel]

Again, I am using a travel agent and she is great! Very responsive to my questions, quick to take care of things, and her price on the cruise I inquired about was $600 less than on the DCL site...when I was booking with her, I went on the DCL site ahead of time, pretended to book so I could see what cabins were available and told her which one I liked and she was able to get it for me...I did not have to let her choose for me, she has really allowed me to be as much of a part of the process as I have wanted to be...we went through Mouse Ear Vacations.

 

[libpetersen]

We have used the same great travel agent for 20 years. DM cruises four times a year now, and can tell you the value of a great TA. Her last cruise was two weeks in South America. They were traveling with friends, who talked them into going with them on the cruise and wanted to use their TA. DM reluctantly agreed. When the other TA could not answer basic questions regarding shots, DM called our TA, who had all the information, suggested better shore excrusion at better prices, and straightened out some issues with the cruise. On a cruise she was not even getting the commisson on!

Super responsive, and not only gives OBC, but sends a bottle of wine, which is a nice touch. Should anything happen on the Disney cruise, I know that she could handle it, including if my recurring nightmere about not making it back to the ship before sailing in Nassau happens! Also, the TA was less than when I checked on line with Disney,and found a SPH for us (yes I removed the extras like transportation and disney travel ins so it was apples to apples.)

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

We have used the same great travel agent for 20 years. DM cruises four times a year now, and can tell you the value of a great TA. Her last cruise was two weeks in South America. They were traveling with friends, who talked them into going with them on the cruise and wanted to use their TA. DM reluctantly agreed. When the other TA could not answer basic questions regarding shots, DM called our TA, who had all the information, suggested better shore excrusion at better prices, and straightened out some issues with the cruise. On a cruise she was not even getting the commisson on!

Super responsive, and not only gives OBC, but sends a bottle of wine, which is a nice touch. Should anything happen on the Disney cruise, I know that she could handle it, including if my recurring nightmere about not making it back to the ship before sailing in Nassau happens! Also, the TA was less than when I checked on line with Disney,and found a SPH for us (yes I removed the extras like transportation and disney travel ins so it was apples to apples.)

Yes I forgot about that various gifts from TA over the years nice touch.

 

[Brooklyn]

Another question just popped into my mind. Do the majority of you use a travel agent to book your Disney cruise? I've never, ever used a TA to book any of my WDW stays, even prior to having DVC. I am sort of a control freak, LOL, and after reading "ImTooTxcitedToSleep"s post about his TA, I'm even more concerned about using one.

If you are a control freak like I am then DEF book on your own. I have said this before and here I go again....I would give back the $150 shipboard credit in a HEARTBEAT just to be able to talk to DCL about my reservation.

Right now two of u sare trying to link our reservations together. Well the other party has main dining but wants late. We she is still waiting to hear from her TA and DCL will not switch it by talking to to the reservation holder, just the TA.

VERY ANNOYING!!!

 

[Procrastinator]

I have used a TA for our Disney trips and am using a different one for our first cruise. I did a lot of checking around, pricing, asking about OBC, etc. This TA was able to give me the best OBC. I did contact her several times before booking. I wanted to kind of "feel her out" and see where her knowledge and response time were. She always got back to me quickly and was knowledgable. Her price was the same as the Disney site, but she gave us a $100 OBC for 2 people in a cat. 11 on a 4 night. Can't beat that.

 

[golfgal]

I usually book mine through DCL and transfer my reservations later on to Dreams Unlimited.

Ok, I know there are probably a 100 posts about this but as we all know, the search function doesn't work--so why book yourself and then switch to a TA? We are in the VERY early planning stages of maybe doing a land/sea trip for my Dad's 70th birthday. I want to get some general pricing for our group of 12.

 

[trimix]

Ok, I know there are probably a 100 posts about this but as we all know, the search function doesn't work--so why book yourself and then switch to a TA? We are in the VERY early planning stages of maybe doing a land/sea trip for my Dad's 70th birthday. I want to get some general pricing for our group of 12.

Booking yourself, you get the control. At the Disney Cruise website you get to choose the cabin you want and first or second dinner, as well as the opportunity to buy or reject insurance and ground transfers.
To me the only drawback to doing it yourself is the lack of onboard credit and, should a problem arise, the relative lack of clout with the provider. So after booking the reservation and paying the deposit, I transfer the reservation to my preferred travel agent. The onboard credit came out to about 2.3% of the cost, something I can call a discount.

Now that my travel agent has my reservation, I will have to have her take my money and pay off Disney and I think I will have to have her request the romantic escape package when it is available for next year. And I understand the pre-cruise packet will go to her so it is not sitting on my front porch for three hours waiting to be stolen - a minor, but very appreciated, benefit.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Booking yourself, you get the control. At the Disney Cruise website you get to choose the cabin you want and first or second dinner, as well as the opportunity to buy or reject insurance and ground transfers.
To me the only drawback to doing it yourself is the lack of onboard credit and, should a problem arise, the relative lack of clout with the provider. So after booking the reservation and paying the deposit, I transfer the reservation to my preferred travel agent. The onboard credit came out to about 2.3% of the cost, something I can call a discount.

Now that my travel agent has my reservation, I will have to have her take my money and pay off Disney and I think I will have to have her request the romantic escape package when it is available for next year. And I understand the pre-cruise packet will go to her so it is not sitting on my front porch for three hours waiting to be stolen - a minor, but very appreciated, benefit.

Just to clarify, on all of thoose points, your travel agent can do this for you and you do not loose any control, you still get the control.

You Instruct your TA and you get to choose the cabin you want and first or second dinner, as well as the opportunity to buy or reject insurance and ground transfers.

For the highly popular E/bound panama repo I instructed port side room Cat 4, midship to Aft, with insurance, got exactly what I wanted.

 

[CraftyMouse]

Just to clarify, on all of thoose points, your travel agent can do this for you and you do not loose any control, you still get the control.

You Instruct your TA and you get to choose the cabin you want and first or second dinner, as well as the opportunity to buy or reject insurance and ground transfers.

For the highly popular E/bound panama repo I instructed port side room Cat 4, midship to Aft, with insurance, got exactly what I wanted.

But you still have to go through the TA. That's the point. For those of us who like to handle everything ourselves that is a loss of control. There have been many stories of TAs not communicating the customer's wishes accurately to DCL and that is why many of us prefer to do it ourselves. It's not about getting or not getting what you want...it's about the ability to handle the details yourself.

I will always prefer to book directly through DCL because I prefer to handle all of the details myself. By doing so I know that things will be as I wish and I won't have to rely on anyone else to handle things for me. Those who prefer to have others handle things for them should feel free to use the TA of their choice. Different strokes for different folks...that's all.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

But you still have to go through the TA. That's the point. For those of us who like to handle everything ourselves that is a loss of control. There have been many stories of TAs not communicating the customer's wishes accurately to DCL and that is why many of us prefer to do it ourselves. It's not about getting or not getting what you want...it's about the ability to handle the details yourself.

I will always prefer to book directly through DCL because I prefer to handle all of the details myself. By doing so I know that things will be as I wish and I won't have to rely on anyone else to handle things for me. Those who prefer to have others handle things for them should feel free to use the TA of their choice. Different strokes for different folks...that's all.

The only horror stories are from the cheap non specialist Disney travel agents, (and to quote 'many' gives the wrong impression I have read 1 or 2, issues)most Travel agents and particularly the specialist DCL TA's go a fine job, they are very professional and supportive, I use a travel agent as I want 'extra' control on my booking, I do not want any errors, and I want back up for things that can go wrong.

I have seen equal amount of posts where people have booked direct, and the website, timed out, had a log in error, didn't take credit card details, or charged them time.

A travel agent gives you a window to book as well, you do not have to pay on the booking, but its on hold for 48 hours.

People can choose what they want to do, and of course you have booked with a Travel agent yourself for your next cruise, Some posts try to give the impression you loose the ability to contact DCL directly, or book on-line for Palo etc, which again is misleading.

Quoting 'many' issues really gives new posters the wrong impression. You gain extra support, you do not loose control.

 

[Brooklyn]

But you still have to go through the TA. That's the point. For those of us who like to handle everything ourselves that is a loss of control. There have been many stories of TAs not communicating the customer's wishes accurately to DCL and that is why many of us prefer to do it ourselves. It's not about getting or not getting what you want...it's about the ability to handle the details yourself.

I will always prefer to book directly through DCL because I prefer to handle all of the details myself. By doing so I know that things will be as I wish and I won't have to rely on anyone else to handle things for me. Those who prefer to have others handle things for them should feel free to use the TA of their choice. Different strokes for different folks...that's all.

Nicely said!

The only horror stories are from the cheap non specialist Disney travel agents, (and to quote 'many' gives the wrong impression I have read 1 or 2, issues)most Travel agents and particularly the specialist DCL TA's go a fine job, they are very professional and supportive, I use a travel agent as I want 'extra' control on my booking, I do not want any errors, and I want back up for things that can go wrong.

I have seen equal amount of posts where people have booked direct, and the website, timed out, had a log in error, didn't take credit card details, or charged them time.

A travel agent gives you a window to book as well, you do not have to pay on the booking, but its on hold for 48 hours.

People can choose what they want to do, and of course you have booked with a Travel agent yourself for your next cruise, Some posts try to give the impression you loose the ability to contact DCL directly, or book on-line for Palo etc, which again is misleading.

Quoting 'many' issues really gives new posters the wrong impression. You gain extra support, you do not loose control.

The only "horror" stories are not just from the "cheap" non Disney agents. It def seems like TA's have worked for you with getting hte room you have requested. That is awesome. The same did not go for me. I almost lost my SPH bc of my TA. If I was not proactive then it would have gone to someone to else. I had the SPH held through DCL. I got a conference call from DCL adn the TA to confirm I wanted it switched over to the TA. I said yes. Well later that night I log onto DCL and the SPH room is back in inventory for my cruise. I look at my TA's site and yes she got me the SPH room but for the WRONG DATES! Now it is the middle of the night is CA. DCL is closed, the TA is closed somewhere in cyberworld. I woke up first thing in the morning and called DCL....they say sorry, nothing we can do. So I call teh TA and what do they tell me, you have to email your agent, I can't help you. I tell her that I have been emailing bu I have not gotten a response. She says "sorry I can't help you, your specific agent has to". After convincing this women she put this room on hold until we could get in touch with my agent just so no one else took it.

Being in the UK you probably have to wait for a response no matter what bc of the time difference. Us on the other hand, are here, knowing that DCL is open and ready to help but we are waiting, and waiting and waiting for our TA's to even call us back before they can contact DCL. Had I not intervined between DCL and my TA this time only one of my DD's birthday's would have been acknowledged on the ship. Now is that the end of the world, no. BUT it is also uncalled for. If I would have handled everything through DCL I would have checked, checked and rechecked before I hung up the phone to make sure all details are correct.

You are very knowledgeable and help out SOOOOO many people on these boards. I have to totally disagree with you on your last line though. The pp has every right to state how they feel about a TA. For certain people a TA does not work. I agree with PP that "many" issues so come into play with a TA and for some you do lose control not gain any extra support.

I hardly call extra support emailing a company to get a generated response saying "due to high volume....we may not even respond but know we took care of it" In my opinion I do not think that stands for "extra" support at all! How could that be extra support when hours before I could have picked up the phone, talked to DCL (without a wait) recieved confirmation that my request, etc has been made and moved on.

Now I have heard people be so happy with their TA's and have some great stories. For most people however, they take care of things you could have taken care of yourself. That is when it is left up to personal preference.

I have talked to some of the most AMAZING cm's at DCL and some that I am not sure how they got hired at Disney. It happens everywhere. I am just thankful that even with having a TA (something I personally regret doing) DCL has been there to help on certain issues. Others, I just wait for a response...

Just as most people on this threat state that they LOVE their TA and will always use one, those of use who do not like it should be able to state that too. Just because to you it does not seem like 'many' issues it is not fair to the pp who feels that there are many issues (like me).

off my soap box....

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Nicely said!

The only "horror" stories are not just from the "cheap" non Disney agents. ...off my soap box....

.

Thanks for the great post, and it looks like you have encountered real issues, and sorry to read that, you cover it in a real balanced way. I have always posted, it is for everyone to do what they want to do, what they prefer, book direct or with a TA, I have never said in any post you must book with a TA


My view there are a few posters here with an Anti Travel agent agenda, and that comes through clearly in their posts. I never say you must do this or not, but what I wanted to do is correct some of the misleading posts.

The word, 'Many' is a word open to misinterpretation, Many for one person can be 2, or for someone else 50, or another person 1,000.

I have read, 1 or 2 cases where things have gone wrong with TA bookings, with yours thats 3.

I have read more, ( for clarity I think about 9/10) where people have booked directly themselves and things have gone wrong and they posted that.

I would point-out being objective, most of these were on Panama cruise bookings, the website crashed, or took no credit card payment, or took it twice, or locked out last minute, leaving price increase etc.

Yes I am in the UK, That makes it harder for the TA to keep in touch with me, not easier, in my view and Dreams come back to me in minutes most of the time, and keep me well informed, My TA has recently had a terrible accident and whilst ill, still contacted me just to apologies why she wasn't keeping in touch, I have once booked direct with DCL and transfered to DCL, and all the other times booked by TA, I feel they book it better than I could.

People should be free to choose which way they book, at the start of this thread there is a great balance of views, but then a couple of people with strong anti T/A views, post.

We should remember this site is sponsored by a great travel agency, and whilst everyone has free speech, it might not be Courteous to knock travel agents, without balanced reporting, when using these boards.

 

[Brooklyn]

.

Thanks for the great post, and it looks like you have encountered real issues, and sorry to read that, you cover it in a real balanced way. I have always posted, it is for everyone to do what they want to do, what they prefer, book direct or with a TA, I have never said in any post you must book with a TA


My view there are a few posters here with an Anti Travel agent agenda, and that comes through clearly in their posts. I never say you must do this or not, but what I wanted to do is correct some of the misleading posts.

The word, 'Many' is a word open to misinterpretation, Many for one person can be 2, or for someone else 50, or another person 1,000.

I have read, 1 or 2 cases where things have gone wrong with TA bookings, with yours thats 3.

I have read more, ( for clarity I think about 9/10) where people have booked directly themselves and things have gone wrong and they posted that.

I would point-out being objective, most of these were on Panama cruise bookings, the website crashed, or took no credit card payment, or took it twice, or locked out last minute, leaving price increase etc.

Yes I am in the UK, That makes it harder for the TA to keep in touch with me, not easier, in my view and Dreams come back to me in minutes most of the time, and keep me well informed, My TA has recently had a terrible accident and whilst ill, still contacted me just to apologies why she wasn't keeping in touch, I have once booked direct with DCL and transfered to DCL, and all the other times booked by TA, I feel they book it better than I could.

People should be free to choose which way they book, at the start of this thread there is a great balance of views, but then a couple of people with strong anti T/A views, post.

We should remember this site is sponsored by a great travel agency, and whilst everyone has free speech, it might not be Courteous to knock travel agents, without balanced reporting, when using these boards.