Advantages to TA vs booking online?

[E&Asquared]

Hi all.
I have always booked online in the past. I love planning get my trips and firmly believe the anticipation is half the fun That said, I know plenty of people swear by using a travel agent and I'm wondering what the advantages are versus booking online on your own directly through DCL? For reference, I'm Canadian and we like 7 night cruises out of PC for a family of 4 (2 young children).

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hi all.
I have always booked online in the past. I love planning get my trips and firmly believe the anticipation is half the fun That said, I know plenty of people swear by using a travel agent and I'm wondering what the advantages are versus booking online on your own directly through DCL? For reference, I'm Canadian and we like 7 night cruises out of PC for a family of 4 (2 young children).

Well, TAs can be a useful source for those who don't know what they're doing. Also, some TAs may offer perks (like OBC or other gifts) if you use them to book the cruise.

Personally, we've used a TA twice, and neither time was I very impressed. It's just not worth the "extra" $100 we might get to turn over my reservation to someone else.

Other than OBC or gifts a TA is an advocate for you, if there are any issues with your reservation.

There are many people who love their TAs and wouldn't do it any other way.

 

[bumbershoot]

I like the financial perks. While I recognize that I give up some control over my reservation, it doesn't bother me. But I do book online; I won't book with a place that requires me to get a quote first. Thankfully there are some places (I use costcotravel.com) that are hooked up with DCL's site and let me just look up cruises and book them.

 

[disneyholic family]

Hi all.
I have always booked online in the past. I love planning get my trips and firmly believe the anticipation is half the fun That said, I know plenty of people swear by using a travel agent and I'm wondering what the advantages are versus booking online on your own directly through DCL? For reference, I'm Canadian and we like 7 night cruises out of PC for a family of 4 (2 young children).

i used to only book directly with DCL myself..
but on our last two cruises, as well as our upcoming cruise, we've booked via Dreams Unlimited.
Initially it was just for the onboard credit, but we were really pleased with the service.
Most of the things, you still are able to do directly online as you would if you booked on your own.
But we had a few special requests, and we found that our dreams unlimited agent was able to contact DCL more easily than i had been in the past.
She took care of our requests for us quickly and without issue.

And of course when we had questions, she had the answers we needed.

and there is the onboard credit and the gift basket, which are always nice to have

 

[AngelDisney]

I book with DU for the OBC. My TA takes care of booking, making requests and reservation changes for me without me calling LD. I am from Canada too. I never feel losing control. I still book dining reservations and excursions myself. We are always very staightforward without lots of booking changes or issues. Usually it's only DD and me cruising with DCL. My TA is able to reply within 24 hours all my inquiries such as which port for DCL sailing from Vancouver since there are more than one there. She contacts DCL on my behalf and I only have to send an email. I enjoy the convenience of a TA. I am a teacher and very detail-oriented. It's not easy to give up the control but I don't feel like not in control at all.

Have fun planning!

 

[ludari]

I have always used a TA and I find that using TA is easier when doing searches and on opening days. For example, I typically call my TA and provide my travel dates and preferred destinations (I usually have three or four) and let them do all the research for me and report back their findings and I make my selections at that point. You can even be more specific by providing your budget, preferred ship, room category, departure port, etc. if you like. Also booking with a TA you typically get some shipboard credit but that's not why I do it. My TA also has all my personal information (address, passport number, etc.) and my preferences (dining seating time, prepay tips, etc.). Some might say you lose control of your reservations but I find that's not the case because I can still long onto the DCL look at my reservation and make changes myself but I have no need to do that. All this TA service and it doesn't cost me a dine. On a side note, I should also mention that my TA (who is based Florida and I live in California) is a small business and several times I found myself on the same cruise as the owners. They are wonderful couple and often plan drinks and appetizers in their suite, daily walks around the ship and sometimes even specialized tours (depending on the port). I also like chatting with them to learn about future cruises, other ships, etc.

 

[MouseMomx2]

We have only used TA once and will never do it again. I prefer handling everything myself and found it frustrating to have to go through the TA for everything...especially when they would make mistakes, which happened more often than it should have. It's not worth an OBC to me to give up that control.

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

For me, it can be the best of both worlds. If anything, I probably under-utilize the TA, but I, like you, enjoy planning myself. A TA can be a wealth of good suggestions, and yes, an advocate. Because I enjoy the planning, I went online myself, found the cruise and rooms we wanted, then called my TA to have them book them. I did the same for flights and Trip insurance. They booked exactly what I asked them to as far as flights and insurance. Likewise, I booked all of our excursions, hotels, rental cars, and signed up for everything ourselves. The only thing I would have had to do through the TA (given up some control) is if I wanted to change or cancel the reservation itself. My TA did make suggestions, and called Disney on our behalf about things like Main Seating waiting list, etc. So that was nice. And I feel like, if some unexpected situation had come up, I would have had an experienced advocate on my side, who has been through this before.

 

[Shanti]

I really enjoy the planning process, making the actual booking, and being able to make changes at will, rather than waiting for someone else to get back to me on their schedule. I also know (not just hope) that I can trust myself not to make booking errors. I would never give that control and security up for the OBC that a TA offers. It's a very small amount in comparison to the overall cost of the cruise.

If you don't enjoy or feel confident about trip planning, though, a TA might be the right choice for you.

 

[BobaFettuciniAlfredo]

The first time we used a TA for the OBC. The second time we booked onboard and then transferred it to TA to get the OBC. I personally think it's easier to book online, but the slight inconvenience for the onboard credit makes it worth it. That being said, Disney actually lost our reservation after we booked onboard, so they gave us another $200 in OBC to make up for it! We didn't have any problems going through TA.

 

[o&smom]

I am a control freak and we booked our first five cruises ourselves. With the continual raising of prices, we decided to try transferring an onboard booking to Costco to recoup a little money. It has worked great for us. I still get to control everything, even picking our own room. We just have Costco call Disney while we are on the other line to make sure a room of our choice is available, and finalize all booking with Costco.

 

[OKW Lover]

Hi all.
I have always booked online in the past. I love planning get my trips and firmly believe the anticipation is half the fun That said, I know plenty of people swear by using a travel agent and I'm wondering what the advantages are versus booking online on your own directly through DCL? For reference, I'm Canadian and we like 7 night cruises out of PC for a family of 4 (2 young children).

We've cruised on DCL 14 times so far and also on RCL several times. We've used Dreams Unlimited to book those for us because of good service, no need for us to keep checking for better deals, and the on board credit. You don't pay any more by booking through a TA, but you do get the benefits that your TA may offer.

 

[PoopDeckPappy]

What control would I be losing with a TA? I want to use one but would like some examples of what I can't do myself. Thanks for the help.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

What control would I be losing with a TA? I want to use one but would like some examples of what I can't do myself. Thanks for the help.

Anything having to do with monetary issues - payments, refunds, upgrades, adding/removing/changing names, cancellation - would have to go through the TA. As well as anything having to do with the set up of the reservation - dining time, linking other rooms.

Booking excursions, online check in - that you can do yourself. Or have the TA do it.

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

Anything having to do with monetary issues - payments, refunds, upgrades, adding/removing/changing names, cancellation - would have to go through the TA. As well as anything having to do with the set up of the reservation - dining time, linking other rooms.

Shmoo is correct, but to speak to your question; it's not like you lose "control." You still make the decisions, but the TA pulls the trigger on those things. For time sensitive issues some people worry that the TA will take too long, or make a mistake. But it's not like having a TA actually limits any of your choices. We told the TA exactly which rooms to book and which flights on which airline, and they booked them for us immediately. Likewise, when we booked excursions we let the TA know and they added it to our Trip insurance. Along the way the TA could give us advice. They could have researched a lot of these things for us, and booked excursions, etc. but we like to do that on our own.

 

[jdb in AZ]

One of the reasons we use a travel agent is because we've cruised several times as an extended family, and really need help with the logistics. I think our largest group was 48 people in 18 staterooms. Not something we wanted to tackle on our own.

 

[n2mm]

i used to only book directly with DCL myself..
but on our last two cruises, as well as our upcoming cruise, we've booked via Dreams Unlimited.
Initially it was just for the onboard credit, but we were really pleased with the service.
Most of the things, you still are able to do directly online as you would if you booked on your own.
But we had a few special requests, and we found that our dreams unlimited agent was able to contact DCL more easily than i had been in the past.
She took care of our requests for us quickly and without issue.

And of course when we had questions, she had the answers we needed.

and there is the onboard credit and the gift basket, which are always nice to have

Us too. One thing I really liked was having my TA being the one on the phone during the early booking release to gold and platinum members. You can't book during the opening days online and it requires a wait on the phone. I gave my TA my cabin choices and she did all the work. And she managed to get my first choice! I do like that I can still do things myself online too (other than paying).

 

[CM Dad]

Anything having to do with monetary issues - payments, refunds, upgrades, adding/removing/changing names, cancellation - would have to go through the TA. As well as anything having to do with the set up of the reservation - dining time, linking other rooms.

There is an exception to having to make payments through your TA. If you are paying with your Disney Vacation Savings Account, you are not suppose to give that account information to any third party. There is a DCL phone number you call to make payments with that account yourself. DCL will notify your TA when you make these payments.

I have gotten room recommendations from our TA, and I prefer to let the TA spend time on the phone with DCL, especially when booking multiple rooms on opening day.

 

[pbb322]

You would also give up the ability to make some special requests yourself like food allergies, need for bedrails, adding special needs info to kids club check in (in our case, food allergy and asthma). But our TA is awesome and she is super responsive so getting anything I want done is done quickly and easier than I could do it. I booked directly once and had long hold times every time I called to change something which drives me nuts. She just gets it done!

 

[OKW Lover]

I think the "giving up" thing is a bit misleading. You can always make a change. Its just a question of who you contact, the provider or the TA.