Booking Cruise with Undercover Tourist

[StarStruck393]

Has anyone booked a Disney cruise through Undercover Tourist? We've more or less settled on the cruise we want, and are looking at the different options for booking. We've found a couple travel agents that offer the same price as booking directly through Disney, but give you onboard credit on top of that as an incentive*. But there's also Undercover Tourist (found them through the MouseSavers newsletter) that appears to offer the same stateroom for close to $100 less than Disney, plus a free room decorating kit.

Has anyone actually booked their cruise through UT? How did it go? Were there any problems? Obviously the discount is attractive, though I can't help wonder if there's a catch (not to mention what I reference below re hearing that travel agents aren't supposed to undercut Disney's prices). I'd love to hear any and all thoughts/experiences.

*My understanding is that many travel agents don't charge the travelers themselves, but rather make their money through referral fees paid by the airlines/cruise lines/hotels/etc. Sometimes travel agents will share a portion of these fees as an incentive to book with them instead of directly with the provider. Since Disney sets the rates for their cruises (and doesn't allow travel agents to go below those rates), some travel agents will instead give an onboard credit as an incentive.

 

[lanejudy]

We've found a couple travel agents that offer the same price as booking directly through Disney

ALL travel agents should be selling DCL cruises at the same price as directly through DCL. DCL doesn't allow TA's to discount their cruises. The benefit of using a TA is maybe getting onboard credit or some kind of gift (as you found), having someone to sit on the phone for you, someone to answer questions you may have or advise about itineraries/excursions, etc.

 

[StarStruck393]

ALL travel agents should be selling DCL cruises at the same price as directly through DCL. DCL doesn't allow TA's to discount their cruises. The benefit of using a TA is maybe getting onboard credit or some kind of gift (as you found), having someone to sit on the phone for you, someone to answer questions you may have or advise about itineraries/excursions, etc.

Yeah that's what I though/what I've consistently heard, which is why I'm wondering how Undercover Tourist can offer a lower price than Disney/the travel agents and whether there's a catch, etc.

 

[lanejudy]

Make sure you are comparing apples to apples. Some things to check: Does it include all taxes and fees? Is it the same exact number-letter category. $100 can be the difference from say a 9C to a 9B. Does one quote include transfers or insurance or pre-paid gratuities?

 

[Kevin O'Brien]

I didn't know that undercover tourist did cruises I thought they only did theme park and attraction tickets.

 

[auntlynne]

I checked UT and compared same cabin, date. It was a $130 discount from the DCL booking site. And spelled out as exactly that. This was a Dec 4 Wish sailing, cabin priced at $3041 DCL, $2911 UT. Yes to taxes and fees included.

My take is that they are using part of their earned commission to supplement what the cruiser is billed. That savings is 4.6% of the cruise fare. If memory serves, travel agencies earn 8% or more from DCL - and go up from there if they are high volume.

And they offer the in-room decor gift.

Cruises are a new offering to their long-standing discounted park tickets. I have purchased those starting ~ 2004.

If you want to use a Travel Agent and like the idea of saving some money, now seems the time to try them. Will they continue with this? We shall see.

 

[StarStruck393]

Make sure you are comparing apples to apples. Some things to check: Does it include all taxes and fees? Is it the same exact number-letter category. $100 can be the difference from say a 9C to a 9B. Does one quote include transfers or insurance or pre-paid gratuities?

I'll double check on the taxes and fees, but as for the apples to apples thing, when I say the same stateroom, I mean the exact same stateroom. Like we know what stateroom we're targeting (e.g. Room 2020) and I'm pricing Room 2020 for that specific cruise on DCL's website vs. a couple TA websites (same price as DCL's site, plus a little onboard credit) vs. Undercover Tourist (~$100 less than DCL's site, plus a free room decorating kit (I need to look into what this is, but it says it has like a $95 retail value)).

As for transfers/insurance/prepaid gratuities/etc., I can't imagine those are included as I was just looking at the standard pricing (plus like I said, DCL and the TAs were giving the same price).

I'll say, too, the MouseSavers newsletter was describing UT as giving a discount off the DCL price (though it's self service), whereas their TA partner (whose name escapes me at the moment) offers the same price as DCL but an onboard credit.

 

[StarStruck393]

I didn't know that undercover tourist did cruises I thought they only did theme park and attraction tickets.

Yeah, me neither until today. I heard about them for park tickets years ago, but hadn't looked beyond that.

 

[StarStruck393]

I checked UT and compared same cabin, date. It was a $130 discount from the DCL booking site. And spelled out as exactly that. This was a Dec 4 Wish sailing, cabin priced at $3041 DCL, $2911 UT. Yes to taxes and fees included.

My take is that they are using part of their earned commission to supplement what the cruiser is billed. That savings is 4.6% of the cruise fare. If memory serves, travel agencies earn 8% or more from DCL - and go up from there if they are high volume.

And they offer the in-room decor gift.

Cruises are a new offering to their long-standing discounted park tickets. I have purchased those starting ~ 2004.

If you want to use a Travel Agent and like the idea of saving some money, now seems the time to try them. Will they continue with this? We shall see.

Thanks, yeah, this is exactly what I'm seeing. Supplementing via the cruise commission would be my guess too, but then I wonder how they're allowed to discount directly when DCL makes all other TAs offer the DCL rate and incentivize by other means (e.g. onboard credit). As an aside, I feel like DCL is missing a huge opportunity by not incentivizing people to book directly through them. I can book through DCL, or book through a TA that gives the same price plus an incentive, so why wouldn't I use the TA? I actually called up DCL today and asked if there was an advantage to booking directly vs. a TA given the incentive thing, and the guy basically said no, only thing is you have to make changes through the TA instead of DCL directly.

Would still love to hear from someone who's booked a cruise through UT though to see how it went.

 

[Mommb]

DCL has no need to incentivize people to book through them. If people book through a travel agent, the agent deals with questions about which room type and locations are best for particular needs, which port to fly into, what transportation options are, whether a discount can be applied, and so forth. Good travel agents remind clients about payment deadlines, identification requirements, and activity booking dates. This means Disney Cruise needs less staff to deal with these issues.

Travel agents may also send information about other announced Disney cruises, making it more likely their clients will book another cruise.

I too have wondered why Undercover Tourist is allowed to discount cruise prices. I also wonder whether, like travel agents, they retain control of the reservation so all changes must be made through them (which would require more staff on their side).

 

[adenton2000]

I used undercover tourist for the 8/31/24 Disney Fantasy. No issues or concerns. The in room gift was a blanket and pillow for us. It was cute and set up when we entered stateroom.

 

[StarStruck393]

I used undercover tourist for the 8/31/24 Disney Fantasy. No issues or concerns. The in room gift was a blanket and pillow for us. It was cute and set up when we entered stateroom.

Thanks, that's really great to know. So booking with UT worked just like booking with a regular travel agency?

 

[StarStruck393]

DCL has no need to incentivize people to book through them. If people book through a travel agent, the agent deals with questions about which room type and locations are best for particular needs, which port to fly into, what transportation options are, whether a discount can be applied, and so forth. Good travel agents remind clients about payment deadlines, identification requirements, and activity booking dates. This means Disney Cruise needs less staff to deal with these issues.

Travel agents may also send information about other announced Disney cruises, making it more likely their clients will book another cruise.

I mean I guess that makes some sense, trying to reduce staffing expenses. But I've heard that DCL will pay travel agents 8% or more of a fare, which seems like a huge margin to be giving up. I analogize with other travel providers; 10, 15 years ago, I used to book most of my flights, hotels, cruises, etc. with Travelocity. More recently, however, the providers have realized there's no sense paying Travelocity and others instead of just incentivizing people to book directly, and as a result, you rarely find a better deal on those sites vs. the airlines, hotels, etc. themselves.

Now maybe TAs are different, and offer better deals. Up until recently, I assumed that you (as the traveler) had to pay TAs for their services. My only real interaction with TAs had been through work travel where we were required to book through the company's travel provider, and which charged a fee to the company for each booking. So in my head, I assumed that TAs were for people that were willing to pay to avoid the hassle of booking themselves. Since I was perfectly comfortable booking myself, why would I pay for someone to do it for me? But if I don't have to pay, and they actually offer a better deal than direct booking, that completely changes the equation...

 

[StarStruck393]

So stupid me, I completely forgot about Costco travel as an option. Definitely have no concerns about their legitimacy/dealing with any issues, and they seem to provide the best incentive on the whole:

TAs - ~$50-100 onboard credit
Undercover Tourist - ~$90 discount plus the pillow and blanket gift ($95 retail value)
Costco - $160 Costco gift card

Technically UT gives the "most" value if you go by retail price, but that's only if value the pillow and blanket at $70 or more. We don't, so $160 has more value to us than ~$90 plus a pillow and blanket...

 

[adenton2000]

Thanks, that's really great to know. So booking with UT worked just like booking with a regular travel agency?

Yes - I didn't need a lot of support in the booking process or after. Felt like booking with Costco travel.

 

[Girl of the South]

This thread sort of feels like an infomercial. . . ?

 

[StarStruck393]

This thread sort of feels like an infomercial. . . ?

Sorry if that's how it's come off. It started off as me trying to figure out if anyone has booked through Undercover Tourist, because that seemed like the best deal though my wife and I were kind of leery as to whether there was a catch, but it kind of turned into my stream of conscious as I've gone through the process.

 

[Girl of the South]

I think it was how the “UT” turned into a link? If I type UT, it doesn’t. Maybe just my suspicious nature. Hope you have a good cruise.

 

[bighuskermav]

I think it was how the “UT” turned into a link? If I type UT, it doesn’t. Maybe just my suspicious nature. Hope you have a good cruise.

Pretty sure disboards adds those links automatically.

I’m not getting the same vibes…UT has been around forever and obviously has a close relationship with Disney. If there’s a discount to be had, it’s worth posting about.

 

[jwalk03]

Costco always seems to offer the highest incentives with their Costco Cash Cards. I booked my most recent cruise that way and getting a few hundred dollar Costco Cash card while paying the same price as booking through Disney directly.