Disney Cruise Newbie-should I use a travel agent?

[Disney maygirl]

I'm a Newbie as well. After doing a little bit of research, I am using a TA for our first cruise for the OBC. We have two concierge level rooms since it is me, the DH and 4 children. The OBC total for that is $700. Now, that's real money. And as far as I understand, I am in control of booking what I want. The TA is super responsive on top of that.....I'm hoping it works out...Good luck!

 

[Budzooka]

We used a travel agent at Off to Neverland for our fist cruise and was very glad we did. Now that I know the ropes, I am going to use Costco going forward to get the card.

 

[n2mm]

We only book them ourselves. But I like to control everything. We dont do GTY rooms, because we know where we like to be, etc. I would rather give up the TA credit to be able to control everything my self.

But that is me.

Please tell me, what do you give up by using a TA? I thought the same thing, but started using a dreams unlimited TA a few years ago and still control everything I want. Maybe there's something missing that I'm unaware of. I book my own excursions, and get my tags mailed directly to me. The only thing I don't do is call dcl on opening day when cruises are released and don't sit on the phone on hold....that task my TA gets to do. Now you got me thinking I'm missing something? I don't get gty cabins either. I tell my TA what cabin I want and so far have always gotten it.

Yes, I'm also supporting a small business.....the obc is nice too!

 

[Billinaz]

You are not really giving up anything. If you need to change dates or rooms then you need to go through the TA. Other than that, you can do everything yourself.

The best deal going out there is to use Costco as your TA. This is especially true of you are sailing concierge.

With TAs you get an OBC of about $300. With Costco you get a Costco cash card worth 8.5% of your cruise cost. So if its a $5000 cruise cost then the card is $425. In the case of a concierge room which can be much higher, so it the cash card. Our next cruise (concierge room) gets us a cash card worth $1045.

You can book directly with DCL, you have 30 days to transfer the reservation.

 

[Billinaz]

I'm a Newbie as well. After doing a little bit of research, I am using a TA for our first cruise for the OBC. We have two concierge level rooms since it is me, the DH and 4 children. The OBC total for that is $700. Now, that's real money. And as far as I understand, I am in control of booking what I want. The TA is super responsive on top of that.....I'm hoping it works out...Good luck!

2 concierge rooms? That has to be quite a bit. You would have gotten much more back from Costco as the TA, double or triple.

 

[Billinaz]

We only book them ourselves. But I like to control everything. We dont do GTY rooms, because we know where we like to be, etc. I would rather give up the TA credit to be able to control everything my self.

But that is me.

I am a compulsive planner too. But when you get more than $1000 back just for letting a TA have the reservation.... how can you pass that up? I make the reservation with DCL and email them the transfer form. The only difference is instead of paying DCL directly I pay Costco online. Other than that, there are no down sides....

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Rule of thumb:

$1000 free hummus > no free hummus

 

[Billinaz]

We always use a TA for cruises. It's great when you want to price out different options, or if you want someone to manage something like being on a waitlist for a change. I'm not entirely sure what people want to control that a travel agent takes away. I tell the agent which room numbers are acceptable and essentially just have them do the same thing I would have done through the website, and I get some OBC in return. I still do all of the on-board activities myself (or through shoreside concierge), so no control lost there.

Essentially, I feel like I have the same amount of control, I just have someone else to do the grunt work for me. I send everyone I know who is thinking about a Disney cruise to our agent because our experience has been so good.

I dont get it either. Our first cruise we didnt know about Disboards and got nothing for the reservation. We then used DU for the OBC. 5 years ago or so we found out about he Costco deal and could not pass it up.

 

[Billinaz]

Here's the way I look at it. It costs you literally nothing to use one. It costs the same amount either way. If you use one, Disney will pay the agent a commission. If you book with Disney, they just keep that money they are willing to pay someone. Why not put that money back into the economy than Disney's pocket?

Do know though if you are using someone to get onboard credit, it comes directly from their paycheck.

Exactly.

In the case of Costco they give you back 8.5%

 

[Disney maygirl]

2 concierge rooms? That has to be quite a bit. You would have gotten much more back from Costco as the TA, double or triple.

 

[oakleycat]

We also use Costco Travel. I still get to pick my cabin myself and take care of all the planning, and I think its a $520 giftcard for our next cruise.

 

[Disney maygirl]

2 concierge rooms? That has to be quite a bit. You would have gotten much more back from Costco as the TA, double or triple.

Doing the math for two concierge rooms....Costco cashcard would have gotten me $900 (this is minus $120 membership since I don't go to Costco). My TA booking got me $700, so I guess I missed out on $200, but again...I don't shop at Costco. So now I have to figure out how to spend $700 onboard credit? From what I've been reading this will be pretty easy to do with 4 kids and two adults on a 4 night cruise....insane!

 

[n2mm]

You can use your obc towards your gratuities too.

 

[Billinaz]

Doing the math for two concierge rooms....Costco cashcard would have gotten me $900 (this is minus $120 membership since I don't go to Costco). My TA booking got me $700, so I guess I missed out on $200, but again...I don't shop at Costco. So now I have to figure out how to spend $700 onboard credit? From what I've been reading this will be pretty easy to do with 4 kids and two adults on a 4 night cruise....insane!

Is this a 3 day cruise? 2 concierge rooms for $10K ? Thats pretty inexpensive (well, relatively), and membership is $60, the $120 executive membership would not do you any good. You can use the card at Costco.com

 

[limabeanmom2003]

I highly recommend Dreams Unlimited Travel when booking your Disney Cruise. The OBC is great and they handle everything for you.

 

[Disney maygirl]

Is this a 3 day cruise? 2 concierge rooms for $10K ? Thats pretty inexpensive (well, relatively), and membership is $60, the $120 executive membership would not do you any good. You can use the card at Costco.com

$10K would have been great....$1350 for the two Cat V room 4 Day cruise....I don't use Costco so the cashcard is useless to me.... the OBC may cover the gratuity....I think it comes to $600/$700 for 6 of us in concierge???? gratuity is the next thing I'm researching.....

 

[Billinaz]

$10K would have been great....$1350 for the two Cat V room 4 Day cruise....I don't use Costco so the cashcard is useless to me.... the OBC may cover the gratuity....I think it comes to $600/$700 for 6 of us in concierge???? gratuity is the next thing I'm researching.....

$13500 you mean? That makes more sense. I could really put that $1147 card to use! (thats 8.5%). There have been people that said they were able to trade it in for cash. But I would probably get a giant TV or more kitchen gadgets than I could possibly use!

Here is where you can figure out the tips.

http://cruisetip.tpkeller.com/

 

[Disney maygirl]

4 day

$13500 you mean? That makes more sense. I could really put that $1147 card to use! (thats 8.5%). There have been people that said they were able to trade it in for cash. But I would probably get a giant TV or more kitchen gadgets than I could possibly use!

Here is where you can figure out the tips.

http://cruisetip.tpkeller.com/

Forgot a zero!!!! From what I can see, it can no longer be traded in for cash....thanks for the link!