Drawbacks to using a travel agent?

[plutolovr]

We have established that there are no drawbacks to using a travel agent, but which should we use? I usually do all my own DCL bookings myself, but I want to try RCL and know nothing about them. Can anyone recommend an agent who specializes in them? I thought about just calling DU, but I do not know if they know RCL as well as some others might. Any suggestions?

Dreams Unlimited Travel books Royal Caribbean. https://www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.com/dcruise/

 

[Bibbidi_Boo]

To those who say they give up control, I say there’s two sides to the coin. Giving up control also means if you want to change staterooms, you just send an email. No need to wait on the phone or explain situation to DCL.

I would say one downside, is it’s easier to say no/cancel to DCL than to a TA. Knowing that they spent time with you and they’re not getting that time/$ back. But do what’s best for you and don’t give it a second thought.

It drives me crazy not to be able to just do it myself and have to wait on someone else to do it. We have used costco a couple times for the shop card and it was okay since we didn't make any changes. We are going in Dec and costco was booked up for the one we wanted so we just used DCL.

 

[Akck]

I agree with others that it depends on if you get a responsive TA. I decided to use a DU agent to book a room since we utilized this forum and watch many of their YouTube videos. The first benefit of our TA was she grabbed a discount for our room when it was offered later. She also answered emails the same day, even on weekends (I expected an answer on Monday).

We later booked several cruises and appreciated not having to wait on hold for several changes we requested, plus the shipboard credit. She was very helpful and responsive with our cruise just after Hurricane Ian. She let me know what our options were at the time and I was able to make flight changes to make the cruise and she was able to add transportation to the port.

Overall, I think we’d have been lost in making arrangements without a TA during the hurricane. While you can make your reservations directly, a TA will be invaluable when things go wrong.

 

[RedHead0186]

We used Merrie at DU for our recent cruise, and she was great. I'd never used a TA before, and it was great to have her. She was helpful when we needed to switch itineraries, add a FL resident discount (they only thing I had to do was email DCL proof of address), look up different stateroom options, and, most importantly, help us sort our a DOB issue with Safe Passage that was preventing my parents from getting cleared to sail. The onboard credit was also nice, and the gift basket had a few helpful items in it. We booked placeholders and will be using DU and Merrie again!

(Usually I am a control freak, but in this case it was nice to have someone knowledagble who could navigate DCL and sit on hold, so I was happy to give up that control and get OBC for it!)

 

[disneyseniors]

OP, we have never done a cruise, but we use our travel agent for all other trips.
As far as I can tell, there are no con's to using one. We have become good friends with ours and she does a fantastic job covering all aspects of travel, without a charge to us.