Favorite TA

[even1]

Hi Everyone,


For those who have booked thru a TA, please post your experience. Did you have to do all the homework or did they give you info and suggestions??

Any info will be appreciated. Thanks.

Eileen

 

[dizprincess27]

I am loving Dana Allensworth from MICDAN.com and cruise planners. She's been awesome helping me plan my upcoming May 2005 cruise and even sent some little surprises for my dd to open at christmas which is when I'm presenting her with the cruise and vacation

 

[alexandrew]

Do your own homework when booking a cruise!!!..no TA is an expert on every cruise line, and unfortunately, they may have their own interests first before yours($$$$)... i.e booking you a less than desirable stateroom location when better ones in a category may be sold out..

....Once you've decided on a ship, and I'm assuming you want to sail with DCL, I would recommend getting the book DCL prints...call DCL directly and have them ship it to you with the excellent DVD as well....with it, you'll get a good snapshot of what is offered in terms of staterooms, ammenities, et al...also, post questions on this board....the experts here know more than 90% of the TAs out there....

I use my TA solely for his excellent pricing...I give him the date and exact stateroom I want, and he books it.....he is an awesome Cruiseone agent I've used for years, but unfortunately, he wouldnt know one end of the Magic or Wonder from the other end...

 

[JenB]

Without a doubt, Regina from Dream's Unlimited has been a Godsend in helping me with all my trips. I agree with doing some legwork and research on your own, but it's always good to have a professional working with you as well. Regina only does Disney and while yes, nobody knows everything, that girl is close!

 

[cjsmom97]

I have to give my TA the credit that she is due. Her name is Kim and she works for AAA Travel. You don't have to be a member to get some of the benefits of booking through them. We have our November cruise through her and we all get a free soda package ($35 value each!!) and she is VERY willing to go the extra mile for us. She is willing to spend hours (and I DO mean hours at a time) on the phone when necessary to get things right. She always gets back to me when I have a question and is always happy to help. There are quite a few she has helped here on the boards, too. She planned our wedding trip last year when we were married at the Wedding Pavilion in WDW. My brother was driving down and arrived a day early (before us) on a Sunday. She gave me her home number to call her if I needed anything. Turns out, we did. She was able to call Disney Sunday afternoon and arrange for a room to be waiting for him on Sunday evening when he arrived (not to mention with a discount)!!!! That is true dedication. She could have ended her part once the reservations were made but she wanted to make this the best trip possible for us and she did. As an added bonus, she arranged for all of the kids (and there were a few of them!) travelling with us to receive a gift package complete with autograph book and souvenir Mickey pens. It was a great surprise. If anyone would like her contact info, PM me and I can get it to you. We have used her for YEARS and she has ALWAYS come through for us in a pinch!!

 

[Codeaddict]

Deb at The Magic For Less rocks! She has just been awesome answering my questions and giving suggestions for our family's cruise. I honestly swear that woman never sleeps!! Deb has definitely gone out of her way for us and just always seems to do it with a smile, at least it seems she is always smiling through her emails and phone conversations. She is one dedicated TA!

 

[momm2four]

I second Dana from MicDan.com. I felt like I had known her forever. She is very prompt at returning phone calls and extremely helpful. She told me she wanted everything to be perfect for me.

Lori P.

 

[RAC]

Another vote for Dana at MICDAN.com!! She is great and their prices are the lowest I found.

 

[even1]

Thanks for all the replies.....

I used a TA to book the repo cruise from LA to FL and she didn't ask me about any preferences except what Category we wanted.
This is our 1st cruise and it was a quick decision so I wanted to book before the price went up again.

I have checked the price on numerous sites and have not found a better one but since reading posts on this board I realize that TA's usually have tips and suggestions.

I have been reading up and find there are some things you should request at booking but my TA was obviously unaware of this and she is supposed to be a "Disney expert".

I usually do all my own research for trips and book everything myself because I have found that I save ALOT of money that way but with this cruise I thought it would be wiser to to use a TA because I had to book right away and I know NOTHING about cruising.

Every time I read something I didn't know I e-mail her and ask her to add it to my ressie info but I feel as though I'm doing the work that she should be doing.

I'll just keep gathering info and hope all goes well, besides even if I didn't receive any of my preferences, this is a trip of a lifetime for us!!!! How bad could it be?

 

[Leia's Mom]

I had somewhat of a challenge for my cruise this year. I needed a handicap accessible room with a veranda with 2 additional cabins VERY close. I gave a couple of travel agents the opportunity to come up with a cruise (we wanted Disney but were flexible on the dates). I was very disappointed with several who indicated that the best they could do was cabins 7 rooms apart. I think they looked at one date only. I have used the ladies at yourmagicaljourneys.com several times, so I tried them again to see if they could work any magic. Well, they came up with a date in my 4 month window where we could have our choice of 4 handicap rooms with nonhandicapped rooms right next door. So, we booked immediately.

I was surprised that the other agents didn't look as hard; however, it just confirms that I made the right decision with YMJ.

Leia's (and Talia's) Mom

 

[Ginny]

My favorite is Donna with Dreams Unlimited. After 4 cruises, I could pretty much book myself but I want to support these boards and Donna has done "backflips" to make things happen for my family. We even rebooked while on our Christmas 2003 cruise and I made sure that DCL noted that Dreams was our travel agent.

I think what I like best is that Donna treats you like family and doesn't make you feel as if anything is asking too much. One of my dear friends (another DIS member) called me from her cell phone while on a 7 day DCL cruise. One of her credits from DCL wasn't noted. Now, this was not even my reservation, it was another client of Dreams Unlimited but Donna worked her usual magic and got everything straightened out. And, to top it off, this was a DCL credit not a DU credit but Donna still took it for action and got it resolved.