First RCCL cruise

[sdzimm]

Sorry in advance for the long post.


I booked my family's first cruise wit RCCL last night. I am the Disney lover in my family. My Ds 18 enjoys it, my DS 16 still has strong feeling regarding Disney. My DH on the other hand seems restless with Disney.

We cruised with DCL our second time in 2012. I promised the kids we would go back in 2015. The more dialogue we had regarding the cruise the more it became apparent DH did not really want to go with DCL. He likes to gamble, which I see no joy in. So we will be trying RCL next June.

I have researched a little regarding their cruises. I am aware of the beverage packages, the need to reserve entertainment and such. My question involves OBC. I did not see anything advertised regarding it. I initially reached out to a travel agent about booking a cruise. When I did so, there weren't any cruises past May 2015.

I tend to search every weekend for cruises. Around 9 last night I noticed dates had opened. I proceeded to book a cruise. I gather too many people were searching at the same time. First I lost my reservation completely. Then I could not get two connecting rooms AT ALL. The system then gave the error message stating too many people on line booking, and to call. After 45 minutes on hold, I was connected to an agent. After another 15 minutes he was able to secure 2 connecting rooms.

So I did succeed I booking my desired cruise. Here is my question. (Sorry again for the long preamble). After the time and effort I put in on my own is there any benefit in transferring my reservation to a travel agent? What would I gain? I must admit I am a little irked I discovered open dates before she did.


Thanks in advance

 

[woody73]

. . . So I did succeed I booking my desired cruise. Here is my question. (Sorry again for the long preamble). After the time and effort I put in on my own is there any benefit in transferring my reservation to a travel agent? What would I gain? I must admit I am a little irked I discovered open dates before she did.

Nice going booking late Sunday when bookings first opened. Apparently, you like having control over your bookings, as many of us do.

If you move the booking to a TA, you can likely get an OBC. But you would lose control over some aspects of your booking, such as being able to call the cruise line to take advantage of price drops or cabin changes late on a Sunday night.

So it depends if you're willing to give control of the booking to a TA. If you were irked with RCI's reservation agent, you might be frustrated with a TA that does not specialize in RCI.

Woody

 

[sdzimm]

Thank you for the response. Sorry for the confusion. I was bothered by not hearing of open dates form the TA. The booking agent was great! He actually seemed happy to help, which is rare in customer service these days.