Getting quotes on cruises

[Liz]

When looking to book a cruise do you get quotes from several different places or just go with someone you have dealt with before? Is there really very much difference between TA's when quoting the same category room?

Thanks!

 

[TheWog]

sometimes there can be. Some TAs run specials or have blocks of rooms and can give you a discount. I would look at disneycruise.com and get a base point and make some calls or send out some requests and see what comes back. My local TA for our cruise told us to wait a week until May (2003) so we could take advantage of their Disney Month promotion. We received disney visors, lanyards, pins, my son got an autograph book, we got $100.00 shipboard credit and other small things I can't remember right now. So it can be to your advantage sometimes to check around. Click at the top of the page on DU and they are very good.

 

[traycie2201]

There can be a difference depending on what discounts are being offered and whether you want flights, insurance etc, it's always better to shop around and then go with the one that provides best price and service, i do hear good reports about DU, but i'm sure there are plenty of others out there too. Also check out DCL's own website to get an idea of the cost so you know what's reasonable or not.

 

[castlegazer]

I have a very trusted travel agent (a close friend of mine and DIS'r), but even with that, I get as many quotes as possible - with cruising this is essentially important as travel agents, can take a little off their top to meet or better a deal you are getting. It just happened to me for our upcoming cruise. I got a great quote - the best from anyone, from my TA, but, a week later I decided to try again to DU - got a lower quote due to their rebate system - my TA met it and went better with it. I got a great deal because of this and I am glad I did mention the better quote to her, while stressing I was not going to book with anyone else.

I book on my own for vacations, but for cruises, you really have to use travel agents to get the best deals.

You can look up cruise only travel agencies, both on-line agencies and office based agencies, through the web. They are the best to get quotes from - plus get quotes from BJ's and Costco travel.

 

[DisneyElf]

On my most recent cruise - the 9/4 (oops - Frances - 9/7 cruise), I checked Disneycruise & i-cruise to get baseline figures.

Then I read in Fromers cruise newsletter about a site called cruisecompete.com - you get quotes from 4 or 5 different TA's - the one restriction is that you have be serious about going on the cruise.

The site even gives a way to check the references of the TA's - when I booked - last April -- I ended up going with Cruising Co., Inc. ( a division of MouseEars Vacations).

I think I got a good deal - incl port charges - $ 2200 for 2 people in a CAT 7 for a seven nite cruise.

 

[mbaker]

WHO'S YOUR TA. I GET NOTHING FROM MINE. WHEN IS DISNEY PROMOTION MONTH?

sometimes there can be. Some TAs run specials or have blocks of rooms and can give you a discount. I would look at disneycruise.com and get a base point and make some calls or send out some requests and see what comes back. My local TA for our cruise told us to wait a week until May (2003) so we could take advantage of their Disney Month promotion. We received disney visors, lanyards, pins, my son got an autograph book, we got $100.00 shipboard credit and other small things I can't remember right now. So it can be to your advantage sometimes to check around. Click at the top of the page on DU and they are very good.

 

[TheWog]

Originally posted by mbaker
WHO'S YOUR TA. I GET NOTHING FROM MINE. WHEN IS DISNEY PROMOTION MONTH?

I used a local office that was great. I like to see a person and talk to them. I used them for our trip to Jamaica (Jan. 03) and our upcoming RCI cruise. I found my own air for the cruises though. Much cheaper. But they took care of everything (booked it for me to with no extra fee since I had the cruise booked) and put everything on one itinerary that I can use and refer to online. Nice system.

http://garbertravel.com/Pages/index.html

May was Disney month for them. I think it was an internal promotion period.

Send me a PM and I can give you the name of the agent if you like.

 

[JC Butterfly]

I always look at the Disney site first to know the price I have to beat. I have dealt with Dreams Unlimited a couple of times now and have been very pleased with their service. So I always ask for a quote from them. Then I hear about other places off of these boards like Mouse Ear Vacations, Small World Vacations, All Seasons Travel, etc and I compare the prices.

For the west coast cruise, Dreams had the exact room I wanted and the lowest quote. For my Oct 2006 quote Dreams and Mouse Ear offered pretty much the same price but Dreams got me the quote faster (usually less than 24 hours) and I like their online payment system.

Dreams has always answered my questions quickly (and there are always many of them) and they are a sponsor of this board.

When I booked my Disneyland trip though, I found that my local AAA office gave me the best deal by far. I like dealing with people online more than face to face though and for that trip I have to go in to make my payments, so it might depend if that is something that is important to you or not.