How can I get my Dreams travel agent to do anything????

[Dug720]

not having to spend hours on the phone (on hold for most of that) to book a cruise when a new batch of itineraries are released.

This is the big one for me. My agent doesn't give OBC, but that's ok. She usually sends a small Starbucks or Disney gift card, and that's more than expected. I would hate the thought of her taking more money out of her pocket (which is what they do) just to give me OBC. Her being on the phone for hours on "opening day" for cruises (and monitoring WDW trips for discounts) is what matters to me.

 

[Dug720]

So does mine. She is fantastic. I will send her emails about something that could wait a while before being handled and she will get back to me within 24 hours (it is usually within 2 hours) and tell me it is taken care of.

Mine very often even responds after I've gotten an "out of email" response with another agent to contact for travel emergencies. Only once have I had something in that category because I was quickly approaching the deadline to cancel - and even then she was in contact with the emergency agent about my situation. I always say "This could have waited..." but she's very responsive.

 

[Alicatt]

I really think it depends on ypur TA. I am definitely a DIY planner but my TA let's me have as much or little control as I want. I was very skeptical about using a TA and I wanted one that I could actually speak to on the phone the first time and ask my myriad questions. I liked one right away. She is super responsive and is really good at understanding what I want. This trip I needed 4 cabins; 3 family verandahs and 1 inside. I gave her a few room numbers. All the ones I gave her were gone but since she knew what I wanted, she booked me similar ones. Same with excursions. The one I wanted was no longer offered she booked me something similar but not as fun for families. When I mentioned this; she asked all of her colleagues for help and her manager recommended a non DCL excursion that she had personally done several times. I didn't even know she was doing it until I got an email with links and all. She couldn't book it for us, and since she had to cancel the other one, likely lost some commission. That's the kind of care I've come to expect. And besides OBC she sends cute gifts.

 

[Scalemaster34]

I think there have been a number of PRO and CON threads on this over the years...

 

[Erica1016]

This is the big one for me. My agent doesn't give OBC, but that's ok. She usually sends a small Starbucks or Disney gift card, and that's more than expected. I would hate the thought of her taking more money out of her pocket (which is what they do) just to give me OBC. Her being on the phone for hours on "opening day" for cruises (and monitoring WDW trips for discounts) is what matters to me.

This is how we are with ours. Occasionally, she gives us a small credit and it's always an unexpected surprise. However, she gets everything booked for us and spends a lot of time on those "opening days" for us. We also have had several instances of moving things around, switching placeholders to different cruises, etc. and she handles all of that so well and we don't have to. We don't really have her do much besides the initial booking, but it's so worth the time to us!

 

[bakerworld]

We started using a TA because booking thru DCL was very 'bare bones'. Admittedly, I've only booked direct once. Our travel agent is California based so the time difference can be interesting but when we've needed her she's always there. We booked one cruise 7 weeks before embarkation and she was wonderful. Another time we had a family emergency 3 weeks before embarkation and she was able to save all our costs, the new cruise was less expensive and it was in the same cabin. She said it must have been a 'hold over' from pandemic practices or we got a really nice CM. I thought it was amazing she wasn't all "look at what I was able to do" and instead gave all the credit to the DCL CM.

 

[JM_97]

I love using a TA. I tell them what I want, and they can plan it all out for me. I do some research before hand but I don't have to worry about the logistics of everything. Plus with cruises you sometimes can get an onboard credit, which is basically like a gift card.

And since TA's known way more tips and tricks, they can make the vacation that much more relaxing and stress free.

 

[tvguy]

I too much of a control freak to use a TA. Plus I enjoy the research! I have changed cabins a couple of times (before PIF) when “better” ones become available. And it’s a hassle to have to go thorough an outside TA to do that.

This was about the only reason I could think of for someone not to use a Travel Agent. My last cruise, on Celebrity I booked thru Celebrity, but I did it with one of THEIR Travel Agents who answers their 800 number and everything went well. And my next cruise in the fall on Princess, I did it all online, but 120 days before our cruise one of THEIR Travel Agents called to check and see if we had any questions.

 

[RedHead0186]

I will say that my experience with a DU TA has been great. She's always been super responsive and helpful when we have questions.

I got an email from her last week that she'd applied the placeholder discount to our upcoming Wish cruise and saved us nearly $800. She did all of that before I even got the email from DCL that discount was available!

 

[GhostHost24]

I tried a travel agent solely for the onboard credit. I have been booking through the website since I started cruising. I tried it this time because I figured why not get the perk of onboard credit…. TOTALLY not worth it.

Just curious what made it not worth it since you get on board credit and don't pay anything. I'm similar in that I like booking everything on my own, and we're FL locals so it's not like I need someone to help with flights etc. We used one this time strictly for the OBC. Haven't really noticed any differences yet, she booked our room pretty easily when I said what kind we wanted.