online cruise booking

[goodstarr]

I'm thinking of booking a cruise (not DCL) for June and have found the cheapest prices with online agencies, but I'm scared. What have people's experiences been with totally booking a cruise online with, say Cruise411 or Cruisesonly or Cruise Value Center? I don't need personal hand-holding service, but I want a legitimate agency that a few people have had good service with.

 

[SeaSpray]

We booked the Royal Caribbean cruise that we took this past summer with Cruise Value Center. We chose them because two of my brothers and their wives have used them over and over in the past, with no problems. DH and I booked our cruise kind of "last minute", about a month and a half before the cruise. When our documents arrived they were marked as "Senior Rate". This is a practice that many travel agent's do, but it's not right. We are not seniors or even close to it. Fortunately no one noticed this when we checked into the cruise, but if they had, we could've been forced to pay more money. (I did call Cruise Value when I saw this on our documents and they said not to worry about it, they do it all the time, that the senior rates were the only cabins left, etc. I told them that if we had any problems THEY would be reimbursing us the price difference!).

HOWEVER, I don't think this will be a problem anymore because I've read articles and other cruising message boards that say that the cruise lines are going to be imposing harsh penalties on travel agents who do this. They're giving them a deadline, and after that they are NOT supposed to be booking people under codes for which they do not qualify.

Now having said all that about Cruise Value Center, we otherwise had fine service. Their offices are in East Brunswick, NJ which is close to where my brother and SIL live, and she always goes right there to pick up her documents. That made me feel a little better, to know there's an actual office for this company. I really was just turned off from our "senior rate" incident.

In a nutshell, I wouldn't really recommend them, but I have to say that many of my family members have used them repeatedly throughout the years without a problem.

 

[goodstarr]

Thanks SeaSpray, I'll give them a call.

 

[4nana]

We have used Cruise411 and Cruise.com as they gave us the best prices of many quotes. We had good service with no problems and would not hesitate to use them again. They are just a phone call away if you have any questions. Good luck and have fun shopping.