travel agent vs costco for a last minute cruise?

[dj2]

if the cruise is in less than 90 days, is there really much added benefit to working with a travel agent? we're using frequent flyer miles and already booked the plane tickets. and we are using hotel points so already have a room reserved for the night before. i don't really think we would be using the onboard credit unless it was there and we didn't want it to go to waste. the costco gift card would probably be more useful.

unless....can you use the onboard credit towards the tips?

or is there some other benefit of a travel agent doing the booking that would still be useful for a last minute cruise?

thanks so much
dj

 

[bumbershoot]

Costco IS a travel agent.

The benefit is the cash card. To me that's VERY useful.

Book through the place that gets you the most for your money.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Yes, you can use the onboard credit for tips. As above, go with whatever company benefits you the most.

 

[dj2]

Thanks so much for you comments!

went with costco in the end. they found us an accessible room for about $230 less than the one that the supposedly Disney Specialists travel agency quoted me, and it comes with a $120 Costco cash card, much better than the $50 onboard credit. a $300 total savings in a room that will meet our needs wonderfully.

 

[lanejudy]

Thanks so much for you comments!

went with costco in the end. they found us an accessible room for about $230 less than the one that the supposedly Disney Specialists travel agency quoted me, and it comes with a $120 Costco cash card, much better than the $50 onboard credit. a $300 total savings in a room that will meet our needs wonderfully.

I'm glad it's all working out for you!

For the record... DCL does not allow any TA to discount their fares, so comparing apples-to-apples across the board should be the same with any TA or with DCL direct. It's possible the first quote included travel insurance, transfers or something else extra that Costco didn't include. Or simply a stateroom in a lower letter category opened up in the meantime. Again, glad it's coming together for you.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[dj2]

Thank you again! we are so excited!!!

what happened seems weird to me. both before I emailed the "disney-specializing" travel agent and after they responded, there were several cat 9 accessible cabin available that i could see on disney's website, but she told us cat 4 was the lowest price left. so it seems either she somehow couldn't see them, or she wanted me to take a bigger cabin.

and their incentive for that $230 higher cabin was only $50, whereas costco offered $120 on the less expensive cabin.

I'm glad we didn't assume the disney experts would have/could find the best deal.

now we get to think about activities! yay!!!!!!!

 

[Cmbar]

Just curious if the price you got from costco for the accessible room was the price listed by Disney on their website? So the only advantage of you doing Costco was their gift card correct?

 

[dj2]

Just curious if the price you got from costco for the accessible room was the price listed by Disney on their website? So the only advantage of you doing Costco was their gift card correct?

Yes costco books cabins at same price as on Disney website.

In fact I think it's set up so all travel agencies book same category cabins at same price.

But the "Disney specialty" travel agency told me the lowest price accessible cabin still for sale was a category 4, whereas there were in fact several cat 9 cabins available, at a lower cat 9 price.

I don't know why they didn't quote me the cat 9. I guess either they couldn't see it, they missed it, or they wanted me to spend more.

 

[Dug720]

Yes costco books cabins at same price as on Disney website.

In fact I think it's set up so all travel agencies book same category cabins at same price.

But the "Disney specialty" travel agency told me the lowest price accessible cabin still for sale was a category 4, whereas there were in fact several cat 9 cabins available, at a lower cat 9 price.

I don't know why they didn't quote me the cat 9. I guess either they couldn't see it, they missed it, or they wanted me to spend more.

I wonder if we contacted the same agency.

I had contacted one a while back figuring since I wasn't booking on board the offered OBC would be nice. I was as clear as could be about my 8B category preference, even listing my preferred booking order of the available cabins. Quote came back, and it was like she never read that part of my query as everything quoted was for various veranda cabins. Because it took her a few days, I did check the website, but found that no, the 8Bs were ALL still available.

I had been iffy enough about using a TA because I like being in full control of my reservation that this totally turned me off of using one. If she wasn't going to "listen" to me from the first contact, how could I trust her to "listen" to me the rest of the time?

So I replied with a polite "thanks but no thanks" and explained I would be booking myself in the category I had actually asked about.

 

[dj2]

I wonder if we contacted the same agency.

Wow. Didn't want to say the agency name in case it was just an error, but now I wonder, too.....

 

[Dug720]

Wow. Didn't want to say the agency name in case it was just an error, but now I wonder, too.....

PMed you...