Using a travel agent vs booking a disney cruise myself?

[mymainmouse]

We are considering booking a cruise on the Wonder out of Miami for next March. We have cruised on the Wonder before and loved it. I booked that cruise myself and didn't have any problems. I like booking travel. I found an advertisement for a TA that offered an on board credit if you booked a cruise through them. I got a quick response from them and a nice OBC offer so am considering using the TA. The disney cruiseline website and the TA quoted the same fare price for the same cruise. I am just wondering how much of the planning I will still be able to do if I use a TA. I really like to "tinker" , as my mom calls it, with the reservation. Going on the Disney website and filling out the documents etc. How much would I have to relenquish to the TA? Never used one before. Thanks for any input.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We are considering booking a cruise on the Wonder out of Miami for next March. We have cruised on the Wonder before and loved it. I booked that cruise myself and didn't have any problems. I like booking travel. I found an advertisement for a TA that offered an on board credit if you booked a cruise through them. I got a quick response from them and a nice OBC offer so am considering using the TA. The disney cruiseline website and the TA quoted the same fare price for the same cruise. I am just wondering how much of the planning I will still be able to do if I use a TA. I really like to "tinker" , as my mom calls it, with the reservation. Going on the Disney website and filling out the documents etc. How much would I have to relenquish to the TA? Never used one before. Thanks for any input.

Anything having to do with the actual reservation (room selection, adding/removing guests, dining assignments, payments) will have to be done through the TA. When your online reservation window opens, you can do the check in and choose excursions yourself.

 

[mymainmouse]

Anything having to do with the actual reservation (room selection, adding/removing guests, dining assignments, payments) will have to be done through the TA. When your online reservation window opens, you can do the check in and choose excursions yourself.

We always use our Disney Visa to pay for our disney vacations. Would we still be able to take advantage of the 6 months no interest? or does that not apply unless you book directly through disney? That's one of the main reasons we use that card to pay for those trips.

 

[bumbershoot]

You still pay Disney; the TA should be using your CC info to pay Disney. At least that's how it works on www.costcotravel.com.

 

[ludari]

I really like using my TA and I give them all my parameters (budget, location, ship, schedule, etc) and let them do all the work. What my TA actually does is book the cruise with DCL. Once a reservation is made I visit the DCL site to verify everything is correct (it always is), check out port adventures and do the occasionally looking at other cruises. If I have a change to my reservation such as a different cruise, change to name, pay for tips in advance I contact my TA and let them handle it. They always send me an email confirmation with my changes. Finally my TA also offers OBC and I usually get a small gift from them in my stateroom. IMHO you can't go wrong with using a TA.

 

[MelSpees]

We always use our Disney Visa to pay for our disney vacations. Would we still be able to take advantage of the 6 months no interest? or does that not apply unless you book directly through disney? That's one of the main reasons we use that card to pay for those trips.

Yes, you can pay with your Disney Visa and get the 6 month 0% interest as long as you pay all of it with the card.
We use a TA for the OBC. We're thinking of using Costco next time for the larger amount back on a gift card.

 

[griffindesign]

I use dreams unlimited and always pick out my staterooms myself. I'll look on the Disney site and go through the reservation to check availability of rooms first, then when I've decided I contact my TA. I also tell her which seating. Last time I even requested a specific dining room on a specific night and got that. All of the online forms, excursions, specialty dining, PAT choice has to be done by you online so you won't miss out on that.

 

[IAMASTITCHER]

I have done both booking directly with Disney and with a TA and the end result is I will go with a TA again. The nice part of going through a TA is they are the ones on the phone with Disney, I don't have to wait while listening to the endless music (tho I do enjoy it). Having the OBC is just an added bonus.

 

[RebelHawk]

We have used Dreams Unlimited for our last two DCL cruises and have already booked our next two with them. I am a spreadsheet planner for all of our vacations and typically start planning over a year in advance. Handing the reigns over to a TA was a difficult pill for me to swallow but that ship board credit is awfully nice. Once they get the rooms booked you can take over for pretty much everything else when your reservation window opens up. We only had one occasion where we had to directly engage with our TA to make a change to a different cruise. This is something that can be easily done on your own but again it is nice to have some guidance on transfers and again it's hard to pass up on that ship board credit.

 

[mymainmouse]

Thanks everyone for the great advice! Sounds like using a TA definitely can make things easier.