jdb in AZ
It could end up curdled
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2011
- Messages
- 12,561
If you use a TA, you can still book your own excursions, do your own online check in. All the TA handles are the actual logistics of bookings, and payments.
Our travel agent has done much more. Our first extended-family cruise we started planning in August for a Hawaiian cruise in December. Yeah, kind of short notice for twenty people. DH did some on-line checking with several agents and finally got a referral for a young woman who had been doing well working for an agency, then went out on her own. She was able to book the cruise for all of us.
Another time we were having problems getting the rooms we had booked, so our TA ran it up the chain of command and finally got a vice president to reserve the rooms we needed, then comped the whole family a dinner to the upscale dining room (equivalent to Palo) because of the hassle.
She escorted our family cruise to Alaska and even baby-sat for some of the young families.
More recently DH and I had booked a river cruise, but the cruise line didn't want him to take his electric mobility scooter onboard. Our TA also ran that one up the chain of command, or we would've had to cancel (and our TA would've pulled a lot of future business from that cruise line.)
For a "normal" cruise, if you don't want the nice(!) onboard credit, then you don't need a TA. It's nice to have professional assistance for not-so-normal cruises. (Why be normal?)