I already booked, using DU. I did it for the OBC. What are some things that make having a TA come in handy? I am totally new at all of this, so learning as I go. Just curious to know what benefits I might not be aware of. I still go to the DCL site to book excursions and things like that right? I know this is the DCL forum, but has anyone used them for a WDW trip? Is there a benefit to that?
Yes, you book shore excursions, Palo, spa stuff, etc online (you can pull up your DCL account at any time). You can not, however make payments online- you have to do it with DU. I've used DU for my DL trips, and am now using them for my WDW trip as well. They will make your ADR's if you want (I wanted to do that myself though), special events, look for discounts, make special requests on your reservations, etc. The only thing I personally use them for is to note special room requests on my account. Otherwise I prefer to book everything myself. They will also make a touring plan for you, however I use Ridemax so I don't need theirs Honestly with WDW there isn't really a benefit. But my WDW is tied to my DCL trip so it's assigned to them as well. The reason I use them for DCL is the OBC. And for DL you get a giftcard.
What your TA has to do is your payments. What they CAN do--advise you before booking as to cabins, availability, less expensive dates, additional costs, travel insurance options, etc. These things are obviously more important for first timers. THey can track your reservation and secure any discounts or fare reductions that may become available. They can advise and/or book flights (my TA got me the same flights cheaper than on line for the TA cruise). If you do a B2B, can they get you the same room on both cruises?, etc. In a dispute with DCL, they are on YOUR side (like the time I was charged twice for transfers.....) In an emergency, they are there to help. THey have a lot more influence with WDW, DCL, other hotels, etc. than you do because they book many trips each month. It's those emergency times that they really demonstrate their abilities.
You can book your own excursions etc. but a good TA will log on at midnight and try to grab them for you so you have the best chance of getting what you want.
My travel agent arranged the cruise, coordinated the air, the transfers, and the hotel, all I had to do was write a check and take the trip. My cruise documents went to her. She went through them, put yellow post it notes in with instructions, verified everything was the way it was supposed to me, then went over everything with me. I did book my excursions myself, but I didn't wait up until Midnight, as I recall we waited a couple of weeks before we finally booked them online. Didn't get one we wanted, and we were forced to find another, and it turned out the one we ended up with, the 12 meter regatta on St. Maarten was a far better excursion that what we intended to book.
