Cruise Talk Central

One of the best ways to select a travel agent is to get a recommendation from other cruisers. This can be difficult for those of you who haven’t cruised because you may not have many friends who have cruised.

For my first cruise after a 10 year hiatus, I went with a local representative of a national cruise franchise. I hadn’t cruised in year, and wasn’t even sure where to start looking for a cruise. At the time we were building a new house and renting so all we had was dial up internet access. I wasn’t online much in those days. This was the agent that steered me toward trying Celebrity for the first time. He also lowered my price when the cruise line offered the lower fair. I would say his advice and service were exactly right.

For my next cruise I tried using the cruise compete service, http://www.cruisecompete.com. This is kind of like “Lending Tree” for cruises. You send them the Ship, Itenerary, and Date, and they send you back a price quote. Most often the cruise price is the same but the incentives vary. I went with one who offered free insurance. Again, I was happy with the service. As it turned out the company that I ended up using is one of the largest online companies. My only hiccup was that the agent that I had originally booked the cruise with, left the company several months later and I had to handle last minute questions through another party. I think these types of agencies tend to have more turn over for the their people. The other agents through whom I worked were very knowledgeable and helpful.

Finally for my last cruise I went with an agent that was highly recommended by many of my friends that I have met through the Cruise Line Fans forums. This was for a family group cruise and I wanted a bit more personalized service. They helped me with many of the items that we had to coordinate for the trip including cruise air. They also offered free insurance. This agency did a great job. They also had “Celebrity” beach towels waiting for us in cabins as a bon voyage gift.

So I’ll sum up my recomendations:

1. National travel franchises specializing in cruises.

2. Use online unknow agents with caution. Find out a bit about their reputation before you book.

3. Ask friends who cruise whom they use. If they have somebody they use over and over agin, you can bet that this agent will work hard for you too.

Hi Olivia,

I’ll go ahead and give you the agents that I used.

For the first cruise I used the local agent for Cruise 1 (Cruise One?)

My best quote when I used cruise compete was from:

http://www.cruisevacationoutlet.com/

Then for the family cruise I used Sky Scraper Tours: http://www.skyscrapertours.com/

Sky Scraper worked well for me because I already pretty much knew what I wanted… cabin category, cruise line, itinerary. They did a good job, but are a small agency, so sometimes it take a phone message and then a wait for a return call to handle issues. They are always pleasant, professional, and courteous.

CruiseCompete offers great deals-look for the ones that are not drastically different–remember certain cruise lines do not discount–the agent offers the amenities as a perk for buying with them. I personally have used CruiseAdventureTravel.com very successfully–found them through CruiseCompete

If you have any other questions, I'd be happy to help you. I am with Cruises Inc (Part of Cruise One, mentioned above). Cruise One is the franchise, and Cruises Inc are the home based travel agents.

We are both part of WTH, the largest seller of travel in the US. Let me know if I can help.