Cruise Travel Agents

Working With Travel Agencies

Travel agencies are the natural first stop when investigating any vacation, including a cruise. Because cruises are such specialized travel, however, potential travelers must consider whether to work with a general agency or one dedicated solely to cruises.

General Travel Agencies

All large travel agencies can help passengers choose and book a suitable cruise. Many agencies even offer agents with particular specialties, including those most experienced with cruises. The benefit to working with a general agency is that if the cruise is part of an extended vacation, they are exceptionally qualified to help make additional arrangements such as hotel stays, local attractions, connecting flights, and rental cars. This integrates the entire vacation into one convenient package, often incorporating bonuses or deals to lower the final price.

On the other hand, a general travel agency is not likely to have access to as many cruise travel agents or intimate details as a more specialized agency. They may have only a limited number of promotional materials on hand, and their personal experience with different cruise lines, voyage lengths, and ship classes is likely to be less.

Cruise Specific Travel Agencies

Cruise specific travel agencies can offer potential cruisers a plethora of detailed information about many different cruise lines and ports of call, including less popular or more limited voyages. Because the agency deals only with cruise vacations (and perhaps a limited number of similar “packaged” vacation tours), the agents are more likely to have personal experience with a wider variety of ships and itineraries than in a more general agency. Many cruise lines also offer exclusive deals to selected cruise travel agencies. Cruise agencies can offer a wide range of brochures, videos, and overview materials to help clients compare options and selections.

If, however, your vacation includes other stops along with a cruise, a cruise specific travel agency will be less able to help plan the entire getaway. While they can arrange limited tours or airfare, the vast majority of their focus will be surrounding the cruise itself, associated ports of call, and various departure ports.

Online Cruise Travel Agents

For passengers who have investigated their options without an agent’s aid, an online cruise agency may be the best option. Many online cruise agencies allow passengers to choose itineraries, compare different ships, book specific cabins, and arrange accompanying airfare with little trouble. Cruise line websites often feature virtual ship tours and descriptions of popular shore excursions, allowing passengers to more thoroughly examine their options. While working with an online agency does not offer the convenience of speaking with a real person, many websites offer slightly lower cruise rates and booking incentives that can amount to significant savings.

One note of caution: many online agencies offer “live” consultations to help with bookings, but their published web rates are often invalid if an agent assists with the booking. While it is possible to contact the agency with questions, passengers interested in the best deal should be prepared to book their voyage online without assistance.

Cruise Line Representatives

All major cruise lines offer toll-free customer numbers for interested passengers. Dedicated cruise line representatives can answer detailed questions about each ship or upcoming itineraries, and they can also assist with booking voyages. When calling such a number, prospective travelers should be prepared for aggressive sales pitches, but a savvy cruiser will already have narrowed down their options and selected basic choices before contacting the agent. This will limit their sales pitch to the applicable sailings, and they can often investigate little-known incentives and deals for particular types of passengers, including military personnel, past cruisers, or group sailings.

Finding Cruise Travel Agents

The key to selecting the appropriate cruise agent is to find someone you are personally comfortable with. It is perfectly acceptable to ask how many cruises they have been on, with what lines, and on which ships. They may have visited the same ports of call on your planned itinerary and can offer insider tidbits about different shore excursions or tour options. Because cruise lines can differ widely in their types of service and general atmosphere, it is important to communicate with an agent who is familiar with the specifics of your upcoming voyage.

Booking Your Cruise Without An Agent

Well-informed cruisers can easily book their voyage without any aid from an agent. Large online travel websites offer cruise bookings, as do most cruise-specific websites. Cruise line websites also offer booking arrangements or recommend selected travel agents (many of whom also have websites). In order to book your cruise without an agent, you will need to know the full names, ages, and birthdates of each passenger, as well as other identification information. This is critical because a cruise is invariably an international voyage: misspelled names or incorrect information can result in denied travel. Appropriate airfare can easily be added to a voyage to guarantee convenient travel plans, and confirmation information will be immediately available to verify the arrangements.

The best vacations start with the best vacation plans, and travel agents are the experts that many cruisers rely upon to insure a worry-free getaway. Choosing between large travel agencies, cruise specific agencies, cruise line representatives and booking without an agent is each traveler’s personal decision, but whatever the final choice is, it should provide peace of mind and reassurance about the vacation’s specific details.