Travel agents?

[Proud liberal 80]

Are they valuable? I am trying to book s cruise this summer for me and my wife. Do travel agents actually help, I mean I can go online myself and see what is available.

Do they have better offers, deals, perks, etc... that I wouldn’t get on my own?

[Thyla]

1. Personally I don't think so....

That said some agents have partnerships that do actually offer better value but I never use them.
My Mum does however because she "knows someone" and she pays more than I would, not by much but I honestly believe that she believes she has no idea on how to buy plane tickets.

[murielm99]

2. I know the people here who have a travel agency.

I think they provide a valuable service. They are good for people who don't know how to buy tickets or find the right places to stay. Not everyone can do that without making a mess.

[Thyla]

10. That is true too, everybody is different

I think it just annoys me that she doesn't ask me to do it, at least my time is free and I enjoy digging for deals. If an agent has the best price then I will go with them but strangely it has never come up.

[gopiscrap]

3. when I was 19 I led a national singing tour

around the US for 458 days, I did all the boking and prep myself. If I could do it as a 19 year old, you can do it

[Floyd R. Turbo]

4. Weve gotten the best deals by booking directly with the cruise lines or American Express!

Check out the deals on the cruise line website then have a travel agent quote on the same itinerary, accommodations, onboard credits, etc.

[MineralMan]

5. They can be, under some circumstances.

If you are just booking a cruise, probably you'd not benefit from using a travel agent, though. You can probably do just fine online.

Here's where travel agents are useful:

If you're planning a trip outside of the USA, and are going to a place that isn't familiar to you, a travel agent can be very useful. Not so much for booking flights, and things like that, although they'll do that for you. They often know the place you're going and can recommend hotels and other parts of your trip.

I haven't used one for years, though. The last time I did was for a trip to the Maya Riviera in 1991. My fiancee and I wanted to book an all-inclusive resort that wasn't in a major tourist center. The travel agent knew of one up the beach from Playa del Carmen that was primarily booked by German tourists. She said, if you're looking for a quiet, all-inclusive getaway, it would be a great choice. She was right. She booked the flight and the week's stay. We flew into Cancun, where a van from the resort met us and we went to the resort. There, we had a thatched hut, great food, a beautiful beach and as much privacy as we could stand. We could walk along the beach for 20 minutes to have lunch in Playa del Carmen.

Keep in mind, though, that this was pre-Internet. You could book that resort or any of several other smaller beachfront resorts online now, read reviews, and all that stuff.

Personally, I wouldn't use a travel agent unless I was planning a complicated multi-destination trip. Then, the agent would be valuable for scheduling, reserving, etc. for a bunch of places, which would save a lot of time.

[Blue_true]

6. No. Go to a site like Travelocity, you find the same stuff the agent does.

I used a travel agency to book a tour a few years back and ended up with someone in the office using my CC to buy stuff, never used an agency after that.

[Angry Dragon]

7. check on-line and then call around to see if they can do better

[haele]

8. Depends on how much you're doing.

Travel agents are critical if you're doing a vacation in stages, because not only do they understand the package deals - and organizational specials (i.e., work vacations - like spending a month on an Archeology dig in Honduras with a multi-university graduate study group), but a good travel agent actually has connections to other agents at your destinations and they'll have additional information on local deals that you might not be able to find online.
They can also negotiate for you to get you a better lodging, or get you into a more appropriate for your needs tour group. They can also help you change your itinerary as situations change more easily.

YMMV, of course - but if you're travelling overseas on a month-and-a-half-long vacation in several stages, a travel agent is a must.

If it's just a single week or two-week cruise deal, you can research the cruises online to find the one you like best. But if you intend to spend a month on a vacation that starts off with a one-week Alaska cruise, and then two weeks in Yukon Territory and British Colombia on a "gold rush" theme series of trips (B&B and "resorts" ) ending up in Seattle using a mix of Canadian Rail, Amtrak and local rental cars, you should get yourself a travel agent to arrange and schedule everything major.

Haele

[Stallion]

9. Cruise Lines Have Cut Back on the Perks Availiable to Travel Agents

to streamline rates across the board on all selling venues. Most of the time rates are identical but ex. the room you get might not be equal. Travel agents still might offer their own agent perks (where they cut their fee) and maybe useful to advise you on cabin location, best times to book, best times to travel or whether you are entitled to a discount because you are a Past Customer, Senior, Single, Over-55, Military First Responder etc.) Since I've been on 25 cruises I know all the tricks but an agent might be helpful to a new-be

Consider that the same Caribbean Cruise might be 100% more expensive if it was booked for June 1 rather than say May 23 simply because the kids get out of school. These are the types of things they might be able to assist you with. Might be best to use a travel agent for first few cruises

[Brainstormy]

11. no. n/t

[Lee-Lee]

12. For a simple cruise, probably not.

In the days before internet they had insight into deals and options everybody else didn’t have much access too.

Now, not so much.

Where they can be of value is if you are planning a complex trip with lots of moving parts or with possible changes. For example if you have a month long trip planned with multiple stops and various reservations they are great at getting all that set up. And where they are even better is if you have to make a change, if for some reason on the trip you have to suddenly shift your plans over it is a lot nicer to make one call or email to someone who can work to change all your travel and lodging reservations for you instead of you spending hours doing it, especially when you are abroad.