First time cruiser!

[Eujungahn]

RCL is having a Labor Day sale of 50% off the second guests. Is this a good deal, or should I wait for Black Friday deals? Want to go on a fall 2020 Mediterranean cruise. Also I would like to use a travel agent to help navigate bookings but do I wait to book with them or put an initial deposit down as the sale ends tomorrow. Any insights would be great!

 

[starvenger]

Talk with the TA, let them know your criteria and they'll do the legwork for you.

 

[CynBeth]

Honestly I would book yourself and not worry about using a TA. For our London and Paris trip earlier this summer my DM insisted on using one and it was a horrid experience as the small travel company she went with used a 3rd party and we had all sorts of issues and were worried a few days before that some of the attractions still were not reserved. There were a few miscommunications with our schedule, etc but we still had a great trip things would have been better if we had done it on our own. We are going on a Med cruise next summer where we are coming in a few days early to tour Rome and taking the train to tour Venice for a few days after and already have booked everything I can. Have to wait for the train in Italy and attractions to open up and the shore excursions for RCCL.

 

[starvenger]

I'll be honest - I was also skeptical about using a cruise TA since I go without when booking something on land, but my TA has done quite alright as far as I'm concerned, and this is basically the only time I use TAs now, although I still book my flights.

 

[DizneyNutz]

We have had nothing but excellent service using DREAMS UNLIMITED (who also sponsors this site) for our cruise bookings. We have cruised around 16 cruises (Disney and Royal combined) with 2 more booked. We recently sailed an 11 night Hawaii/ British Columbia cruise that we booked a year in advance. Our TA with DU (Beth Fejer) ended up saving us (3 couples) around $800 each couple by continually checking the cruise for Deals/ Reductions. This is without us having to do anything. we would just open each e-mail as they came in and it would explaining that she saved us more money each time. we highly recommend using a Dreams Unlimited agent to assist with your travel planning/booking.

 

[Lori74]

RCL is having a Labor Day sale of 50% off the second guests. Is this a good deal, or should I wait for Black Friday deals? Want to go on a fall 2020 Mediterranean cruise. Also I would like to use a travel agent to help navigate bookings but do I wait to book with them or put an initial deposit down as the sale ends tomorrow. Any insights would be great!

did you book? i have found the earlier, the cheaper. that's just my experience. and if you see a price drop just have it adjusted. have fun planning!

 

[Magical2017]

I have planned my own trips all over the world for over 30 years. I used a TA for our upcoming cruise. I went with the Disboards TA, Dreams Unlimited Travel. See if your TA can get you extra onboard credit, also, and purchase travel insurance. Be sure to carefully review what it does and does not cover, especially if you book your own air and transfers to the port. Also decide if you want the nonrefundable or refundable deposit. Your TA can go over all of that with you.