Is a Travel Agent necessary when booking concierge level on Fantsay?

[Lisa_Bronson]

Hello! We are ready to book our first Disney Cruise for next December on the Disney Fantasy, and after a lot of research, we decided to go with a concierge room. Seeing all the deals out there, I am curious if booking at this level with a travel agent is necessary. Travel agent is offering a $400 OBC, but if we book through Costco we get a $650 Costco Cash Card. I've read you get a number to the concierge directly to Disney. Has someone done this, and can give any advice? I feel like what I need the travel agent for is what I'm paying in the price difference for concierge. Thanks for all and any advice!

Lisa
Disneyland-AP Holder

 

[TestingH2O]

The things concierge does for you are totally different than the things a TA should do. For instance, even if you have a TA, you would contact shoreside concierge directly.

What concierge doesn't give you is several hundred dollars in spending money.

In my opinion, book through a TA to get the OBC or gift card once you are sure you are happy with your room selection. Changing rooms is the only thing you won't be able to do if the TA "owns" your reservation. Not taking advantage of those benefits is just leaving money on the table.

 

[TestingH2O]

I didn't answer your other question: yes, I've done this. Last trip was an awful TA, but we were very happy with our experience with shoreside concierge. On our upcoming trip, we are with a new TA but will still be in contact with concierge at 125 days.

 

[KitkatMahn]

costco travel would be your travel agent. so the question is do you want the OBC? or do you want the costco cash card

 

[CesD]

Hello! We are ready to book our first Disney Cruise for next December on the Disney Fantasy, and after a lot of research, we decided to go with a concierge room. Seeing all the deals out there, I am curious if booking at this level with a travel agent is necessary. Travel agent is offering a $400 OBC, but if we book through Costco we get a $650 Costco Cash Card. I've read you get a number to the concierge directly to Disney. Has someone done this, and can give any advice? I feel like what I need the travel agent for is what I'm paying in the price difference for concierge. Thanks for all and any advice!

Lisa
Disneyland-AP Holder

Using Costco to book IS using a travel agent. You just have to decide if u want to use an agent that gives you OBC or the Costco agencyw which gives you the Costco gift card. Booking on your own just means you aren't taking either credit.

 

[Lisa_Bronson]

Using Costco to book IS using a travel agent. You just have to decide if u want to use an agent that gives you OBC or the Costco agencyw which gives you the Costco gift card. Booking on your own just means you aren't taking either credit.

Thanks! I know Costco is considered a TA, its just all online and their reps are pretty clueless than a normal TA that has actually sailed Disney and knows all the ins and outs. Just need to way the options on what we consider more valuable.

 

[timrousbeastie]

I booked directly with DCL just to be able to call them directly if I needed to change something on short notice. I was hoping to upgrade if my favorite rooms on the Fantasy suddenly became available and, indeed, that happened twice (12004 and 12012). In one case, I was in Belgium on a business trip when the room showed up in the DCL site on a Sunday morning. I suspect it would have disappeared in minutes if I hadn't been able to get in touch with DCL immediately; having missed it because I couldn't reach a TA would have been agonizing. Having said that, I did miss out on considerable onboard credits by not using a TA. Next time, I will try to find a cruise where my favorite rooms are available from the start and book them through a TA.

 

[Heard02]

TA is not needed...

 

[ctnurse]

I always use a TA and it is mostly for the OBC. She also sits on the phone opening day so I don't have to.

 

[squirk]

I'd say that if you frequently shop at Costco and will have no trouble burning through the $650 they give you in store credit, go with them.

I, too, book with my TA solely for the OBC. She's great, but there is very little she does for me that I couldn't do for myself. Point being - so long as the Costco agent, clueless or not, makes the reservation properly, I'd go with the extra $250.

Any questions you might have before the 125-day mark can probably be answered here if the TA turns out to be less than knowledgable.

 

[KitkatMahn]

Thanks! I know Costco is considered a TA, its just all online and their reps are pretty clueless than a normal TA that has actually sailed Disney and knows all the ins and outs. Just need to way the options on what we consider more valuable.

we used costco. two families and got connecting cabins. i found the costco ta very helpful and knowledgeable when we called. linked our reservations, let us pre pay our tips, and listed the girls birthdays on the reservation...thought they did a great job just fyi

 

[Lisa_Bronson]

we used costco. two families and got connecting cabins. i found the costco ta very helpful and knowledgeable when we called. linked our reservations, let us pre pay our tips, and listed the girls birthdays on the reservation...thought they did a great job just fyi

That makes me feel better! Thanks, Costco seems like a better deal.

 

[coloradocutie]

We've gone through Costco for our concierge cruises, but the only thing that I have ever asked for was their help with booking the reservation and choosing a room. For the remainder of anything that you will need, as others have stated, shoreside concierge were wonderful. As is that Costco cash card after you return

Have a wonderful cruise!!!

 

[bumbershoot]

As many others have said, the only things you need to talk to the TA about are things that change your room or the money. With costcotravel.com (we're supposed to give the URL to TAs to make sure they aren't banned) you pay right through the site and it shows up instantly on DCL.

Even when not booking concierge I was able to order distilled water and an extension cord for DH's CPAP through normal customer service at DCL; those don't have charges and weren't things I had to go through my TA for.

Dining reservations, excursions, etc, you do on your own through the website; you don't use a TA for those at all. If you're going concierge you can have them do those things or do them on your own (cabana and fancy restaurants you should go through concierge to make sure you get them), it's not through the TA.

So go with the TA that makes the most sense for you financially. For the "holding hands" types of questions, those things can generally be answered faster and more accurately here . Because if someone here gives you the wrong answer, 5 people will be by inside of 5 minutes making sure we all know that the person is wrong, which is awesome, and it's something that doesn't happen when a TA tells you something.

 

[squirk]

For the "holding hands" types of questions, those things can generally be answered faster and more accurately here . Because if someone here gives you the wrong answer, 5 people will be by inside of 5 minutes making sure we all know that the person is wrong, which is awesome, and it's something that doesn't happen when a TA tells you something.

QFE. It's true.

 

[bumbershoot]

Wouldn't it have been funny if I said that wrong?

 

[squirk]

Wouldn't it have been funny if I said that wrong?

Well, technically, when using numbers in a sentence, anything under 10 is supposed to be spelled out. "Five" instead of "5". So you did that wrong. Howzat?

 

[MaleficentRN]

In this day and age, there isn't anything a TA can do for me that I can't do myself, except give me a few hundred dollars of spending money. I did all the research, went on cruise compete.com and gave the booking to whoever offered the most OBC. I told them what I wanted, cabin number and everything, and paid them. Then I contacted shore side concierge for my onboard bookings when that window opened up.

 

[TestingH2O]

In this day and age, there isn't anything a TA can do for me that I can't do myself, except give me a few hundred dollars of spending money. I did all the research, went on cruise compete.com and gave the booking to whoever offered the most OBC. I told them what I wanted, cabin number and everything, and paid them. Then I contacted shore side concierge for my onboard bookings when that window opened up.

That pretty much sums it up. Lack of OBC AND no knowledge of DCL made the last TA a joke.