You're about to discover whether you should be
booking your cruises via a cruise agent or in some other way
with everything that's going on in cruising at the moment.
Hi, I'm Gary Bembridge and this is
another of my cruising Tips For Travellers.
I want to explore what is the best and the right way
to be booking your cruises as you look to return
to cruising, whenever that may be,
whether it's the short-term,
the medium-term, or the long-term,
and really explore whether you should be booking
with a cruise agent or in some other way.
There are probably five different ways
that you could be booking your cruises at the moment.
One of which is with a travel agent.
So certainly, one of the high street travel agents,
one of the bricks-and-mortar travel agents.
Secondly, with one of the online portals,
the bigger, broader travel agents.
So something like Expedia for example.
Or you could be looking perhaps
at a very focused cruise online agency.
So in the U.S. you've got something like,
for example, vacationstogo.com.
In the U.K. you've got ROL Cruises.
These operate both by telephone and online.
You could then, perhaps you're looking
at independent cruise brokers.
Independent cruise agents often working for themselves,
but part of a bigger group.
Or of course, you could be booking
with the cruise lines direct.
With everything that's going on,
cruising at the moment, and all the uncertainty,
I really recommend more than ever,
even if you have future cruise credits
that you've had from bookings
you've done direct with the cruise line itself,
that you should really seriously be thinking
about working with a cruise agent.
So that's particularly an independent cruise agent
or one of those bigger groups
that do online and telephone calls.
So why do I think that is so important?
Well first of all, what's really important to bear in mind
is they will give you exactly the same price
as you will get from the cruise lines.
However, they will give you a whole bunch more service.
It's really important to understand
that if you book with a cruise agent,
you will pay the same as going direct.
The cruise lines, unlike perhaps with hotels,
don't undercut agents in any way.
The agents are really, really, really important
to the cruise industry, and certainly,
as they try and get people back to cruising,
the agents are becoming even more important.
They're going to rely on the agents
to tell the story of cruising,
to communicate all the new protocols,
and to really try to convince people
that they should try cruising.
And you can see lots of evidence of this.
So for example, the head of Royal Caribbean started
a whole video series where he's talking to agents.
I've seen lots of webinars being set up
with Virgin Cruises, AmaWaterways,
where they're talking directly to agents
because they are so fundamentally important.
And they will never, ever undercut the price
that you can get with paid cruise agent.
In fact, you might find that if you go with a cruise agent,
you might get a better deal because what a lot of the agents
do to encourage people to go with them
is they will often bundle in other things.
The way the cruise agent earns their income
is they get a commission on that sale.
And they'll sometimes use some of their commission
to add some sweetness, whether it's an extra onboard credit,
they might give you some gifts,
or different types of incentives to book with them.
So you might actually get a sharper and better
overall deal because they'll throw much more in.
The reason also that's really important to understand is
I believe very strongly that we're going to see
huge volatility in prices over the coming year or so.
Prices haven't really become that volatile yet,
but once it all beds in, once the cruise lines know
exactly what cruises they can operate,
when they're going to operate,
the challenge is then going to be filling ships,
the ships that they have out there.
And there's going to be a lot of reluctance to get back
onto ships and there's going to be lots of deals.
Prices I believe are going to chop and change,
deals and offers, whether it's upgrades,
extra onboard credit, bundling in things
like gratuities, Wi-Fi, specialty dining.
It's going to become a very volatile
and constantly changing world.
And it's going to be quite hard
as an individual to keep up to date.
If you work with an agent,
they will be constantly fed the updates on pricing.
They'll know the latest deals, what's been added,
what's been taken away.
And you're going to be much more certain
that you're going to get the best deals that are going.
The other thing that I believe is really important,
which is ongoing, but even in these uncertain times
it's important is the agents are also going to be able
to guide you in a number of ways.
They can also tell you the best time to book.
So different promotions may come up,
whether it's for solo travellers, families, whatever it is,
they're going to know when those promotional periods are,
or when they're coming up so they might be able to tell you,
"Look, hold on for a couple of weeks
"because I know there's a big solo deal
"which is coming in next month," or whatever.
Another thing that you can ask
the agent to do is track pricing.
Again, as I said, I think price is
going to be very, very volatile.
And if the cruise lines reduce their price,
you're not going to know that.
If you ask the agent to track that price,
if they see the price going down,
the cruise lines won't refund you that,
but if the agent picks up on that,
they can go back and negotiate a better deal.
So that's happened to me in the past, for example,
where prices had come down and I had been offered then,
perhaps more onboard credit or often an upgrade.
The agent can make sure that they keep on top of pricing
as it moves all over the place to make sure
that you do get extra benefits if the price goes down.
The other very important thing with agents is
close to sailing, what the cruise lines do
is they aim to try and get the ship
as full as they possibly can.
And what they will do is they'll often do
some very big deals.
They might start upgrading people from lower grades
and they'll put some incredible deals out there.
Now they don't want to publicise those.
They don't want to go out and advertise those
or put them on their website.
So they'll often go to trusted cruise agents
and try to get them to clear those cabins.
So they will also know if there's some really sharp deals.
So if you're particularly looking
at cruising at short notice,
which you might want to do with all the volatility
in cruising, is only decide close to the time.
They are likely to have deals which you will not find
anywhere else, even on the cruise line sites.
The second absolutely key reason for choosing
to go with a cruise agent is around the time-saving
and the convenience and the fact that it's one call.
We've seen huge volatility and we may
keep seeing volatility in cruising.
The advantage with an agent is if you want to cancel,
so if your cruise is cancelled or you want to shift it
or change it, at the moment,
if you've booked say, direct with the cruise line,
you basically have to phone them up
and you could be waiting for huge amounts of time.
The advantage you have if you've got an agent
is if the cruise gets cancelled,
they will deal with all the hanging on
with the cruise lines if you've
booked your whole package with them.
So you've perhaps booked some hotels, some flights,
with one call, with one message, with one email,
then the cruise agent has to deal with all of the refunds,
all of the contacts and it saves you having
to hang onto the cruise line, hang on with the airline,
get hold of the hotel, cancel excursions, whatever it is,
it's one simple point of contact.
And certainly, talking to agents,
I know they have taken a huge amount of stress and strain
away because they've been able to do all of that
for a client, and that's a really, really big plus.
The second thing which is sort of linked to that
is if anything goes wrong on your cruise, again,
you just have one point of contact.
And that's been great for me in the past.
So for example, I was on a cruise not that long ago
where the airports went on strike and flights weren't going
and I could see everyone else on the ship
who'd booked their packages separately,
so they perhaps booked the cruise directly
with the cruise line, they'd booked flights separately,
they'd booked hotels separately,
and they were then scrabbling around
using someone's upgrade Wi-Fi or days at sea
to try and contact all these people
to just move everything around.
What I was able to do was actually with a company called
Mundy Cruising, I was on a Windstar cruise.
I just sent an email to the agency, said,
"Look this has happened, can you sort it out?"
And then I could just relax and enjoy the next day
and wait for them to sort it out.
And they eventually came back to me and they'd sorted out
a new hotel and new flight time, and all that stuff.
And I hadn't worried about all that stress.
The third really good reason for using a cruise agent
is if you have had lots of cruises cancelled,
and you've actually got future cruise credit,
because either you've cancelled or moved cruises,
the really good news is even if you have
future cruise credit which you've earned
from booking direct with the cruise line,
a cruise agent will be very, very happy to pick
those future cruise credits up as you plan forward.
And the reason for that is the cruise lines, again,
because the agents are so important to them,
are going to be giving commission to the cruise agents
when they rebook new cruises with future cruise credits.
So future cruise credits are located to you as an individual
either with your club number, your captain's number,
or your frequent cruising number,
or with your booking reference.
And they are then able to use it.
Now I've checked with agents that I know,
both in the U.K. and in the U.S.
and it certainly seems the case
that they will then be very, very keen
and happy to help you use those future cruise credits
because they will again,
earn the commission from those new bookings,
even though originally you booked
directly with the cruise line.
And of course, the good news is then I'm also helping
support those agents through what have been
quite challenging and difficult times,
and a huge amount of work for them.
So that's another really good reason
for choosing to use an agent.
It's going to simplify the whole process
of using future cruise credits.
It's a little bit complicated, future cruise credits,
different cruise lines are doing it in different ways
and different formats and you can
get rid of all of that worry, all of that stress and strain
by basically handing your references
over to the agent and let them get on with it.
Another really good reason for using an agent is,
and I alluded to it a little bit earlier,
is they're a one-stop shop.
As you head back into cruising,
one of the things that you might want to do
is use an agent simply because the rate
at which airlines go back, their frequency of itineraries,
which hotels are open, which ports are open,
which excursions are open,
which transfer companies are open,
which cruise lines are running when.
It's kind of a complicated mishmash
of different rules and regulations, travel advisories,
and it is going to be quite complicated.
The advantage of working with an agent is
they can navigate their way through all of that.
They can then put together and make sure they can
put together one whole programme from the time you leave
your house to the time you get back.
And they can fill in all the gaps,
and work around all of those different rules, regulations
and changes, and make sure that you know what they are.
So it's a complete one-stop shop.
I think travelling over the next year or so
is going to be quite complicated
because rules will change, shutdowns will come and go,
and ports will be more willing or less willing.
And by having, basically handing that over to someone else
to sort out for you as a one-stop shop
I think is going to be a real big plus.
They're also then, pull that together in a nice document.
That's a great thing about working with an agent,
they pull together a nice document
with everything laid out, step-by-step, day-by-day.
So that whole one-stop shop and getting around
all that what's going to be a complicated way
of easing back into travel, I think,
is a big, big reason for using an agent.
Of course, one of the most obvious reasons
for using an agent is their expertise and their advice.
And particularly if you are new to cruise
and heading out in this new world of cruising.
The agents have lots of experience.
They know the ships, they know the cruise lines,
and they have worked with lots of people
before finding out what really works
for different types of travellers.
So you're actually then buying a lot of expertise.
Of course, there's lots of research you can do yourself,
but certainly if you're new to cruise,
I think that's a real big plus.
And also if you're thinking of changing cruise lines.
Perhaps you've been really loyal to a cruise line.
With everything that's going on,
you're either looking at a different cruise line.
Again, using an agent could be a really good way
of helping, again, sort you out
and get you in the right direction.
Another thing which I really like which is linked to that is
what most agents will do is they will alert you
and make sure that you understand
all the nuances of that travel.
What do I mean by that?
You'll often find that agents will
give you some sort of checklist.
They will point out to you whether you need visas,
whether you need vaccinations,
whether there's certain things you need to pack,
some things you shouldn't be packing
because you're going to a certain region.
And they will give you a really good checklist and advice.
If you book direct, for example, with the cruise line,
they will give you more standard documentations.
But an agent is normally pretty good at giving
you documentation and pointing out
the kind of things you really need to think about
because they're giving you much more of a service.
And that certainly is, if you're heading to a new region
or a new part of the world,
and with everything changing again
with potentially new regulations and rules,
having that advice, and that guidance,
and those checklists will be a real big plus
and reason for using an agent, I believe.
Another good reason for using an agent is,
bear in mind, agents want to keep you happy.
They want to make sure that you have a great experience
because they want you to keep coming back.
So actually by handing over a lot of this complicated
organisation and potentially disruptive organisation
over to them, they want to keep you happy.
They're going to do, work as hard as they can
to make sure they put together something
that really works for you because they want to make sure
that you're going to keep coming back, and back to them.
Now personally, I think one of the great things to do
is to actually work with a more independent cruise agent.
And the reason I like to work with an independent
cruise agent is then you have one point of contact.
So you're always working with that same person.
They often are more available
because they're working from home often.
They have even more flexibility than normal.
They'll often be checking in
on the weekends or the evenings, or whatever.
So I really like working with independent agents.
With everything going on in travel and cruising
as the world readjusts to the new realities,
and the way that we work, and regulations change,
and your rules change, and the way we travel changes,
I think working with an agent at this time
is probably more important that any time in the past.
If you haven't worked with an agent before,
when you book your cruising, this is the time, I think,
to really rethink whether working with an agent
is the right thing to do.
Hopefully that's given you some insights and thoughts.
I've loads more videos full of tips, advice,
and recommendations about cruising.
So why don't you watch another one of those right now?