Anyone have experience booking a cruise?

[Chefzhat]

We've been on a few, but it's been years - and WAY before the internet! Now I'm trying to book one for over the Christmas holidays and am overwhelmed by the choices!

Where's the best place to book? Directly with the cruise line? Should I get a travel agent for my best deal? Wing it and go online???

We would like to port at San Juan, and do a southern Caribbean excursion. There will be four of us, so either two adjoining rooms or a family suite.

TIA!
Debie

[sfarler]

We've been on a few cruises and used a travel agent to book the cruise. We went last year to Alaska on Princess and the travel agent called Princess to check if the cabin we wanted was available. The cabin was important to us. I'm not sure if we could have gotten the same result booking online. I did book all the excursions online. Someone pointed me to the site Cruisecritic.com which is a wealth of information.

[linsleyd]

I will be interested in hearing replys since we've always done it directly through the cruise line. I liked someone telling me the flights and that someone would be there to pick us up and take us to the cruise ship...

Where are you thinking of going?

[Gumbeaux]

I've booked the last four or five cruises we've been on through Cruise.com (http://www.cruise.com/cs/forms/cruiseresultsPage.aspx?CD=6&DF=12/1/2008&CL=0|0&CV=-1&ships=-1&ports=9730&sort=10&SN=false&MT=false&ZP1=-1&ZP2=-1&PC=&Phone=&Home=&EO=false&Ref=BS&PIN=&LID=&look=&template=&AG=1&ADV=Y&PSL=Y&logo=Y&GroupOnly=false). It's as easy as buying a book on Amazon.You get all the information you need from this site.

[Cookin4Love]

I've booked several through Costco travel. We always get a little something extra that way, whether it's onboard credit or a Costco gift card. They've been really good about working with me to get exactly the cabins we want. Sounds like fun. I'm starting to itch for a cruise; it's been a couple of years.

[suebear37]

Debie, we've booked a southern Caribbean cruise out of San Juan for next February. We use a travel agent that one of my neighbors found online several years ago & we've stuck with him, even though he's in the Boston area & we're in upstate NY. If you want his info, feel free to PM me.

We like using an agent so that we can deal with the same person all the time... DH has had to call Royal Caribbean several times, mainly to straighten out issues with our Crown & Anchor membership & has found it frustrating to have to talk to a different person every time.

We do book our own flights though.

One suggestion... if at all possible, fly in to the port a day early, especially if you're looking to travel in winter/ during the holidays. Too many opportunities for travel difficulties & lost luggage!!!

[Sarah]

Our first cruise, we booked through the cruise line. For next March, we just booked through the Cruise Value Centre, who we found through Cruise Compete (http://www.cruisecompete.com). I like cruise critic, but another to keep your eye on is Vacations To Go (http://www.vacationstogo.com). I've not used them, but my matron of honor has had great success with them.

HTH!

[skyllo]

I booked a cruise through expedia with Royal Caribbean for a 4 night bahama cruise this october, it was the best deal I found and we got an onboard credit of 100 dollars. I've never done a cruise before (and I'm super excited, we just got our flights to Miami today!!!) but I've had other good experiences using Expedia. Whenever I've had a question, they've e-mailed right back. I usually compare prices on travelocity, orbitz, and expedia.
Good luck--
Sarah:)

[PurplePotato]

I've booked cruises through expedia, directly through the cruise line and with a travel agent. Price seems to be equal so I stick with my agent because if something goes wrong I have to call her and she just magically fixes it.:D

And yes, PLEASE fly in the day before. Our last flight was delayed 4 hours. We moved back our diner reservations since we were staying in the port town. People sitting next to us missed their boat and had to fly to Aruba to pick it up at the first stop.

And in San Juan do NOT stay at the Westin. ;)

[Chefzhat]

I've booked several through Costco travel. We always get a little something extra that way, whether it's onboard credit or a Costco gift card. They've been really good about working with me to get exactly the cabins we want. Sounds like fun. I'm starting to itch for a cruise; it's been a couple of years.

I forgot about Costco - I'm an Executive Member so I guess I'll go check them out!


Debie, we've booked a southern Caribbean cruise out of San Juan for next February. We use a travel agent that one of my neighbors found online several years ago & we've stuck with him, even though he's in the Boston area & we're in upstate NY. If you want his info, feel free to PM me.

We like using an agent so that we can deal with the same person all the time... DH has had to call Royal Caribbean several times, mainly to straighten out issues with our Crown & Anchor membership & has found it frustrating to have to talk to a different person every time.

We do book our own flights though.

One suggestion... if at all possible, fly in to the port a day early, especially if you're looking to travel in winter/ during the holidays. Too many opportunities for travel difficulties & lost luggage!!!

What cruise line are you using?


Our first cruise, we booked through the cruise line. For next March, we just booked through the Cruise Value Centre, who we found through Cruise Compete (http://www.cruisecompete.com). I like cruise critic, but another to keep your eye on is Vacations To Go (http://www.vacationstogo.com). I've not used them, but my matron of honor has had great success with them.

HTH!

Thanks for the link! And HELLO! to you! How's married life??


I've booked cruises through expedia, directly through the cruise line and with a travel agent. Price seems to be equal so I stick with my agent because if something goes wrong I have to call her and she just magically fixes it.:D

And yes, PLEASE fly in the day before. Our last flight was delayed 4 hours. We moved back our diner reservations since we were staying in the port town. People sitting next to us missed their boat and had to fly to Aruba to pick it up at the first stop.

And in San Juan do NOT stay at the Westin. ;)

*snort* - it must have been bad! Westin hotels are nice, for the most part! Do share!

[BeachBum]

I've booked with Vacationstogo.com and shopped with cruisecompete.com. I guess we are pretty frequent cruisers.

IMO, there isn't really a way to know without shopping around each time. I think in the past few years prices have gotten more transparent and there is less descrepancy between companies. If you just want to feel like you did pretty good and be done, use V2G otherwise you just have to call around and get people to price for you.

I will absolutely agree with the above rec for cruisecritic.com for research.

[sneezles]

We use a travel agent, though have booked a couple online but prefer the travel agent because as one poster mentioned she fixes things like magic! Do book your airline travel and your hotel stay (yes, it's much better to arrive at least one day ahead...ours to the Med this summer is one example since our luggage didn't arrive until the next day). Transportation from the airport to hotel and then hotel to the terminal are provided by the cruise line if you book it all through them or your agent. Then on your return your travel to the airport is also taken care of. We've done 7 cruises and love traveling that way. Our next one is in October to Hawaii (Celebrity), then in January it's Panama Canal (RC), and next April a trans Atlantic to South Hampton (RC).

Your kids are going to have a blast on the ship!

[Sarah]

Hi Debie :D

Married life is good. Busy. We leave on our grand road adventure on Friday for a 3 week road trip to Charleston, SC. We'll be in Washington for our anniversary.
I have a new job. I'm VP at a regular public school in the fall, teaching music half time. Now we just need to find DH a job...but we're currently waiting for his landed immigrant staus.

Okay. Enough of a hijack. Where are you thinking of crusing?

[Chefzhat]

Sarah, we want to port out of San Juan and do the southern Caribbean leg. We haven't done that yet.

Sneezles, you cruise a lot! Thanks for your input. I'm thinking that using a travel agent is probably the best way to go.

[nanco]

We have been on 5 Celebrity Cruises. We always book with our Travel Agent. We left a day late out of Vancouver for Alaska because of a mechanical. The boat gave us money off of our future cruise and a little money on our stateroom account. Our Agent thought that was not enough and fought for more and we did get it.

Alaska was my favorite cruise and our last one to The Panama Canal was my least favorite. We have been to several Islands. I want to do Italy & Greece next. Have fun!

[suebear37]

What cruise line are you using?


Debie, we're sailing on Royal Caribbean. The ship is Adventure of the Seas & the ports are Aruba, Curacao, St. Maarten & St.Thomas. We've been to St. Maarten & St. Thomas before & just loved them. Can't wait to check out Aruba & Curacao!!

We started out with Royal Caribbean & have stayed with them... once you get into their frequent cruiser program (as with any cruise line) it's tough to talk yourself into switching because you want to keep moving toward the next level. We made Platinum status this year & are looking forward to the new level of perks!!

Hope this helps!!!

[KCSoccer]

We just took a cruise in June (Alaska) on NCL which I booked on Hotwire.com. I shopped around quite a bit (Costco travel, NCL, Expedia, discount travel sites, etc.) I booked two cabins; however, we didn't want or have adjoining rooms. On Hotwire you were able to choose the cabins through the booking process. Cruisecritic.com was very helpful in choosing decks & cabins choices. But, if you're needing adjoining cabins, you might need to call the cruise line directly or go through a travel agent -- I don't recall that being an option when booking online.

As far as airfare, I ended up booking separately, as it was significantly cheaper (about 40%) than booking as a package, so check around. We tacked on an extra day's stay on both ends, so we wouldn't be rushed and we could check out Seattle (wonderful city!)

[PurplePotato]

Ah, the Westin. Beachside, gorgeous, lovely beds...NOT. Ok, it was on the beach.;)

We were assured by the cruise line (who we booked the room through for an outrageous price) that it was only about 20 minutes from the port. Great. Call the hotel to arrange for a car. They insist it is a quick, $10 cab ride, no need for a private car. Um...ok. Wait in the cab line from hell only to find out it is an HOUR ride for about $70. Have I mentioned how much we detest cabs? :mad:

Then we get there and while having booked a kind they offer us a rarely used (read: smells like mold) hospitality suite with a "really cool" murphy bed. Um, no. We finally get a tiny room with double beds. It was fine. Slightly smelly. No great beds. Oh yes, and we were walking all over the hotel, WITH our luggage to look at the rooms AND I was pregnant.

It is tired, grungy and just horrible customer service. Stay far far away.

Embassy suites is right next to the port but I haven't been inside.

[suebear37]

ChristyMarie, I just went to the Westin website & it says they have no hotels in San Juan... is it closed? Sure sounds like it should have been!

We're staying at the Hampton Inn, and trying to get enough Hilton points to be able to stay for free. I think that with all our trips planned for the fall, we should make it.

[PurplePotato]

ChristyMarie, I just went to the Westin website & it says they have no hotels in San Juan... is it closed? Sure sounds like it should have been!

Ha! It is! But look at the new name...


The Westin Rio Mar Beach Golf Resort & Spa is now the Rio Mar Beach Resort & Spa, a Wyndham Grand Resort.

Further reason for me to avoid all hotels that begin with a W.;)

[cchhbb]

The Westin Rio Mar is located quite far from the airport/port. It is a terrific resort IMHO. I stayed more than 200 nights there due to business.

I'm not sure if you are talking about the same facility as they don't even have a cab stand as they are located really far from San Juan. I always had terrific service there.

`

[sneezles]

We started out with Royal Caribbean & have stayed with them... once you get into their frequent cruiser program (as with any cruise line) it's tough to talk yourself into switching because you want to keep moving toward the next level. We made Platinum status this year & are looking forward to the new level of perks!!

Hope this helps!!!

We're Platinum status as well but it crosses over to Celebrity. You don't get RC credit for Celebrity cruises but Celebrity honors your RC status plus you can join their repeat cruiser club.

[suebear37]

We're Platinum status as well but it crosses over to Celebrity. You don't get RC credit for Celebrity cruises but Celebrity honors your RC status plus you can join their repeat cruiser club.

Yeah, we knew that, we've looked at Celebrity as well. That will probably be an option once we've exhausted all of RC's ports. There are a few we haven't hit yet. This will be our first southern cruise. We've done western 3X, eastern 2X & Mex Riv once.

[PurplePotato]

The Westin Rio Mar is located quite far from the airport/port. It is a terrific resort IMHO. I stayed more than 200 nights there due to business.

I'm not sure if you are talking about the same facility as they don't even have a cab stand as they are located really far from San Juan. I always had terrific service there.

`

The cab stand was at the airport ~ which I would have avoided if they had agreed to send a car instead of telling me it would not be a problem. Seems we just had very different experiences.:)

[sneezles]

We were assured by the cruise line (who we booked the room through for an outrageous price) that it was only about 20 minutes from the port.



I don't know which cruise line you used by RC not only books our rooms but provides transportation from the airport to the hotel, from the hotel to the port.

[PurplePotato]

We were on Celebrity. I don't remember why we didn't book the transfer from airport-hotel. We did book hotel-port and they DIDN'T SHOW.:mad:

First and last time I have ever booked the hotel or transfers through a cruise line.

[Lauren]

Debie - I don't have any advice to add. Just wanted to say we took the boys on a Princess cruise a few years back and it was one of the best vacations we've ever had! :D Loved it!

We're not cruising this winter, but instead planning a trip to Aruba with DH's parents, siblings and their families. Oy! :eek: