Cruises are probably my favorite vacations. I just love traveling to different destinations and then coming back to one place for an amazing dinner, some great shows, and then having days relaxing at sea. It’s definitely something my family and I have loved doing for the past 15 years.
Now, let’s chat about the thing I don’t love, booking and planning for the cruise. I am sorry, but it’s A LOT of work and if it’s your first few cruises, it can also be a bit overwhelming. (by a bit, I mean very overwhelming)
You would think, as I did, how hard can it be. All you have to do is choose a cruise and choose a room. Everything else is provided by the cruise…….Sure, but then you also have to….
- Know if you want upgraded dining
- Know which restaurants to book
- Figure out if you want my time dining or a set dining time.
- Figure out what the heck is “my time” dining
- Know which excursions to plan.
- Know which deck you should choose your room on, because let me tell you it matters (tip, front of the ship does rock more)
- Know to reserve show times in advance.
- Figure out the drink package options
- Don’t forget about the internet packages.
- Figuring out how to use the cruise line app
- Plus a million other questions……. It’s honestly endless.
It’s pretty much a full-time job, plus add on my real job, and oh yeah, the responsibilities of raising my kids and putting food on the table.
A few years back, I decided it was time to pass the torch and get some expert help. To my surprise, I learned that travel agents were absolutely FREE! If only I had known earlier, I would’ve saved myself a lot of time and stress. (Update, I got several emails from travel agents that do charge fees, so I guess some do, but the travel agency I use doesn’t, so there you go)
My First Travel Agent Experience
Like I said, I decided to use a travel agent. I did a little Google search, and I reached out to 10 different travel agencies (I know, I am thorough). Unbelievably, only one replied, and all they did was send me a quote, and that was about it. I was pretty disappointed. I did not really see the benefit of using a travel agent.
Seriously, the Best Experience Ever
I was about to go back to just booking on my own, and then one of my coworkers absolutely recommended her travel agent and said, “It’s life changing.” She is a bit on the dramatic side, so I was a bit skeptical.
I reached out (I think it was through their website), and within minutes, I had a feeling that she might not have been exaggerating. I received a response within probably 20 minutes, and I think it was on a random weeknight.
A Surprisingly Wonderful Experience
From the get-go, it felt great. She introduced herself and said, I am here so you don’t have to stress about trying to plan your trip. I don’t know why but it was so refreshing. She asked about what I was looking for, asked about my family, how we liked to travel, and where we had been in the past.
We had a multi-generational trip with 18 of us, from my dad being 85 all the way down to my 4-year-old nephew, so it was a lot of planning, and I honestly don’t know how I would have possibly booked it all.
After all that work, we made a decision: we were sailing on the Royal Caribbean Utopia of the Seas. It had all the cool features of the Oasis class: water slides for the kids, a casino for the young adults, and great shows. We were excited
By the way, I should probably mention, the travel agency is called “Best Day Ever Vacations” and they are an absolute the best!
Planning without having to plan
They didn’t just stop at booking our stateroom. They went the extra mile by providing us with a comprehensive guide for our sailing with a full itinerary that showed us the days at sea, ports of calls. restaurants on board, shows, pretty much everything.
The other thing I loved, is I always miss the important planning and booking dates like when to book excursions.
They kept us in the loop on all the important dates, like when to make dining reservations and show reservations, what excursions we should do on Coco Cay, and gave us insider tips on how to make the most of our day at Perfect Day at Coco Cay….. which by the way is awesome!
The Best Call From My Agent
I have used Best Day Ever for, I think 4 times now since I originally wrote this article and three of the the 4 times my agent has reached back out to me and found a better price for the cruise I already booked with them. I guess they have some program they use to monitor all the prices, and so she calls me she got me a better price and this is months after i book. It’s crazy. I have literally saved over $800 on one single cruise because of this.
It doesn’t happen every time, but seriously, I would never have the time to check the prices every day.
In Conclusion, is it worth it to use a travel agent for a Cruise? Yes…. but make sure it’s the right one
Like I said, I reached out to quite a few agencies, and some didn’t reply, and others just sent over a quote. So, I don’t really know if they are worth it or not. Perhaps, maybe I just reached out to the wrong ones at first. I am sure there are plenty of great ones
I have referred Best Day Ever to pretty much everyone in my family, so I feel pretty confident that if you reach out to them you will be in great hands.
Now, I do have to be transparent, I refer a lot of people over to Best Day Ever, so they do send me a Starbucks gift card anytime someone mentions rookie moms, so if you do reach out please mention me so i can get my caffeine fix 😉
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