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 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….
- What ship is the best for our group
- Which itinerary to take?
- Know if you want upgraded dining
- Know which restaurants to book
- Figure out what the heck is “my time” or “freestyle” dining
- Know which excursions to plan.
- Know which deck you should choose your room on, because let me tell you it matters (I chose a room with the pool deck right above me and just heard footsteps all day long)
- Know to reserve show times in advance.
- Figure out the drink package options
- Don’t forget about the internet packages.
- 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.
This year, at the last minute, we decided to do a cruise as a family. I decided I did not have the time so I was going to go with a travel agent….. (honestly, it seemed a little old school, I pictured an old office with travel brochures everywhere.
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 4 or 5 travel agencies. 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.
My Co-worker insisted I use her agent
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.
So I went to the company she recommended’s website one Sunday evening (they had thousands of great reviews so she might be right). I filled out their form and I received a response within probably 20 minutes on a random weekend night. I was already impressed.
A Surprisingly Wonderful Experience
From the get-go, it felt great. The agent reached out and instead of just sending over a generic quote, they asked about what I was looking for, asked about my family, how we liked to travel, and where we had been in the past. Honestly, it felt like I was talking to an old friend who was genuinely excited about helping me plan my cruise.
So we continued on working on our vacation and my agent asked about our cruise interests, stateroom preferences, do we have allergies, which we did have my nephew going on this trip with a severe peanut allergy so it was nice they asked upfront.
After all that work, we made a decision, we were sailing on the Symphony of the Seas. It had all the cool features of the Oasis class, but was not the newest ship at sea, so it was the best bang for the buck.
By the way, the travel agency is called “Best Day Ever Vacations” and they are an absolute delight!
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!
A Fun Bonus
One of the best things my travel agent told me is that because they book so much with some of the major cruise lines they often get extra incentives that the public doesn’t get. They were able to offer me $50 onboard credit to use when sailing. Hey, $50 is $50, that’s a few more starbucks while onboard for me.
Tips on Dining
This is one thing I really loved. I was going to buy the ultimate dining package, and my agent advised me that since it is a 7-day cruise, I would buy a smaller package and choose your favorite types of food to eat at and choose upgraded dining for those.
We aren’t big steak eaters, so we skipped the Chop House, but Jamie’s Italian, Izumi Sushi, and Hooked Seafood were unbelievable. This saved me over $800. They even shared some tips on avoiding crowds and getting the most out of our time at sea.
And for shows…. I am usually the person waiting in the standby line waiting to see if i can squeeze into a show and have the absolute worst seats.
This time, with the help of my agent reminding me it’s time to book the showtimes, we got all the showtimes we wanted, whether it was the show at the Aquatheater (which is an absolute must) the ice show, or seeing the Broadway performance “Hair”
My husband looked at me after the 3rd show we got into and said to me, “Why didn’t we do it like this on the other cruises?” Thanks for the insight, hubby, but it was nice to see him and the fam having such a fantastic time.
An Unexpected Savings Surprise
The best part about Best Day Ever is that they booked our rooms and then later on their own found us a better cabin at a cheaper price, and I didn’t have to do a thing. I was already going to use their services again, and this made me a client for life.
That text message was like a little ray of sunshine! Since then, we’ve booked every Royal Caribbean cruise through them, and next year I am sailing on the STAR of the SEAS and can’t wait.
In Conclusion, Is it worth it to use a travel agent? Yes…. but make sure it’s the right one
Like I said, I reached out to 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.
But if you find someone like Best Day Ever, it’s such a great experience. You are in great hands the whole way. I have probably sent at least a dozen friends over to them, and they absolutely have had nothing but good things to say.
Now, when I send people over, if you just mention rookie moms, they will get you to one of their best agents.
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