Need advice about going to the travel agent for cruise booking!?

This saturday I'm going to my familys travel agent, AAA to book the cruise I want to go on in Feb. I am a member however I've never booked a vacation with them before, so I need all the advice, suggestions, and tips you can give me. Should I book the whole thing through them or just some? I need airfare from Pittsburgh to Ft. Lauderdale, round trip, and a 1 night pre-cruise hotel stay in Ft. Lauderdale. I checked and I know the cruise rate is cheaper through AAA than on RC's website. But what should I do about the hotel stay and airfare?

If I were you, I'd take all the questions you've posted here and ask them to your travel agent (TA). They are trained to help you find exactly what you need. They can make suggestions, but you don't have to follow their advice. Remember, they either travelled to the places you want to go to (or other agents have) and they also get feedback from people they've booked trips for.

You TA will be able to book all your flights, hotels, and cruise. Ask about transfers from the hotel to the port. Some hotels provide it, some don't and you'll have to take a taxi to get thee port.

If you've checked various things on the internet with your cruise line, hotel or airfare, bring it to your TA and see if they can match or better. You may have found a good deal on the internet, but your TA has acces to info you can't get.

For example I was going to Barcelona, Spain, and found what I thought was a great fare with KLM. My TA found a better fare with Lufthansa. I also thought I had a fantastic hotel at a good rate; my TA found a better one.

Check with the travel agent. The cruise line may have a special airfare that is cheaper than what you can get on your own. They could also have a special hotel rate for people who are staying in Florida as well.

If not, you can book it on your own if you can get it cheaper yourself. However, don't forget to factor in the hassle of doing the work yourself. If the agent's price is even close, I would let them handle everything just for the convenience.

AAA is a very large travel agency with normally good service.

So what if a travel agent makes a commission, they are there to guide you through the process and will help if anything goes wrong.

Cruise Company websites are the best place to book a cruise if you want to PAY THE HIGHEST CRUISE FARE..

Any experienced cruise passenger will tell you this.

Since you need all those bookings I would let the travel agent do it all................Just make sure it is a good agency.

You could also do it yourself on the net but you will need the time..........if that doesn't bother you then check on it yourself.... It should be easy. You could also do some checking yourself prior to going to the agency.

I would recommend checking out BookMe.com... You can compare all the major travel websites in 60 seconds, and only search for the ones you want. Keep checking, and eventually you find a GREAT deal! And they only search reputable/reliable sites, so you won't need to worry about anything.

http://bookme.com/test/index3.html

just go straight to the Princess website and book it yourself...it's cheaper

I have been on many cruises and several were out of Ft Lauderdale. Here's my advice. Booking your cruise and all of the other things with the travel agency will be about the same price and booking it yourself separately. The agent will get paid by commission. Now some agents will charge you about $10 per ticket for airline reservations. But here's what you should do.

Look for low priced airfares going a day early and also for ones going that arrive the morning of your cruise. The Ft Lauderdale airport is about 15 minutes from the cruise port, actually they are on opposite sides of I-95. So if you can get a flight that gets to Ft Lauderdale at 10:00 AM to about noon you will have plenty of time to get to the airport. In addition, on your return trip you'll likely be safe booking a flight that leaves about noon or later. I would not advise booking an earlier return because on occasion there is a holdup in departures. We just had a big delay departing a cruise because about 5 or 6 passengers didn't report to Immigration officials as requested; we were delayed leaving an hour.

Second, there are hotels galore all around the Ft Lauderdale airport and some of them offer a free shuttle to the port because its really not that much further than the airport. You may want to search online for Ft Lauderdale airport hotels and then look for ones with the free shuttle. Here's one: http://www.hamptoninnftlauderdaleairport.com/services.php

So look for hotels and air yourself and then see what the agent finds and the price they give. If you can get a good flight and don't anticipate a flight weather delay then go the morning of your cruise, otherwise the day before.