choosing a travel agent

Since we have zero idea about what you are looking for, we can't help you. Your post has no information on it. Where, what, when?

Most people on this forum don't use travel agents at all, preferring to find their own accommodations, flights and trains or rental cars.

I booked a cruise with Viking, then received a lot of discount offers from online travel agents. Are any reliable and how to know? The online reviews are mixed, some 5 star, many one star.

When you book something like a cruise, they probably all pile on to sell their services because they know you're "in the market". First ask yourself "is there something that you need from a travel agent that you cannot research on your own easily"? Were you considering one before they started marketing to you? If not, then just ignore these attempts to sell you additional services. I've never used one but, if I were, I could only separate the good from the bad by talking to one and getting a sense if he/she could meet my needs. So first I would start by fleshing out what I would need, then seeing if I can easily do it on my own, and then go from there. If it's just for booking flights, that's too easy these days to do on your own.

Jack, I'm still confused why you need an agent if you've already booked your cruise? What do you think you need one for? Booking shore tours? Those can be done without an agent.

We book almost all of our trips independently but the two times in the past that we employed an agent for a couple pieces of a trip, we used a local agency that has been in business for nearly 40 years (not common these days) and has a stellar reputation. If you really want one for whatever reason, I'd ask around and see what's available near your area, and feedback from people who've used them.

Otherwise, forums like this one can be terrific resources for helping you book tours, drivers and whatnot by yourself.

jack,

I always book my European flights with a local travel agent that I've been using for many years. I begin by researching the options on the airline websites and then go to the T.A. I much prefer to sit down with a "real person" and look at the options, and have found that she has been able to get better prices or routing in some cases. I don't mind paying the small fee, as I feel that overall it's good value. If I decide to buy trip interruption or baggage insurance for a particular trip, I can do that at the same time.

I had some difficulties during my trip this year, and that practice proved its worth many times over as my travel agent was able to help me get the whole thing sorted and get me home. I doubt that I would have received the same level of service from any of the online services.

I have only booked one real cruise last year (I took a repositioning cruise more than 20 years ago which I don't count). This is my experience. I used cheapcruises.com to compare a lot of different cruise companies, itineraries, dates and prices at the same time. Once i found a cruise that i liked, i went to the cruise line website to check out the prices at the source. The prices are not necessarily cheaper on the cruise line website. A friend who does a lot of cruising suggested a local travel agent who specialized in cruises. I called the agent. The travel agent was able to beat the best internet price.

Some of these travel agents and websites like cheapcruises.com book rooms in bulk and can get a big group discount, so you can get a better price by booking through them. As the cruise date approached, the cruise line offered more perks to encourage people to book (e.g. Additional on-board credit, beverage package or dining package etc.). Our agent was able to add the new perk to our existing booking.

One tip. Most cruiselines require a refundable deposit which becomes non-refundable about 74-90 days before the cruise date. The amount of this deposit will vary depending with who you book. Before the 74-90 days, you can cancel and get the whole deposit back. Once you are within the 74-90 days, the deposit becomes non-refundable and you will be asked to pay the full price of the cruise. If you cancel, they keep the whole deposit. The price of rooms go up and down with supply and demand. If you find that your booked room price drops before the 74-90 days, you can cancel and rebook without penalty. Usually, the price does not drop much before the 74-90 days. Within the 74-90 days, the price can drop a lot as the cruiseline tries to fill up the ship last minute. If your deposit is low enough, it may still be worthwhile to cancel, lose the deposit and rebook at the lower price.

If you want the best price without risking a deposit, you can wait and book within the 74-90 days. The problem is that the selection and availablity of rooms will be lower. Some of these ships are huge and usually do not sell out unless it is some holiday. Obviously, the better rooms sell out first. If you do not mind the location of your room, you can get the best price by booking last minute.

Travel Agents can sometimes save you money. We tried to plan a trip to Disney in Florida. I did all the research and came up with the cost. I called a Travel Agent and they gave me a MUCH better deal since they do a lot of business directly with Disney. I probably saved over $700 - and they were able to upgrade my room to one that I probably could not have gotten. In this case, it was worth it.

Jack it might be useful if you came back and actual talked to us IF you are really interested in some assistance. Haven't asked a question other than how separate good from bad. You posted it under Scams so are you suggesting that travel agents are a scam? What is your point?

PS We received a terrific deal on Viking by booking through Costco travel. About $1000 under previous best deal we could anywhere.

Looking for a travel agent is not a "tourist scam". This should be posted in General Europe.

The mainstream cruise lines allow you to transfer a booking to a TA within 60 (or maybe its 90) days of booking. Not sure if Viking is the same. Since you can often get extras like onboard credit from a TA, many cruisers do.

As previous posters said, big online TAs have varying reports of support levels. When I cruise, I transfer the booking to a well known reputable TA that I met through friends. In fact he won Travel Professional of the year. As an individual his rewards might not match the big faceless online companies, but he sweetens the pot as well as looking after everything. I also like supporting a local business (if T.O. can be considered "local" to me).

Thanks for all the reassuring and helpful replies to my question about TA's and who to trust. I am new to international cruise, so I appreciate all the experienced advice.

What's a travel agent? Actually, I had one once, about 20+ years ago, and he was very good. He's either retired or dead.

I have usually booked my flights with a travel agent because I wanted to be able to contact a real person to do the legwork if my flight was cancelled. etc. One reason is because I do not have a traditional cell phone since I do not get service where I live. So, attempting to fix a missed connection, etc seemed to be easier with a call to the TA. This worked very well for me when I was "stuck" in Europe after the big volcano eruption. The TA did all the legwork for me while I explored Zurich. Yes, the phone calls were expensive, but worth it since I got to experience the festival celebrating the end of winter vs being tied to a telephone or computer trying to find the next flight home.
My hotels, train tickets I do myself since I found that the TA was not as up to date on train travel in Europe (suggested rail passes where point to point was less expensive) and/or hotels (which I searched for using Expedia, booking.com, Trivago) then booked much less expensively thru the hotel website.
For this last trip, I did the same. I will carefully consider what route to take in 2017. I am not willing to pay for a national phone carrier with options for European travel packages when I can't use the phone at home. And yes, there are still regions of the country where cell service is not a given. BTW, I only received high speed internet via a local provider 2 years ago. Still have no access to cable (not that I would be wiling to pay).
As far as on-line reviews, I don't think there are any for this area. AAA may have some but not sure if they are area specific. Last year, the AAA agent ASSURED me the Visa CC they offer was a chip/pin and not chip/signature. NOT! It is quite difficult when you live in a rural area to have a TA who really knows what they are doing with European travel.

cbrochu30, while I have a cell phone, it almost always just sits in the car and is off. When I go to France I buy a pay as you go SIM card for the phone, and use it for the occasional phone call. I too was "stuck" in France as a result of the volcano in 2010, and relied on my laptop and Skype to rebook. So you can try that, or buy a cheap cell phone and SIM card before you go.

The best travel agents work in this website....for free.

Don't bother with the others. All they care for is earning money and quickly, and don't necessarily have your interest at heart.