ta with no TA
We've booked our trans-Atlantic spring departures through various agents (whoever offers us the most perks) but even if you book with Royal Caribbean or Celebrity direct, you can always get the lowest cruise fare by monitoring the fares on Cruise Fish dot Net. When the fare for your already-booked cruise goes down, call the cruise line (or some travel agents will do it at no charge) and they will re-book the cruise at the new lower fare (same cabin). We've been across many times on Royal Carib. in a balcony cabin, 12-14 day crossing, 5 ports, for under $1,000 pp when it originally started out at $1,400 pp many months prior. About 60-80 days prior to departure the fares really drop for trans-Atlantics to Barcelona, Rome, Harwich, Southhampton, Amsterdam, etc. You can also request getting off the ship one stop early if the itinerary suits you. We would book to England and got off on the continent in Belgium (one stop early), then took the trains around northern Europe and flew home from Amsterdam. Icelandic Air is cheap and so is Aer Lingus. The trains are the best and cheapest way to get around the continent. They run on time (except Italy!), comfortable and convenient. eg.: Seniors can ride all day around the whole country of Belgium for only 5 Euros (not one way but as many stops as you can fit into one day's travel). That's $5.65 in US currency today.
We've known friends that bought package deals and were left high and dry with no valid air ticket to get home. They had to fight to get their high air ticket cost reimbursed from the local travel company because everyone kept pointing the finger to a "wholesaler" problem.
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