REH7380
Remember what I said about the cardinal rule..Not all Travel Agents are Created Equal. You had a BAD agent!! You do bring up some good points when booking directly with a cruise line. Booking through the cruise line itself you have all the information in front of you and you can deal/negotiate directly with them. If you use a TA, a cruise line will NOT discuss any aspect of your cruise booking with you directly..you need to use your Travel agent. The biggest negative of booking with a cruise line directly is that you rarely get any any On-Board credits which would lower your net price of the cruise. If you book directly with a cruise line or even on ship for a future cruise, you can always transfer the booking to a travel agent and take advantage of the OBC offered...and remember not all TAs offer the same incentives or OBC...you need to shop around unless you are comfortable from a service perspective with your current TA.
The problem you described about finding a lower price and trying to get your agent to get that new price for you....Assuming you were not in the penalty period (ie 70 days prior to sail or when final payment was due) You simply had a BAD agent and I would not use him/her again. I had a similar situation when last fall, we booked a 14 day cruise in europe. WE booked in May and then the prices dropped $600 per cabin but had a stipulation , "
new bookings only". Since we were 3 months from our sail date I called my agent and he initially told me this new rate was for new bookings only.......I simply told him fine CANCEL our 4 cabins (that were valued at close to $16,000 total) and we will rebook with another agent. This agency had a no cancelation fee policy and we were well outside the penalty period as far as the cruise line was concerned..all we had invested to date was $900 per cabin down payment via credit card which was fully refundable from the cruise line. GUESS WHAT...this agent did rebook our cruise but it was even more complicated in fall 2008 because the fuel surcharges increased from our initial booking that had to be taken into consideration as well as a reduced OBC...but we still made out close to a $450 per cabin reduction X4 cabins or $1800.
Also I highly suggest a cruisers sign on to
www.cruisecritic.com and go to the Bulletin Boards for both the cruise line you are planning to sail and moreso look for the specific cruise you are planning to take. There will be a wealth of information on this site to assist you in tours, notice of price reductions, and just a chance to get to know people before you board just in case you are travelling only as a couple.