I think I'm done with online booking.....

We were about to book a weekend cruise online. Every single website for cruise booking seems to have a list price, then when you actually follow through and you are about to give your credit card, the price goes up. I'm even talking about the official sites from the cruiselines.

We have a travel agent that we love, I just didn't realize that she is necessary for a weekend cruise. I picked a cruise and destination based on prices I saw online.

What a mistake. I'm frustrated and am back to researching all options, not just cruises. I'll take an all inclusive on an island, hotel on an island, or maybe we will still take the cruise. I'm so frustrated and I think that tomorrow I will just give the travel agent our budget and let her do her thing. Only thing we are picky about this trip is the date.

I'll probably still read travel reviews online but I am now leery about booking online.

Message edited 10/12/2006 10:06:16 PM.

Re: I think I'm done with online booking.....

Most online travel websites do that. Read the small print, it tells you taxes and fees not included.

key phraes such as "rates as low as" or "rates begin at" will be for the lowest available category (cruise) and that is usually an inside cabin. Taxes, fees, government charges not included. A bit of an FYI that when you see a rate and it does not end with cents then taxes, fees, and government charges are not included. All cruise line rates will be something like $522.74 per person, $721.29 per person, etc...

Some websites like Oribitz actually does something called caching. It will show you a fare with everything included then you go to book it and the fare is no longer valid. They got you on the site and they know you are going to get another flight so they do that.

Be sure to read all fine print because most sites do not include taxes, fees, government charges.

Re: I think I'm done with online booking.....

That's a great tip re: cents (if it is an even dollar amount, then it is being quotes without taxes and fees). I am also finding that what I am calling the "base price" is not remaining the same when it comes to really booking. I start to book, get several screens into the reservation process, and only then does the price go up, and it goes up more than not just for the addition of fees and taxes. See, I thought that a cruise was a type of trip that you can easily book online. I am usually so careful about everything I do online and I am surprised that it went this far before I realized that I was wasting my time on these sites.

Re: I think I'm done with online booking.....

Sometimes it is better to call the cruise line direct only because they may be offering specials that are not offered on line. Carnival runs specials every wednesday and RCCL's specials vary.

As an agent I hate using the travel agent booking engines for cruise lines. I always call them direct and get a full breakdown. It's much easier and if I have any questions I can ask the rep at that time.

Re: I think I'm done with online booking.....

We recently booked a cruise through expedia. You can get to the "true" price pretty easily. You should check it out.

Re: I think I'm done with online booking.....

For big vacations I tend to want a travel agent. If im only going to Florida to visit my brother ill look at online places.

But when we went to Hawaii I did the travel agent thing

Re: I think I'm done with online booking.....

This is going to be a 3 day cruise. We thought we'd book on our own for something like this. We loved the travel agent we used for our honeymoon. I always knew we'd use her again, but I thought that we could go online for this one. It's hard for me to get this done during business hours, so I looked online. That started this whole mess! Oh well. I did get some very good pointers via FM.