Why use a travel agent?

Why is it that when we book a cruise we tend to use an agent, even though most of us have got used to booking our villa or self-catering holidays, organising long-haul trips around the world or taking our gap year in some faraway place?

Well, because cruise holidays are simple to take, but complicated to organise (think about it: visas, inoculations, transport, dietary requirements, preferences etc) This is why the lines that do allow you to book online tend to have limitations such as Norwegian Cruise Line’s insistence that you can only book cruise-only bookings via their website, so that if you need flights and transfers you have to organise them separately.

Of course there is always the option to ring a cruise line and book direct, because they experts who can answer your questions and those experts have often travelled on the very cruise ship that you’re planning to cruise on – but there is an important point to bear in mind – they can only advise you on their own vessels and holidays. So what’s the travel agent advantage? They know about ALL ships and ALL holidays so when you describe your ideal holiday they are more likely to put together exactly the right package for you.