Why use a travel professional in the dot com world we live in?
When I meet potential clients, one of the first questions I get asked is "Why should I use you vs going online?"
Sure, you can go online to do lots of things these days. I do. While it's true, you can book just about every type of travel on the large travel websites, it never takes the place of a true travel professional. Online agencies may sell you a vacation, but the possibility of something falling through the cracks is huge. This is especially true with large dot com companies since they typically don't specialize in one type of travel. In fact, when it comes to selling cruises, most people don't realize that the Orbitz and Expedias of the world don't sell that many compared to companies like Cruise Planners since they're not Cruise Specialists. Sure, they offer cruises as part of they're offering, but the possibility of a major detail going wrong is pretty high.
Today, I just read an article on msnbc.com that explained this very thing. The article can be found here. Summarizing the story, it talked about 130 people recently trying to board a Carnival ship to Brazil, but were denied boarding in Miami because they didn't have the required Brazilian tourist visa. Any bonafide Cruise Specialist knows that getting a tourist visa is a basic requirement for anyone planning to set foot in Brazil whether it's by ship or by plane. Lot's of people may place the blame on the cruise line, but every cruise line has it in writing both in their cruise contracts and on their websites that it's the responsibility of the passenger to obtain the required documentation for the countries in which the cruise is scheduled to visit. It's been my experience in talking with clients that so many of the larger online companies don't do a good job of getting this information to the clients in a timely manner if at all. In fact, I've had clients I've worked with who might have found a good deal online somewhere, didn't tell me about it, and then contacted me to help them with issues, changes, and so on (of course, I can't touch another agencies' reservation, so I can't do much about it when you don't book the cruise with me).
Now, of course, there are those 'Cruise Agents' out there who may not be experienced enough to know about these basic requirements. I would then place blame on the companies they represent for improper training.
The moral of the story - work with an agent who has the experience and knowledge to avoid these very costly mistakes. If you decide to book anything with these large online agencies, you're doing so at your own risk. Of course, when you book with me, I'll let you know of all of the documentation needed without a booking fee. My pledge to you is that I'll take care of you as long as you let me.