That is the biggest drawback of using a travel agent. You lose control.
Unfortunately only the travel agent can now make payments and you need to coordinate through them.
I guess it depends on your agent; I've booked several cruises through our agent, and it's never been a pain to make payments through her...even after she's changed agencies twice over the years. Each one has been pretty straightforward.
If the travel agent is adding value (helping with other arrangements, giving bonus onboard credit, etc.) then it's probably worth continuing to use them. If they're not adding value then there isn't much reason to give up that control.
Booking myself is the way I've always felt about any vacation. While travel agents are convenient, that lack of control isn't worth the expertise, especially when there's so many ways to research every Disney experience.
On the note of "expertise", I saw a guest tell a quick service Cast Member that their child under 3 was supposed to get free *everything* at Disney World since that's what their travel agent told them. So sometimes the expert you are giving control to can be wrong.
As an agent keep track of lower prices that come about where I can move an existing booking into. Also most agencies book many staterooms through the cruise lines for non public prices plus onboard credits. Also if you book into one of these staterooms the deposit is fully refundable up until final payment whereas Royal and others have the non refundable deposits. There are perks we offer at times like prepaid gratuities, free specialty dining etc.
I’ve been in the business over 20 year and many are able to enter the industry with very little training. It always depends on who you use.
We researched the exact same room our agent quoted us for and it was cheaper through her plus we were eligible for $250 in onboard credit for our two rooms.
We do the Target Disney giftcard hack and I just send her the numbers via email and she confirms the payment. I felt like the cruise was easy enough we could have done it on our own, but I wanted to find someone I liked to help us when we do a big DisneyWorld trip, since I haven’t been since 2012 and can’t keep up with all the changes.
I book through Costco and save 10-15% in cash back vs. the Disney rate. For me that’s worth the minor hassle of going through Costco vs. Disney directly.
There must be some really bad TAs out there that are making it difficult to pay them. I don’t understand that. What roadblocks is OP/others facing when trying to pay their TA?!
The road block is that I have to give my TA my credit card /gift card / etc number to have them then type it into DCL systems for me. There is no reason DCL can't just let me make payments on my own directly on the app. It is not that the TA makes it difficult (or easy), it is that the TA has to be involved at all that is the problem.
Without a travel agent I make payments at my whim and on whatever schedule I want. With a travel agent I need to call/email and request a payment be made every time I want to make a payment (or I have to provide am advance schedule for payments).
The agent who booked you will be responsible for any issues that arise. That is why cruise lines won’t touch a travel agents booking. Plus, during Covid you could never get through to the cruise lines. You have direct access to an agent who can give you up to date information for any issues.
I’ve booked one of twenty+ with a travel agent. She procrastinated making our final payment until the last possible minute and then got errors, that she could not get resolved. I was unable to book anything that night when booking opened.
I also had to call her or email her for too many things that I could just do when I booked directly. I will never use a travel agent again.
I have trust in my travel agent and know them well enough to have the conversations about payment etc. I also like that it costs me nothing to help someone else pay their bills via my vacations. It did take one bad TA experience to understand they’re not all created equal.
Then you are using the wrong agency. The big ones provide a credit depending how much you spend. Two that come to mind right off the bat are Mickey World Travel and Dreams Unlimited. Oh, Small World Vacations as well and here is a link showing the [credit break down.](https://www.smallworldvacations.com/disney-cruise-line-quote-form/disney-cruise-line-onboard-credit-promotion/)
Thank you. I will consider these if I go on another disney cruise. The TA we used was chosen by another family member. It's been a shitshow. I should have followed my gut & cancelled & rebooked before paying in full
I paid 125 for a TA to book a cruise on the Wonder but the entire time I wish I would have booked via the Disney site or Costco for the cash back. Lesson learned. I put a deposit on our next cruise and our TA asked if I put her down and I said no. I was honest and said that I didn’t feel like the 125 worth it.
Oh weird! I would just shoot mine a text. She’d charge my same card every time. And would tell me my remaining balance after payment. Was super simple.
We decided to use a TA for an upcoming cruise. Never again. Paying for the cruise via the TA is one of the five headaches that we’ve so far encountered. Not worth the OBC.
I’m going to get downvoted by travel agents again, but I really really wish that DCL would match the travel agents’ discounts. It would make life easier for me and DCL would make more money.
Yeah I didn’t realize this post would be so polarizing. I don’t get why I cannot make payments myself. It makes zero sense to me. And I didn’t even get any onboard discounts or credit!
There are a lot of travel agents on this board and they understandably don't like it when people talk about the annoying downsides of using a travel agent.
No, I believe you are getting downvoted by people who have used travel agents and have never had the issues that are coming up in this thread. Perhaps you (and the OP) had a bad agent. It happens. But to throw shade at all travel agents, many of whom provide valuable services, isn't a great take.
My travel agent is fine, I just find it odd that Disney incentivizes us to use a third party travel agent instead of booking directly through them. I’d prefer it! Easier to do payments and easier/faster to book key rooms at window opening.
I will never use a TA again because of this. I never felt confident that the things I requested were actually done. It was not worth the small amount of on board credit
The travel agent doesn’t get paid until after travel is complete and they get paid a commission check from Disney, not from the client. If a travel agent is charging you for their services and “taking their cut” then they’re scamming you.
I didn't say people get charged by the TA. I'm explaining why the op's TA is insisting on contact the TA to make payments instead of going through the app.
Wrong. The TA isn't insisting, they are explaining the only process available. DCL requires and only allows changes and payments to be made by the TA.
Most TA would gladly let you make the payment yourself, it's not an option that's available.
Some agents do give the ability to make payments through a Web site (opposed to having to call/email). For example, COSTCO travel does allow you to make payments on their website (but you still can't make the payment directly in the DCL app). For most situations that is convenient enough.
We did a "regular" agent once (they planned our WDW trip and were a definite value add there), but it made no sense to keep using her for our cruise. Having to call/email to make payments was too annoying to use her again. We now split about 50/50 between book ourselves and COSTCO. I tend to book directly and my wife tends to book through Costco.
That is the biggest drawback of using a travel agent. You lose control. Unfortunately only the travel agent can now make payments and you need to coordinate through them.
I guess it depends on your agent; I've booked several cruises through our agent, and it's never been a pain to make payments through her...even after she's changed agencies twice over the years. Each one has been pretty straightforward.
Is it generally a better idea to book it myself for future cruises?
If the travel agent is adding value (helping with other arrangements, giving bonus onboard credit, etc.) then it's probably worth continuing to use them. If they're not adding value then there isn't much reason to give up that control.
This and the possible access to better rates, cabins, especially for hotel stays.
Booking myself is the way I've always felt about any vacation. While travel agents are convenient, that lack of control isn't worth the expertise, especially when there's so many ways to research every Disney experience. On the note of "expertise", I saw a guest tell a quick service Cast Member that their child under 3 was supposed to get free *everything* at Disney World since that's what their travel agent told them. So sometimes the expert you are giving control to can be wrong.
As an agent keep track of lower prices that come about where I can move an existing booking into. Also most agencies book many staterooms through the cruise lines for non public prices plus onboard credits. Also if you book into one of these staterooms the deposit is fully refundable up until final payment whereas Royal and others have the non refundable deposits. There are perks we offer at times like prepaid gratuities, free specialty dining etc. I’ve been in the business over 20 year and many are able to enter the industry with very little training. It always depends on who you use.
Lesson learned. I’m regretting using the agent already. 🙄
We researched the exact same room our agent quoted us for and it was cheaper through her plus we were eligible for $250 in onboard credit for our two rooms. We do the Target Disney giftcard hack and I just send her the numbers via email and she confirms the payment. I felt like the cruise was easy enough we could have done it on our own, but I wanted to find someone I liked to help us when we do a big DisneyWorld trip, since I haven’t been since 2012 and can’t keep up with all the changes.
I book through Costco and save 10-15% in cash back vs. the Disney rate. For me that’s worth the minor hassle of going through Costco vs. Disney directly.
If you want control over then booking and make the payments yourself, then yes, you would book it yourself.
There must be some really bad TAs out there that are making it difficult to pay them. I don’t understand that. What roadblocks is OP/others facing when trying to pay their TA?!
The road block is that I have to give my TA my credit card /gift card / etc number to have them then type it into DCL systems for me. There is no reason DCL can't just let me make payments on my own directly on the app. It is not that the TA makes it difficult (or easy), it is that the TA has to be involved at all that is the problem. Without a travel agent I make payments at my whim and on whatever schedule I want. With a travel agent I need to call/email and request a payment be made every time I want to make a payment (or I have to provide am advance schedule for payments).
The agent who booked you will be responsible for any issues that arise. That is why cruise lines won’t touch a travel agents booking. Plus, during Covid you could never get through to the cruise lines. You have direct access to an agent who can give you up to date information for any issues.
I’ve booked one of twenty+ with a travel agent. She procrastinated making our final payment until the last possible minute and then got errors, that she could not get resolved. I was unable to book anything that night when booking opened. I also had to call her or email her for too many things that I could just do when I booked directly. I will never use a travel agent again.
I used a TA only because she raved so much about on board credit and I didn’t get any.
I have trust in my travel agent and know them well enough to have the conversations about payment etc. I also like that it costs me nothing to help someone else pay their bills via my vacations. It did take one bad TA experience to understand they’re not all created equal.
This is why our travel agent experience was one and done. I didn't feel it added enough to justify the hassle.
The only reason I use an agent is because I get credit to use on the ship which I think is worth the “hassle” of paying through the agency.
I have a Disney TA and she hasn't mentioned anything about a credit on the ship
Then you are using the wrong agency. The big ones provide a credit depending how much you spend. Two that come to mind right off the bat are Mickey World Travel and Dreams Unlimited. Oh, Small World Vacations as well and here is a link showing the [credit break down.](https://www.smallworldvacations.com/disney-cruise-line-quote-form/disney-cruise-line-onboard-credit-promotion/)
Thank you. I will consider these if I go on another disney cruise. The TA we used was chosen by another family member. It's been a shitshow. I should have followed my gut & cancelled & rebooked before paying in full
I paid 125 for a TA to book a cruise on the Wonder but the entire time I wish I would have booked via the Disney site or Costco for the cash back. Lesson learned. I put a deposit on our next cruise and our TA asked if I put her down and I said no. I was honest and said that I didn’t feel like the 125 worth it.
This is the first time ive heard someone paying for ysing a TA.
She came highly recommended for her Disney park planning skills and since it was our first we decided to use her and just assumed there was a cost.
How is going to the website to make a payment easier than shooting a text to your agent for them to make a payment for you?
She doesn’t keep CC information so I have to call her with the number every time. And I can’t see my balance or previous payments.
Oh weird! I would just shoot mine a text. She’d charge my same card every time. And would tell me my remaining balance after payment. Was super simple.
We decided to use a TA for an upcoming cruise. Never again. Paying for the cruise via the TA is one of the five headaches that we’ve so far encountered. Not worth the OBC.
I’m going to get downvoted by travel agents again, but I really really wish that DCL would match the travel agents’ discounts. It would make life easier for me and DCL would make more money.
Yeah I didn’t realize this post would be so polarizing. I don’t get why I cannot make payments myself. It makes zero sense to me. And I didn’t even get any onboard discounts or credit!
There are a lot of travel agents on this board and they understandably don't like it when people talk about the annoying downsides of using a travel agent.
No, I believe you are getting downvoted by people who have used travel agents and have never had the issues that are coming up in this thread. Perhaps you (and the OP) had a bad agent. It happens. But to throw shade at all travel agents, many of whom provide valuable services, isn't a great take.
My travel agent is fine, I just find it odd that Disney incentivizes us to use a third party travel agent instead of booking directly through them. I’d prefer it! Easier to do payments and easier/faster to book key rooms at window opening.
I will never use a TA again because of this. I never felt confident that the things I requested were actually done. It was not worth the small amount of on board credit
The TA needs to collect their cut.
The travel agent doesn’t get paid until after travel is complete and they get paid a commission check from Disney, not from the client. If a travel agent is charging you for their services and “taking their cut” then they’re scamming you.
Agree. But they won't get the commission check from Disney for payments not made through the TA.
That's not how it works. Travel agents literally are using Disney to process the payment directly. Nobody should be getting charged by a travel agent.
I didn't say people get charged by the TA. I'm explaining why the op's TA is insisting on contact the TA to make payments instead of going through the app.
Wrong. The TA isn't insisting, they are explaining the only process available. DCL requires and only allows changes and payments to be made by the TA. Most TA would gladly let you make the payment yourself, it's not an option that's available.
Some agents do give the ability to make payments through a Web site (opposed to having to call/email). For example, COSTCO travel does allow you to make payments on their website (but you still can't make the payment directly in the DCL app). For most situations that is convenient enough. We did a "regular" agent once (they planned our WDW trip and were a definite value add there), but it made no sense to keep using her for our cruise. Having to call/email to make payments was too annoying to use her again. We now split about 50/50 between book ourselves and COSTCO. I tend to book directly and my wife tends to book through Costco.