I'm looking to price up RCI - Mediterranean Venice - Brilliance of The Seas - 9th July 2009 - 12 nights - Flying from Edinburgh (or any other Scottish airport if cheaper) - 2 adults and 2 children (age 4 and 6) - Cheapest room available

Gills Cruise Centre
save'n'sail
Cruisetraders.

Is the price only for the cruise???. Try seascanner.com = god service. The price is £4345 (only for the cruise) if that helps???

Yours sincerely
Olsen.dk

[ 08-11-2008: Message edited by: Olsen Dk ]

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Originally posted by ianbat83:

I've used the following specialist agents in the past and have been given good service with all of them. They all have good web sites and I've never ever paid brochure price!!

Gills Cruise Centre
save'n'sail
Cruisetraders.

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Thanks - will give all of those a try

[ 08-11-2008: Message edited by: Claire J ]

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Originally posted by Olsen Dk:
Hi Claire

Is the price only for the cruise???. Try seascanner.com = god service. The price is £4345 (only for the cruise) if that helps???

Yours sincerely
Olsen.dk

[ 08-11-2008: Message edited by: Olsen Dk ]

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Originally posted by Tom Burke:
(Of course, even then you can generally get a better price from a TA than from the line itself.)

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:

You should get at least 5% better price from a specialist UK cruise Travel Agent, on top of any published cruise line discounts.

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I have found with RCI/Celebrity that if I book via their websites I can pay something monthly and check prices regularly. This has the advantage of reducing the impact of final payment and enabling me to take advantage of reduced fares or offers - last year on Constellation we upgraded to Concierge class after the fares reduced significantly and saved about £300 per cabin. For our next cruise on Mariner of the Seas I took advantage of the sudden appearance of 55+ special offers and saved £400.

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Originally posted by ocngypz:
Both Royal Caribbean and Celebrity do not allow discounting of their cruise rates. You may find that your initial rate has gone down because of a promotion, and if the promotion is not restricted to "new bookings only" both lines are very good about refaring and giving you the lower rate..

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That explains everything - pity other cruise lines aren't so transparent in their pricing.

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Originally posted by ocngypz:
In terms of air, I'd be VERY wary of booking any discount carrier these days. Even booking the legacy carriers is difficult with all the flight cancellations/consolidations.

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It's scary booking flights these days - so many budget airlines going down. Would never dream of booking anything but a major airline using a credit card - flying in the day before and out the day or so after!!! Please don't say you've heard any bad rumours about Delta!!!

However I though it may be of interest to share who was the cheapest when I shopped around the various agents.

Cruise Circle and Ideal Cruising were the cheapest at £5711 and £5713 respectively for the exact same package that was £6483 direct with RCI

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Originally posted by Claire J:
Thanks for all the replies. Unfortuanetly due to a change in personal circumstances we will not be cruising this year

However I though it may be of interest to share who was the cheapest when I shopped around the various agents.

Cruise Circle and Ideal Cruising were the cheapest at £5711 and £5713 respectively for the exact same package that was £6483 direct with RCI

Fingers crossed that we manage to Cruise in 2010

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Maybe the difference can be accounted for by the 'air' - RCI/Celebrity air prices are very uncompetitive. I can save £100's booking my own flights over those offered by RCI as fly/cruise.

Unfortunately due to past experience I have found it impossible to find a reliable and dedicated travel agent.

Previous experiences with travel agents have included them not advising I needed a visa and sending documents too late. Travel Agents going out of business due to poor financial practices and skills. An inability to ensure cruise tickets are delivered BEFORE the cruise departs. (in this instance I had to go directly to the cruise lines office to have tickets printed on sailing day). I have also experienced an inability to get airline tickets delivered before the cruise departs.