Sail Away! Using a Travel Planner

With just a few days until we depart on our 20 person group cruise on Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Seas, I wanted to take a few minutes and explain why it is so important to utilize the services that Travel Planners offer. 
How often do you book your trips online via "cheap" websites? Even booking direct with a supplier? 
Have you ever arrived at a hotel or your destination only to have something go wrong? They didn't have a room available for you? Especially when traveling outside the country, it is important to have a point of contact. Someone you can trust to work in your best interest. Someone on YOUR side! 
When you purchased your home did you use a Buyer's Agent? Why did you choose to do that? Because they act in the best interest of you, the buyer. They don't charge you for the help and services they provide, they simply get paid from the seller a portion of their proceeds. This is how it works as Travel Planners/Agents. We are paid commissions by the suppliers for bringing the buyers to them without them increasing the cost of your trip. We work on your behalf and fight for you in the event something goes wrong. Time and time again we get phone calls from someone who has previously inquired with us about a trip and chooses to take the knowledge we offered them and book online themselves. They come back with questions they can't seem to get answers to and even times they've showed up and the booking engine they used did not secure the room for them. When you are already in a foreign country and uneasy about your surroundings, you want to know you have someone you can count on. That is what we are here for! 

Recently planning a cruise for 20 people and all the questions that have come up has brought to my attention again how important it is to book with a Travel Planner. Some things that seem as simple as going on a cruise can be overwhelming. When to complete online check in, what to do with your luggage tags, how the boarding process works, whether you should purchase the drink packages or not, how to get to and from the port, what to pack, what will cost you additional money on board and so much more. Having your Travel Planner in your back pocket is a great way to alleviate stress. A simple phone call, text, or email could save you hours on hold with the big companies.  
Our goals as agents and planners is to get first hand experience as consumers so we can in turn offer you information you may not be made aware of.  There is only so much you can learn from training. Whenever we get a chance we take photos, write reviews and offer suggestions. Follow us on our Facebook page and check out out albums.

Watch for videos, photos and more during our sailing on the Adventure of the Seas! 

Julie