Travel Agent?

NcsuPsych

So my FI and I are finally starting to look around for a honeymoon get away. We wont be doing anything too costly since we're paying for the wedding and just bought a house. We'll have a big 1 year get away  . . .With that said, we'd still LOVE to go somewhere and get the biggest bang for our buck. I figured travel agents can help us do that. Does it cost money to go talk with one? Whats the procedure? Does anyone have an agent they'd like to recommend?We're looking into crusies (anywhere), B&B's at the outerbanks / charleston / williamsburg / Savannah GAOr anything fun in the mountains.Our budget is probably 1,500 or lower (the lower the better) TIA

jrsturde

I have AAA so we used one of their travel agents.  It's free if your a AAA member, plus you get the AAA discounts.  I'm glad we used them because about 2 weeks after we booked everything Disney started running a special.  The agent from AAA got us the reduced rate and a $500 refund without me having to do anything

NcsuPsych

Very nice! sadly, we don't have AAA

jrsturde

It's only like $50 for a year membership.  If you can't find a travel agent for cheap it might be worth the $50 for the membership.

tarheels1

I used Jennifer with VIP Vacations.  Recommended by several knotties on the honeymoon board and I believe from some here as well.  She's been great -- no cost and she price matches, so if you find a better deal, she can match.  If you're doing something local, I'd probably just stick to stuff you can find online. Most TAs I talked to seemed to specialize in Carribean/Mexico and some South Pacific.

Pinky09

Travel agents are usually free, I wouldn't pay for one. I had a great one, but can't find the info.

alliegator8

FI and I just went on a 7 night cruise on Carnival.  We had a great time and it wasn't too bad price wise.  We did ours with everything (cruise, excusions, flights, hotel, etc.) total for about $1700, but we did a couple diving excusions that were a lot.  You could definitely do a great cruise for under $1500.

NcsuPsych

allie : Did you use a TA or did you just book online?

Jemmessica

coming from someone with a degree in travel and touism.... travel agents can be very hit or miss.... my advice is to do your research, and book it yourself. You can almost always find the same deal or better you'd get with a TA. With that said, you can go on a 7 day cruise for well under your budget on Carnival.... we will be booking our one year anniversary trip before the end of the year to take advantage of their early booking deals!

goheels05

I 2nd AAA.  My membership pays for itself every single year.  If you're still not sold, go talk to an agent about honeymoons.  They will still talk to you even if you're not a member, but if you decide to book with them, they'll get you signed up, and the money you save will be more than the cost of membership.  Are you or your FI still in school?  I think student memberships are only $30.  I know my dues were $30 when I was in college but I can't remember if that was because I was a student or because my parents signed me up and we both got a discount.AAA agents are so knowledgeable, and they have tons of free and discount resources.  They handled every aspect of our trip--had we had trouble at the airport with a delayed flight, they would have even handled that.  And with their trip insurance, we could cancel at any time, all the way up to our scheduled airport departure, and we would have only been out the $100 we paid for the insurance.

alliegator8

We did it ourselves, but we didn't book directly through carnival. Check out some of the discounted travel sites like vacationstogo.com. If you google it, you'll fine a few. You will find some great deals. With taxes, port fees included, we paid $750 for both of us to take the 7 night cruise. It was out of Miami and went to Cozumel, mexico; Belize; Hondoras; and Grand Cayman Island. It was a fantastic trip. I have never used a travel agent for any of my trips. I like to do the research myself and find exactly what I want. You can find some great deals on your own. If there is anything you are unsure about or if you have questions about anything, let us know.