Anyone use Cruisecompete??

[Floridanamaw]

Just wondering if anyone actually uses them and gets a good rate and if it is usually better than the cruise line quote. I got a quote for 7 night Glory, Eastern Caribbean, Oct. 2007 in Cat 6B for 578.00 each and Cat 8E for 706.00 each. I don't really want the Cat 6B as it is right under the galley. Does the 708.00 seem good for Cat 8E, Panarama deck? All these different catagories can be confusing to us newcomers to cruising Thanks in advance for you answers.

[Thomas]

Cruise Compete is the only service I use anymore. We consider any outside or balcony room for less than $100 per day a good deal.

Regards,
Thomas

[Kuki]

That's an excellent price for a balcony cabin in the Caribbean.

Just BE SURE the quote included taxes and port charges. Not find out they are added in later.

Cruise Compete isn't just one agency. They list your cruise request with a number of different travel agencies, and they quote on your cruise.

So.. just understand, not all agents through Cruise Compete are equal.

[skymaster]

Cruise Compete is GREAT IMO. I've used it, or one of its agents for all of my recent cruises, except of course, the Century cruise. I think they do an outstanding job, and even if you don't book through them, you'll get a very good idea of what the particular cruise, and cabin you want should sell for.
I agree that the quotes that you have sound outstanding! I think you'll find that they are either all inclusive, or perhaps you may have to add just taxes to the prices. I almost never see quotes that don't include port charges anymore. (I'm sure there are exceptions however,,,just be sure about what is and is not included).

See you aboard,

Ken

[Darcy]

I've used it and had very good luck with it.

[Floridanamaw]

All of their quotes include port/gov't fees. One quote includes a excursion credit. It doesn't say how much of a credit. So, I would be okay using them? They have better prices than Carnival, even with past guest prices. Sounds like I should go with them then. Thanks.

[Magnolia Blossom]

I've booked several cruises through them. Great service. I always quote a cruise them before I book.

[Floridanamaw]

After getting quotes from cruisecompete and talking with my Carnival guy, he was able to give me a great deal on best available balcony on the Glory for next Oct.. Less than what cruisecompete was quoting. So I took it. Cruisecompete has some good rates and if my PVP had not been able to beat them I would have gone with one of the agencies from cruisecompete.

[skymaster]

Excellent! See, if you hadn't used CruiseCompete, you wouldn't have gotten such a great deal from your Carvival rep! I really recommend CruiseCompete to everyone, whether you book with them or not, you can find out what the cruise should sell for. It's a great service.

Ken

[Floridanamaw]

Yes, I would recommend it to anyone also. Especially new cruisers. If I had of known about them the first time I might have gotten a better deal from my Carnival rep. But being new to cruising I just took his word on rates. I'm learning though. This site (cruisemates) is a very good educational tool for cruisers. I have learned a lot. So now I am booking our next cruise with my PVP and I have been given a good rate for a balcony cabin. The best thing is to research, research and research, and use cruisecompete.

[Brenda in Canada]

We used it for our cruise we just took. Did not have the best customer service from the TA who was answering all the CCompete quotes. Then got the agency's PR guy(who was away during our cruise and returned the last couple days of our cruise) who was good BUT did not handle my $100 on board credit properly. Carnival contacted the bad service guy who said NO I did not have OBC. Carnival was nice enought to let me use their phone onship and I spent about 20 min. on the phone/on hold(making me late for supper one night!!)-the female employee came back and told me I would get it credited to my Mastercard-which it did get done but at a lower exchange rate of course! I had it right on my final payment copy which I luckily took with me.
Would I use CruiseCompete again. Yes. But I would be more selective on the agency/agent I might use.

[KimJack]

We've been using CruiseCompete for the past 3 years, and have booked two of our cruises through their referrals. But like someone pointed out, you do have to read all the small print from the TAs. And the quotes for basically the same cabin can be far apart at times.

In 2005 we were booking 2 inside cabins on the NCL Jewel. We got 6 offers through CruiseCompete, and they ranged from a low of $2400 (4 people) to a high of nearly $3600 for same category/same approximate location cabins. The other time we used CC, one of the quotes included "free" insurance. We were a little suspicious, since the offer was just about the same as the lowest offer. Guess what? It was legit, and saved us about $150 for the cost of insurance.

I recommend CruiseCompete highly. Just read the TA offers carefully before deciding.

Jack

[Russell in MD]

+1

Make sure the fine print covers all the right stuff and you should be good to go.

R

[Paul Motter]

The concept of cruise compete is great for couple of reasons...

First of al because the president, Robert Levinstein will himself he got the idea from a servicer CriseMates used to have "Bargain Finder" whi was exactly like cruise compete, except that we did not charge the travel agencts a commission to use it. Like so many things about CruiseMatwes we were altruistic and gave it away out of love for our readers.

Bob made it better , buy giving the travel agent more tracking tools, and so he had more success with it, but the agents have to spolut their cimmission with him, and therefore the agents can only go so low on CruiseCompete. I was also a more useful service when rebatibg waas the norm in the industry. now, with flat pricing fro a lot of cruise lines it doesn't make that much difference in price no matter where you go.

I still say the BEST deals are to be found by looking for what the agency/cruise lines are offering rather than requesting a quote on a specific cruise. The same ship/itinerary/cabin can vary by as much as 60% per person depending on whether you are booking on a ship that is almost empty or almost full. As ships fill up, the price goes up, but by NOT having your heart set on a certain saildate you are far more likely to find a bargain than by requesting multiple quotes on a specific sail date.

That is why checking our Cruise Bargains area and getting our newsletter is the best way to go.

I know people sometimes need certain dates, but if you can, find the cheap cruise first, and then request your vacation time. It is far better than the other way around.

Just my 2 cents!

[Floridanamaw]

My problem is I can only take off work certain times. I work in a real estate office and I am the "main" bookkeeper for several departments. So for me the 1st through the 10th of every month I am busy with our rental department. Making sure rents are disbursed to homeowners no later than the 10th or 11th of each month. We have about 100 owners so this is time consuming. Then on the other end of the month I also have commission checks coming in from closed sales. The last week or so of each month is always busy. Buyers and sellers want to close toward the end of the month for tax reasons. So that narrows down my time to take off anywhere from the 11th of the month to the about the 25th or 26th. So I can not search out the cheapest cruises. I pretty much have to find cruises within that time frame and hope they are not really expensive. Our last one was over Thanksgiving and it was a little higher than other times, but it was the best time for me. This next one is booked for October, hurricane season. BUT all the other dates for the eastern caribbean for November and December just did not work or they are really high. Cruisecompete helped me in that I was able to get a low quote to take to my Carnival rep and he was able to beat it some. Not hundreds of dollars, but enough that I went with him.