Best price when booking early

I am interested in the new Jewel of the Seas Baltic cruise in June. If I book now, how do I make sure that I get the benefit of any price reductions in the future? Some people have suggested that a good travel agent will take care of this. What is your experience? Thanks.

I have yet to have a travel agent find it for me. I've always had to find the discount. There are several sites now that will let you register for "cruise price drop alerts" for specific ships and categories. This way you get an email when it goes below a certain price. Icruise.com has this.

[FrankiRN]

Our travel agent has credited us on her own when the price of a cruise has dropped. That said, I always check for myself also. I went to icruise and couldn't find a link the the service you mentioned. Could you give me the URL or link to any other sites which provide this service? Thanx so much. FrankiRN_nospam_@aol.com. Just take out the nospam.

I'm a TA and check my cruises booked daily. I booked clients on the new Mariner of the Seas on June 5, noticed today that their rate dropped for the category H booked, and reduced their cruise rate by a total of $200.00. This is not the first time I have done this for these clients, and I know that they will always be loyal to me, because I keep an eye on the fares.
In my opinion, this is what all agents should do for their clients, in order to retain their loyal following.
Happy Cruising, Ginnie

[robbie]

Mine definitely checks for price drops or we would NOT be doing business!

Glad to hear there are TAs our that there do this for their clients. I have used 5 TAs to book 12 cruises, and none yet found the "lower fare" for me. I have always had to monitor the fares and then call them. Doesn't matter much though, because I would monitor them regardless. I'm funny that way when it comes to matters of mullah :-) The location of the "fare watcher" on icruise is at http://res.i-cruise.com/myIcruise/myIcruise.jsp under the MyIcruise button near the top.

How do they (TA) check for the best price or prices going down.--internet or calling cruiseline.? Isn't it hard to figure out if you have used coupons & got frequent cruiser discount to begin with. ? I check the internet myselfl & serahc out the coupons for whihc I always get the reduction but TA has never--what should I tell her to do--she is very cooperative.

[robbie]

In the past, when I booked very early, I know my T/A would check for price drop a couple of times prior to final payment. And then definitely check at time of final payment. I assume he used computer but with a bunch of us waiting for "last minute specials" the cruise lines are adding "valid on new bookings only."