entropy12 wrote: “On any European cruise I will always book the entire enchilada with the cruise line booking.”
Do you book the cruise with the cruise line or do you use a travel agent? I use a TA that discounts the Cruise Line Price by at least 8%. You can still book flights, tours, transfers, etc., through the cruise line.
I always look for prices on vacations to go web site first.
If travel agent can beat that price, by all means go with the travel agent.
For me the idea is to reduce stress. Booking directly with cruise line instead of another intermediary gives me less stress. On a Norwegian cruise to Alaska, the ship mis-behaved, and many people were injured primarily on top decks with nothing to grab on to. NCL gacve all passengers a $500 voucher for next NCL cruise. Guess what, my travel agent lost the voucher, and I had to go through bunch of threatening phone calls to NCL to restore our $2000 credit for 4 passengers.