Beware booking with Cruiseship Centers or CruiseMust.com. The guy is all helpful and Mr. Wonderful until you book then he is too busy to answer your questions or help you in any way. We had a group of about 25 and EVERYONE complained about him except one person. He even told someone to just cancel - that he did not care! The person who got the group together said he will use a different travel agent next time. I was promised full view and got part obstructed, which was fine for us but that was not what he told us before we paid. His answer to everything is that it is "not a problem." There are too many good cruise companies out there to put up with being treated this way. The cruise was wonderful but pre-cruise was awful.
Another reason I have a personal travel agent. She is the greatest. She isn't local, but we did meet her on a cruise. She's been our agent since 2001 and has alway been helpful. You just don't get that personal service from the internet companies.
Sonnyv, You are so right. We learned our lesson. We have a good local agent and just used Cruiseship Centers/curisemust.com because we were booking with a group and that was how we had to do it. But the group leader will not use them again EVER.
Last time we used an agent, we prepaid the whole cruise about 8 months in advance. What a nightmare. The travel agent billed our card again for the same amount. I think they kept the money for the agency and didn't book it right away and forgot or lost the record that we paid and just billed us again! I heard from another agent that that company was just using my money. How stupid. Should have turned them in.