Travel Factory Blog

Travel Tips, Stories, Deals and Info... The Travel Factory employs 4 full time agents with 100 years total experience in the travel industry. Our agents specialize in cruise, tour and resort vacations as well as corporate incentive and school groups. Our mission is to provide the best, most courteous, most detailed, most informative service. Our slogan, "Building vacations to your specifications" says it all.

More Travel Questions And Answers

More Travel Questions And Answers

Last week we talked about some travel questions that we periodically get, and hopefully we were able to give some answers that help our listeners and readers as they plan their trips.  We have some more questions to address today.

How can I find the best travel insurance?  Some folks say they want some cheap insurance, but that usually means that they will have less coverage in case of a cancellation.  The reason most folks purchase travel insurance is to protect their investment in case they have an emergency that requires them to cancel the trip.  And most travel insurance policies cover the cost of the trip if you cancel because of a “covered” reason…sickness, accident, death of one of the travelers, a next of kin, and some even cover in case of the death of a business partner.

We often sell the insurance provided by the tour operator or cruise line.  They don’t self-insure, rather use a third party insurance carrier.  The cost is usually 8-10% of the cost of the tour.  Travel Guard is a travel insurer that we sell for independent tours, and often we find that they have more coverage for about the same price as the cruise or tour company.

Why do I hear that the cruse line has better fares than I can find through a travel agent?  That’s not true, otherwise travel agents would discontinue selling that cruise line.  Virtually all cruise lines will have the same price product as the travel agent.  Often the travel agent might have some group amenities like on-board-credit, bottle of wine, photos, or fruit in the room that the cruise line is not offering.  When the cruise line sells direct, they are not discounting the commission they would have paid a travel agent for selling and servicing that sale, so the consumer is paying for services they never receive when booking directly with the cruise line.

When is the best time to book a European river Cruise?  The best time is right now—the boats do not hold but 190 persons, so it doesn’t take many phone calls to fill them up.  Some folks wait until they are able to book the air, and make their commitment at that time.  Many successful river cruisers book their reservations 10-14 months in advance.  Because of the lack of rain and snow the past few years, the rivers have been very low on some of the rivers causing them to have to bus between some ports.  In contrast, some years they have had too much rain and snow and the boats can’t go under the bridges.  Just like any other travel, the weather is no respecter of our vacation plans, so go anyway, and determine to enjoy the adventure of travel no matter what the weather does.

The experienced and professional travel agents at The Travel Factory are eager to answer travel questions, better still will be able to not only help you plan and sell you the vacation of your dreams, but will be available to answer your questions before you go, and be available to help if needed when you return.  Give them a call at 698-1421 or 800-760-4040, or see our website at www.thetravelfactoryabilene.com.  You can even make reservations with Funjet Vacations at that site and still enjoy the service of our experienced agents.

Continue reading post
1801 Hits
0 Comments