After telling everybody who asks us about booking a cruise for the first time to not use a travel agent, me and my wife were drawn in by a too good to be true price on a cruise by an agent.

Despite been one with good reviews, it being part of a larger group of companies and covered by both ABTA and ATOL, we still got scammed and it wasn’t even a particularly well hidden ‘bait and switch’ scam.

After making our booking, we got confirmation, a booking reference and everything else that made it seem legit but just a day later, they contacted us to say that we would need to pay even more and couldn’t have the room at the rate we booked.

After some back and forth, we of course cancelled but faced a fight to get our money back, so it did put us off of using another agent and with the line wanting a lot more for the same getaway, we decided not to do the cruise.

We lost out on the cost of the pre-cruise hotel which is just a reminder of how vigilant you need to be when booking a cruise.

So based on this experience and my overall experiences of travelling the world, here is my top 10 tips for avoiding been scammed when booking a cruise holiday.

Try to remember though, even if you follow all of these, you can still get scammed, so if it doesn’t feel right, move on.

Our Top 10 Tips for Avoiding Been Scammed When Booking a Cruise Holiday

Price Is To Good To Be True

Ultimately this is the thing that sways most people, and it was the thing that swayed me and my wife to book the cruise we were scammed on.

I always track the price of a cruise and wait for it to drop and had noticed the price had gone down with a couple of other travel agents, whilst it remained quite high with the line itself.

After deciding to go for the cruise, the type of cabin we wanted started to sell out, so I searched further and found another travel agent that had it for even cheaper.

With the line wanting £545, other travel agents having offered it for £392 and the agent we booked with offering it for £329, it seemed a simple decision and with went with the cheapest.

Of course, that agent simply didn’t have any rooms at that price and tried to bait and switch us for more money.

If a price seems to good too be true, it probably is and any money you hand other for a deposit, will likely be difficult to get back, as it was for us.

Lack of Availability Elsewhere

As I was tracking my cruise, I notice that the cabin type I wanted was starting to be shown as sold out in a few places, including other travel agents and the line itself, so that should have really been the sign that it wasn’t available.

Sadly, I trusted the agent that we booked with who were still promoting it, not just when we booked but also after we had booked worse of all, after we had cancelled.

As I now know, this was foolish on my part, so in the future if a cabin type is showing as sold out in multiple places, I will take the hint- it’s sold out.

Similar Reviews

I did a little of research on the agent before booking, but obviously not enough, and after things went wrong, I went back to a couple of the review websites that I had looked at.

Something I had missed the first time was how similar a lot of the reviews were it terms of what was said and also when they were posted.

Some days had a few very similar reviews and then days of nothing and then multiple similar reviews.

That really should have been a give away but its easily overlooked, as I proved.

Accreditations Mean Nothing

Something I did check was that the agent was ATOL and ABTA registered in a way of giving myself a false sense of security.

I already new that those count for little but after this experience when the agent ignored the best practices, they are supposed to follow under ABTA rules, even when I pointed them out to them, and it really does count for nothing.

Make Sure You Get a Booking Reference with the Line

Something I learnt from this whole experience is that even if you have paid to book your cruise, got confirmation from the agent that it is booked and even received a booking reference from them, the line may not even know about it- as was the case with ours.

If they don’t send you a booking number for the line, chase them and if they refuse, cancel.

If they do send one, make sure you check you can access your booking on the website of the line before paying off your cruise.

Contact The Agent First

This is something that I have done with retail websites in the past if I have never used them before, so it is something that I really should have done before using the travel agent for the first time.

Whilst obviously things could quickly change as soon as you book with them even if they do respond, if you contact them with a question or two and they don’t get back to you, it’s a sure fire way to know not to book with them.

Unexpected Charges

I am sure that you will know that the cruise price is often different from the final cost of the cruise as the price you see is often without tips, parking, airfare, drinks, excursions and more costs but if an agent starts asking you for extra money for things that you know should be included, start to be cautious.

If you are asked to pay for something that you are sure should be included or that you know was stated as included, don’t pay up and ask for proof that it hasn’t been paid yet.

If they cannot provide proof, ignore you or just simply outright make something up, get a refund.

Verified By Lines

Some cruise lines will have a list of verified or partner’s travel agents listed on their websites and whilst it likely will not mean much if things go wrong, it should probably limit your chances of getting scammed.

Pressure Tactics

If you are booking with a physical travel agent, where you go to their shop or speak to them on the phone, you will likely pick up on any pressure tactics quite quickly.

Things such as ignoring any questions you ask, constantly trying to get you to book and things like telling you to put a deposit down now to make sure you get a super special price, all scream of issues.

Whilst each one isn’t too bad, you tend to get the sense of things not been quite right when there in person but when using an online agent, the same things can easily be overlooked.

If you use an agent’s website and they have numerous pressure tactics such as saying, ‘last cabin’, ‘daily offer’, ‘save today’ etc etc, it is best to be wary.

If in no rush, check back the next day or a few days late and if those daily offers are the same, you know that they are willing to lie before selling you the cruise, so more is likely to come.

Trust Your Gut

This is something that people always tell you and it is arguably the easiest thing to do but other things just lure you in such as marketing, pressure sales and cheap deals.

There are often many things that you notice that just don’t seem right, but they are often so small individually that you just kind of ignore them.

In the end, all of those small things add up to a big problem for you, so when you notice the first one, trust your gut as they say, and back out.