I read an article on line about travel agencies and cruise travel vouchers. Has anyone else seen any of these? From what I can tell from what I’ve read, there are travel vouchers available for most any mode of travel, especially air and cruise.
I know that airlines provide travel vouchers to passengers who give up their seats on an overbooked flight, but how do cruise travel vouchers work? Are vouchers offered by the major cruise lines, or just through purchase like I read on line through brokers? Are these broker companies trustworthy? Are the vouchers really as good as they sound?
Travel vouchers
Travel vouchers are usually provided when a problem has arisen; maybe overbooking or an extremely unsatisfactory event that proves to be the fault of the travel provider. Many times, however, they come with caveats that are not immediately evident. Blackout dates, restrictions and provisions could apply that would greatly diminish any savings you would see.
I do know that travel vouchers are issued to many travel agents as result of last minute vacancies. Travel agents that are partners with the cruise lines have the opportunity to purchase blocks of vouchers at very low costs in order to fill the cruise ship. The agents can then offer savings to potential passengers while still making a profit from the vouchers.
Also, travel vouchers are sometimes issued to a select few as an enticement for a purchase of a timeshare of some sort. These are usually good only for a certain period of time, are available only to those whose name appears on the information, and may come with some hidden costs.