I need your advice.....

We book vacations online all the time with no problems. As long as they are reputable websites (airline, hotels or places like expedia) you should be fine.

BUT if you are more comfortable dealing with a person - contact a travel agency.

I think one of the benefits of using an agent would be upgrades if they mention you are honeymooning.

I don't think that's necessarily true. We went with a travel agent but that's because we know nothing about the area we are planning to travel to (Tahiti/Bora Bora). We still did our fair share of research, but felt more comfortable booking with people who have experience booking Tahiti.

If we had decided to go to the Carribean on our HM (for example) I would have felt more comfortable booking our own because I've done it before.

I think that even if you do decide to go with a travel agent, you should do your own research online also.

Good luck!

I think it depends on the complexity of the trip. Our hm is kind of complicated (in fact, we would have never known about it if we did not go to a travel agent), so the travel agent was essential. She also got us better deals that I could find on the internet and she is getting us free upgrades. Also, if there is any problem during the trip, she can assist.

Also, I booked a hotel room for my parents as a gift this year using expedia. My parents had tons of problems with it...expedia actually cancelled the trip the day they were supposed to check out. My parents were forced to pay for the hotel room at a much higher price. After writing a letter, expedia refunded the money, but it was a huge inconvenience.

I think anything can be done on the internet these days.

We booked our HM through Dawn @ Cruise One and she will beat any price on the internet so we just felt better using her.

We use hotels.com & expedia a lot & never had a problem. But we did go through travel agency for HM & I am so glad we did. American Airlines ended up canceling our return flight, rescheduling it for a few hours earlier thus giving us a hugh layover (FH doesnt like to fly and this would have ruined the HM for him) AA wanted to charge us 300 to cancel, but Travel Agent handled everything for us and helped schedule a completely different HM.
Getting insurance is also a very good idea and I dont know if you can get in on line.

Personally, I don't think its a bad idea, but its just easier when you talk to a person, and have a chance to ask all the questions that come up.. Exactly what is included, what not, how things perhaps can be changed to suit your needs.

Personally I order a lot of things online, but, when I finally get them its not what I wanted. Thats why for me, its probably better to find what I liked online, and than talk to an agent about all the details and see if they can get a cheeper price. Once I'll visit both routes, I can decide whiere to purchase the final prodcut from.