Book the cruise direct, or through an advisor?

Neither. The fare is identical: cruise lines sell through advisors at the same published fare you see on their own website. The difference is what comes attached to it. Through an advisor you receive benefits on every sailing (the Virtuoso amenities your sailing carries, or something from us where it carries none), a credit of our own on the larger voyages, the suite held while you decide, and the hotels either side arranged as one journey. None of that arrives when you book on the line's website.

By the cruise line. Every line pays the advisor a commission out of the fare, the same fare you would pay booking direct, and it is a cost the line carries whether or not an advisor is involved. You never pay Via Privata anything: the deposit and the balance go to the line, on your own card, on its own terms.

Three things on top of the line's own offer, which stays as published. First, benefits on every sailing: the Virtuoso amenities your sailing carries, which reach you through our host agency, Fora Travel (on most luxury lines a shipboard credit, on some sailings a hosted event or excursion), and something from us on any sailing without them. Second, on any voyage of USD 40,000 or more, a USD 1,500 onboard credit per suite funded by Via Privata; on Aman at Sea's Amangati the two credits together reach USD 2,000 per suite. Third, the work: the suite chosen by deck and position and held while you decide, the hotels before and after joined to the voyage, and one named person from deposit to disembarkation. Everything is written on the confirmation before you pay.

No. Booking a cruise through us is free: no booking fee, no planning fee, no membership, and the same for the hotels before and after. The one exception is airline ticketing, which carries a USD 100 per-ticket management fee, stated before we book.

Often, yes. Several lines let you move a booking to an advisor for a set time after the deposit, at the same fare and in the same suite. Seabourn, for example, allows 60 days. Send us your confirmation number and we check your line's rule the same day. Where the move is allowed, we confirm in writing what your sailing then carries.

No. The line's own offers apply exactly as it publishes them, and so do its loyalty programmes: a Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection booking through us still earns Marriott Bonvoy points, for example. Virtuoso amenities and our credit sit on top. One caution: a few deeply reduced fares, such as Silversea's Last Minute fares, carry no consortium amenity, and we tell you which before you choose.

Any line on the Fora cruise panel, luxury first: the hotel-brand yachts (Four Seasons Yachts, The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, Orient Express Corinthian, Aman at Sea), the all-inclusive lines (Regent Seven Seas, Silversea, Seabourn, Explora Journeys), the expedition ships of Ponant and Scenic Eclipse, river cruising with Uniworld and AmaWaterways, and Oceania, Crystal, Windstar and Viking, each at the line's own fare. For any other line, just name it.

You pay the cruise line directly, on its own terms. Most lines take a deposit of 10 to 25 percent when you book, a few a fixed amount per guest, and the balance 90 to 150 days before you sail. Your quote shows the exact schedule before anything is booked, and no payment ever runs through us.