Aussies Disadvantaged by Oceania

[minz56]

I wonder who they are "protecting" -- certainly not potential passengers in the affected foreign countries!

 

And not U.S. TAs who might like the business ...

 

I guess it's the TA who has the monopoly "over there" ... and I am just assuming it's a monopoly, but I gathered it is from some of the comments by Australians.

 

It is the Wholesalers and Travel Agents in each region outside the US that are being proteted, eg in Australia/NZ, UK, Europe. If better deals are available in the US then they may lose out. This sort of protectionism has been around for a while, and not just re cruises or travel products, but IMHO it is becoming outdated.

[triplestar]

We New Zealanders are in an even worse situation given the strength of our dollar compared to Aus against the $US.We had a lovely Cruise in June/July last year,but their prices were just too high this year, although they were giving Bonus on board credits of $100 -$150 USpp.Therefore we have chosen to cruise with Azamara this year having cruised with them in Junelast year. They are very similar to Oceania & much better value for money. Regent gives a credit for flights . Oceania does need to consider the market maybe they only want US citizens onboard

[Kruizefan]

Read this:

 

"The following cruise lines now prohibit all U.S. travel agencies from selling cruises to citizens of countries other than the U.S. and Canada, unless they have a residence in the U.S. or Canada. This is a corporate policy instituted by each of these cruise lines. Celebrity

Costa Cruises

Holland America

Oceania Cruises

Princess*

Royal Caribbean

Star Clippers

 

*Residents of Mexico are permitted to book Princess

Note: Residents of the U.K. and Australia may not book P&O Cruises"

 

You see it´s not only Aussies who are disadvantaged but all other foreign nations.

 

--

[Karri Bay]

Yes that is the info I have been given. There still are many cruise lines that internationals can book. Unfortunately we really loved Oceania Regatta last year. I have now been waiting 10 days for my local TA to get back to me about a cruise on Marina next May. I contacted the Sydney office who said the required cabin was available but as they were wholesalers only we would have to book through our local TA. She has made contact with them and is still awaiting a reply from them. By the time this happens the cruise will be fully booked. How can this happen????? I have heard this is not unusual for Oceania.:confused: Karri Bay

[JimandStan]

If this type of situation were to come to light in the United States today; there would be twenty new Travel Agents vying for the business of all the disgruntled clients tomorrow.

 

:confused:Why doesn't this happen in Australia?:confused:

[rhohea]

Yes that is the info I have been given. There still are many cruise lines that internationals can book. Unfortunately we really loved Oceania Regatta last year. I have now been waiting 10 days for my local TA to get back to me about a cruise on Marina next May. I contacted the Sydney office who said the required cabin was available but as they were wholesalers only we would have to book through our local TA. She has made contact with them and is still awaiting a reply from them. By the time this happens the cruise will be fully booked. How can this happen????? I have heard this is not unusual for Oceania.:confused: Karri Bay

 

Read my thread #2 and do as I did - Ring Oceania direct in Miami and ask for International Reservations or if they are not available Group Bookings (that is who did mine). They took my booking and confirmed my Cat and cabin number and then transferred the booking back to Oceania Aust. They told me someone would be in contact with 2-3 working days and that I would have to pay my deposit within 7 days. On day 6 I had not been contacted so I phoned them and asked for my invoice to be emailed to me (for me to check). They did this later that day and I then contacted my own TA with the booking numbers and paid the $1250 pp deposit.

At least this way I knew I was on the cruise of my choice and had a choice of cabin. I did not get the cabin I wanted so have your 2nd & 3rd choices ready.

Any question please feel free to email me rhohea23@yahoo.com.au

Rhonda

[rhohea]

Yes that is the info I have been given. There still are many cruise lines that internationals can book. Unfortunately we really loved Oceania Regatta last year. I have now been waiting 10 days for my local TA to get back to me about a cruise on Marina next May. I contacted the Sydney office who said the required cabin was available but as they were wholesalers only we would have to book through our local TA. She has made contact with them and is still awaiting a reply from them. By the time this happens the cruise will be fully booked. How can this happen????? I have heard this is not unusual for Oceania.:confused: Karri Bay

 

Read my thread #2 and do as I did - Ring Oceania direct in Miami and ask for International Reservations or if they are not available Group Bookings (that is who did mine). They took my booking and confirmed my Cat and cabin number and then transferred the booking back to Oceania Aust. They told me someone would be in contact with 2-3 working days and that I would have to pay my deposit within 7 days. On day 6 I had not been contacted so I phoned them and asked for my invoice to be emailed to me (for me to check). They did this later that day and I then contacted my own TA with the booking numbers and paid the $1250 pp deposit.

At least this way I knew I was on the cruise of my choice and had a choice of cabin. I did not get the cabin I wanted so have your 2nd & 3rd choices ready.

Any question please feel free to email me rhohea23@yahoo.com.au

Rhonda

[Cruiser John]

Have any of the "O" cruisers outside of U.S. and Canada considered using the address of a friend or relative located in North America to book cruises? The cruise docs would have to be forwarded, but otherwise, where's the problem? "O" would still be "protecting" its overseas travel wholesalers and any adventurous cruisers would be able to enjoy the same discounted fares as North Americans

[JimandStan]

If this type of situation were to come to light in the United States today; there would be twenty new Travel Agents vying for the business of all the disgruntled clients tomorrow.

 

:confused:Why doesn't this happen in Australia?:confused:

 

Interesting that there hasn't been any response to this post yet.....:rolleyes:

[YoHoHo]

If this type of situation were to come to light in the United States today; there would be twenty new Travel Agents vying for the business of all the disgruntled clients tomorrow.

 

:confused:Why doesn't this happen in Australia?:confused:

It does happen in the the US today. One of the issues is that a US travel agent cannot not accept 'foreign' bookings for certain cruise lines

 

It *may* be that an Australian agent would not accept your booking either

[JimandStan]

It does happen in the the US today. One of the issues is that a US travel agent cannot not accept 'foreign' bookings for certain cruise lines

 

It *may* be that an Australian agent would not accept your booking either

 

Yes, I agree with you that Agents in other markets cannot accept those bookings under the current system.

 

The question that I was asking is this:

 

If Australians are unhappy with the customer service given them by the Agents that correctly service Australia, why doesn't a new Agency with better service spring up?

 

Or, as has been suggested on these boards, do ALL Australian bookings (regardless of where in Australia they are booked) get funneled through a single international consolidator?

[LHT28]

Or, as has been suggested on these boards, do ALL Australian bookings (regardless of where in Australia they are booked) get funneled through a single international consolidator?

That seems to be the case

All TA's must book through the Australian GSM

 

We have similar wholesalers in Canada for certain cruise lines

The Canadian TA MUST book through them & not direct with the cruise line. some will not allow us to book with a US TA either

 

Oceania is not one of them for us ;)

 

lyn

[minz56]

That seems to be the case

All TA's must book through the Australian GSM

lyn

 

Yes, Lyn is correct ... so effectively there is a monoply.

 

Interestingly there is exactly the same thread at the moment on the HAL boards, and I have seen one recently on the Cunard boards (by disgruntled UK passengers).

[rhohea]

Interesting that there hasn't been any response to this post yet.....:rolleyes:

Or, as has been suggested on these boards, do ALL Australian bookings (regardless of where in Australia they are booked) get funneled through a single international consolidator?

 

Yes, Stan & Jim, ALL Oceania bookings made here in Australia go through the 1 agent via our own TA. Even the booking I made for Riviera via phone with Miami along with bookings made onboard come back to that Oceania Aust, agent. It was them who changed the deposit from $750 pp to $1250 pp ( I know this is not a big deal but $1000 pp (B2B booking) sitting in our bank account for 8-9 months is better than it sitting with any TA). When my TA question them on the deposit amount on my behalf he was told "that is how much the deposit is". Even the original invoice on Oceania letterhead had $750. We did not want to loose our booking for not paying the correct deposit with the 7 days so paid the higher amount. BUT you know what, I'm on my cruise of choice and that is the only thing in this whole thing that has made me happy. This is my last comment on this frustrating situation as I must now pack & ready myself for Marina in less than 30 days. Can't wait.

[JimandStan]

Yes, Stan & Jim, ALL Oceania bookings made here in Australia go through the 1 agent via our own TA.

 

That structure would not even be legal, here in the United States.

 

It sounds like Australians need to pursue this locally, perhaps on an antitrust basis.

 

If you are serious about getting this changed, I'd suggest that you band together and commission an attorney.

 

At the very least, start writing to your government to ask that this monopolistic setup be disbanded.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

[YoHoHo]

Yes, I agree with you that Agents in other markets cannot accept those bookings under the current system.

 

The question that I was asking is this:

 

If Australians are unhappy with the customer service given them by the Agents that correctly service Australia, why doesn't a new Agency with better service spring up?

That is a good question. I am guessing the agencies have tied up agreements with the cuise lines. This would make me unhappy too. Even if I get good service and pricing from what is essentially a monopoly I'd not like it. That is one of the reasons why I bought something other than a Kindle with Amazon's proprietory format. I don't blame them - I'll just not buy into it. If I was in Australia, and other countries, with this type of TA restriction I'd think long and hard before buying something from them.

 

That said, there can be other reasons why such protectionism exists. I believe it was on the Princess board where I saw similar discussion. In that thread it was clarified that the cruise line had a legal corporate presence in the country in question and so had to adhere to a certain set of laws of the land and that added cost. This would include things that a foreign agent would not have to supply perhaps such as a default insurance fund, etc

 

Or, as has been suggested on these boards, do ALL Australian bookings (regardless of where in Australia they are booked) get funneled through a single international consolidator?

Adds another level of lack of choice

[Fam_Cruise]

Sorry folks but I have to disagree as this is not antitrust or a monopoly as people can book other cruise lines.

 

Here in the US if you buy a Sony product, it is sold and marketed by Sony USA the USA "monopoly" if you want to refer to it as that. Any retailer in the US is ultimately buying their inventory from Sony USA. You are free to buy another TV brand, hence no monopoly or antitrust issues.

 

There are also many other Marketing agreements for foreign products here in the US including Siemens, Nokia, Rolls Royce, Lexus, etc.

 

In Canada you can't buy Dell computers from the US web site, you have to go through Dell Canada. Again if you are Canadian, or any nationality for that matter, you can always choose to buy a computer from a different manufacturer.

 

It is what it is, however it is very unfortunate that the Oceania channel in OZ (or any place else) chooses to charge such high prices, but if people are willing to pay them then from a business perspective they have no reason to lower their prices. After all prices are basically determined by supply and demand. Unfortunately this rationalization doesn't make it suck any less.

[JimandStan]

if people are willing to pay them then from a business perspective they have no reason to lower their prices. After all prices are basically determined by supply and demand. Unfortunately this rationalization doesn't make it suck any less.

 

 

Unbelievably perceptive! Bravo!

[LHT28]

Sorry folks but I have to disagree as this is not antitrust or a monopoly as people can book other cruise lines.

 

.

I think the point people Downunder are trying to convey is that they CANNOT just book other lines without using an Australian broker

 

It is is in effect with other cruise lines not just Oceania .

 

 

A little tidbit of how some cruise lines work

http://www.acta.ca/news/55654/

http://www.acta.ca/news/52163/HAL-reviewing-cross-border-ban-policy.htm

[JimandStan]

I think the point people Downunder are trying to convey is that they CANNOT just book other lines without using an Australian broker

 

It is is in effect with other cruise lines not just Oceania .

 

 

A little tidbit of how some cruise lines work

http://www.acta.ca/news/55654/

http://www.acta.ca/news/52163/HAL-reviewing-cross-border-ban-policy.htm

 

Australians ARE able to book other cruise lines, some of them will even take direct bookings.

 

The problem is that most of those lines cater to an Asian clientèle and are not the greatest from a Western point of view.

 

Lets face it. Australians will continue to be subjected to these regulations as long as there is a dollar to be made, unless they make life a living hell for that "mystery consolidator".

 

Have you noticed that nobody has even given the name of the company in question yet?

[minz56]

I think the point people Downunder are trying to convey is that they CANNOT just book other lines without using an Australian broker

 

It is is in effect with other cruise lines not just Oceania .

 

 

A little tidbit of how some cruise lines work

http://www.acta.ca/news/55654/

http://www.acta.ca/news/52163/HAL-reviewing-cross-border-ban-policy.htm

 

Thanks for the links to the articles which I hadn't seen. I think that banning cross border selling is a backward move - it's just not the way the world is heading at the moment.

[Fam_Cruise]

It just occurred to me that since by OZ law, prices must be all inclusive (with the exception of the pesky 1.5% surcharge that business may charge to those that choose to use credit cards :confused: ) that in addition to the distributor's markup, the prices from the authorized distributor could also include a VAT. Just a thought as governments do tend to like to get their cut.

[minz56]

It just occurred to me that since by OZ law, prices must be all inclusive (with the exception of the pesky 1.5% surcharge that business may charge to those that choose to use credit cards :confused: ) that in addition to the distributor's markup, the prices from the authorized distributor could also include a VAT. Just a thought as governments do tend to like to get their cut.

 

I doubt that VAT applies in the case of overseas travel - it certainly doesn't in New Zealand, but someone from Australia can confirm this.

[LHT28]

Have you noticed that nobody has even given the name of the company in question yet?

 

It is probably against CC rules

[minz56]

It is probably against CC rules

 

I don't think there is any secret about this and would hardly be against CC rules. We're talking about O's GSA in Australia - I just don't know who it is. I'm in NZ and know who the GSA is here.

 

There is nothing antitrust about this. O do not have their own presence in Australia and NZ (and many other countries) so they appoint a GSA. Effectively they represent O, but set some of their own conditions (eg higher deposits, exchange rates etc).

 

My main gripe here is that many cruise lines, including O, do not allow me to book a cruise in a region other than the one I reside in. Prinicpally most of us would like to book in the USA. This situation is getting worse, not better.