Aussies being ripped off, price gorging and the ACCC.

[rugbypopsie]

Avalon please keep us posted with your efforts to get a price drop credit. This situation is exactly one of the issues that has some of us booking through the US...even when price drops are for "new bookings only" US agents regularly allow you to cancel and rebook to get the better price and without any penalty for cancelling.

 

Sue

[springaussie]

I blame all this stuff on the Travel Agent which features the Airline Captain. I think they are the main culprits.

Glen

[The_Big_M]

I dont want to sound "mean" in any way so please dont take offence but you always seem to be defending cruise lines/Ta,s plus pricing,s and justifying everything they do price wise for "everyone"?

 

I have noticed it in many other threads as well over a long period of time too.

 

Your explanations and justifications come across as genuine but I am at a loss to see why you think your defence and Justifications are "correct" and others are "incorrect"?

 

Your personal experience with booking cruises overseas and at Home seem to always come up "Trumps" for "you" and this may be true for the way 'you' organize your travel arrangements?

 

But!

 

I just dont get it? you cannot acknowledge the other side of the coin!

 

Like I said in an earlier post "Why on EARTH Would a cruise from Australia cost $400 pp more if booked from Australia than it would if booked from USA"?

 

This cannot be justified in my opinion in any way and I think its totally wrong! and to add, RCI have left a very bad taste in my mouth "forever" and to the sum of $800AU an amount that you may well have quite happily swallowed up in your travel arrangements but an amount I will be forever spitting out in disgust.

 

Den

 

I'm definitely not offended as what you say at the opener is something I do put out there sometimes - but it's not fully accurate.

 

However, I do acknowledge the other side of the coin... I don't say it's always cheaper here, or there for example. There are also lines which are far more restrictive than others such as Princess which I'm definitely not in favour of and have spoken against in the past. Perhaps what you're seeing is just balance. People generalise giving the impression that we're always hard done by, and always get ripped off, and always pay more, when that's absolutely not true.

 

I wouldn't say my experience has always "come up trumps" if you mean that I've always gotten the lowest price, or the best price for my preferred cabin - I haven't!

 

What I argued above is that it's not good advice to anyone not experienced or happy to wear the risk, just to wait for prices to fall as though they always do closer to the date. They don't! Of course, if you're happy to take the risk and don't care if you go on a particular cruise or not, go for it, you might get a bargain. I do the same when it suits me. But it's not a certainty, there are benefits to booking early, and if prices rise as they also often do, then you're never going to get it cheaper than you could have by booking early.

 

Oh, and you haven't read too many of my posts if you're thinking I always defend TAs :-)

[NSWP]

I think we are getting some better deals now, with all the ships around. Price I paid for Celebrity Solstice was much the same as the big U.S. on line T/A's were charging.

[Aussieflyer]

Firstly get it right, it's not "price gorging", it's price GOUGING.

 

I think we all knew the word was gouging but none of us can change the title.

 

And we chose to overlook the error being more concerned with the content of the thread.

[dougo in oz]

I blame all this stuff on the Travel Agent which features the Airline Captain. I think they are the main culprits.

Glen

 

 

I never use them and I never recommend them altho' I'm sure there are a few good ones, but they are not the ones I've come across or have heard about through a myriad of other sources.

 

If you can cancel you cruise and re-book with another agency without penalty, then that is one option for you ... but don't be surprised if the agency has cancellation fees and charges

[avalon007]

Whilst on Radiance of the seas earlier this year we were advised by the RC loyalty staff member that any price drop would be passed on if we booked a cruise then & the price dropped later, but only if we asked for the price to be matched, & as long as we hadn't paid in full of course.

It is something they openly encourage people to do, so if they wanted to stop it then they wouldn't mention it in the first place you would have to assume?

 

It actually encourages people to commit to cruises that they may not commit to if they waited to see if the price was cheaper down the track.

 

If they don't honour the price drop if asked, then it can actually make more work for them.

If the price drop is substantial it is actually cheaper to cancel, pay the cancellation fee & rebook if cabins are available.

Conditions apply of course & you can't get a sale discount offered for new bookings only etc.

 

They also create a sense of 'liquid' pricing by printing prices in their own cruise brochures that they never charge, they undercut themselves on their website from the day a cruise is released more often than not.

 

It's like putting any big ticket item on layby, then the next week it is on sale at half price, if it's a big enough saving most people would cancel the layby & pay the fee, then redo the layby at the new price.

 

It's not the same as losing $40 on a dress that goes on sale a week after you purchased it, that you already paid for in full & took home & possibly wore already. If you use that analogy it would be like asking for a discount on a cruise after you have sailed, totally different situation.

 

I wouldn't bother for a $100 saving on a cruise, but when you are talking about a holiday that cost $20000 upwards, saving $1200 is a big deal.

 

I would have done 5 cruises with Royal by the end of 2013, so I don't think asking for a price match is greedy considering what I have spent with them & considering they have openly advised me of this possibility as long as I haven't paid in full.

 

You don't get any bulk discounts for buying 3 cruises at once either, like you would when you buy 3 cars or 3 TV's etc, so if I can get a price match then I'm happy to take it.:)

 

If some consider that greedy, then so be it, the cruise line will probably lose more feeding some of the overindulgent people at the buffet than the discount they may give me all things considered! :D

 

We track our cruise prices by using one of the free web page tracking sites out there, it emails me immediately if the price page content for my booking changes.

So it can actually be used for your current specific cruise, not as a cruise price comparison.

[Pushka]

And we chose to overlook the error being more concerned with the content of the thread.

 

Your avatar looks very familiar! Wish we were going again this March!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[6andy6]

Whilst on Radiance of the seas earlier this year we were advised by the RC loyalty staff member that any price drop would be passed on if we booked a cruise then & the price dropped later, but only if we asked for the price to be matched, & as long as we hadn't paid in full of course.

It is something they openly encourage people to do, so if they wanted to stop it then they wouldn't mention it in the first place you would have to assume?

 

 

 

If they don't honour the price drop if asked, then it can actually make more work for them.

If the price drop is substantial it is actually cheaper to cancel, pay the cancellation fee & rebook if cabins are available.

Conditions apply of course & you can't get a sale discount offered for new bookings only etc.

 

They also create a sense of 'liquid' pricing by printing prices in their own cruise brochures that they never charge, they undercut themselves on their website from the day a cruise is released more often than not.

 

It's like putting any big ticket item on layby, then the next week it is on sale at half price, if it's a big enough saving most people would cancel the layby & pay the fee, then redo the layby at the new price.

 

I wouldn't bother for a $100 saving on a cruise, but when you are talking about a holiday that cost $20000 upwards, saving $1200 is a big deal.

 

I would have done 5 cruises with Royal by the end of 2013, so I don't think asking for a price match is greedy considering what I have spent with them & considering they have openly advised me of this possibility as long as I haven't paid in full.

 

You don't get any bulk discounts for buying 3 cruises at once either, like you would when you buy 3 cars or 3 TV's etc, so if I can get a price match then I'm happy to take it.:)

 

If some consider that greedy, then so be it, the cruise line will probably lose more feeding some of the overindulgent people at the buffet than the discount they may give me all things considered! :D

 

We track our cruise prices by using one of the free web page tracking sites out there, it emails me immediately if the price page content for my booking changes.

So it can actually be used for your current specific cruise, not as a cruise price comparison.

 

The problem with your comment (and I don't disagree with anything by the way except what the RCI person told you).....I am sailing Celebrity.

 

Celebrity is owned by RCI.

 

RCI is the office in Sydney that handles both the RC and Celebrity bookings.

 

I went through all this price drop and matching thingy well before final payment by email back and forth and the up shot was no they wouldn't match.

 

So I would be even more angry if one section of the same company was allowing it for one line but not the other part of the same company was not allowing it for the other subsidiary.

[Pean]

The problem with your comment (and I don't disagree with anything by the way except what the RCI person told you).....I am sailing Celebrity.

 

Celebrity is owned by RCI.

 

RCI is the office in Sydney that handles both the RC and Celebrity bookings.

 

I went through all this price drop and matching thingy well before final payment by email back and forth and the up shot was no they wouldn't match.

 

So I would be even more angry if one section of the same company was allowing it for one line but not the other part of the same company was not allowing it for the other subsidiary.

 

I am surprised that you could not get your price drop. I had a cruise booked with Celebrity last year that I booked through an online Perth based cruise site and I had two price drops honoured. When I rang the TA about the drops she was not sure but rang Celebrity and then rang me back and said yes. The second drop I went from a balcony to concierge and got more money back than if I had stayed on the balcony. I also booked next years cruise on board and received the cabin upgrade, OBC and only paid $100pp deposit. I was also told if I needed to cancel before final payment I would receive the full deposit back. Win win

Carol

[Aussieflyer]

If the price drop is substantial it is actually cheaper to cancel, pay the cancellation fee & rebook if cabins are available.

Conditions apply of course & you can't get a sale discount offered for new bookings only etc.

 

We had a situation where RCI made it known that if you cancelled, you were not eligible to rebook at the new rate as they viewed you still has being an existing booking, so it would be worth checking that you can cancel and rebook. This was with an Australian travel agent and the rules are different in the US. Things have changed and I am not sure if this still holds now that they match drops.

Your avatar looks very familiar! Wish we were going again this March!

That was a great "long weekend" - QM2 meets Endeavour off Portland. We visited the Endeavour in Sydney last month. It is tiny, even smaller than it seemed. Also the ceiling down below is only about 1m (designed for short people perhaps? :o)

I would love to be on board QM2 again but on Solstice in a couple of weeks so that will have to do.

[avalon007]

The problem with your comment (and I don't disagree with anything by the way except what the RCI person told you).....I am sailing Celebrity.

 

Celebrity is owned by RCI.

 

RCI is the office in Sydney that handles both the RC and Celebrity bookings.

 

I went through all this price drop and matching thingy well before final payment by email back and forth and the up shot was no they wouldn't match.

 

So I would be even more angry if one section of the same company was allowing it for one line but not the other part of the same company was not allowing it for the other subsidiary.

 

I can understand your point of view.

 

I rang the Sydney office a few months back & had a long discussion on different things of which one was price matching, I was told that 'it depends' on the cruise you booked & under what conditions you booked it & under what conditions the price drop is offered, wether they will price match. They definately did not say they would not price match for Royal cruises.

 

I know the cancellation thing applies to their sales, if you cancel a booking to take advantage of a WOW sale or similar you cannot rebook as those sale prices only apply to new bookings.

 

If the price has just come down not in association with any sale, then I think the rules are different.

 

To be honest, I think it also depends on who you talk to in the Sydney office & if your T/A has a good rapore with any of the Royal sales people.

May also be decided based on C&A level?

[iRate]

More proof. More dirty little cruise secrets.

 

Celebrity are at it again.

 

Dropping fares considerably in the USA and offering amazing perks like free gratuities, OBC and/or free Beer/Wine packages but yet they won't offer the same deals here to Australian's because they think we are just dumb punters and won't find out what they are up to.

 

In fact it's worse than that because they are again stretching the bounds of truth in advertising.

 

On their Australian website they have been claiming to offer FREE BALCONY UPGRADES. Meaning on many cruises the inside cabins are the same price as balcony ones. See below:

The dirty little secret they would never in a million years tell you is that in other parts of the world the price of inside cabins has plummeted.

 

In some cases by $1000 or more.

 

If this isn't false advertising - it surely must be unethical. Below is a screen capture of what the same inside cabin is being offered for in the States and the extend to which they are ripping off Aussie cruises.

 

 

But it gets worse.

 

People who book in the USA at present are currently being offered IN ADDITION a choice of free gratuities, huge OBCs or free beer and wine packages valued at over $44 per day.

 

If you book a European cruise you get to choose two of these options!!!!

 

 

And what are they offering their loyal Aussie customers that are unethically claiming they are giving 'free upgrades' - nothing - zip - zilch.

 

In fact I've done a few calculations and on longer cruises with all the added extras above along with reduced fares offered in the USA we are being ripped off by $3000 or more pre cabin.

 

So that 'free upgrade' is not looking so good now is it?

 

If you've booked a cruise recently from Australia with one of these free cabin upgrade offers I'd suggest you contact Celebrity and ideally write directly to CEO Mr Gavin Smith and voice your displeasure.

 

I also urge you to separately contact the ACCC. They have a file on the cruise lines and the larger that file gets get more likely they are to intervene.

 

It's only by making some noise about all of this that we will get them to treat us Aussies fairly and stop them ripping us off.

 

Post script: Forgot to mention they are also offering reduced deposits of only $450 per person - and don't forget that final payments for cruises booked in Australia are many months more than in the states, meaning you get locked in sooner and unable to take advantage of price drops closer to departure.

 

Oh and if you are from the UK they are screwing you guys as well in the same way.

[macntosh]

More proof. More dirty little cruise secrets.

 

Celebrity are at it again.

 

Dropping fares considerably in the USA and offering amazing perks like free gratuities, OBC and/or free Beer/Wine packages but yet they won't offer the same deals here to Australian's because they think we are just dumb punters and won't find out what they are up to.

 

In fact it's worse than that because they are again stretching the bounds of truth in advertising.

 

On their Australian website they have been claiming to offer FREE BALCONY UPGRADES. Meaning on many cruises the inside cabins are the same price as balcony ones. See below:

 

 

The dirty little secret they would never in a million years tell you is that in other parts of the world the price of inside cabins has plummeted.

 

In some cases by $1000 or more.

 

If this isn't false advertising - it surely must be unethical. Below is a screen capture of what the same inside cabin is being offered for in the States and the extend to which they are ripping off Aussie cruises.

 

 

But it gets worse.

 

People who book in the USA at present are currently being offered IN ADDITION a choice of free gratuities, huge OBCs or free beer and wine packages valued at over $44 per day.

.

 

Thanks for the very detailed comparision.

 

We were looking at booking a balcony on Celebrity Solstice for October, but given the above information, we are now looking elsewhere at other cruise lines.

 

I know they are in business to make money, but I am not comfortable with the deceptive business practices that are being detailed here.

 

Come on Celebrity, prove it wrong and do something positive to win my support/business/faith in you back.

[Oz_Steve]

The problem is that they all do the same thing. The US sites seem to give the best deals if you can mitigate the foreign exchange risk.

[iRate]

The problem is that they all do the same thing. The US sites seem to give the best deals if you can mitigate the foreign exchange risk.

 

Thats the other issue. With the strength of the Aussie dollar we should be paying much less, not much more.

[iRate]

Thanks for the very detailed comparision.

 

We were looking at booking a balcony on Celebrity Solstice for October, but given the above information, we are now looking elsewhere at other cruise lines.

 

I know they are in business to make money, but I am not comfortable with the deceptive business practices that are being detailed here.

 

Come on Celebrity, prove it wrong and do something positive to win my support/business/faith in you back.

 

They will only do it up and until people wise up and do what you are doing - shopping elsewhere.

 

We need to get today tonight and ACA onto this.

[rugbypopsie]

There is a very easy way to negate any drop in the AUD against the USD. Enquire at your bank re travellers cards..."which bank" has one where you can load it with a number of currencies, 28 degrees has a good one too....just purchase USD when the currency valuations are in our favour, ts a good way to save for your holiday and take advantage of the strong AUD. When final payment is due you can do it a number of ways but a direct bank transfer does not have very a high cost and its low risk.

 

Sue

[Kiwiaus]

They will only do it up and until people wise up and do what you are doing - shopping elsewhere.

 

We need to get today tonight and ACA onto this.

 

Regarding shopping elsewhere. Are Royal Carribean and other criuse lines in Australia employing similar tactics?.

[NSWP]

I am quite happy with the price I paid for Balcony Concierge on Celebrity Solstice, Sydney to Auckland, around $120 a day pptws. Yes I got the 'free upgrade.'

 

These days one has to really look around for the best cruise prices, they are out there, you just have to find them !

 

Most of us know the cruise lines give their best prices to their best passenger market - The North Americans. Princess actually told me that one time, when I queried Australian and American prices.

 

I always work out the daily rate for cruises, my benchmark is, if more than $130 pptws a day, for an oceanview or partially obstructed view cabin, then a no go for us. Next year I got Golden Princess for $122 per day and Sapphire Princess for $118 per day.

 

So look around guys.

[nanaof2]

Most cruise liners do the same. 4 years ago we travelled with HAL and midway through the cruise, 4 weeks, we found out that our neighbour from San Francisco paid half for the same category. Contacted HAL but they explained "they were catering for fx fluctuations" and wished us happy travels on the high seas with other lines.:mad: Obviously could not care less. Since then, we only travel with lines that allow Oz residents to book via USA and pay in US dollars with a travel card. Never had any issues and saved many $$$$.:)

 

Cruise lines are not unique, most international companies do the same. And then they complain about us shopping on the internet!!!

[bazzaw]

Are those fares - quoted from the US website in USD -- inclusive of taxes and Port charges??

 

Barry

[bazzaw]

Are those fares - quoted from the US website in USD -- inclusive of taxes and Port charges??

 

Barry

[robtulipe]

Are those fares - quoted from the US website in USD -- inclusive of taxes and Port charges??

 

Barry

No, in NA the taxes and port fees are added on the next page and the gratuities will be billed to your onboard account unless you have Select Dining which requires you to prepay these and that would be added later also.

I believe the Australian price is inclusive of taxes and port fees and has a service charge instead of the gratuity charge.

[bazzaw]

No, in NA the taxes and port fees are added on the next page and the gratuities will be billed to your onboard account unless you have Select Dining which requires you to prepay these and that would be added later also.

I believe the Australian price is inclusive of taxes and port fees and has a service charge instead of the gratuity charge.

 

So that would at least account largely for the differences in prices quoted in AUD and USD?

 

Re the other thing -- where they say you get a balcony for the price of an inside, there is an old Aussie saying "Come in Spinner" (similar to the US "come in sucker") . Also the adage "buyer beware" comes to mind. However, if you are satisfied with the deal offered (even though it may not be quite the deal that you think it is), I say "go for it". I don't think it is compulsory to cruise or to buy cruise fares.

 

Barry