comparison ($$$) of the different companies

[id est]

We use a TA for several reasons; one is that a TA can be an advocate in dealings with the cruise line.

 

If I'm a consumer of a product, then having someone "in my corner" could be beneficial, especially if the TA works for a company that has a very large customer base. ...

Could be an opposite though. Few months ago we had to fight with a TA because they did not honor their advertised discount motivating there is not enough commissions paid to them by cruise line. :eek:

By the way it is pretty large company

Edited May 9, 2014 by id est

[nana541]

Could be an opposite though. Few months ago we had to fight with a TA because they did not honor their advertised discount motivating there is not enough commissions paid to them by cruise line. :eek:

By the way it is pretty large company

 

 

Our discounts and OBC are always in writing and appear on our invoice. Never have had a problem.

 

Sorry you had a bad experience, did their quotes always include the advertised promo?

 

 

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[id est]

Our discounts and OBC are always in writing and appear on our invoice. Never have had a problem.

 

Sorry you had a bad experience, did their quotes always include the advertised promo?

 

 

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Yes, we even had an email confirmation. But that's a long story still not finished...

[nana541]

Yes, we even had an email confirmation. But that's a long story still not finished...

 

 

OMG and they refused to honor this??? Wow!

 

 

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[caviargal]

As I said there really is only hard work by OP or TA to get them their desired info. Pat

 

Agreed!

[Bestlabuddies]

Hi Suec12. In your original post you requested a price comparison. Posters appear to vary in their opinions about how important price is and how difficult it is to compare cruises by price alone. Notwithstanding this good advice I intend to forge ahead and offer you an on-line price comparison based on the spreadsheet that I developed while recently planning our 2015 July river cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest.

 

All comparisons were based on the same 15-day itinerary in upper deck balcony/french balcony cabins which varied in size from a low of 172 sq. ft. to a high of 225 sq. ft. In arriving at the total cost for each provider I factored in the costs for port charges, gratuities and airport transfers if they were not already included. Therefore, the differences between the providers would come down to service, quality of meals, cabin size and whether or not a real balcony was provided, whether wine and beverages were provided outside of meal times, and finally, the nature and quality of excursions. Only you can decide whether these other factors justify the cost of the cruise from one provider or another.

 

Here is the outcome in CAD per person...(you may have to convert to USD) in order of cost from lowest to highest:

 

Tom Harper...$7,116.00...french balcony...172 sq.ft...beverages with dinner

Emerald........$7,905.00...real balcony...210 sq.ft...beverages with meals

Viking..........$8,037.00...real balcony...205 sq.ft...beverages with meals

Avalon.........$8,729.00...french balcony...200 sq.ft...beverages with dinner

Scenic.........$10,140.00...real balcony...225 sq.ft...beverages all day

Tauck..........$10,227.00...french balcony...183 sq.ft...beverages all day

Uniworld.......$11,019.00...real balcony...194 sq.ft....beverages all day

AMA............$11,182.00...real balcony...210 sq.ft...beverages with meals

 

This comparison includes on-line pricing at the time of the comparison and does not include air fares or future discounts offered by the providers or by travel agents. As you can see, the range is pretty wide. Only you can decide if the services and amenities offered by the more expensive providers justify the price differences but if you read the many posts offered by experienced cruisers on this site, you may gain some appreciation for one provider or other which is not evident in the pricing structure in this comparison alone. I trust this is what you had in mind. Good luck choosing your cruise.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

IMHO, I would say that Vantage Travel and Viking would be the cruise lines that I would look at next. Both have some "deals", but you have to look for them. Yesterday I got 4 mailers from Viking for different "deals" they are offering. Some are last minute deals, some offer a discount for repeat customers, etc.

 

Don't forget to get a referral if you do decide to change companies.

 

Please do ask is you have further questions. Hopefully someone will chime in and provide an answer.

I agree with you ..

[nana541]

Wow I love it!! Great visual to actually see it all laid out that way.

We booked Amsterdam to Budapest for Sept 2015 on Avalon :)

 

 

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[jmccon2]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love the analysis work you did. :D

[pinotlover]

We just booked our first Uniworld cruise, previously we have exclusively used Viking. Uniworld has a different payment schedule than Viking. If one takes Viking they must pay 100% at time of booking. Using that as a backdrop, Uniworld offered us a 10% discount on fares for paying in full now. The discount nearly eliminated the pricing difference with Viking for the tour, plus we get standard included tours on Uniworld, that are listed as optional on Viking, plus the included drinks package.

 

Comparing prices can be very apple and oranges!

[TeaBag]

Hi Suec12. In your original post you requested a price comparison. Posters appear to vary in their opinions about how important price is and how difficult it is to compare cruises by price alone. Notwithstanding this good advice I intend to forge ahead and offer you an on-line price comparison based on the spreadsheet that I developed while recently planning our 2015 July river cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest.

 

All comparisons were based on the same 15-day itinerary in upper deck balcony/french balcony cabins which varied in size from a low of 172 sq. ft. to a high of 225 sq. ft. In arriving at the total cost for each provider I factored in the costs for port charges, gratuities and airport transfers if they were not already included. Therefore, the differences between the providers would come down to service, quality of meals, cabin size and whether or not a real balcony was provided, whether wine and beverages were provided outside of meal times, and finally, the nature and quality of excursions. Only you can decide whether these other factors justify the cost of the cruise from one provider or another.

 

Here is the outcome in CAD per person...(you may have to convert to USD) in order of cost from lowest to highest:

 

Tom Harper...$7,116.00...french balcony...172 sq.ft...beverages with dinner

Emerald........$7,905.00...real balcony...210 sq.ft...beverages with meals

Viking..........$8,037.00...real balcony...205 sq.ft...beverages with meals

Avalon.........$8,729.00...french balcony...200 sq.ft...beverages with dinner

Scenic.........$10,140.00...real balcony...225 sq.ft...beverages all day

Tauck..........$10,227.00...french balcony...183 sq.ft...beverages all day

Uniworld.......$11,019.00...real balcony...194 sq.ft....beverages all day

AMA............$11,182.00...real balcony...210 sq.ft...beverages with meals

 

This comparison includes on-line pricing at the time of the comparison and does not include air fares or future discounts offered by the providers or by travel agents. As you can see, the range is pretty wide. Only you can decide if the services and amenities offered by the more expensive providers justify the price differences but if you read the many posts offered by experienced cruisers on this site, you may gain some appreciation for one provider or other which is not evident in the pricing structure in this comparison alone. I trust this is what you had in mind. Good luck choosing your cruise.

Thank you so much for all your work in comparing the different cruises and rates. We just attended a Scenic presentation yesterday as we are wanting to do a river cruise after over 20 ocean cruises. Your comparison is greatly appreciated especially since this is the itinerary we would like to do.

Edited June 5, 2014 by YVR cruiser