canadian in the US and I cant access MY special prices

[remydiva]

I like many others am a canadian escaping for a few months to winter in the US

 

I just got a flash sale email and one cruise looked interesting but as we all know the price in the email doesnt match "our" price until you actually LOG IN as you...if it says" Welcome Mrs Smith ....LOG IN" then you know you are not seeing the discounted prices.

 

So log in and get this message---

 

We apologize for the inconvenience.

It appears that something has gone wrong and we were not able to continue to the next step.

 

It appears your booking location and your home address do not match and we are unable to complete your booking request online. Please start a new search or call us at the number listed at the top of this web page. We would be happy to answer your questions and complete your cruise booking by phone. Thank you.

 

Now yes i can phone in but this is inconvenient...so what if my IP address is different than my home address? Why should princess care where i plan my next cruise from?

[RickEk]

I like many others am a canadian escaping for a few months to winter in the US

 

I just got a flash sale email and one cruise looked interesting but as we all know the price in the email doesnt match "our" price until you actually LOG IN as you...if it says" Welcome Mrs Smith ....LOG IN" then you know you are not seeing the discounted prices.

 

So log in and get this message---

 

We apologize for the inconvenience.

It appears that something has gone wrong and we were not able to continue to the next step.

 

It appears your booking location and your home address do not match and we are unable to complete your booking request online. Please start a new search or call us at the number listed at the top of this web page. We would be happy to answer your questions and complete your cruise booking by phone. Thank you.

 

Now yes i can phone in but this is inconvenient...so what if my IP address is different than my home address? Why should princess care where i plan my next cruise from?

 

It's probably because you're in the US and the system thinks you should be in Canada. It probably can't display fares in CAD if you're in the US, only USD.

[Colo Cruiser]

Have you called Princess?

[Hlitner]

Ahhh, you have stumbled on one of those "insider" things that travel companies prefer to hush-up. When you log on with a computer, any site you access will be able to know your approximate geographical location. Cruise Lines, Airlines, hotel chains, and plenty of other businesses market at different prices (and with different promotions) to different markets. If you are a very savy computer user you can use an open source browser such as "Tor" and alter the setting to fool the other end (web sites and travel sites) to think you are somewhere else. We have done this when we travel to New Zealand where some things are priced much lower for Kiwis and Aussies....so we just fool the New Zealand computers into thinking we are actually in New Zealand :).

 

Lacking the skills to fool the computers, your best bet is going to be the phone :).

 

Hank

Edited January 23, 2015 by Hlitner

[Colo Cruiser]

It's probably because you're in the US and the system thinks you should be in Canada. It probably can't display fares in CAD if you're in the US, only USD.

 

 

That makes sense. :)

[caribill]

Ahhh, you have stumbled on one of those "insider" things that travel companies prefer to hush-up. When you log on with a computer, any site you access will be able to know your approximate geographical location.

 

Not always.

 

Logging on in the Lufthansa lounge at IAD (outside Washington D.C.) sites I visited thought I was a continent away in Germany.

 

Log on to the Internet anywhere in the world on a Princess ship and the sites will think you are in California.

[remydiva]

I can chose to pay in U$ or Canadian $ and in fact have FCC in both currencies as sometimes it works in our favour to pay in u$.

 

The email showed $249 minisuite U$ but " click here to reserve" showed a price of $499. I only wanted to see what cabins were available before i even started to think about " reserving".

 

But due to the IP address issue ( yes i know about 'fooling' the computer with the hidden or fake IP) i couldnt carry on logged on as "me."

 

Princess should want and encourage me to surf the net and check for upcoming cruises..isnt that why they tease me with flash sales? And they must have a lot of capacity as I have been inundated with emails for the past two weeks.

 

No, i have not phoned princess..if they are smart enough to know a Canadian is logging on in the US, they are smart enough to show me in u$ and label it accordingly and then i can figure the rest out.

 

Altho , with our rapidly diving loonie ( living up to its name!) i wont be booking unless it is a killer deal.

 

Our upcoming Europe river cruise was booked in U$ with an 87 cent dollar and that was painful enough; an 80 cent dollar will keep a lot of Canadians closer to home.:eek:

 

I think Princess should be welcoming me with open arms to surf the net from wherever in the world i choose to look! :rolleyes:

Edited January 23, 2015 by remydiva

[Loonbeam]

This is one of those scenarios where, in response to many people trying to game the system, Princess decided to lock it down. While it can still be gotten around, now you have to do an active step to bypass country restrictions, which not only requires some technical skill but also if it ever came down to a court case shows intent to defraud. (And yes, I know that doesn't apply in THIS case but big picture it does).

[SadieN]

Would checking it from a smart phone with 'Location' turned off work?

[Hlitner]

Not always.

 

Logging on in the Lufthansa lounge at IAD (outside Washington D.C.) sites I visited thought I was a continent away in Germany.

 

Log on to the Internet anywhere in the world on a Princess ship and the sites will think you are in California.

 

In a sense, you are making my point :). In the case of Lufthansa they are using their own internal internet system which is apparently set to use a German IP address. On cruise ships, all the internet is bundled and transmitted via Satallite to the receiving dish of the internet provider (often MTN). The internet sees an IP address related to that receiving dish which can be in California or a few other locations in the USA and the receiving party thinks that is where you are actually located.

 

IP addresses are just one of those complicated (oft misunderstood) parts of the internet. The IP is normally assigned to your own computer (it can be either dynamic which changes every time you log-on or static) and this is done by your own internet provider. This IP is tagged onto all your internet transactions and identifies things such as your internet provider, location, and can even be traced to your actual address.

 

But when one uses some of these sophisticated Open Source software options (such as Tor Browser) your internet transaction is re-routed through another server (many call them proxy servers) which can be located nearly anywhere in the world. So the receiving party (such as a cruise line) only sees the IP address assigned by the Proxy Server which essentially shields your real location. What is interesting about TOR is that its possible to alter the internal Tor settings to use a proxy server in many different parts of the world (nearly every major country) so you can make the receiving party think you are located somewhere other then your real location.

 

This is more then most folks want to know, but its good stuff for internet geeks :)

 

Hank

P.S. If anyone is really interested in this "stuff" just Google "Tor Browser" and start reading

Edited January 23, 2015 by Hlitner