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I booked a price mistake


TxMark
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If you purchased from a third party, I'm not sure the cruise line always "sees" the exact price paid by each traveler to the third party.

 

The third party may have booked a bunch of cabins at discounted rates, and perhaps got enough money from some others, and just wants to close out that particular block of rooms (or whatever else might be happening).  Maybe it's a loss leader for that third party.  Hey, YOU will certainly remember them, and tell others they might get a great deal there, right?

 

Our "personal cruise line rep" (from a particular cruise line) once told us that he actually could not even see the price we paid, when I asked if we could "do better now", with some special promos (not yet in penalty phase).  Whether those higher up in "revenue" can see "our" price, vs. what the third party has sent along...?  I'm not sure.  Maybe others here know more about the inner workings?

 

Hopefully, you'll have a great time :classic_smile:


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TX Mark, JMO, I suggest you book cruise air on the super cheap cruise, that way if the cruise line later cancels your booking, they will have to refund everything you paid.  But from what you wrote, I don’t think that is going to happen.  Plus, international cruise air is often loads cheaper than booking on your own.

 

As for your other booking; I would go ahead and cancel it.  The worst that happens is that you find a different cruise or two at the last minute for that time period, but it really sounds like you are going on the cruise with the great price.

 

 

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Thanks everyone for your replies.

Jagsfan suggested I ask for the passenger confirmation  and the agent confirmation,

They sent the passenger conf and all was good but the agent acted as if she didn't know what the agent conf was.

Cherylandtdk we agree with you and plan on canceling our other cruise.  We are starting to think that our cheap cruise is going to work out and buying cancel for any reason insurance on the other cruise would end up costing us around $1200.00 (ins cost plus 25%), now the cheap cruise is starting not to be such a deal. Princess did say that we would lose our $200 Future cruise credit we used for our deposit.

Great Idea buying cruise air, but we have a ton of air miles and I think they might be refundable if we need to cancel.

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43 minutes ago, TxMark said:

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Jagsfan suggested I ask for the passenger confirmation  and the agent confirmation,

They sent the passenger conf and all was good but the agent acted as if she didn't know what the agent conf was.

Cherylandtdk we agree with you and plan on canceling our other cruise.  We are starting to think that our cheap cruise is going to work out and buying cancel for any reason insurance on the other cruise would end up costing us around $1200.00 (ins cost plus 25%), now the cheap cruise is starting not to be such a deal. Princess did say that we would lose our $200 Future cruise credit we used for our deposit.

Great Idea buying cruise air, but we have a ton of air miles and I think they might be refundable if we need to cancel.

 

Our experience with "refunding airline award points" if travel is cancelled/changed is that there is usually a modest fee to "re-bank" the points.  There might be a time limit to use them.

However, if it is Amex Membership Rewards points that were transferred to an airline program, those can *not* be re-banked in Amex MR.  One would keep the points at the airline where the Amex MR points were transferred.  As always, the points could be used at partner airlines, etc.

 

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I had a 'too good to be true' computer glitch price on a Cunard cruise for over Christmas.  I couldn't complete the booking on their website, and my agent couldn't see that price, but I phoned to book directly and Cunard honored the price. I had a wonderful time, but it is going to be hard for the other cruise lines to beat the experience (or the price for that matter).  Others booked the same cruise fare through a 3rd party agent, and Cunard was still able to confirm the booking as 'real'.

If you have confirmation from the cruise line and can log in to your account, then you most likely should trust it.  However, it sounds like you didn't do all the math at the start of what the final cost will be when including the loss of deposit and OBC for the original booking.  Hope you can find a way to salvage the cruise to your satisfaction.

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I mustn’t have been clear about the passenger and agent confirmations. The TA receives both and sends the passenger (guest) confirmation to the client. 

The agent confirmation includes commission, which the TA would usually not wish to disclose. They are entitled to it, and need it to stay in business, but some clients  think it should be shared. 

You can rest easy, and cancel your other booking. This gives the other cruise line the chance to rebook that cabin. Win win for everybody!

If your air is international, check with EZAir, because some of the fares are astounding and you might want to save your points. 

Can’t hurt to check, anyway!

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19 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

Our experience with "refunding airline award points" if travel is cancelled/changed is that there is usually a modest fee to "re-bank" the points.  There might be a time limit to use them.

However, if it is Amex Membership Rewards points that were transferred to an airline program, those can *not* be re-banked in Amex MR.  One would keep the points at the airline where the Amex MR points were transferred.  As always, the points could be used at partner airlines, etc.

 

GC

 

What airlines?

 

I have not had any "fees" for refunding points on unused reservations for air or hotel.

 

Yes, if you transfer points from one venue to another, you typically cannot easily transfer them back.  Hotel points to airline points back to hotel points may work, but credit card points, once transferred are typically one way only.

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On 12/26/2018 at 8:58 PM, ldubs said:

 

My memory is a little rusty, but another instance went something like this.   A mainstream airline mistakenly advertised $300 first class fares to Beijing.  They sold out fast.  Airline said it was a mistake and refunded the fares.   Passengers said fares had to be honored cause it was a contract.   Airline said tough cookies & last I heard did not honor the tickets.  

 

Sometimes airlines do honour big pricing mistakes, here's one reported today :classic_wink:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46732952

 

JB :classic_wink:

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4 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

Sometimes airlines do honour big pricing mistakes, here's one reported today :classic_wink:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46732952

 

JB :classic_wink:

 

Cool that the guy got the low fare.  Morally, we don't want to benefit off of someone's mistake, but If that happened to me I would happily accept it! 

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9 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

Sometimes airlines do honour big pricing mistakes, here's one reported today :classic_wink:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46732952

 

JB :classic_wink:

Good on Cathay Pacific👍. They probably don't have to but it is nice they are honouring the prices👏. In Australia local companies have no choice but to honour price mistakes, you can't even subvert it with your own terms and conditions otherwise you get a massive fine. There was a budget airline that once tried to charge the difference on a price mistake and got into a lot of trouble😕. It probably is why we rarely see price mistakes in the first place, a lot of tripple checking I suspect going on 🤣

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  • 4 months later...

For anyone that was following my original post, here is the update. We just made it back from our cruise and all went well.

We sailed on  Holland America Noordam for 35 nights . Sydney to New Zealand for 2 weeks then Sydney to New Caledonia, Fiji, Pago Pago Hawaii, then Hawaii to Vancouver.  Now for the numbers, we booked all 35 nights in an obstructed ocean view room and were upgraded to a very nice ocean view in a great location for a total cost of $319.00 plus port fees. My guess is that someone forgot a digit ($3819)  and we just happened to see it for the hour it was online. I called the company that we use (togo) and the agent

told me not to waste his time and that there was no way they would honor it, so i went to one of the major travel websites and paid in full and the rest is history. So if you see a great deal just book it online and don't  speak directly with anyone. I'm not sure how many people got in on the deal but I did meet one other person that did.

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16 hours ago, TxMark said:

For anyone that was following my original post, here is the update. We just made it back from our cruise and all went well.

We sailed on  Holland America Noordam for 35 nights . Sydney to New Zealand for 2 weeks then Sydney to New Caledonia, Fiji, Pago Pago Hawaii, then Hawaii to Vancouver.  Now for the numbers, we booked all 35 nights in an obstructed ocean view room and were upgraded to a very nice ocean view in a great location for a total cost of $319.00 plus port fees. My guess is that someone forgot a digit ($3819)  and we just happened to see it for the hour it was online. I called the company that we use (togo) and the agent

told me not to waste his time and that there was no way they would honor it, so i went to one of the major travel websites and paid in full and the rest is history. So if you see a great deal just book it online and don't  speak directly with anyone. I'm not sure how many people got in on the deal but I did meet one other person that did.

 

35 days for $319!!!

To heck with using a TA, I'm going to get you to book my next cruise. 😄

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On 5/19/2019 at 2:12 PM, TxMark said:

For anyone that was following my original post, here is the update. We just made it back from our cruise and all went well.

We sailed on  Holland America Noordam for 35 nights . Sydney to New Zealand for 2 weeks then Sydney to New Caledonia, Fiji, Pago Pago Hawaii, then Hawaii to Vancouver.  Now for the numbers, we booked all 35 nights in an obstructed ocean view room and were upgraded to a very nice ocean view in a great location for a total cost of $319.00 plus port fees. My guess is that someone forgot a digit ($3819)  and we just happened to see it for the hour it was online. I called the company that we use (togo) and the agent

told me not to waste his time and that there was no way they would honor it, so i went to one of the major travel websites and paid in full and the rest is history. So if you see a great deal just book it online and don't  speak directly with anyone. I'm not sure how many people got in on the deal but I did meet one other person that did.

So did you pay $3819, plus $319 for the upgraded room, plus port fees? Or was it $319 plus port fees total for the whole cruise? 

 

Either way, great score!

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14 hours ago, mopedmom1 said:

So did you pay $3819, plus $319 for the upgraded room, plus port fees? Or was it $319 plus port fees total for the whole cruise? 

 

Either way, great score!

 

The total for the 35 day  cruise was $319.00 plus port fees. I was surprised that since we had never sailed with Hal and paid so little for the cruise that we would  get an upgrade, especially when we talked with other passengers that paid  many thousands more and that had status with Hal that did not.

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38 minutes ago, TxMark said:

 

The total for the 35 day  cruise was $319.00 plus port fees. I was surprised that since we had never sailed with Hal and paid so little for the cruise that we would  get an upgrade, especially when we talked with other passengers that paid  many thousands more and that had status with Hal that did not.

That is absolutely AMAZING! And an upgrade to boot.  No wonder you were looking over your shoulder with baited breath after booking.  I would have been delighted with 35 days for $3800.  Or for $319 expect to be in the galley washing dishes. Lol! Here's to finding another deal like that!

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On ‎5‎/‎20‎/‎2019 at 7:12 AM, TxMark said:

For anyone that was following my original post, here is the update. We just made it back from our cruise and all went well.

We sailed on  Holland America Noordam for 35 nights . Sydney to New Zealand for 2 weeks then Sydney to New Caledonia, Fiji, Pago Pago Hawaii, then Hawaii to Vancouver.  Now for the numbers, we booked all 35 nights in an obstructed ocean view room and were upgraded to a very nice ocean view in a great location for a total cost of $319.00 plus port fees. My guess is that someone forgot a digit ($3819)  and we just happened to see it for the hour it was online. I called the company that we use (togo) and the agent

told me not to waste his time and that there was no way they would honor it, so i went to one of the major travel websites and paid in full and the rest is history. So if you see a great deal just book it online and don't  speak directly with anyone. I'm not sure how many people got in on the deal but I did meet one other person that did.

Glad it worked out for you.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Let it be known that I too was on the same cruise as a single occupant for the full trip Sydney to Vancouver for roughly $550 plus port fees (single supplement of about $200 LOL).  I even got to meet the original poster here.  I didnt get the upgrade like the original poster did but they did honor my rate too!  It was the trip of a lifetime and I cannot recommend HAL enough for honoring it.  Great cruise line

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  • 4 months later...
On 1/3/2019 at 7:25 AM, ilikeanswers said:

Good on Cathay Pacific👍. They probably don't have to but it is nice they are honouring the prices👏. In Australia local companies have no choice but to honour price mistakes, you can't even subvert it with your own terms and conditions otherwise you get a massive fine. There was a budget airline that once tried to charge the difference on a price mistake and got into a lot of trouble😕. It probably is why we rarely see price mistakes in the first place, a lot of tripple checking I suspect going on 🤣

 

 

 

Hello everyone,

i booked what might be a mistake fare here in Oz, direct with the cruise line.   It has been 17 days and I did buy airfare elsewhere.

 

im finding it difficult to ascertain Australian consumer law in this particular instance.  The cruise lines terms and conditions say they can change errors all the way up until supply.  But Australia law seems to say these one sided non negotiable terms are invalid. 

 

Does anyone one have any ideas on this scenario?  The ship is RT from Sydney.  Checkin has not yet started but I paid in full.   The cruise line is notorious for port IT so even if it is a mistake, I don’t know if they would catch it or when.  

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3 hours ago, MichellePerth said:

Hello everyone,

i booked what might be a mistake fare here in Oz, direct with the cruise line.   It has been 17 days and I did buy airfare elsewhere.

 

im finding it difficult to ascertain Australian consumer law in this particular instance.  The cruise lines terms and conditions say they can change errors all the way up until supply.  But Australia law seems to say these one sided non negotiable terms are invalid. 

 

Does anyone one have any ideas on this scenario?  The ship is RT from Sydney.  Checkin has not yet started but I paid in full.   The cruise line is notorious for port IT so even if it is a mistake, I don’t know if they would catch it or when.  

 

First off are you sure the website you purchsed from is an Australian based online company? Just because they have "au" in the domain name does not guarantee it being based in Australia.

 

Here are the laws pretaining to misleading pricing:

False or misleading claims

"It makes no difference whether the business intended to mislead you or not. If the overall impression left by a business’s advertisement, promotion, quotation, statement or other representation creates a misleading impression in your mind—such as to the price, value or the quality of any goods and services—then the behaviour is likely to breach the law."

Price Displays

"Businesses may also mislead consumers about prices if they:

  • represent that an advertised price is the total price that you will have to pay when it is not."

I am assuming you are from WA based on your name so if you do get asked to pay more you might want to check this website out:

Consumer Protection WA

 

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4 minutes ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

First off are you sure the website you purchsed from is an Australian based online company? Just because they have "au" in the domain name does not guarantee it being based in Australia.

 

Here are the laws pretaining to misleading pricing:

False or misleading claims

"It makes no difference whether the business intended to mislead you or not. If the overall impression left by a business’s advertisement, promotion, quotation, statement or other representation creates a misleading impression in your mind—such as to the price, value or the quality of any goods and services—then the behaviour is likely to breach the law."

Price Displays

"Businesses may also mislead consumers about prices if they:

  • represent that an advertised price is the total price that you will have to pay when it is not."

I am assuming you are from WA based on your name so if you do get asked to pay more you might want to check this website out:

Consumer Protection WA

Thanks for your response. Yes. This company is definitely in Australia.  The website is the cruise company’s own website.  

 

This was 17 days ago and I’ve paid in full.  I’m wondering whether they can get out by claiming mistake.  Their terms say they can cancel mistakes all the way up until delivery, but I don’t know what that means.   They should have notified me by now if it was a mistake. Their IT is a disaster however.   Online check in starts in less than two weeks.

 

My understanding is that the terms that they include in the contract allowing them to cancel can be invalid if they favour their side too much.    I will check the links you have sent to see if they match my understanding.  I wouldn’t even threaten legal action, but it’s good to know what the laws say as I’d expect them to comply.

 

thanks again.  

💐

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15 minutes ago, MichellePerth said:

Thanks for your response. Yes. This company is definitely in Australia.  The website is the cruise company’s own website.  

 

This was 17 days ago and I’ve paid in full.  I’m wondering whether they can get out by claiming mistake.  Their terms say they can cancel mistakes all the way up until delivery, but I don’t know what that means.   They should have notified me by now if it was a mistake. Their IT is a disaster however.   Online check in starts in less than two weeks.

 

My understanding is that the terms that they include in the contract allowing them to cancel can be invalid if they favour their side too much.    I will check the links you have sent to see if they match my understanding.  I wouldn’t even threaten legal action, but it’s good to know what the laws say as I’d expect them to comply.

 

thanks again.  

💐

 

You don't have to take legal action but you can use the consumer affairs protection to lodge a complaint. I have had success with the NSW version for complaints I have had in the past so they are pretty effective. I don't know if there is an ombudsman for cruise lines. There is an obudsman for Travel Agencies but I don't think that covers cruise lines. As for terms and conditions they cannot contradict the laws under the consumer commision so if you are denied boarding it would be worth lodging a complaint.

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