Hey fellow (soon to be again) Cruisers. UK residents booking a cruise through a US agent.

[mev202]

Mmmph mmph mmmph.

 

Hold on, I will take my mask off. That's better.

 

I am a UK resident, but have seen a very good deal for a cruise through a US travel agent.

 

In the UK we have ABTA/ATOL that offer protections if a packaged holiday is booked. EG: Delayed flight, would not result in losing the cruise money or bankruptcy and repatriation protection.

 

Has anyone got experience of booking with a non domestic travel agent and what safety/protections does the US travel industry have that would ensure we could get back home or not be out of pocket for delays outside our control?

 

Any advice or links to websites that could help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks all.

 

CJ

 

 

 

[LHT28]

Not much protection booking through a US agent

Better to book via the UK

JMO

[SteveH2508]

After waiting 5 months to get a large refund back from a well-known UK agent, we have promised ourselves that we will book direct with the cruise line in future. Our two refunds from the cruise lines (NCL and the now defunct CMV) took a lot less time.

[gerryuk]

Are you allowed to book through a American TA if you are British and live in the UK?

I have tried Expe..a to book a cruise, but it will not let you book, unless you have a US postal address. 

If TAs in America do let Brits book with them, are they doing so with the cruise lines blessing or is it just a shady deal?

[clarky213]

I have booked though a well known Vacation TA in USA and not had a problem.

 

I always compare the prices before booking as it is not alway cheaper going through the US TA. 

There are some cruise lines that won't let you use a US TA, but not had a problem with RCCI or Celebrity.

 

I also booked an cruise out of Sydney through an Australian TA as the price was about 30% cheaper than through the Cruise line UK site.

[ldubs]

14 hours ago, mev202 said:

Mmmph mmph mmmph.

 

Hold on, I will take my mask off. That's better.

 

 

 

😆😆😆

[mev202]

Thank you for the replies to all, I am more interested in what protections there are in place just in case.

 

 

[Reina del Mar]

We are in UK and have considered booking through US agent in the past..but have never actually done so.

 

With life as it is at the moment, I wouldn’t contemplate it.. you never know when you might need to speak to the travel agent or even Princess directly,  to chase up refunds for possible cancelled cruises......maybe you’re braver than me!

[jollyjones]

I think you would have to buy some pretty pricy travel insurance to get anywhere near the level of cover that you get from buying in UK.

And read the small print very carefully to see if you are actually covered for what you want to be covered.

Edited March 15, 2021 by jollyjones

[sanger727]

The US doesn’t have any comparable protections. If your flight is delayed it’s on you to pay for arrangements to catch up to the cruise. If the airline cancels your flight you are out of luck. If cruise lines goes out of business you are out of luck. Many US cruisers get travel insurance through a third party to cover these types of issues. 

[John Bull]

We used a US cruise agent some years ago without a problem. Very good service too. Saved us over £1,000 - but last time we checked (again a few years back) the potential savings weren't worth the grief. In more recent years we've found best savings to be late, late bookings (2 to eight weeks out) thro a UK cruise agent, or in the case of Thomson / Marella direct thro the cruise line. (but beware the downsides of a late, late booking)

 

As per a previous post, some cruise lines won't accept bookings through a US agency unless you have a North American address. If you have family or friends who live in Canada or the US, problem solved.

Or some US agents flout that cruise line requirement by using their own address - in theory if the cruise line find out you could be denied boarding, but I've not heard of that happening. So  it's very much a "shady deal", but doesn't apply to all cruise lines.

 

As to safeguards.......

 

There's no equivalent to ABTA in the States, I don't know about ATOL.

And US laws are far less consumer-friendly than UK laws.

 

If the agent goes bust (quite frequent amongst the smaller ones) or runs off with your money there's no effective remedy in the States, so you should most definitely pay using your credit card because that makes your card issuer a party to the booking. 

 

There are plenty of other considerations.....

 

You are subject to the cruise line's US terms & conditions, which seriously restrict your rights.

The most significant ones are

- if the cruise lines decides to cancel your booking, even for their own financial reasons such as an organisation then booking the entire ship, you are only entitled to a refund of your cruise fares. If for instance you've booked your own air & hotel/s to suit that's your problem, not theirs.

- there are zero requirements for the cruise line to stick to the cruise itinerary. For bookings in the UK the itinerary must be "substantially" as contracted, for US bookings there's theoretically no requirement that the ship even go beyond sight of the departure port, and no compensation.

A couple of years back NCL had booked a ship into a European shipyard for refurbishment at the end of a cruise from the US which ended in England.  They then took advantage of the shipyard being unexpectedly available a few days earlier and revamped the cruise to miss three ports and end early. They gave their passengers less than a week's notice prior to sailing, and offered compensation of only the three missed days even though they were all to be port days, and passengers had to stump up for a late change of flight or late hotel bookings in England. Only after a huge outcry did they give extra compensation which went some of the way towards covering passengers extra costs - they weren't contractually obliged to do so, but did that as a (belated and failed) PR exercise. 

So Google both the cruise line's US and UK terms & conditions and compare them.

If your computer or device won't let you dial up the US terms & conditions, you might have to nicely ask Cruise Critic's US members to help. 

 

Prices quoted by US agents don't always include mandatory costs, such as port fees. Small beer, but still an unexpected extra cost.

 

Your contract is in US dollars.

By final payment time the cost in GBP may be higher, may be lower, depending on exchange rate fluctuations.

Unless you have a credit card which doesn't charge a foreign exchange fee, the fee will work out at several per-cent. But resist any offer to charge your card in GBP - nobody but nobody gives as good an exchange rate as credit card companies.

If you choose to use a US agent - or even if you don't - get a card which doesn't charge a foreign exchange fee. Last I heard that includes Halifax Clarity, Capital One, Post Office credit card, and (for members) Nationwide Flex. 

And use that fee-free card for all purchases abroad, including settling your on-board account.  And again, resist any offer to charge your card in GBP because the merchants (including the cruise line) will rip you off on their exchange rate. Always but always make sure that your card is charged in local currency.

 

One big PLUS for using a US agent.....

If you cancel before "last payment" date, any deposit you've paid is refundable in full.

That might be particularly useful in these Covid times - for instance if entry to the cruise departure country from the UK is denied. But I suspect that there will be similar Covid cancellation safeguards with UK bookings.

 

Unless there's a significant saving, or the deposit refund is important to you, I'd suggest that you keep life simple and use a UK cruise specialist agent.

 

JB 🙂

 

 

 

[Heidi13]

JB - all great points. Another consideration with exchange rates when paying in foreign currency. If the cruise is cancelled and even if you have a no-fee credit card and the exchange rate hasn't changed, you will still lose money, due to the difference in the banks buying/selling rates.

 

If we booked in US $ with our Canadian credit cards and immediately cancelled, we would receive the full US $ refund, but would receive 8 to 10% less Canadian $ due to the spread between the banks buying and selling rates. Our cards have no fees, so the difference is purely the rate spread.

 

For us to use a US agent, with the loss of our consummer protections and currency risks the savings would need to be very significant to justify the risks.

[iancal]

1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

JB - all great points. Another consideration with exchange rates when paying in foreign currency. If the cruise is cancelled and even if you have a no-fee credit card and the exchange rate hasn't changed, you will still lose money, due to the difference in the banks buying/selling rates.

 

If we booked in US $ with our Canadian credit cards and immediately cancelled, we would receive the full US $ refund, but would receive 8 to 10% less Canadian $ due to the spread between the banks buying and selling rates. Our cards have no fees, so the difference is purely the rate spread.

 

For us to use a US agent, with the loss of our consummer protections and currency risks the savings would need to be very significant to justify the risks.

We use a no fee card specifically for travel.  No hidden fx fees.   The exchange rate used is the visa rate.  Much less than our bank card that has hidden admin charges.    Any difference we see is attributable to the actual FX rate at the time of purchase/refund.  It is our 'home' trust card.

 

 

An FX purchase on our Canadian bank card comes in at about 4-5 percent more than this card does. Double that for a purchase and immediate refund.

 

We have used the card during our travels but very often from home when have sometime found it less expensive(sometimes by as much as 30-35 percent) to purchase a travel product on an out of country site. 

 

As mentioned above, one of our largest dollar savings was realized by simply calling the RCI call center in Sidney, Australia and booking a cruise inside the final payment window.  Adjusted for currency we saved 30 plus percent over our on line TA's best price.  We have done the same for air, hotel, resort, etc, in various countries.  

[LHT28]

2 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

If we booked in US $ with our Canadian credit cards and immediately cancelled, we would receive the full US $ refund, but would receive 8 to 10% less Canadian $ due to the spread between the banks buying and selling rates. Our cards have no fees, so the difference is purely the rate spread.

 

For us to use a US agent, with the loss of our consummer protections and currency risks the savings would need to be very significant to justify the risks.

We use  a  Canadian USD  Visa card  so we get back USD  same as we paid with  no loss there

Now if we use our Canadian regular Visa  we win/lose on the exchange rate

 we usually stockpile some USD  when rates are good

 

Booking with a US agent does carry some risks in protection compared to Ontario  travel protection  (TICO)

[iancal]

Canadian bank fees are scandalous.

 

If you look at your bank issued visa card agreement you will notice buried deep inside those T's and C's that the bank will add 2.5-3 percent (varies with the bank) to foreign charges.   All you see on your statement is the charge, the exchange rate, and the final CAD price. 

 

Our experience in the past is that not only is that fx rate high, it also includes that hidden 2.5-3 percent service charge.   You get it both ways....on the buy and on any refund.   There few cards that do not charge this fee and even fewer that do not appear to bump up the fx rate at the same time.  This is what we have used for the past 10 plus years.

 

We did use a US dollar card prior to retirement when we were getting USD cheques from time to time.   Other than buying cruises, most of our travel buys are outside North America.   Usually in Europe or SE Asia. 

[mev202]

Hey

 

To all who replied, Thank you so much.

 

I have learnt a bit, which is what I wanted.

 

Think the saving of £500 per person is not worth the stress and risk of losing the entire cruise if the flight is delayed.

 

The exchange rate back and forth is also a good point, we have a no free CC, but it is subject to market fluctuations, so could still lose out if the cruise is cancelled.

 

 

Thank you all, and remember we board as passengers and leave as cargo.