EJ Itineraries very Disappointing

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, Dr. Cocktail said:

I am still keeping my rose coloured glasses on until further notice!

When I look at the price (using my cruise agency's info) for future E1 cruises (well into 2024, they are priced 30-40% higher than what we paid for our E1 cruise later this month.  While one might consider we booked pretty far in advance and took advantage of EJs initial pricing, those future cruises price out significantly higher than a longer (38 day) Seabourn cruise (for 2025) we recently booked.  At least for us, a 30% FCC would put future pricing about the same as it is today, so one could argue they are keeping folks whole.

 

 

 

Hank

[bitob]

9 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

When I look at the price (using my cruise agency's info) for future E1 cruises (well into 2024, they are priced 30-40% higher than what we paid for our E1 cruise later this month.  While one might consider we booked pretty far in advance and took advantage of EJs initial pricing, those future cruises price out significantly higher than a longer (38 day) Seabourn cruise (for 2025) we recently booked.  At least for us, a 30% FCC would put future pricing about the same as it is today, so one could argue they are keeping folks whole.

 

 

 

Hank

Marketing trick

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, bitob said:

Marketing trick

Many years ago we owned a retail video store.  It was a learning experience.  If you sold a box of candy for $1.99 it would sit on the shelf forever.  But mark it up to $3.99 and put out a sign that says "Sale, 50% Off," and that same product would fly off the shelf.  Then we learned that if you marked it up even more and then put up the right kind of sale sign, folks would happily pay more money for that same item.  

Cruise lines have really taken marketing tricks to heart.  Now, all the various packages (with the mass market lines) fools' folks into paying a lot more money for less!   Some Luxury lines overprice certain suites and itineraries, and perhaps toss in a perk (such as a longer lead time to make a dinner reservation) which attracts some folks.  You would think that most folks, at this level of travel, would be wise to the marketing tricks.  But apparently, many folks see what they want to see rather than what is a fact.  Hence pricing items at $4.99 instead of $5.00 or an excursion for $599 instead of $600.  A 30% voucher on something that has increased by 35% is not a particularly good deal.  

 

With EJ

[bitob]

3 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Many years ago we owned a retail video store.  It was a learning experience.  If you sold a box of candy for $1.99 it would sit on the shelf forever.  But mark it up to $3.99 and put out a sign that says "Sale, 50% Off," and that same product would fly off the shelf.  Then we learned that if you marked it up even more and then put up the right kind of sale sign, folks would happily pay more money for that same item.  

Cruise lines have really taken marketing tricks to heart.  Now, all the various packages (with the mass market lines) fools' folks into paying a lot more money for less!   Some Luxury lines overprice certain suites and itineraries, and perhaps toss in a perk (such as a longer lead time to make a dinner reservation) which attracts some folks.  You would think that most folks, at this level of travel, would be wise to the marketing tricks.  But apparently, many folks see what they want to see rather than what is a fact.  Hence pricing items at $4.99 instead of $5.00 or an excursion for $599 instead of $600.  A 30% voucher on something that has increased by 35% is not a particularly good deal.  

 

With EJ

There is a legendary story about Smirnoff vodka.  It was ordinary vodka (actually all vodka is  basically the same) but they priced it higher to make people think it was "better" and it flew off the shelves.

[CruiseCrew123]

Well after what we have paid plus the future credit there would be a balance of approx £1200 owing to us . Original 10 day cruise but replaced with 7 day cruise . They will not refund this but want to give us another worthless credit as I can’t see us ever cruising with them again as the prices and itinerary do not appeal to us . May ring Barclaycard and UK travel agency as we would have began better off only paying the deposit . 

[uktog]

1 hour ago, CruiseCrew123 said:

Well after what we have paid plus the future credit there would be a balance of approx £1200 owing to us . Original 10 day cruise but replaced with 7 day cruise . They will not refund this but want to give us another worthless credit as I can’t see us ever cruising with them again as the prices and itinerary do not appeal to us . May ring Barclaycard and UK travel agency as we would have began better off only paying the deposit . 

Let us know how it goes

Might be worth a check with ABTA directly