No More Discounts On Cruises!!!!!!!

[jezzdogg]

Just got an e-mail from one of the on-line travel companies, as of 8/16/04

Royal Caribbean and Celebrity will no longer discount there cruises thru TA.

This sound like its direct booking at suggested retail price. OUCH There is a thread started about this on the Celebrity Board

[starq1]

WOW! Looks like alot of people will be cruising elsewhere.....I am glad I booked early for my January cruise!

[BaumD]

Not exactly correct. Large on-line TA's typically rebate some of their commission back to the cruiser and advertise their prices as such. They will no longer be able to advertise anything but RCCL's suggested price.

[bUU]

Indeed. Many folks have misread or misunderstood this announcement, first from Carnival / Princess, and now from RCI / Celebrity. They're simply prohibiting underpricing, advertising cut-rate prices offered by booking agents. The policy seems to be aimed at protecting full-service travel agents from apples-to-oranges comparisons.

[donnajo]

I sure am glad my Serenade cruise for November was heavily discounted.

We were quoted $150pp less on line than we were quoted onboard the Grandeur, so after we booked onboard and received our $100pp shipboard credit, we transferred the booking to the online agency and got the cheaper price.

 

We just became Platinum members on RCCL, but if the big discounts aren't available, we may have to sail on other lines.

It's too bad as we enjoy RCCL and Celebrity very much!

 

Donna

[berd0625]

I am getting 2 very mixed messages on this announcement.:confused:

 

 

The online agency I used to book my last cruise (that I linked to from here) is only offering "value added gifts" back to customers. Their site says

 

Effective Monday August 16th, NO AGENCY will be able to sell at a price point other than those priced directly by Royal Caribbean & Celebrity cruises. Agencies will no longer be able to offer special deals through their booking engines, telephone cruise specialists, or opt-in private email lists.

 

The online agency that has my next cruise states

 

Recently several major cruise lines have added restrictions regarding how agencies can list prices on their web sites. We no longer can post a "discount" price. Value added Dollars offers xxx.com clients an opportunity to enjoy the same benefits offered prior to this cruise line policy change. xxx.com Value added Dollars are based on United States dollars. $1.00 US = $1.00 xxx.com. Examples below based on a cruise that offers $300..00 per cabin Value added Dollars.

Your choice at time of booking the cruise with xxx.com

1. $300.00 Value added Dollars = $300.00 off your invoiced price

   
   

I've read on other posts that the issue is not the price being offfered but simply what can be advertised as the base price.

Can anyone here clarify?

[bUU]

we may have to sail on other lines.

The other big mainstream cruise line company actually announced institution of this policy before RCI. It will almost surely be industry-wide practice in no time. Since it doesn't affect actual discounting, there are no real practical barriers to it.

[yarlenna]

OK, I guess a lot of people won't be cruising this year. Let's just see what that does to supply and demand.

[Ocean Boy]

The problem with this is that you acually have to call the agencies now to get the best pricing instead of being able to comparison shop by looking at web sites on the net. This is more time comsuming for everyone.

 

I don't really understand why the cruise lines are telling the TAs how to run their businesses. They certainly don't let anyone else tell them how to run the cruise lines.

[joannie]

Confirmed with agency. NO DISCOUNTS at all from Royal Caribbean or Celebrity. All travel agents must sell Royal's or Celebrity Prices with NO deviation from their prices or they will be cut off from any commissions. Also no value adds, shipboard credits, etc to be given to us.

 

They are even going to make mystery calls to agencys to ensure no discounting on the phone. Sure a friendly company. Its not their money that agents are discounting back to clients.

 

Joannie

[Ocean Boy]

Then what is the point in using a TA at all? We might as well book directly through the cruise line that way when there is a problem we can call the cruise line directly. I don't see this as an effort to protect the full service TA. This is an effort to get TAs out of the picture completely.

[TBR]

August 6, 2004 - Royal Caribbean International® and Celebrity Cruises® Announce Policy Change

 

"Royal Caribbean has always believed that our agency partners work hard for their commissions and should keep them", said Jack Williams, President and COO of Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises. As part of our 2005 planning process, we are reviewing everything from compensation to group policies to our new dedicated sales coverage. Rebating is damaging to our distribution system and by taking these policy actions, we believe significant improvements for our travel agency partners and our guests will be achieved".

 

Effective August 16th, 2004, any agency that advertises either Royal Caribbean or Celebrity cruises or cruisetours at any price point other than a published pricing program or contracted promotional fare will be subject to a reduction in the co-op support provided by the cruise lines and other effects such as a reduction in the base commission paid on all future cruises booked by that agency. Advertisements shall include, but not be limited to, TV, radio, newspaper, catalogs, direct mail, and all on-line vehicles such as search engines, websites, e-mail, pop ups, and banners. Our existing marketing policies with respect to group bookings will remain, for the time being, unchanged.

[bUU]

The main reason seems to be to protect the value of the service. Otherwise, the market could experience the type of price wars we've seen with online booksellers, electronics retailers, etc.

[bUU]

Confirmed with agency.

It appears that either your agency is confused or deliberately commiting deception.

[cjb-nc]

Here's the version of this announcement sent out to a cruise newsletter that I receive. I have attempted to remove the TA branding from the quote.

 

(BRAND) PRESS RELEASE:

 

On Friday August 6th, Royal Caribbean International announced it would no longer allow Agencies to discount cruise pricing effective August 16th, 2004. (Brand) will comply with Royal Caribbean International's new "No Rebate" policy affecting it's Royal Caribbean Cruises & Celebrity Cruises brands. However, (Brand) is committed to maintain our position as an industry leader and accordingly will continue our (Brand) by offerring "value added" items to our bookings.

 

Effective Monday August 16th, NO AGENCY will be able to sell at a price point other than those priced directly by Royal Caribbean & Celebrity cruises. Agencies will no longer be able to offer special deals through their booking engines, telephone cruise specialists, or opt-in private email lists. "Royal Caribbean International has clearly stated to us

that rebating on any level will be a violation of their new policy" stated (Some Guy), Executive Director. "Agencies will need to focus on service, expertise, efficiency, and value added items, and (Brand) will strive to be an industry leader", (Guy) added

[Chris4205]

I am not sure if this eliminates price shopping or not. Can online TA's still offer perks like $100.00 cash back or an onboard ship credit, etc?

[Erie Dave]

The way I read the RCI statement is that it applies to the advertising of cruise prices. This practice is used a lot in retail. Many manufacturers have "minimum advertised prices" with their retailers. Unless there is more to the statement than I have seen, it does not affect the TA's ability to sell the cruise for a discounted price, it simply says they cannot advertise it for less. I think it is an effort to reduce the # of online agencies that don't provide any support, simply a discounted price. Some of these online agencies do a good job, some are pretty poor....getting rid of the bad ones is a good thing.

[nomore]

Erie Dave

 

Here's the actual email from Royal and Celebrity.

 

And no, there will be NO DISCOUNTING allowed even if you call your local agency. Its called controlling the market pricing.

 

We've spoken to our agent. They are not allowed to discount.

 

Here's their press release:

 

August 6, 2004 - Royal Caribbean International® and Celebrity Cruises® Announce Policy Change

 

"Royal Caribbean has always believed that our agency partners work hard for their commissions and should keep them", said Jack Williams, President and COO of Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises. As part of our 2005 planning process, we are reviewing everything from compensation to group policies to our new dedicated sales coverage. Rebating is damaging to our distribution system and by taking these policy actions, we believe significant improvements for our travel agency partners and our guests will be achieved".

 

Effective August 16th, 2004, any agency that advertises either Royal Caribbean or Celebrity cruises or cruisetours at any price point other than a published pricing program or contracted promotional fare will be subject to a reduction in the co-op support provided by the cruise lines and other effects such as a reduction in the base commission paid on all future cruises booked by that agency. Advertisements shall include, but not be limited to, TV, radio, newspaper, catalogs, direct mail, and all on-line vehicles such as search engines, websites, e-mail, pop ups, and banners. Our existing marketing policies with respect to group bookings will remain, for the time being, unchanged.

[Erie Dave]

Again, the press release relates to the advertising of cruises, not the selling price. It says no where in that release that an agency has to sell the cruise for list price, simply that they cannot advertise it for less. I think the news is new and many agencies do not understand it, unless there is more to the release than has been published. I talked to my agent, and cruises can still be discounted....the release simply relates to ADVERTISING.

[FinelyCruising]

And this is my guess why this larua made the annoucement a short while ago that no agency names were allowed to be mentioned here anymore. My guess at the time was there was something more than what was being said, and now it seems to me Laura's edict was the precursor to this release of by the cruise lines.

[laurieny]

I had recently booked on board the Serenade for my next 2 cruises. Based on the recent posts about the discount changes, I decided I had better go ahead and transfer to my online provider, even though I had not sent in the shipboard credit yet. I got certificates in the mail for this as they were not able to book my cruise onboard because the satellite system was down and it was the last full day of the cruise. I hope that my shipboard credits will still be honored. The interesting thing was when I called RCCL to release my bookings to my agent, the person had to transfer me to their supervisor in order to do the transfer. The supervisor then asked me if I was sure I really wanted to transfer my booking, as now I will have to work through the TA (implying I couldn't contact them-though he didn't exactly say this). When I transferred my previous two cruises I was not passed off to a supervisor nor was I asked "Are you sure you want to do this?" Well, I saved nearly $500 on EACH of 2 cruises by booking with this agency, who had the booking quoted and back to me in LESS THAN 5 MINUTES!

Yes, I am sure.

 

Wonder if I will be able to afford the next cruise after this one!

Laurie

[Tromler]

ok Folks....I just called my online TA, I was told they WILL still be discounting RCI cruises and that the RCI press release is only on the advertised prices.

 

I guess we will all have to wait and see what happens in the next coming weeks.

[Ocean Boy]

It seems that we have two different versions of the policy quoted above.

 

cjb_nc states that no company shall SELL at a price pont below that stated by RCI.

 

nomore states that no agency shall ADVERTISE below the RCI price point.

 

So until we know which version is the correct one there is no way to know what the future holds. What I do know is that RCI may be giving me more of a reason to try Princess for my next cruise.

[mafig]

Ocean Boy

 

Can't do that either.:mad: As part of Carnival, they have the same policy (or will, starting Jan. 2005). Isn't it interesting that these two companies, fierce competitors in every way, are in agreement (collusion) on this?

[Maria65]

This policy does not apply to group bookings? My father was recently able to make a relatively late booking on what was a sold out cruise by going with an online agency which held a group booking. This price was considerably less than what RCI would have charged at this late date, but because this group booking was made last year, the agency passes on that savings. Would an agency still be able to advertise such a pricing, because it's based on a group booking? When I spoke with someone to confirm his booking at RCI and make sure it was on the up and up, I was told this is a common practice for travel agents to sell from their pool of group bookings.