New Law Signed By Alaska's Governor Palin

[Chenega]

Governor Palin just signed a new law requiring cruise ships to disclose other sources of shore excursions other than those just offered through the ship's activity desk. Not quite sure when this goes into effect but I do know the independent tour operators not contracted to the cruiselines have a better chance of getting business.

[GottaLuvCruising]

If accurate, I'd be interested in hearing more about this. I can't imagine how the state of Alaska can legislate which products a business offers to its clients?

[arrow3]

Yea, this sounds ridiculous to me. When will these useless laws stop? Especially those affecting private businesses.

[Chenega]

More information is on the channel 2 website at http://www.ktuu.com

[Yukon]

Pretty funny:

 

"Rather than disclosing specific percentages of commissions, the bill signed into law by Palin today, sets thresholds of 10 percent for stores and 20 percent for tours that must be disclosed if they are exceeded."

 

As you'll (perhaps) discover, all tour commissions are higher than that, sometimes more than double that.

[Budget Queen]

Pretty funny:

 

"Rather than disclosing specific percentages of commissions, the bill signed into law by Palin today, sets thresholds of 10 percent for stores and 20 percent for tours that must be disclosed if they are exceeded."

 

As you'll (perhaps) discover, all tour commissions are higher than that, sometimes more than double that.

 

 

I have a Hoonah pal, who told me, when he inquired a few years ago of being an Icy Strait vender, the commission was 60%!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Host Kat]

From Seatrade Insider news: http://www.cruise-community.com/ShowStory.asp?ID=11994

Kat

[Yukon]

Since that site requires you to register, the important part of the article is:

 

 

Yukon,

True, the site does require registration. If I remember correctly, all that is required is a user name, password and e-mail address. They periodically send you an e-mail with the headlines, that's it. I am not aware of any junk mail due to my registration.

 

However, due to the Copyright Infringements section of our Community Guidelines, I sincerely regret I must remove your text copy/paste in this post.

Thank you so very much for trying to help!

Host Kat

[mbisson]

I find it interesting that they would be circumventing (actually changing) part of the initiative after it was approved by the citizens.

 

I'm not saying it's a bad change, only that it's interesting. Sounds like they're saying, the goal of the initiative isn't what the initiative said-if that's the case, how the heck would the people know what they were voting on?

[firefly333]

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070605/ak_cruise_ship_bill.html?.v=1

 

Yahoo is a free site am I allowed to quote them?

 

AP

Alaska Governor Signs Cruise Ship Bill

Tuesday June 5, 10:36 am ET

Alaska Governor Signs Cruise Ship Disclosure Bill Into Law

 

 

 

firefly333,

 

No, you cannot copy/paste text from the article, only the link. Please note your copied information is from an Associated Press article and cannot be copied. That is why I have to remove the text information in this post.

 

Per Community Guidelines:

 

Copyright Infringements

The posting of large blocks of text obtained from the Internet, online newspapers, web sites, magazines, etc., defeats the purpose of our Cruise Boards. All of this information is available to everyone online, and doesn't add to the idea of sharing firsthand experiences and cruise advice. Also, the majority of information out there is protected by an author's individual copyright. Therefore, we will remove such information from the message boards. You may LINK via url to the information.

However, Cruise Line press releases are welcome on the boards, if you clearly indicate the source.

I hope this information will be satisfactory.

 

Host Kat

[sea_u_onboard]

I love the last paragraph of the Yahoo article.

 

I can see the cruiselines now passing out that information about booking excursions on your own. Their speal (sp) has always been - don't take a chance booking on your own - you don't know what you're getting into and we could leave you behind :eek:

[DEBCAT65]

I guess with this new law, I won't be seeing my $50 per person head tax refunded.....:mad:

[vozzie]

Personally, I don't have a problem with Cruise Lines charging a commission for shore excursions ... just as I don't have a problem with Travel Agents charging a commission for work done or Hotels charging a commision on tours sold through their desks etc etc

 

The Cruise Lines have to cover the cost of:

• printing shore excursion brochures
  
• maintaining web site excursion booking databases
  
• guaranteeing the re-location of late passengers
  
• coordinating the shore excursion departures and arrivals

Why don't TAs, Hotels, Airlines, Box Office sites etc have to reveal their commissions? If it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander!

[Yukon]

Why don't TAs, Hotels, Airlines, Box Office sites etc have to reveal their commissions? If it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander!

 

TAs etc don't charge 40% commission.

[cjnky]

Personally, I don't have a problem with Cruise Lines charging a commission for shore excursions ... just as I don't have a problem with Travel Agents charging a commission for work done or Hotels charging a commision on tours sold through their desks etc etc

 

I would have no problem with 10-20% - but when they're getting into the 40-60% range - THAT is RIDICULOUS!!

[Yukon]

I would have no problem with 10-20% - but when they're getting into the 40-60% range - THAT is RIDICULOUS!!

 

Excursion operators get gouged everywhere, which is why I refuse to book with anybody except the operators themselves. In Skagway, even M&M Tours, who won the city contract to book Skagway excursions a few years ago, increased their commission from 25% to 30% this year. That's just ridiculous.

 

Murray