[ 2005 ] Booking Cruises--Website Recommendations

[pointsjunkie]

if you have the quote in writing and give it to the alaska cruise site they should match it and give you miles as long as it the for the same cruise , date ,and catagory.

 

[Art]

icydog

Once you making a booking thru any agency, it "owns" the booking. Giving it up to another agency means losing a commission on the order of 10 to 18% of the cruise cost.

Hence, it is up to the original agency to release the booking rather than the new agency to accept it. However, if they refuse and you are before final payment date, you can cancel it, possibly paying a cancellation fee to the original agent. Then you can rebook at the new agency with the lower price.

The potential problem with the cancel and rebook approach is that you will have to release any prize stateroom that you may have reserved. That stateroom may be one that the original agency had "blocked" or someone else may just come and grab it while you are in the process of booking with your new agency.

Another potential problem is that the cruise lines do use capacity controls and yield management on prices so that better price you saw could disappear while you are switching and before you could lock it in.

The best bet for getting new price is to ask your current agency to price match.

Art

 

[pointsjunkie]

How does that work? For example, I have my miles with Alaska, but their cruise prices are more expensive than what I found through www.cruisecompete.com

I had 6 agents bid on my cruise, and I took the one that was second to lowest in pricing (he had a good customer review rating). Anyhow, his pricing is $600 lower ($300/person) than Alaska Airlines' price. Are you saying that if I were to call Alaska Airlines, and show them the pricing he is giving me on the cruise, that they would match it and I would get my miles out of it? I booked my last cruise (before this one) on Alaska Airlines, but would rather save the $ than get the miles. If I can get both, I would do it, but logistically, how does that work?

tj

went on the alaska airlines website and they say they will beat the lowest price and return 110%. go on the site and read it. sorry if this is confusing i am tired.:zzz:

 

[TravlGrl]

I just read the Alaska Airlines guarantee and it says they will refund the difference if a person books with them and finds a lower price within 48 hours. I don't see anything on their site that says they do price matching or that they will honor another website's cruise price unless I have already paid Alaska for a cruise.

Nevertheless, I sent them all of my info to see what they say. I'll report back as soon as I hear!

tj

 

[LynnW]

Anyone ever use smartcruisers.com? Our daughter booked with them yesterday after checking several sights and finding they had the best price.

Lynn

 

[craftemp]

Cruises

Has anyone booked a cruise for cash (not using weeks) through RCI?
When I was considering a cruise last year, I first got a price from online.. then called RCI to see what their price would be.
when I told RCI that their price was higher than the quote that I already had, they put me on hold, verified my information and came back with a cheaper price.
They said they will always beat other prices
Unfortunately, the cruise didn't happen but I'll definately check out this option the next time we are ready to book
Judy

 

[Kagehitokiri]

Virtuoso offers some benefits comparable to those offered by American Express to Platinum/Centurion cardholders, if you book through a member travel agent (at no cost)

 

[JRStewart]

PERX

PERX has very good prices, but you have to be or have a family member employed by an airline.

 

[fnewman]

From all the discussion here, it is apparent that there are quite a large number of (mostly online) agencies that one could use to book a cruise. It is also interesting to see that only a few generated negative comments. For me, I always check cruisecompete.com and use the quotes I find there as the basis of comparison to other possibilities. Most of the time one of their agencies seem to be the best choice. Someone asked earlier about cruises-n-more (which is a cruisecompete agency). In my experience they have had superior deals - in fact my next two cruises have been booked through them. I haven't made the final payment for either yet, but all of my information appears to be in order on the Princess web site, so I see no problems at this point. I generally speak to "Laura" but I am sure their other agents are helpful as well. I have also had good luck with buycruises.com (Bob x 2304).

In the past I have tried to be loyal to my local travel agents, but eventually found them to generally be too busy, unresponsive, unattentive to my specific requests, and unable to compete price-wise with those processing larger volumes. It is unfortunate - I would prefer to use people with who I can sit and discuss my needs. Maybe it will change one day.

Once the dust settles on this thread, I do hope 'someone' will summarize the possibilites and post that as a sticky. Yes, I know it is already a sticky, but would probably be more useful in summary form.

 

[Elli]

From all the discussion here, it is apparent that there are quite a large number of (mostly online) agencies that one could use to book a cruise. It is also interesting to see that only a few generated negative comments. For me, I always check cruisecompete.com and use the quotes I find there as the basis of comparison to other possibilities. Most of the time one of their agencies seem to be the best choice. Someone asked earlier about cruises-n-more (which is a cruisecompete agency). In my experience they have had superior deals - in fact my next two cruises have been booked through them. I haven't made the final payment for either yet, but all of my information appears to be in order on the Princess web site, so I see no problems at this point. I generally speak to "Laura" but I am sure their other agents are helpful as well. I have also had good luck with buycruises.com (Bob x 2304).

In the past I have tried to be loyal to my local travel agents, but eventually found them to generally be too busy, unresponsive, unattentive to my specific requests, and unable to compete price-wise with those processing larger volumes. It is unfortunate - I would prefer to use people with who I can sit and discuss my needs. Maybe it will change one day.

Once the dust settles on this thread, I do hope 'someone' will summarize the possibilites and post that as a sticky. Yes, I know it is already a sticky, but would probably be more useful in summary form.

Frank, you mention that you checked the Princess website but booked through cruisecompete.com. I assume you got a better deal that way, than booking with Princess directly? Thanks.
Elli

 

[lprstn]

I second that!!!

www.cruisecritic.com is a great site to visit to get advice and opinions from other cruisers. It's a very active message board with lots of information.

I am a lover of this site also...

 

[Malibu Sky]

Any recommendations for a last-minute cruise website?

 

[vbentley]

Last Minute Cruise

We have worked with Cruises Inc. and have always gotten the best price.

I always get the best price with a phone call rather than online. Their website is www.cruisesinc.com check it out, then give them a call.

 

[traceyjs]

What about ICE Gallery

Hi all, fantastic information you're sharing - thanks. Just a question, we live in Australia and will book from here. I was thinking of using Ice Gallery and exchanging a week - are all these websites cheaper than doing that? I'm really surprised that timeshare owners would choose to pay for a cruise and not exchange. I'd really appreciate some advice.

 

[Joy1rn]

Crucon for booking cruises!

I always book with Crucon. I always get the best price and they have offered refunds or upgrades if the price goes down before I cruise. They have friendly staff and good service. They are a very trustworthy site and company. I just booked The Adventure of the Seas for next January and can't wait!!! I love my timeshare vacations but every now and then I rent out my unit and take a cruise.

 

[davhu1]

Our last cruise in January we booked thru cruise.com
They were $50 per person lower than the lowest from others (this was show as additional bonus for the epecific cruise on their site and were not avaialble for all ships).
We were upgraded from Deck 5 to Deck 8.
Complementary bottle of wine and cholocate coated strawberries.
$20 on board credit per person.

 

[Aretha]

Western Caribbean Cruise

We used cruisetender.com to book our Western Caribbean Cruise.

For our Shore Excursions we used private operators. They are cheap and offer great services. In Mexico we just hired a taxi to drive us around. In Belize we used the services of www.actionboysbelize.com . Their services are great and does not cost much compared to the prices on the cruise ship.

 

[cgingrich]

cruise deals

check out www.ytbtravel.com/lmgetaways

has great specials on all cruises

 

[traceyjs]

Hi all. An update. I ended up booking our cruise from next year with Cruise Vacation Center. I got them through cruise compete. Best price by far and I rang them from Australia and they were so helpful.

Can't wait for the big day!

 

[Linda74]

We did not use them, but also got a great deal through cruise compete.com

 

[cissy]

Has anyone tried II's travel service for cruise pricing? Not trading y our week, but just using them as a travel agency. I was wondering how they compare to the others.

Much to my surprise I just booked a cruise on II. I got the best prices of all of the multiple websites I use, and no added fee.

 

[eakhat]

We've had good rates with Costco.

 

[SpikeMauler]

www.smartcruiser.com. Best prices I've seen so far.

 

[BarCol]

Argh I was looking for this thread earlier, but that's okay found another one where TUGGER CMK (?) recommended Cruises 'N More so I called them, along with Vacations to Go and RCI and here's what I found:

Norwegian Cruise Lines October 29, 2011 cruise embark and disembark in Honolulu around the Islands, 7 days, Cabin category BD - Balcony deck 9 for 2 people
Vacations to Go $2801 (or so) all in $500 deposity balance by August 2011
RCI $2734 (or so) all in on RCi perks and the cabin class was not eligible for an exchange (reagdless the exchnge only owul have taken $300 off the better cabin BB) I was always curious about what value they assigned - yuck!
Cruises 'N More $2515 all in $269 deposit, balance by August 2011

So now we have a weeks cruise after our week in Waikiki - yup it was a good morning....

 

[Transit]

Argh I was looking for this thread earlier, but that's okay found another one where TUGGER CMK (?) recommended Cruises 'N More so I called them, along with Vacations to Go and RCI and here's what I found:

Norwegian Cruise Lines October 29, 2011 cruise embark and disembark in Honolulu around the Islands, 7 days, Cabin category BD - Balcony deck 9 for 2 people
Vacations to Go $2801 (or so) all in $500 deposity balance by August 2011
RCI $2734 (or so) all in on RCi perks and the cabin class was not eligible for an exchange (reagdless the exchnge only owul have taken $300 off the better cabin BB) I was always curious about what value they assigned - yuck!
Cruises 'N More $2515 all in $269 deposit, balance by August 2011

So now we have a weeks cruise after our week in Waikiki - yup it was a good morning....

Have you tried booking directly through the NCL sight.I was looking at a March cruise and they had the best price I could find. Some sights had the price per person lower but when everything was tallied (port fees, taxes , processing fees)NCL ended up having the best price.(With no Airfare).