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Price reduced after final pay


Eager2Travel
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A cruise we are booked on for October was just reduced $1,000 after we did our final pay. This is not a pleasant situation. I know they are not about to return money. What do they do in a situation like this? We usually cruise Regent. They compensate in some manner. Often there is a choice of a better cabin or a credit toward your next cruise.

 

This may prompt a fast return to Regent. We cruised Seabourn only once before and found it a pleasant experience. However this significant price reduction after final pay is most distasteful .

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A cruise we are booked on for October was just reduced $1,000 after we did our final pay. This is not a pleasant situation. I know they are not about to return money. What do they do in a situation like this? We usually cruise Regent. They compensate in some manner. Often there is a choice of a better cabin or a credit toward your next cruise.

 

This may prompt a fast return to Regent. We cruised Seabourn only once before and found it a pleasant experience. However this significant price reduction after final pay is most distasteful .

 

 

 

Suggestion for you. Rather than moaning on a public forum why not try talking to the TA you booked with or if you booked with the SB Reps. What do you expect people here to do for you?

 

 

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Perhaps you should look at it from the company point of view. a reduction before final payment, usually an offer is made but if they have cabins left after final payment they need to sell those cabins and mite have to reduce the price to achieve this but it would not be economic to reduce the the cabin price of the whole ships to sell the last few.

 

You would not go back to a shop if 3 months later the had a sale and reduced the price of something you had purchased.

 

Just another view:D

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We had that situation on our last cruise. I asked our TA to reach out to Seabourn to see what could be done. We got 'upgraded' to a V6 and got the difference in on-board credit. In effect, Seabourn made us whole.

 

So that would be my suggested approach.

 

Bear in mind that Seabourn don't have to do anything. Just as with air fares, you book at a price you are comfortable and knowing that prices can change. I appreciated the fact that Seabourn did something for us and was very happy with their offer.

 

I don't understand why it might prompt a fast return to Regent. If prices had gone up and not down, would you have offered to pay the difference?

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It is galling when a price comes down by so much - has happened to many of us, and not only on Seabourn.

 

I agree with Roxburgh; ask your Agent to get in touch with Seabourn, tell them of your 'disappointment' (rather than anger) and it is more than likely that you will get a suite upgrade and some onboard credit.

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My TA is excellent and has a very good relationship with Seabourn. In a similar situation we received generous OBC and an upgrade. Hopefully your TA will fight your corner for you.

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Previous replies about the realism of travel purchases make excellent points.

 

If you are unhappy about taking the risk that this might happen, how about always leaving future bookings until the last minute?

If that does not appeal, then ask yourself why. The answer you would surely have to accept is that the peace of mind/security/maximised options of making an early booking normally comes at a cost. Surely the concept of "late deals" in the travel industry cannot be a surprise to you?

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Wow, not used to such a sharp response. In the past Cruise Critic people have been helpful.

 

 

TA's office is closed for the weekend.

 

Usually you do get helpful replies on CC to questions about various situations that occur with cruising.

 

We cruise with Regent, Seabourn and Cunard along with several mass market lines...HAL, Princess, Celebrity, Carnival and RCL. There have been price drops on us several times over the past 40 years on all the lines. All but Carnival and RCL have made us whole with OBC and/or nicer cabin. We only use the last to lines because they serve a port near our home and we can take the grandkids on short cruises which they love and are fun for us and no flights involved.

 

 

It is galling when a price comes down by so much - has happened to many of us, and not only on Seabourn.

 

I agree with Roxburgh; ask your Agent to get in touch with Seabourn, tell them of your 'disappointment' (rather than anger) and it is more than likely that you will get a suite upgrade and some onboard credit.

 

Totally agree with lincslady and Roxburgh. We made final payment this June for a Sept Seabourn cruise and there was a price drop the next week. Our TA caught it and called Seabourn. We were made whole with a huge OBC. That was fine with us since we booked the cruise because of the ship's unusual excursions that are costly.

 

Just for the record the TA for this Seabourn cruise has just started a travel business this year. She is a good friend so we booked this last minute cruise with her just to support her in her new business.

 

We watch the price up to final payment while we still have choices. Once we pay in full for a cruise, we don't pay any attention to the price and probably have missed some price drops over the years, but also many price increases. We have had several good TAs and they have caught some big price drops. In return we were made whole with ...on Princess, upgraded to a high end full suite (was hard to go back to the standard cabin after that)...on HAL,received OBC....on Regent, OBC and a suite upgrade and on Cunard, upgraded to the Queen's Grill for a 3 week cruise (absolute heaven).

 

Ask your TA to see if Seaboun will do anything.

Edited by cwn
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Be thankful you don't have currency fluctuations to also take into account. I'm in Canada and cruise lines quote us prices in Cdn$ and in US$, take your pick, but you're stuck with it. We just last month made final payment on a 37 day cruise we chose to pay in US$. Since payment, the Cdn$ has shot up and we could make the same payment today for about $3000 less.

 

You pay for your choice, book early, book late, pay in US$, pay in Cdn$ etc. whatever the choices are -- and you live with it. You can't keep expecting the world to let you go back and make decisions over again.

 

My two cents worth.

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Be thankful you don't have currency fluctuations to also take into account. I'm in Canada and cruise lines quote us prices in Cdn$ and in US$, take your pick, but you're stuck with it. We just last month made final payment on a 37 day cruise we chose to pay in US$. Since payment, the Cdn$ has shot up and we could make the same payment today for about $3000 less.

 

You pay for your choice, book early, book late, pay in US$, pay in Cdn$ etc. whatever the choices are -- and you live with it. You can't keep expecting the world to let you go back and make decisions over again.

 

My two cents worth.

 

 

 

We are also Canadian but have found that Seabourn offered a better exchange rate to pay in CAD. So we always pay in CAD. As you mentioned, the CAD has improved recently and Seabourn has not adjusted its exchange rates so it may now be less expensive to pay in USD. Normally I don't worry about fluctuations of a few hundred dollars, but $3000 is substantial. Sorry to hear the timing did not work out in your favor this time. Enjoy your cruise nonetheless.

 

 

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Sunprince: Yes, their exchange rate was good (at the time way back last year when we booked). and, as I said, it's gamble we took as to what currency to use.

 

As it turned out, when we paid our final, it was just about a wash with the exchange rate of the original offer when we booked, so it didn't really cost us anything on THAT decision.

 

It's just the last month or so of watching the Cdn$ climb has been tough, since I was hoping it would do that climb BEFORE we paid, and not AFTER. Especially hard since this cruise (at 37 days) is the longest and most costly we've ever booked. Sigh! . . . You win some, you lose some. Still, all done now and only 60 days to go.

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Well gddeluca, as luck you have it I had paid a large deposit for a villa rental for us in Nevis just before the dollar rose. So we never seem to benefit from timing! I guess we should have stock piled a large sum of USD a few years ago when the CAD was above par with the USD. My crystal ball has not been working lately. [emoji3]

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

It pays to have a decent TA when booking. We just found out that our cruise next March has been reduced. Our TA wrote to Seabourn and they have given us a very healthy on board credit which Mrs Fudge will be very pleased to spend.:cool:

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It pays to have a decent TA when booking. We just found out that our cruise next March has been reduced. Our TA wrote to Seabourn and they have given us a very healthy on board credit which Mrs Fudge will be very pleased to spend.:cool:

 

If your cruise is for March, 2018 why didn't you get the new reduced price instead of the onboard credit? If you are booking in the US all you have to do is cancel and rebook or just ask it to be repriced at the lower rate. You are not in penalty. I'd rather have a lower price then the original price and onboard credit I never use. I'm thinking you are not in the U.S?

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Sadly, I believe it is the American system of allowing people to cancel without penalty which causes the problem in the first place. If enough people book then cancel just before final payment a glut of cabins/suites suddenly come on the market which may not sell at this point as most people have already booked the cruise they want. To get rid of them, the cruise lines have to reduce the price, upsetting people who bought early who then want the lower price or, an upgrade.

 

For those of us in countries where this cancelling without penalty is not possible, it means that the cruises we would like to do get booked up by people who have booked knowing they can cancel without penalty. We can either wait and see if they come back on sale after final payment (at which time flights have usually tripled in cost :() or we book an alternative leaving the brave to benefit from the lower fares ;).

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Those of you in countries where there is a penalty for cancelling, specifically the UK, many times enjoy large rebates from your TAs who receive much higher commissions the US TAs. So you can't have it both ways, the ability to cancel without penalty while enjoying a large rebate.

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Those of you in countries where there is a penalty for cancelling, specifically the UK, many times enjoy large rebates from your TAs who receive much higher commissions the US TAs. So you can't have it both ways, the ability to cancel without penalty while enjoying a large rebate.

 

The issue is that people are complaining that prices go down close to sailing and I think (and stand to be corrected) that it is the ability to cancel without penalty that causes the problem. Do away with that and give everyone the discounts, there wouldn't be the glut of empty suites/cabins and people would only book cruises they want to go on and hence prices would be more stable (although of course they would drop on cruises which aren't selling well but that is the same for any product).

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Out of interest, at how many weeks out are u.s. balances due?

 

 

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Final payment is anywhere from 90 to 120 days before sailing. Our TA got us a large OBC for our up coming Alaska sailing because of a large price drop after final payment. But the cruise was very empty for at least month or more prior to the final payment. Can't say anything about the price before that time because we only booked about a month before the final payment was due,

 

So the idea that price drops are due to people canceling right before final payment in the US is not necessarily the case.

 

In fact the price on our up coming Regent cruise went up $1000pp after final payment.

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