Price Differential on different Cunard sites

I have a classic example today of different prices with fares just released in the USA compared with Australia. Maybe UK prices are different again.

Using Cunard's AUS website, 23 night trip around Australia, Sydney-Sydney, inside cabin, $9900 solo passenger.

Using Cunard's USA website, exactly the same trip, same cabin rating, USD $8619 - probably around $8300 AUD.

$1600 difference!

Choice has this week formally exposed price differentials with Adobe/Windows/Apple products. Cruise prices must be next.

Different markets, different prices. Price segmentation in the flesh.

Where do we draw the line with this type of comparison?

No matter what we highlight there will be different prices in different countries be it the price of food, clothing, cars, fuel whatever.

If we shop around then we MUST do this with our eyes open and not blame anyone else if things go wrong..

If we buy a cruise ticket in Belgium then do not expect the seller to know what taxes we might have to pay if we live in Botswana. :o;)

Your comparisons aren't relevant. If I was living in Botswana and consuming that food in Botswana then I would expect to pay more or less, according to how much that item cost the provider to provide it in Botswana.

It costs Cunard the same to provide this cruise to all people, regardless of where they live.

Where do we draw the line? It isn't rocket science. One booking engine, one price structure around the world.

Everyone on this cruise would be expected to pay the same GST where costs are Australian. And in any event, it is 10%. Which doesn't explain the price difference. Tipping is not included in either fare structure.

As far as doing this "with our eyes open" - exactly what do you mean by this?

Pushka, you are 100% correct, there is no reason why a transatlantic crossing (for example) should cost more to purchase for someone living in country X as opposed to country Y. All passengers will embark at the same port, travel on the same ship, eat the same food and disembark at the same final destination. The service will be same, as will all the amenities on board. The only difference will be that passengers from country X paid more for the same cruise than passengers from country Y.

The cruise lines don't appear to have any intention to stop this practice, so we have to work around them. Thankfully the internet makes this reasonably easy and it's not too difficult to find out the price differences.

There isn't any problem with booking outside your country of residence either. I know that we sometimes (in Australia) read stories about people being denied boarding but that's a load of old tosh.

Your comparisons aren't relevant. If I was living in Botswana and consuming that food in Botswana then I would expect to pay more or less, according to how much that item cost the provider to provide it in Botswana.

 

 

It costs Cunard the same to provide this cruise to all people, regardless of where they live.

 

Where do we draw the line? It isn't rocket science. One booking engine, one price structure around the world.

 

Everyone on this cruise would be expected to pay the same GST where costs are Australian. And in any event, it is 10%. Which doesn't explain the price difference. Tipping is not included in either fare structure.

 

As far as doing this "with our eyes open" - exactly what do you mean by this?

I totally 100% agree with everyone when they talk about embarking at the same port, sharing similar cabins, eating the same food etc etc, but surely the taxes in country 'x' are not the same as country 'y'? The cost of living\overheads\taxes\rent (you name it) is not the same and before you dissect these words my point is that the travel agent or anyone else employed to sell ANY type of product in country 'x' might not be the same as country 'y'? Their overheads are different, the only way to sell this product is to make a profit? So yes I feel my point may well be relevant and furthermore if we by-pass this anomaly we MUST accept the country we use to buy the cheaper ticket might not be capable of providing a service we expect, or answering questions we feel are simple, basic issues we need answering.

I have NO idea what GST costs are so cannot comment. Do you mean GST or STG or ABC?

I am not sure what the answer is as I like a personal service where folks can answer my questions with both professionalism, confidence and local knowledge. If that means paying a bit more then so be it.

Our GST is 10%. That does not account for the price difference. USA passengers would still have to pay that tax for anything purchased by Cunard that has that tax applied on Australian shores during this journey. There is no rationale for this price difference.

Also, these prices are from the Cunard site no TA involved. So the comments about personal service etc do not apply. There is no difference.

Our GST is 10%. That does not account for the price difference. USA passengers would still have to pay that tax for anything purchased by Cunard on Australian shores during this journey. There is no rationale for this price difference.

When I say I have NO idea what GST is or what it means that means I have no idea what that acronym is short for.

I hate using acronyms as they can mean whatever we want them to mean. Greenwich Meantime I hope is one exception as it should be known Worldwide... Dooes GST stand for Greenwich Summertime? ;)

GST is a goods and services Tax. It is 10% but is not applied to all goods. Eg. Raw foods (veggies meat etc) are exempt.

GST is a goods and services Tax. It is 10% but is not applied to all goods. Eg. Raw foods (veggies meat etc) are exempt.

We get very blase about acronyms and just assume everyone knows what they mean, hence my pet hate just because we don't and I am forever trying to find out what various things mean.

To highlight this issue I was absolutely baffled by folks discussing FOD meetings aboard a cruise ship...

Field Operations Directorate

Financial Operations Department

Flight Operations Directorate

Foreign Object Damage

Foreign Object Debris

Finding Of Death

Field Operations Directive

Field Officer Of the Day

Is it better to say what we mean?

Regarding price differentials I guess in this modern day and age we canall shop around but if we want to use local services, we have to pay the going rate??

Are you logging into the Cunard site in country 'x' and then applying that price to country 'y'?

I am aware of folks in Australia buying cruises from UK travel agents or should I say Territorial Army? (TA) and well done to them for doing that

Are you not forgetting exchange rates? In recent weeks the UK pound has weakened against the US dollar, so if the price of a crossing is x dollars in US and that price is converted to sterling using the present rate the price will be more than when the pound was stronger.

I don't know if this applies to Australia but it must have an influence wherever payment is in local currency, which has, somewhere along the line, to be converted into dollars.

David.

Are you not forgetting exchange rates? In recent weeks the UK pound has weakened against the US dollar, so if the price of a crossing is x dollars in US and that price is converted to sterling using the present rate the price will be more than when the pound was stronger.

 

I don't know if this applies to Australia but it must have an influence wherever payment is in local currency, which has, somewhere along the line, to be converted into dollars.

 

David.

Of course I'm not forgetting currency exchange. Actually, If I took the strong Aussie dollar into account the difference would be even worse. I was being 'generous' in my first post. And my credit card charges the exact XE currency rate so very accurate to what you see on the true exchange rate. No hidden costs. The Aussie dollar is trading at 1.04 ie well above USA parity.

Cunard even do this between Canada and the US for transatlantic crossings.

Their website is programmed to identify your IP address and the country you are in so cunard.com will give you prices in Cdn$ if your are in Canada and prices in US$ if you are in the US. The spread between them often far exceeds any spread between the value of the currencies.

I find price differentials of more than a couple of % points offensive. It tells me Cunard has a policy of ripping off its non-US customers. It's completely inappropriate for a company with a global customer base.

I have satellite internet service at my summer cottage from a US provider so when I'm there I get the US prices and when I'm at home I get Cdn$ prices. I often monitor the differences in summer.

I'll be able to start checking again in a month or so.

OK, I've now received a firm quote. Just over $2100AUD cheaper plus $150 OBC. This agent has a contact in Australia. That's a deal.

Cunard even do this between Canada and the US for transatlantic crossings.

 

Their website is programmed to identify your IP address and the country you are in so cunard.com will give you prices in Cdn$ if your are in Canada and prices in US$ if you are in the US. The spread between them often far exceeds any spread between the value of the currencies.

 

I find price differentials of more than a couple of % points offensive. It tells me Cunard has a policy of ripping off its non-US customers. It's completely inappropriate for a company with a global customer base.

 

I have satellite internet service at my summer cottage from a US provider so when I'm there I get the US prices and when I'm at home I get Cdn$ prices. I often monitor the differences in summer.

 

I'll be able to start checking again in a month or so.

Considering that $1US is almost equal to $1Cdn there should not be much difference in the prices between the two. I agree that you are being ripped off.

Considering that $1US is almost equal to $1Cdn there should not be much difference in the prices between the two. I agree that you are being ripped off.

It's a pity we did not bring this up when Mr Shanks was with us.

David

It's a pity we did not bring this up when Mr Shanks was with us.

 

David

Do you think he would care?

Do you think he would care?

Probably not, he was quite adept at ignoring difficult subjects.

Shanks1, where are you when we need you.

David.

Thanks for bringing this up Pushka, we are being ripped off by Cunard in Australia. I contacted Cunard Australia a couple of years ago relalating to the price differentilals with Aust, US an Uk. (I am relating to overseas travel). I received a reply that I am sure a first year marketing student could have responded better.

For the record

1. Cunard block Aust IP addresses when trying to access their other world sites. You are redirected to their Aust site. You can get another O/S hidden IP address on the internet.

2. GST is not payable on overseas travel

3. UK prices for 2014 world voyages are cheaper at the moment than US and Aust.

4. US has no charge for cancelling up to final payment allowing them to take advantage of cheaper fares if they become available. UK now has vantage fares, not a patch on the US. We pay a cancellation charge starting with the deposit.

5. I have booked with US TAs' and have live quotes from 2 UK TAs'. I have received great OBCs' from US and have received great service.

I have found some companies better than others on price comparrisions, Princess and Seabourn are stand outs (from the same stable as Cunard).

As Pushka said in the opening post I hope Choice pick this one up

I have a final quote this time from a TA to avoid using the VPN.

$2700AUD price difference.:eek:

$150 onboard credit.

Also, no credit card charge.

Free cancellation up to 90 days prior.

Past passenger discount (included in the amount above)

All up, 30% difference. Hmmm......

Glad to hear it Pushka. Forgot about the CC charge,

Question

In the UK when we book a holiday, the first thing I would always check is to ensure the travel agent has all the necessary cover regarding bankruptcy or any other form of my loosing my money, or being stranded abroad.

Does this apply to all other countries World wide? If we book a cruise with Cunard and perish the thought the company folds just days before I was due to join the ship, my money will be refunded in full, this also applies to the travel agents that I booked through. If the travel agent goes bust, my money is safe. There must be a costing involved as we are always reading about travel agents going into liquidation and British holiday makers being stranded abroad. These folks are repatriatated and hopefully things get sorted? (question)

Insurance is for that purpose. And it's usually the cruise line that takes the money from the credit card not the online TA. The credit card company can also be contacted. Credit cards with hold a percentage of every transaction for situations like this.

Insurance is for that purpose. And it's usually the cruise line that takes the money from the credit card not the online TA. The credit card company can also be contacted. Credit cards with hold a percentage of every transaction for situations like this.

It does not matter what we should do Bottom line is that in the UK the travel agents take the hit when the company goes belly up and obviously they have to have this insurance cover you are talking about. They have the cover, the cost has to be met!! If we book a cruise or any type of holiday then most travel agents put a surcharge onto the price when a credit card is used.

I accept we can take out insurance for this (I have) and we can do lots of things but in the real World here in the UK reputable travel agents subscribe to ABTA-ATOL. That is it... They subscribe to it, they advertise they subscribe to it, most sensible UK holiday makers ask if they belong to it.

This is a Government site and is most definitely NOT a sales pitch by our country....

Book your foreign holiday through a reputable travel company

 

Good travel agents and tour operators will give you security through: * an Air Travel Organisers Licence (ATOL) * membership with an approved body such as ABTA; the Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust (ABTOT); the Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO); Bonded Coach Holidays (BCH); or the Federation of Tour Operators (FTO) * a suitable insurance policy * a protection scheme or trust fund for any payments you make in advance

In the real world here in Australia we have several options if the travel company has issues. And to be honest I've found that government installed protection authorities are pretty much just paper tigers when it comes to issues like this. Our ASIC and Consumer and Business Affairs do nothing but pontificate and extract fees. But when it comes to action nothing happens. If they were effective then we wouldn't be having this discussion anyway. ;)