Booking trough the UK website and living in Spain?

Hi, do you know if it's possible to book trough the UK website if I'm not living there? I've seen a wonderful offer that it's not available in the Spanish website. Thanks.

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Hi, do you know if it's possible to book trough the UK website if I'm not living there? I've seen a wonderful offer that it's not available in the Spanish website. Thanks.

 

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Short answer is Yes

Longer answer is as an EU national you can book in any EU country but will have to abide by the terms and conditions of which ever country you book.

My only concern would be if BREXIT would have an impact on a booking taking place after 1st of April 2019.

And just remember you are tied to the deal i.e. non refundable deposits, no changes or price drops etc. Be sure you’re happy with your initial reservation before you commit.

Hi, do you know if it's possible to book trough the UK website if I'm not living there? I've seen a wonderful offer that it's not available in the Spanish website. Thanks.

 

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I've been living in Spain for 29 years and I book almost all my cruises through my UK Travel Agent who uses the UK websites. Never had any problems but remember that the UK rules/conditions apply to the booking.

Have a great time.

You are lucky as you can also book via the US as well. Check out both the UK and the US before you decide, many advantages in booking via the US - extra perks, price drops and refundable deposits. You can book Celebrity, RCL, Azamara, NCL, MSC to name a few via the US but you will not be able to book a Carnival Corp. cruise, that includes Cunard, HAL, Princess, Costa, P&O.

Well, I asked celebrity directly an they said

I would advise that you "should" be redirected to Celebrity.ES - the Spanish website as per your computer IP address. However, this does not always happen and so will sometimes allow you to book through the UK site in pounds sterling. However, please note this can only be legally booked if you have if you have a UK resident address.*

That's really disappointing, since trough the Spanish site the same booking costs 700 € more and doesn't include the drinks package.

I've looked as well at a big US TA but T&C stated it was only for US and Canada citizens

Now I've tried a big international TA UK website that told me it wasn't any problem if I live in Spain, only, obviously I must pay in £. I've got an £ account so exchange rate wouldn't be a problem. I don't know about assurances and other things right now doesn't come in mind...

US sites gave you refundable deposits?? Wow

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Well, I asked celebrity directly an they said

 

I would advise that you "should" be redirected to Celebrity.ES - the Spanish website as per your computer IP address. However, this does not always happen and so will sometimes allow you to book through the UK site in pounds sterling. However, please note this can only be legally booked if you have if you have a UK resident address.*

 

That's really disappointing, since trough the Spanish site the same booking costs 700 € more and doesn't include the drinks package.

 

I've looked as well at a big US TA but T&C stated it was only for US and Canada citizens

 

Now I've tried a big international TA UK website that told me it wasn't any problem if I live in Spain, only, obviously I must pay in £. I've got an £ account so exchange rate wouldn't be a problem. I don't know about assurances and other things right now doesn't come in mind...

 

US sites gave you refundable deposits?? Wow

 

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The celebrity customer service rep obviously has not got a clue:eek:

Disneyland Paris use to charge different rates between German and UK customers for the same holidays. German rates being a lot cheaper. When challenged over this by a UK TV consumer program they had to admit that there was no legal reason why UK customers could not book on any of their EU sites and vice a versa. This is the whole point of having an EU free trade market in the first place:D.

The laws which cover package holidays both in the EU and UK where taken from the UK package holiday regulations and transposed into an EU directive.

Of course this could and probably will change after BREXIT the end of March 2019.

I have booked Celebrity with a US TA before but you do need to make yourself aware of the pitfalls as well as any benefits.

I have also booked NCL in the EU where I was only required to make a 10% non refundable deposit, I could pay in £'s or Euros and final payment was 30 days before the cruise.

Customer service reps are generally not the best people to get information about the law or even their own companies terms and conditions. Neither is cruisecritic for that matter:D

Research is the key.

An example of this is if you phone Royal Caribbean US they will tell you you can not book with them in the US if you are from the UK. What they do not tell you that they have a special department and telephone number for international guests from outside the US to book directly with RCI US which I have done in the past. We had to cancel in the end and I received a full refund the same as any US customer.

.....I have booked Celebrity with a US TA before but you do need to make yourself aware of the pitfalls as well as any benefits. ......

What pitfalls ? Please explain.

There aren't any unless you call exchange rate fluctuation a negative, that can be a positive.

Good travel insurance cover everything else.

I'm living in Belgium and booked with a US TA - far better deals, just check beforehand whether they allow it. not all of them offer it and if they do, you often need to book by phone instead of their website. Most often they are not set up for international addresses (different type of zip codes, no states, etc)

What pitfalls ? Please explain.

There aren't any unless you call exchange rate fluctuation a negative, that can be a positive.

Good travel insurance cover everything else.

There are much less consumer protection, e.g. cancelling cruise short after booking, or celebrity cancel cruises, or if celebrity go out of business for your cruise in 2020. You may think most are not problems, but they are thing that happens, also mayor airlines had "grounding".

Also as European, we know better how to interpret brochures and prices from a European provider (and a US person from a US provider), e.g. we will never expect added taxes (sales, but also ports and fuel supplements, and other charges): it is task of the provider to know and doing math. Brochures are checked with lawyers, so a US person know a lot better how to interpret the US version (and US version tend to be more generic, just to be safe and not to be sued).

The bank system is a lot simpler in Europe. Everybody here is able to do payments without troubles (and maybe without credit card).

American are more chatty (and it seems to us less efficient): all stuffs should be done inefficiently at phone (and BTW at US timezones).

And in case of problems, having to handle local people (and local justice) is a lot simpler.

So it really depends on how one is used to work with US, and to factor advantages and disadvantages.

Booking an Asian cruise of an African cruise company (RCCI is incorporated in Liberia) in America from an European passengers... it is very international :D [Australians maybe could change it: Australian passenger on an European [Malta] flagged ship]

Cirdan, you said a lot but mentioned nothing - not one pitfall.

Cirdan, you said a lot but mentioned nothing - not one pitfall.

Pitfalls include.

Exchange rate though possible to gain on this.

Cost of calling US

Bumped, it is possible to bump US passengers due to overbooking it is illegal in the UK/EU to bump passengers. This includes cruise ship excursions. NCL tried this on an excursion turning a 6 hr beach day into a 3 hr luckily one of the few times we booked UK not US

Any problems would have to go through Miami office. If it did have to go to court this would be in Miami. If you book in the UK the cruiseline would be subject to UK law and you could use the UK small claims court.

You would need to check your insurance would cover you if purchase a cruise outside of the UK/EU

Consumer protection in the UK which you would not have if booked in the US and have now been extended by the EU

One controversial element of the new rules is that holidaymakers have a new right to cancel with a full refund in the event of “unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances occurring at the place of destination or its immediate vicinity and which significantly affect the performance of the package, or the carriage of passengers to the destination”.

No access to ABTA to mediate concerns problems.

Little to no redress if cruiseline decides to charter a cruise other than what they decide to offer you.

there maybe more it all comes down to your own risk tolerance