Sapphire Cruise 45% more expensive in OZ

Just so you guys know --you get good deals. Have been trying to book on Sapphire for Mexican Riveriara in Feb 06. Princess apparently will only let US passengers book in US (unless you are travelling with US friends) so we have to book in Australia and pay 45% more than US quotes. May ahve to switch onto Carnival or RCCl who allow US bookings and therefore big difference in costs.

Our experience is that all cruiselines travelling out of or into USA can not be booked by foreign nationalities through a US travel agent or website. This was changed by US homeland security in 2004 just after we booked a Caribbean cruise through a US website. The US websites look attractive but by the time you add taxes and port charges and then do the US/AUS conversion there is not a lot of difference. Well not since we found a TA here in Sydney who is very good with prices :D

We booked our Sapphire cruise for last Christmas/NY with a US travel agent and saved almost A$1000 over any price we could get within AUS. and that included taxes etc. so it is worth it.

Our agent told us just to let her know if we wanted to book another Princess cruise, she says she has away around the US/Canada bookings only.... my guess is she is making the booking through her address in the US but I cannot be sure about this.

I absolutely will not book with an Aussie TA if they cannot offer the same pricing as the US... which most of them cannot! If anyone has an agent here that can give those great deals I would love to know who they are...:)

Kim

Hi Dwsurfin,

I am also Aussie (living in Sydney) and I use a great TA in Canada, she will equal any quote you find on the net (US or otherwise).

I have also used an Amercian TA who was also excellent. PM me if you want more details.

O and in regards to your other posting on the Vision thread I personally dont think there is that much difference between the Sapphire and Vision however what tipped the scales for us is the port time. The Vision has more port time in both Cabo San Lucas(all day instead of half day) + Puerto Vallarta (11pm over 5 pm). I also believe personally that the Vision is more "child" friendly and marketed towards the mid 30+ demographic.

I have been to date a loyal Princess Cruiser (Grand, Sky, Pacific, Sun, Golden) however am looking forward how RCCL compare.

Cheers

Catz

Princess will not let anyone from UK book with a USA TA, tried it this year for a Princess Med cruise, so US restrictions do not apply. Turned down flat by US TA I have used before for a cruise in Med on another US line.

Whilst we have not been on the cruise yet, we have booked with a TA out of San Francisco for our Sapphire Sydney to LA in April 2007. What is the problem with booking with a US agent?

We have booked our Princess cruise through a U.S. T.A. and I always book our HAL cruises through another agent in the U.S. There is no restrictions at all with booking directly or with an agent in the U.S. from HAL.

I know there has been trouble regarding Princess but I think that has been worked out. We do save thousands of dollars by dealing with an U.S. agent as against using an Aussie agent.

It does seem most unfair that we have to buy our travel in this way, but why pay more just because we are from another country.

Jennie

You do have to work your Australian travel agent hard to get similar pricing to US websites but it can be done. Use a TA that specialises in cruises rather than one that books Gold Coast holidays for every second person that walks in the door. eg, the biggie TA, with the initials "HWT" are completely hopeless on pricing of a US cruise and I doubt any of their assistants have ever been on a vacation anywhere.

Just so you guys know --you get good deals. Have been trying to book on Sapphire for Mexican Riveriara in Feb 06. Princess apparently will only let US passengers book in US (unless you are travelling with US friends) so we have to book in Australia and pay 45% more than US quotes. May ahve to switch onto Carnival or RCCl who allow US bookings and therefore big difference in costs.

We've just booked on Diamond Princess for March 2006 cruise Aust/NZ. Just discovered that not only have we paid a premium over US rates, but we also are not eligible for Capt Circle, AND we cannot book shore excursions on Cruise Personaliser (regardless of Princess' website extolling the tip of booking early!).

Not happy Jan...:mad:

Hi Dwsurfin,

 

I am also Aussie (living in Sydney) and I use a great TA in Canada, she will equal any quote you find on the net (US or otherwise).

 

I have also used an Amercian TA who was also excellent. PM me if you want more details.

 

O and in regards to your other posting on the Vision thread I personally dont think there is that much difference between the Sapphire and Vision however what tipped the scales for us is the port time. The Vision has more port time in both Cabo San Lucas(all day instead of half day) + Puerto Vallarta (11pm over 5 pm). I also believe personally that the Vision is more "child" friendly and marketed towards the mid 30+ demographic.

 

I have been to date a loyal Princess Cruiser (Grand, Sky, Pacific, Sun, Golden) however am looking forward how RCCL compare.

 

Cheers

 

Catz

Be very interested in name of good agent!

are you taking into considering the foreign exchange differences?

We have friends in Sydney that use our home address for their bookings. It is the only way they could book through a US Travel agent and the only way they could join Captain's Circle. Hopefully they will be able to do this in the future unless Princess puts a stop to it. :(

Even taking into consideration the exchange rate Hucc, it is still much less expensive for them to use a TA here in the U.S. then it is in Oz.

There is a thread started for the Sapphire April,'07 Sydney to LA -- be glad to have you join us:)

Earl

HI SUE :D

There is a thread started for the Sapphire April,'07 Sydney to LA -- be glad to have you join us:)

Earl

HI SUE :D

We have done that sailing before Earl, except we sailed from LA to Sydney. DH said that there were just too many sea days in it for him. :(

But I loved it! ;)

are you taking into considering the foreign exchange differences?

Of course. We still save thousands of dollars (depending on which cabin one books) using an U.S. agent.

Also as Toto2Kansas has said, if we booked through Oz we cannot use the personaliser or have a Captain's number even though we have cruised with P&0, Princess and Sitmar before.

Jennie

We too use a US travel agent and have saved literally 1000's (there are 4 in our family this time we are doing a b2b and also this time we have 2 additional friends travelling) - there are some who will - the one we use is a high volume agent who supposedly stood up to Princess (or so we are told) we did the same thing you might just have to do a bit of searching. The one we used last year said they were could no longer do the Princess (and one or two others) bookings but the one we are using is frequently discussed on these boards and all our US cruising buddies are also using her - if you give me your email address am only too happy to email you privately! Whilst you cannot join the Captains Circle (unless using a US friend's address) as soon as you are on board you can get a little Princess passport which they will stamp for the cruises in Oz you have been on and also add a little stamp from that cruise - you then get the same benefits onboard (ie invite to the Captains Cocktail party, free internet if entitled etc etc)

Jane

CassCruise,

I think we may use the same agent in the U.S. I had read about her a lot on this Board many years ago when we were able to mention agents and then I met her on our Tahitian Cruise in 2004 and asked her then if we could book through her. She has been terrific and I will always do our Princess Cruises through her. She is mainly handles Princess.

Jennie

Jennie sounds like the same one:D :D

I probably should add that if you are going to book with an overseas agent you should thoroughly check (well as much as possible) the agent and be completely comfortable with doing this - the old buyer beware - but I can only speak from our experience which has been excellent to date!

I don't have a problem booking with an overseas agent. As soon as we had paid our deposit, we could view our booking on the Princess site so we knew it was all safe. Anyway if you book by credit card and do not get the service/goods paid for, your money will be returned. That is why we only ever pay by credit card.

Regarding the HWT agents - I used one in Western Australia in the biggest port city - to book airfares Perth/Miami/San Juan and back from San Diego and a cruise on the Serenade of the Seas. I got prices from other dedicated cruise specialists and internet agencies on the eastern seaboard and the HWT gave me the best price, so although I would probably agree with that thought usually, don't be too quick to generalise.

sounds frustrating - I hope you're able to find an agent who can help you save that $$$$$

Can be contacted on ozcruise@hotmail.com

Advice on travel agents much appreciated!

I've just found out that Princess in Oz has now fixed the problems regarding using Cruise Personaliser and Captains Circle. Apparently, a couple of weeks ago new software has been installed, and Aussies can now use the Cruise Personaliser (and get CC credits) like everyone else!

Just used the Personaliser, and looking good....

I've just found out that Princess in Oz has now fixed the problems regarding using Cruise Personaliser and Captains Circle. Apparently, a couple of weeks ago new software has been installed, and Aussies can now use the Cruise Personaliser (and get CC credits) like everyone else!

 

Just used the Personaliser, and looking good....

We have just come back from a P&O cruise on the Pacific Princess and there are still a lot of things that don't transfer over. We still can't get credit on Princess for cruises done on any P&O ships even tho it was a Princess Ship we were on. We booked another P&O cruise while on the ship but we couldn't use the pre cruise booking to put towards a Princess cruise only P&O. Its really bizare the way we Aussies are treated. And now have just found out that P&O have sold the Pacific Sky and our cruise has been cancelled for next year. They will give us our deposit back but that still leaves us without a cruise out of Singapore next year. They aren't putting the replacement 'Regal Princess' in its place. I am not a happy camper at the moment either. Gayle

Ozcruise,

I will send you the name of our agent. I will put C.C. Princess in the title in case you are not sure who is sending you the email.

Jennie