Why are Aussies being overcharged for cruises?

[Plato2322]

It is appalling that Aussie travellers are exploited by cruise lines to the extent of thousands of dollars per stateroom in comparison to fees charged to US/Canadian travellers. Aussies wouldn't mind if the disparity in fares was a couple of hundred dollars per stateroom but when it amounts to a couple of thousand, then cruise lines need to realise they are excluding Aussies as clients. This also equates to Aussie travel agents not being offered the same opportunities of discounted prices that US/Canadian agents are offered to entice their customers. This is why Aussies for years have been turning their backs on Aussie agents in favour of booking cruises through the US.

Aussie agents have been quick to point out that if the US agent goes bust then your payment could be jeopardised or at worst 'lost'. However, such an assertion is often incorrect (and I suspect is often cited as a deterrent to booking overseas) as US agents act as merchants for the cruise lines and payment by credit card shows the debit direct to the cruise line concerned and not the agent (not only does this minimise merchant fees but it is the cruise line who hold your deposit and/or final payment). So short of the cruise line sinking (pun) your payments are extremely safe. Recently cruise lines have begun to take a hard line with US/Canadian agents accepting bookings from non-US/Canadian residents.

This then makes the question for Australian travellers as to whether they are content to pay $2,000 plus more for the same cabin occupied by their next door US traveller. If cruise lines and indeed Aussie agents want to promote cruising for Aussies then they need to push for parity in pricing on an International scale, not having Aussie's subsidise other travellers. Both agents and travellers need to ask Cruise Lines for a better deal for Aussies. We are not just talking about currency differences or government taxes here we are talking about huge overpricing to Aussie travellers by Cruise Lines.

To see just how big these differences are compare the cheapest price for a specific stateroom on any cruise e.g. a balcony stateroom, with any online Aussie agent. Now go to a US travel agent, such as ***** and compare the same cheapest price for the same type of room….. when you multiply the result by 2 ( 2 persons in the room) it will be in the thousands of dollars.

 

Just to give you a sample of the difference, I was interested in doing a cruise on Diamond Princess from Beijing, China to Vancouver in May 2011. Now a Balcony at V2go is US$2,897 (AU$3,199) - Fastdeal#12657 BUT the cheapest Balcony on this 23 night cruise in Australia is AU$6,400 - double the price per person. For a cabin with 2 persons an Aussie is paying an extra AU$6,400. This hardly seems equitable in a world market.

[6rugrats]

This has been discussed many, many, many times. If a cruiseline won't let you book with a US TA, find another cruiseline that will. There's nothing anyone here can do about it.

 

As a US citizen, even though I have excellent credit, own a house in Canada and have a Candian bank account, I can't get a Canadian credit card.

 

It's the way that it is.

[Plato2322]

If it were an isolated cruise line no problem, however these cruise lines have colluded in this policy

Celebrity

Costa Cruises

Cunard

Holland America

MSC Cruises

Oceania Cruises

Princess*

Royal Caribbean

Star Clippers

 

I don't accept extortion or 'market forces' scenarios - so the more travellers who ring the cruise lines and their agents to bring about common sense and change the quicker it will occur. This is not good promotion for cruise lines and it hasn't hit the media down-under just yet but it's coming.

[BruceMuzz]

Aussies don't tip.

They insist in doing things "their way" - even when they are NOT in their country.

 

The cruise lines have agreements with the tipped crew to cover shortages in tips when passengers don't tip.

 

Charging higher fares to Aussies is a great way to recoup that extra expense for the cruise lines.

[Traveler353]

OP: Vote with your dollars. Use another cruise line or find another kind of vacation.

[Plato2322]

Aussies do tip.....

Though I have always wondered why when US ships employ crew that come from third world countries and who have never actually resided in the US. However, personally we tip our cabin steward and drink and food waiter and some bar staff.

[bar_20]

The Aussie dollar is worth .90 to our dollar. Your TA's answer doesn't hold water as we can book directly with the cruiseline if we want and the likelihood of them going under is a lot less than your TA doing it. Do different travel agents give you different rates or are they all the same? You probaly don't have the Sherman Anti Trust Act in OZ. My guess most of that extra money is going into the TA's pocket. I also heard that the tips were added on to the Aussie cruise prices.

[Travelcat2]

This sounds like it is caused by the cruse line (most of which are owned by Carnival and would, therefore, have similar policies). Have you checked NCL, for instance. . . or Oceania? I ask about these two specifically as NCL and Oceania are partly and/or fully owned by Apollo -- the owners of Regent. Regent definitely charges the same in the U.K. U.S. and Australia.

[stingau]

I am an Aussie who for yrs have paid the higher fares. This upcoming cruise I booked online with a Us based TA with no problems. I wasnt aware till after I have paid about this cruiseline's refusing to allow USA based agents to accept Aussie travellers.

 

WHERE does this leave me... I have a Princess cruise booked and paid for departing FT Lauderdale later this month. Surely they can't refuse me now. Mt cruise personaliser has my aussie address. I paid with an Aussie Credit Card. I pre purchased gifts for my wife. I even complained to Princess USA over the phone when Princess Australia refused to help me with questions.

 

The answer I got was " You booked this in the States ...call them not us". The pre purchase booking form had an Aussie fax number on it, after a few days when I had not been charged or recieved any acknowedgement I rang Princess here in Australia and was told I had to send it to Princess in the USA as any fax they recieve they throw in the bin. I asked them for the correct fax number and was told to find it myself.

 

ITS ALL JUST SOUR GRAPES AND COMPLAINING BY PRINCESS AUSTRALIA

 

But at know time have I been told that what i did by booking the cruise via a US TA was not allowed

[Plato2322]

Like in the US we can book directly with the cruise line. However, in the US it seems that some TA's offer prices discounted much more than what the cruise lines advertise... if you see my first post it highlights that. We can also book direct with the cruise lines, however TA's advertise prices slightly less. The TA's all vary but within 100-200 dollars only. They use the 'buyer beware' scare tactic to detract from Aussies booking overseas but I have never had any problems. I never heard about the tip issue being added to prices or know whether this is correct or not.

I just feel that the marketplace should be worldwide and competitive. Presently, it is outpricing Aussie's from cruising generally, although there are a few cruises where there is parity with international travellers.

[stingau]

Has anyone even tested this issue?

 

Since I found out about the savings to be had I have been shopping for another cruise and as a Serving AUST Defence Force Member am entitled to receive the Military discount on NCL cruises that offer this rate. I have confirmed this with NCL.

 

I wonder if its a matter of Aussie TA's concluding with the cruiselines offices in Aust to keep a bigger profit. I am sure that the various CEO's of the cruiselines in Australia want to keep there profit margins up.

 

Lets face it we are a smaller nation and because of the higher prices need to keep as much of the bookings in australia to make the boss's look worth their salaries. Cruiselines have no competition here and they want to keep it that way. Look what competition did to the airlines here. I can still remember when due to limited offers the low prices were unheard of we used to pay 10 times more than we pay now and fuel was a lot cheaper then.

 

If US TA's prices are promoted more here the prices will crash and they dont want that.

[Plato2322]

I guess you could wonder whether, considering the age group of many cruisers being in the over 60's at least , that Aussie TA's and TA's justify keeping the prices up in this small country with a clientele that are computer challenged? After all they have an existing clientele that are oblivious to the high prices they are paying in the sunset of their lives that cream the pockets of executive TA's and cruise line personell.

[janice4559]

I know it's only a sample of one, but I just booked the 16 night Rhapsody cruise from Hawaii to Sydney direct with RCCl. When I looked on one of the leading Austrilian travel web sites, the price was exactly the same - to the dollar.

[Charlie Chan]

I have only recently joined Cruise Critic and have the highest praise for all of those folk who have so generously shared their experiences and offered advice. I have been amazed at the patience of some of these people - seeing the same question coming up time and time again - questions that could be easily answered with a little more homework on the past of the poster.

 

As a result, I am disappointed with the tone of some of those who have replied to the person who started this thread.

 

We are 2 professional Australians. We travel regularly overseas and have lived and worked in a number of overseas countries. When away from home, we do our best to fit in with the local culture. Yes - we have been embarrassed by the behaviour of some of our countrymen, but we have also seen similar examples of 'doing it our way' behaviour from tourists visiting Australia.

 

We do tip - especially when abroad. We tip at home for good service - perhaps not as much as Americans, but minimum wages here are much higher. We have at times grudgingly left tips in the U.S. - when service/attitude has been very poor. But we have done it as it is the custom. Our gratuities for this cruise are pre-paid and we will leave more for those who help make our cruise a success. It is laughable to state that U.S. companies charge us more because we don't tip. The tips don't go to the company, do they? I was under the impression that they were split amongst the crew to compensate for the very low wages they are paid!

 

We have just booked a HAL cruise in the Mediterranean, using an on-line American TA. We have received our boarding passes etc - all of the correspondence shows we are Australian. We have nothing but praise for the courtesy and helpfulness of the TA we used. We rang Australian TA's when researching this trip - told them the huge price difference - and their answer was that it was the cruise lines which set the prices, not the Australian TA's. Some U.S. and U.K. agents we approached did not return our emails, so it pays to shop around. It is very frustrating to see how much more we often have to pay for the same 'service'. I could understand it if the cruise was leaving from the U.S. but as this is a European cruise, it should be a level playing field.

 

We will be contributing money to an American company - helping the U.S. economy, I guess. Australia is now one of the fasted growing cruising nations and hopefully this type of awareness raising may help to change the current situation. We are just beginning our retirement, and I would love to spend time doing some of the cruises I have read about here. I was hoping I'd be made feel welcome. I'm sure most people are polite. We don't wear baseball caps, joggers, track pants ... We just consider ourselves normal, polite people who do their best to fit in.

 

This trip is costing us a lot of money. We do not have OBC etc that many people speak about. We will not be getting cabin up-grades. Our airfares are expensive. We are spending a night before and after the cruise in Rome to make sure we do not have connection problems. We have travel insurance .... We will not be trying to smuggle alcohol onto the ship or taking 'hidden' lunch boxes off to save a few dollars. We respect the rules of each country too much.

 

I'm sorry this has become lengthy. I'm still looking forward to our holiday!

[gerton]

Aussies don't tip.

They insist in doing things "their way" - even when they are NOT in their country.

 

The cruise lines have agreements with the tipped crew to cover shortages in tips when passengers don't tip.

 

Charging higher fares to Aussies is a great way to recoup that extra expense for the cruise lines.

Very, very untrue. I always tip when overseas and amongst my many travelled friends the answer would be the same. We pre-pay our gratuities anyway so that does not answer why fares are higher. Please don't stereotype- it is old-fashioned view and in most cases very wrong. It would be like me making a dispariging comment about 'all American tourists' which I would never do as I am well travelled enough to know that any stereotype is ridiculous and wrong.

[Moeve]

I wouldn't say the theory doesn't hold water. EU TA got a mail last Friday telling us that X was putting up their prices 10 to 15 % over the price of RCCL in the new cruise year (after March) and carnival came out with something similar on Monday.

 

The cruiselines are starting to notice the dispartity now - it is no longer JUST US cruisers and they seem to think that foreign cruisers might be willing to pay more than US guests. Not sure where they get that that theory form but they can try and see wether business stays the way it was developing.

[UKBayern]

This is known problem amongst CC readers. Any nationality other than US/CAN pays the top price. We suffer in Europe too. All the cruise lines are "guilty" of this.

 

It also has to do with ignorance and greed on the part of the TAs. My parents booked 3 months ago and did not even get the Celebrity booking number from their TA. The TA does not want its customers to go online and make reservations for excursions and on board packages themselves, because they can make $$$. I got the number when calling Celebrity. They told me that a lot of European TAs book all their customers in one group booking. It saves them paperwork and they receive a group discount too (which they obviously pocket themselves). The passengers only get the paperwork and booking number 1 or 2 weeks before cruising. Now you know why you see so little foreign passengers on a ships excursion. They are all sold out by time they get to pick one. :mad:

[UKBayern]

I know it's only a sample of one, but I just booked the 16 night Rhapsody cruise from Hawaii to Sydney direct with RCCl. When I looked on one of the leading Austrilian travel web sites, the price was exactly the same - to the dollar.

 

The computer picks up on your IP-address. RCCLs' computer "saw" that you were an Aussie, so quoted you the Australian price. Don't be fooled by it. If you are able to make the computer believe you are an American, so will see totally different rates.

[moniquet]

It happens in the UK. too. Despite booking through V2go for 10 years they refused to take a booking for HAL last year. If you look back at the thread where we discussed this a couple of weeks ago someone posted a site where for $10 you can get a USA address to use.

 

I don't think the tipping excuse holds water as on most ships they are automatically added. I do think Americans spend far more in the casinos, maybe it is that.

[Moeve]

This is known problem amongst CC readers. Any nationality other than US/CAN pays the top price. We suffer in Europe too. All the cruise lines are "guilty" of this.

 

It also has to do with ignorance and greed on the part of the TAs. My parents booked 3 months ago and did not even get the Celebrity booking number from their TA. The TA does not want its customers to go online and make reservations for excursions and on board packages themselves, because they can make $$$. I got the number when calling Celebrity. They told me that a lot of European TAs book all their customers in one group booking. It saves them paperwork and they receive a group discount too (which they obviously pocket themselves). The passengers only get the paperwork and booking number 1 or 2 weeks before cruising. Now you know why you see so little foreign passengers on a ships excursion. They are all sold out by time they get to pick one. :mad:

 

I am sorry UKBayern but you are absolutely mistaken about Celebrity in this particular case TA earn NOTHING on all other offerings reguardless of where and who does the purchase. There is no such thing as a group discount - they get the official daily price for the day they sign up their group. They can get a marginally higher % the earlier they close their bookings and finalize the group - otherwise they earn NOTHING. Yes they do get their free beds but then some divide that up and reduce their rates (which if you have 30 or more rooms is not worth even mentioning) or they send some one along as a group co ordinator.

 

It is up to you to ask for the booking number if the TA forgets to give it to you. By the way they don't put all their client into groups how ever many Agencies do put together their own groups as a package because those are far more popular in Europe than they are in other parts of the world. The reason for that is also in some cases the language barrier. Some would like cruise on english speaking ships but would never try because they don't speak enough english. If however an agencies sends someone along to help and purhaps organizes foreign language excursions well that is only possible within a group.

[UKBayern]

I am sorry UKBayern but you are absolutely mistaken about Celebrity in this particular case TA earn NOTHING on all other offerings reguardless of where and who does the purchase. There is no such thing as a group discount - they get the official daily price for the day they sign up their group. They can get a marginally higher % the earlier they close their bookings and finalize the group - otherwise they earn NOTHING. Yes they do get their free beds but then some divide that up and reduce their rates (which if you have 30 or more rooms is not worth even mentioning) or they send some one along as a group co ordinator.

 

It is up to you to ask for the booking number if the TA forgets to give it to you. By the way they don't put all their client into groups how ever many Agencies do put together their own groups as a package because those are far more popular in Europe than they are in other parts of the world

 

I am sorry, but this is what I was told by the Celebrity rep in both Germany and the Netherlands yesterday. It is not as if I am making this up. Celebrity told me it is correct that the TA does not know the booking number, since the tour operator only shares the details 1 or 2 weeks before sailing. We have been asking this TA for almost 3 months now to give us the reservation number.

Nobody booked together in a group, these passengers don't even know about each other existence. This same touroperator used to do this with the airline I worked for. They made a group booking, "names to be advised later". We ended up with hardly any good open seats for any of the other passengers on the flight because they needed a group seating. Then of course it turned out these people had never heared of these other passengers.

[Tanderra]

Aussies don't tip.

They insist in doing things "their way" - even when they are NOT in their country.

 

The cruise lines have agreements with the tipped crew to cover shortages in tips when passengers don't tip.

 

Charging higher fares to Aussies is a great way to recoup that extra expense for the cruise lines.

 

You are so wrong BruceMuzz, we have travelled extensively around the U.S and we ALWAYS tip, because it is the thing to do over there and because we have always received good service. We also tip over here when we get good service.

I too am very disappointed with some of the replies on here as I have received a lot of help and tips from the (mostly) lovely people on CC.

I too have noticed the discrepancy in the price which Australians pay compared to what the good people of the USA pay...we can't all be wrong ;)

 

Charlie Chan....a very good post indeed :)

[Moeve]

I am sorry, but this is what I was told by the Celebrity rep in both Germany and the Netherlands yesterday. It is not as if I am making this up. Celebrity told me it is correct that the TA does not know the booking number, since the tour operator only shares the details 1 or 2 weeks before sailing. We have been asking this TA for almost 3 months now to give us the reservation number.

Nobody booked together in a group, these passengers don't even know about each other existence. This same touroperator used to do this with the airline I worked for. They made a group booking, "names to be advised later". We ended up with hardly any good open seats for any of the other passengers on the flight because they needed a group seating. Then of course it turned out these people had never heared of these other passengers.

 

 

Groups are closed and names sent in 60 days prior to departure and I take that from a contract copy. That is 6 to 8 week prior to sailing

[janice4559]

The computer picks up on your IP-address. RCCLs' computer "saw" that you were an Aussie, so quoted you the Australian price. Don't be fooled by it. If you are able to make the computer believe you are an American, so will see totally different rates.

 

I am an American. I booked thru the US RCCL site and then checked my price to an Austrailian travel agency online. The price was exactly the same.

[Travelcat2]

It is truly sad to see how unwelcoming some people can be to people from other countries (speaking as someone born in the U.S.). For a moment, instead of assuming that everyone is wrong, consider that everyone may be correct in what they are stating (which I truly believe is the case).

 

Some TA's charge customers -- some do not. Prices may be different -- depending upon whom you are booking through. Some TA's do see booking numbers -- others do not. It would be nice to see us helping each other. We cannot name of recommend specific TA's, but, we can give general information that may make it easier for people who are not in the U.S. or Canada book a cruise at the cost same as we do.

 

There are TA's associated with CruiseCritic that can be contacted. That may be a good place to start. Or, a U.S. or Canadian TA that specializes in cruises can be contacted. If they cannot help, they can refer to to another TA. Be sure to check for references (just Google the name of the company).

 

In terms of tipping, it is really an individual thing. My DH is British -- does tip, but perhaps a bit less than I do. For every Aussie that does not tip when in the U.S. for instance, there are probably 2 American's visiting Australia who will tip everyone in sight. IMO, this would just come under the old saying "don't judge, lest you be judged".