Carnival's New Fare Policy

[paul929207]

Hope Princess does not follow suit

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=3984

[patseacruiser]

The thing is when they try to 'level the playing field' the travel agents still rebate commission and offer incentives like on board credit that the line doesn't offer.

[1 HappyCruiser]

RCCL did the same a few years ago when we had about the same number of cruises with both lines & we stopped cruising with them mainly because of the price difference. I think between RCCL & Princess the lines are very similar in quality & we are drawn to Princess because of price alone and haven't returned to RCCL since. If Princess follows the same pricing layout it might cost them in the same way and lose business in the process. Who knows?

[Tak8]

I figured if it is working for Royal/Celebrity other lines will do it. I got to believe that if Carnival does it, it will trickle to the other Carnival owned lines.

When I was waiting for Princess to announce their Caribbean '11 Holiday sailings, I looked at Royal and I was able to find, from an agency I have used in the past, a good discounted price. It may have been offered as a group rate, but discounts can still be found.

Having said that, I'm glad I have my next one booked.

[Iamcruzin]

The thing is when they try to 'level the playing field' the travel agents still rebate commission and offer incentives like on board credit that the line doesn't offer.

 

From what the article says it seems that they are going to put a limit on that as well. Some incentives have to be pre approved by Carnival. How will this affect the TA? Is the limit on the incentives much less than what the TA's have been offering?

[Ando]

Perhaps this policy is all about getting more people to book direct with Carnival as there will be little or no price benefit booking through a TA, and Carnival won't have to pay the TA their 10% or so commission, which means more profit for CCL. It will be interesting to see what develops and hopefully Princess won't go the same way.

[tjcox9]

I'd not be surprised to see this come to Princess also since it went into effect earlier this year for HAL. :(

[Shifra]

This is not good news for consumers! All you have to do is look at the lines that have already put this policy in place and the higher prices for cruises. I hope Princess will not follow this trend, but as I remove my rosy glasses I think we will all pay much more for cruising in the future.

[robgvic]

I have always been surprised that you can get cruises through agencies cheaper than by booking directly with Princess. Why should they make less money when they also have to pay commission to the agents. IT is cheaper for Princess to sell by themselves. In Canada the Airlines stopped paying commissions so Agents had to add a fee.

It is often cheaper to get a hotel from the hotel direct where they don't have to pay commission.

The only difference I have seen is that often companies will block book so many cabins, rooms etc and have to pay for them whether they are sold of not.

[Rhitson88]

I always just book throught the website anyways because I was always under the impression you got the best deal there anyways. Carnival offers some great rates at time. My loyalty is mainly to Princess but if there is an amazing price on carnival I would cruise it. Like I said, it would have to be AMAZING.

 

 

Alot of people may think just because Carnival made this change that Princess would too due tot the fact that they are all under the same organization basically. But do remember that Princess still has ownership of there own and still run things for the most part like they always have. Nobody can change that about them. So I would say it is a small percentage Princess decides to make any sort of change like this. If anything, Princess should be licking there lips at all the extra passengers they will be raking up due tot the fact the RCCL and Carnival have changed to this policy. I would be! Haha.

[Tiffany's mom]

I really hope that this does not become policy of Princess. We could never cruise and pay list price. We love the TA's doing both this years and next year crossing. Got really good prices from a on-line agency. With the economy the way it is I can't see ships sailing full if we pay the list price. Are they trying to put Travel agents out of business? They will with this policy.

[Rhitson88]

I really hope that this does not become policy of Princess. We could never cruise and pay list price. We love the TA's doing both this years and next year crossing. Got really good prices from a on-line agency. With the economy the way it is I can't see ships sailing full if we pay the list price. Are they trying to put Travel agents out of business? They will with this policy.

 

 

 

Maybe I am not understanding. Is Princess matching other peoples bookings or something? I just booked a 7 day inside on the Emerald Princess for $449 a person. Thats pretty awesome if you ask me. I have never booked through a TA. But maybe Princess is matching offers from TA? Someone fill me in. Because I think the website already offers afordable cruises.

[caribill]

Maybe I am not understanding. Is Princess matching other peoples bookings or something? I just booked a 7 day inside on the Emerald Princess for $449 a person. Thats pretty awesome if you ask me. I have never booked through a TA. But maybe Princess is matching offers from TA? Someone fill me in. Because I think the website already offers afordable cruises.

 

 

Most TAs will book a Princess cruise at the same price as Princess charges. Some TAs will book the same cruise at a discount usually giving up part of their commission to do so.

 

Both full price and discount TAs will often offer on board credit ($$$) or onboard gifts such as wine or a dinner at a specialty restaurants. The money for this usually comes from either part of their commission or a dicount they get for booking a block of cabins.

 

Princess will never try to match what a TA will charge when you find a lower rate at a discount TA.

 

Discount TAs just make that affordable cruise more affordable.

[sultan_sfo]

As of now, each travel agency (not travel agent) receives a different price from Princess based on their volume and the amount of group space booked for a "specific" cruise. This is not considered a Travel Agent discount. So for some cruises the agency price may be lot lower than "Princess Brochure Price" shown on Princess website on-line display. For other cruises, because there was no group space booking, the Agency price is very close to Princess prices.

 

In any on-line booking, the actual commission of the travel agent is very small and the travel agent rebates if any are therefore minimal. I expect the differential pricing (volume discount and group space discount) offered by Princess to agencies will continue even if the agent "rebates" or "discounts" are not allowed.

[CrusinAgain]

I know HAL adopted this starting Jan. 1 and lately on alot of cruises, like the one we currently have booked it is cheaper to book with Princess and I contacted and looked at alot of TA sites and calls. The cruise last October was also cheaper with Princess than any TA could provide so I just thought the more you cruised with them the better rate they gave you. Someone did post that recently and then I thought, okay that explains it. But I seriously hope they do not adopt this as all the perks I ever see with the others are onboard credits; free travel insurance; free gratuities; free 5x7 photo.

[C Cruise Dude]

From what the article says it seems that they are going to put a limit on that as well. Some incentives have to be pre approved by Carnival. How will this affect the TA? Is the limit on the incentives much less than what the TA's have been offering?

 

On my last cruise, I was initially dealing with a TA from my insurance company. I would price cruises on the net and check with her to see if she could offer a lower price. She was limited to primarily working with Carnival, I was open to other lines, and would call Carnival and quote me the price that I could get directly from Carnival. I ended up booking the cruise myself directly with Carnival. I believe the customer really loses in two ways, 1. A competitive price and 2. Service extras from the TA. The TA is nothing but a middle person that can be easily eliminated. How sad. :(

[Iamcruzin]

On my last cruise, I was initially dealing with a TA from my insurance company. I would price cruises on the net and check with her to see if she could offer a lower price. She was limited to primarily working with Carnival, I was open to other lines, and would call Carnival and quote me the price that I could get directly from Carnival. I ended up booking the cruise myself directly with Carnival. I believe the customer really loses in two ways, 1. A competitive price and 2. Service extras from the TA. The TA is nothing but a middle person that can be easily eliminated. How sad. :(

 

I booked my last Princess Curies directly with Princess. The price was so cheap that I couldn't find anyone including a TA that I used in the past to beat it even with a free bottle of wine. The only bonus the received was that the cruise came down $50 after final payment for new bookings and I was able to refer my neighbors to Princess. They couldn't pass up the price so they sailed with us and now I have a $50 referral bonus in my circle account towards my next booking.

[Go-Bucks!]

Perhaps this policy is all about getting more people to book direct with Carnival as there will be little or no price benefit booking through a TA, and Carnival won't have to pay the TA their 10% or so commission, which means more profit for CCL. It will be interesting to see what develops and hopefully Princess won't go the same way.

 

 

This is EXACTLY the reason they've changed their policy!!!!

 

They figure people won't want the hassle of using a middleman (TA) if they get no extra perks, so then they won't have to pay commissions to TA's when everyone books directly with Carnival. And the 1A rooms that used to have a single supplement of 150% are now all 200%! Carnival is really cracking down and I think they'll lose business as they can't compete as well against the better lines like Princess, HAL, RCCL, Celebrity, etc. I really hope Princess doesn't start this since I really like sailing with them.

[RickEk]

This is EXACTLY the reason they've changed their policy!!!!

 

They figure people won't want the hassle of using a middleman (TA) if they get no extra perks, so then they won't have to pay commissions to TA's when everyone books directly with Carnival. And the 1A rooms that used to have a single supplement of 150% are now all 200%! Carnival is really cracking down and I think they'll lose business as they can't compete as well against the better lines like Princess, HAL, RCCL, Celebrity, etc. I really hope Princess doesn't start this since I really like sailing with them.

 

As detailed earlier in this thread, RCCL/Celebrity, HAL already have this policy in place...

[Coral]

I know HAL adopted this starting Jan. 1 and lately on alot of cruises, like the one we currently have booked it is cheaper to book with Princess and I contacted and looked at alot of TA sites and calls. .

 

You can still discount on HAL (last time I checked). They just stopped allowing deeply discounted cruises to be advertised.

[caribill]

I booked my last Princess Curies directly with Princess. The price was so cheap that I couldn't find anyone including a TA that I used in the past to beat it.

 

That would be highly unusual. You should be eligible for the same fare from Princess as you would using a TA, so your TA should have been able to at least match what Princess was asking.

[Coral]

That would be highly unusual. You should be eligible for the same fare from Princess as you would using a TA, so your TA should have been able to at least match what Princess was asking.

 

The TA probably didn't type in their Captain Circle number.

[Go-Bucks!]

As detailed earlier in this thread, RCCL/Celebrity, HAL already have this policy in place...

 

 

You didn't understand what I was saying - I meant that if none of these lines will let TA's discount, then Carnival will have a tough time competing (quality-wise) with these others who don't discount either.

 

Carnival used to have an advantage in the market of middle-income folks who were looking for the cheapest price and solos looking for the cheapest SS's. Now they aren't the cheapest, so people may consider better quality lines if they're going to have to pay more anyway.

[Toto2Kansas]

The TA probably didn't type in their Captain Circle number.

 

Coral I totally agree. I have never seen a price offered by Princess that can not be beaten by a discount travel agent, when given the captain's circle number. ;)

[Iamcruzin]

The TA probably didn't type in their Captain Circle number.

 

That would be highly unusual. You should be eligible for the same fare from Princess as you would using a TA, so your TA should have been able to at least match what Princess was asking.

 

They were able to match the price but I couldn't find a TA including one I used in that past who would make a better offer than Princess. I booked 2 interior rooms for 4 passengers at $349 pp. How much commission could they be getting on such a small amount that it would make it worth it to them to transfer the booking? My neighbor only paid $299 pp. My TA replied back telling me I got a great deal enjoy the trip. I am sure when you book far in advance or on longer itineraries and higher category rooms you can get a better deal from a TA but when you book last minute least expensive category there isn’t much room to play with.