Booking With US Sites & US TA's

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

Not so much, they're the ones who've already experienced the approach, so are most aggrieved that they can't do as they've done before.

 

New ones can be told what the current policy is. Of course, they won't be happy, but it's still not something they've done in the past either.

 

We are platinum on Princess, just booked another one yesterday, no problem, shows up on personaliser already.

 

It seems they are relaxing their rules, just not advertising it.

[The_Big_M]

We are platinum on Princess' date=' just booked another one yesterday, no problem, shows up on personaliser already.

 

It seems they are relaxing their rules, just not advertising it.[/quote']

 

According to the notice that TA sent out, effectively advertising their arrangements, there's no issue in what you said. They're happy to take further bookings for people who have either booked in the past right up to now.

 

They just say that if you haven't made a booking by then, then you won't be able to do so in future. Of course, things change (just like this announcement is!) but the limitation will come in later, not now.

[pacificlover]

We are platinum on Princess' date=' just booked another one yesterday, no problem, shows up on personaliser already.

 

It seems they are relaxing their rules, just not advertising it.[/quote']

 

I am Elite with Princess and my booking of last week also shows up on my personaliser. Apparently my US TA will not get commission for my booking, but they have taken it anyway. NB: Billy and Charlie's Mum, I think we are booked on same cruise.

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

I am Elite with Princess and my booking of last week also shows up on my personaliser. Apparently my US TA will not get commission for my booking, but they have taken it anyway. NB: Billy and Charlie's Mum, I think we are booked on same cruise.

 

Which one?

[bennob66]

The US TA's have to put that on the web site to ensure their are no problems with the cruise lines in accepting non us bookings. I call the TA direct and they list my address as the TA's address in the US and u provide my email address (not a com.ai one!).

[pacificlover]

Which one?

Star Princess, 13th April 2012 San Francisco to Hawaii. Booked solo cabin but travelling with some family members......see you on board??

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

Star Princess, 13th April 2012 San Francisco to Hawaii. Booked solo cabin but travelling with some family members......see you on board??

 

What a shame! We are on the cruise after you.... 28th April.

[NSWP]

The US TA's have to put that on the web site to ensure their are no problems with the cruise lines in accepting non us bookings. I call the TA direct and they list my address as the TA's address in the US and u provide my email address (not a com.ai one!).

Ah so that is how they do it, give Princess the US T/A address, sneaky.

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

Ah so that is how they do it, give Princess the US T/A address, sneaky.

 

Not at the moment Les. The Star Princess cruise I just booked this week has our address, past passenger numbers and phone numbers. A straight out booking. Lets hope it continues.

[NSWP]

Not at the moment Les. The Star Princess cruise I just booked this week has our address' date=' past passenger numbers and phone numbers. A straight out booking. Lets hope it continues.[/quote']

Indeed, although it pays to check t/a's in US and Australia, our South American cruise on Star Princess was much the same price with big WA T/A as the big US t/a's.

 

One day I hope all these price differences might be sorted.

[lizzy77]

I have just done a price check for B2B cruises for next year on the Diamond Princess.

BC balcony cabin.

Princess Aus $13716 Aus

US TA. $11830 US

Difference in price $1686US.

 

Deposit is less buying from the US and refundable and able to be transferred to another cruise. Plus on-board credit of $170 US.

If I decide to book I can use my Future Cruise Letter which we purchased for $200 and use that as the deposit.

Yes I know that the Aussie $ could go down but I am more than happy to take that risk and if that happens I can cancel without a loss and my Future Cruise letter can be kept and reused for another cruise.

[MMDown Under]

I have just done a price check for B2B cruises for next year on the Diamond Princess.

BC balcony cabin.

Princess Aus $13716 Aus

US TA. $11830 US

Difference in price $1686US.

 

Deposit is less buying from the US and refundable and able to be transferred to another cruise. Plus on-board credit of $170 US.

If I decide to book I can use my Future Cruise Letter which we purchased for $200 and use that as the deposit.

Yes I know that the Aussie $ could go down but I am more than happy to take that risk and if that happens I can cancel without a loss and my Future Cruise letter can be kept and reused for another cruise.

 

Great to be able to cancel without a loss. Non-refundable deposits are the killer in Australia.

 

Two questions, Liz -

 

How many days is the B2B cruise, and are gratutities included?

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

Indeed, although it pays to check t/a's in US and Australia, our South American cruise on Star Princess was much the same price with big WA T/A as the big US t/a's.

 

One day I hope all these price differences might be sorted.

 

The big plus with booking with an O/S ta is that you get the price drops. There may not be much difference in the fares when you book 16 months out but if the price drops you get them if you book overseas. If you book in Aust

you don't get them. The original price stands.

[lizzy77]

Great to be able to cancel without a loss. Non-refundable deposits are the killer in Australia.

 

Two questions, Liz -

 

How many days is the B2B cruise, and are gratutities included?

 

 

 

The cruise is Beijing to Singapore 16nights, then Singapore to Sydney 19 nights. 35 nights in total and only a one way air. Yes it's a great cruise but I am going to wait and see if it comes down in price as we have been to most of the ports before.

Gratuities are not included and they never have been in any we have booked in the US.

[fairstars]

We booked the Diamond Singapore to Sydney cruise, (November 2011,) and the pricing for our suite was almost $US2,000 cheaper booking here than the US. Even the official Australian Princess site has the pricing way below the US Princess site and all of the popular US discount sites. I know this is just one cruise and one category but it does pay to check. We have booked with Australian, US and in one case a UK agent, whatever turns out to be the best deal. :) In the case of the UK TA, we booked a balcony cabin for DD and friend and saved several thousand dollars but on the same cruise we booked our suite with an Aussie TA, so there are no hard and fast rules to the best deal.

Although the deposit may be higher with an Aussie TA you can still use your FCC letter for a half deposit, (on cruise less than 28 nights), that is fully refundable and you get the OBC.

Happy cruising,

Chris

[pacificlover]

In my experience it seems that if the ship is based in Australia (even for just the season), then Princess Australia has competitive pricing, but ships based in US and sailing Asia, etc, then US pricing is better. With the added bonus of refundable deposits. My last booking, deposit was only $US100, fully refundable.

[MMDown Under]

The big plus with booking with an O/S ta is that you get the price drops. There may not be much difference in the fares when you book 16 months out but if the price drops you get them if you book overseas. If you book in Aust

you don't get them. The original price stands.

 

The cruise is Beijing to Singapore 16nights' date=' then Singapore to Sydney 19 nights. 35 nights in total and only a one way air. Yes it's a great cruise but I am going to wait and see if it comes down in price as we have been to most of the ports before.

Gratuities are not included and they never have been in any we have booked in the US.[/quote']

 

We booked the Diamond Singapore to Sydney cruise, (November 2011,) and the pricing for our suite was almost $US2,000 cheaper booking here than the US. Even the official Australian Princess site has the pricing way below the US Princess site and all of the popular US discount sites. I know this is just one cruise and one category but it does pay to check. We have booked with Australian, US and in one case a UK agent, whatever turns out to be the best deal. :) In the case of the UK TA, we booked a balcony cabin for DD and friend and saved several thousand dollars but on the same cruise we booked our suite with an Aussie TA, so there are no hard and fast rules to the best deal.

Although the deposit may be higher with an Aussie TA you can still use your FCC letter for a half deposit, (on cruise less than 28 nights), that is fully refundable and you get the OBC.

Happy cruising,

Chris

 

Good point re getting price drops in US, Eileen.

 

I wondered if the Australian price included gratuities for 35 nights, Liz.

 

It will be interesting to watch the US price of Diamond's Singapore to Sydney cruise to see whether there are price drops closer to November, 2011.

 

Just curious, for those without FCC letters, what is the non refundable deposit with Aust TAs for this cruise, Chris?

[Debsta]

Just curious, for those without FCC letters, what is the non refundable deposit with Aust TAs for this cruise, Chris?

 

I'm shopping around for this one too....also waiting for price to drop.

 

An Aussie TA who actually had single cabins (balcony) cheaper than any other TA in OZ or US had a non-refundable deposit of $750.00 :eek: November 2011 is way too far away for me to book something that I'm not going to get a refund on before final payment. I haven't rung them yet though to see if I can use my FCC letter as it's still too expensive.

[fairstars]

Good point re getting price drops in US, Eileen.

 

I wondered if the Australian price included gratuities for 35 nights, Liz.

 

It will be interesting to watch the US price of Diamond's Singapore to Sydney cruise to see whether there are price drops closer to November, 2011.

 

Just curious, for those without FCC letters, what is the non refundable deposit with Aust TAs for this cruise, Chris?

 

Marion and Barry,

 

For our suite it would have been $1,500 which is absolutely ridiculous.

Australian TAs need to wake up, Aussies do not want to risk that much money, even though insurance will cover most things most do not cover a change of mind. We would certainly bit more cautious without a FCC.

 

Happy cruising,

Chris

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

Princess is relaxing the rules until 31st December 2010. If you are thinking of booking a cruise with an O/S TA now is the time to do it.

 

I received this from a TA this morning.......

 

Eileen,

I trust that you had an enjoyable Christmas.

Princess Cruises announced earlier this morning changes to the way that agencies in the United States will be able to handle reservations for their "overseas" clients. We need to get potential clients into the system prior to the end of the year, as we can continue to book cruises for existing clients. Whilst they haven't given us much time, we will be delighted to assist with any family, friend or colleagues that would like to take advantage of our competitive rates and the very agreeable rate of exchange between the Australian and US Dollars.

It would be very much appreciated if you would please pass this information on to any interested parties so that they may contact me prior to the end of the year so we can assist with their travel plans. Presently this ONLY applies to Princess Cruises.

Happy New Year!

[Debsta]

Princess is relaxing the rules until 31st December 2010. If you are thinking of booking a cruise with an O/S TA now is the time to do it.

 

I received this from a TA this morning.......

 

Eileen' date='[/color']

 

I trust that you had an enjoyable Christmas.

 

Princess Cruises announced earlier this morning changes to the way that agencies in the United States will be able to handle reservations for their "overseas" clients. We need to get potential clients into the system prior to the end of the year, as we can continue to book cruises for existing clients. Whilst they haven't given us much time, we will be delighted to assist with any family, friend or colleagues that would like to take advantage of our competitive rates and the very agreeable rate of exchange between the Australian and US Dollars.

 

It would be very much appreciated if you would please pass this information on to any interested parties so that they may contact me prior to the end of the year so we can assist with their travel plans. Presently this ONLY applies to Princess Cruises.

 

Happy New Year!

 

So if we book, then cancel down the track, I wonder if we are still in their system????

[rugbypopsie]

So if we book, then cancel down the track, I wonder if we are still in their system????

 

Yes! The US agents were up in arms about Princess restricting their trade with previous overseas clients so this is the compromise. If you are an existing client OK no problems... Irrespective, Australians and NZ clients will still manage to book stateside if the deals continue to be so much better than available here.

 

I am probably not going to do the Diamond back to Australia again in 2011, while I love it, it is time to look further afield in the fleet. When you are considering prices for this trip there are two things to bear in mind...this year and the year before the trip was sold out, in fact oversold and so there were great "move over" offers made, in one case, money back and a free cruise to give up their booking...also booking a guarantee is a good idea if you are happy to be anywhere in the ship.

 

We got a 4 category upgrade on our minisuite from AE to AA...and only paid $2000 USD for the minisuite (flash sale 5 months out from sailaway). It was worth the angst of waiting for a cabin allocation.

 

Do your research, shop around, suscribe to all the cruise specialist newsletters..its your money, you worked hard to earn it, don't give it away.

And finally continue agitating for fairer booking conditions for Aussies and Kiwis...we want to support our local agents..just not at any price.

[Australian family]

Has anyone tried using the agency here in Australia that is willing to beat any quote of any travel agency worldwide?

[lizzy77]

I have been told that if a US TA books a Princess cruise for us after Jan 1st. that the AGENT will not receive a commission. :eek:

[Gold Coast Cruisers]

I have been told that if a US TA books a Princess cruise for us after Jan 1st. that the AGENT will not receive a commission. :eek:

 

 

Wonder why they would be saying that when Princess is a US based company in the first place. Obviously commission is just part of the booking no matter who does the booking from where?

 

Jillybean:)