Booking With US Sites & US TA's

[lizzy77]

Thanks for the info on the FCL's Doug.

We are on the STAR in 5 weeks 1 day (but who's counting):p

Look after her for us and looking forward to your review of the ship and the itinerary.

[Kinkacruiser]

You get a lower deposit, that is fully refundable, and you get an OBC (On Board Credit).

It worth it just to get the OBC.

 

A fully refundable deposit ...that's a long way from the $3000 non-refundable deposit I was recently quoted by an Aus Cruise agency.:(

 

Hi Liz...of course we're not counting. We're out of here in 4 weeks 4days. It will be a great to meet up with everyone in Santiago

[Kiwi Kruzer]

A fully refundable deposit ...that's a long way from the $3000 non-refundable deposit I was recently quoted by an Aus Cruise agency.:(

 

As with most things there are some exclusions.....:eek:

 

1. Reduced deposit (50% off the brochure price)

2. Your future cruise deposit is fully refundable if cancelled prior to final payment, except for voyages 20 days and longer. Deposit for voyages 20 days and longer is refundable up to 120 days prior to sailing date.

 

it further states in small print

 

the 50% Excludes Sun Princess Discovery Voyages and cruises, or sectors of cruises 28 nights or more in duration.

[dougo in oz]

Thanks for the info on the FCL's Doug.

We are on the STAR in 5 weeks 1 day (but who's counting):p

Look after her for us and looking forward to your review of the ship and the itinerary.

 

 

aaaahhhh... my second attempt to answer

 

No worries about the info on the FCL Lizzy, however don't hold your breath for a review !! When we get back home in a little over a week, my Notepad goes to the computer Dr to get files added that have gone missing since being on holidays ... I've been unable to use it at all. And my laptop has been telling me it has a fatal error for a while now so I need to get that fixed too !!

 

But in a few words, the Star Princess is a lovely ship, good crew and a great Captain (William Kent). Captain Kent was invited to the CC meet and greet and came along and answered any and all questions and seems to be very nice and certainly very competent as a Captain having some years of experience in these waters which is a good thing.

 

He definitely doesn't like being delayed in ports as one person nearly found out the hard way yesterday. We were all supposed to be on board by 3.30pm and around 4pm, he announced that if all passengers weren't on board soon he would be leaving as he'd be giving orders to pull the gangplank up etc very soon. Some poor hapless person just made it and he let us all know that some people must still be using sundials!!

 

We've been blessed with great weather in Antarctica, but so far for our two ports (Stanley and yesterday, Ushuaia), rain rain and more rain. We've just anchored in Punta Arenas and I think we have two more tender ports before we get to Valpariso on 26th Jan.

 

My advice would be ... pack wet weather / waterproof jackets AND pants as the weather in the ports can turn quickly and if you get caught in the rain, you may get soaked to the skin such as I did (end have ended up with Bronchitis). Scarves, beanies etc are a must too.

 

Umbrellas aren't much chop when the rain comes from all directions. If like me you pack meds, two lots of broad spectrum antibiotics and cough medicine will save you a trip to the ship's Dr ...antibiotics there are $US 42 !!

 

$US are accepted in Stanley, Ushuai, Buenos Aires ... can't comment on Punta Arenas just yet but I suspect $US will be OK.

 

Hope this helps.

[Debsta]

Just off Rhapsody. Booked through a US TA....no problem whatsoever :D

 

RCL don't have FCL's and the OBC they offer is the same for an inside up to a suite, it goes on sea days.

[aussiedisneyfan]

We are back from our HAL cruise. Seems that they can change their minds whenever they like. As I said earlier they allowed us to book onboard directly with the cruiseline using our Aussie address and in USD. When our friends decided to book too a week later they were told they had just reverted back to the old policy of USD for US address and AUD for Aussie. They were still able to book onboard but had to use the US t/a.

 

SiD, we are finally booked for our dream Antarctica voyage, Xmas this year. Whether we end up going or not still remains to be seen, have. We did miss you this cruise and it was very different having a teen, never saw her unlike last year when we had our girls with us nearly all the time. I will get around to emailing you one day. haa haa.

[SunnyinDubai]

SiD, we are finally booked for our dream Antarctica voyage, Xmas this year. Whether we end up going or not still remains to be seen, have. We did miss you this cruise and it was very different having a teen, never saw her unlike last year when we had our girls with us nearly all the time. I will get around to emailing you one day. haa haa.

 

Hmm and I just sent you an email and I would love to hear back from you as we have booked the NZ segment on the Volendam next jan and I was wondering if you would be there again. Antartica - how nice - just don't think it is in the budget for a while yet - well not until A leaves school :p

[rugbypopsie]

FCC letters (the US ones) have better booking conditions, change of plans, change of person etc.. far more flexible than the Aussie ones.

 

For booking through US it is sensible to use a hotmail account that does not immediately identify you as an aussie. All Australian email address have .au which is an immediate give away.

 

Only have a 2 day up my sleeve (Radiance in November) no post cruise blues yet but haven't unpacked LOL.

 

[dougo in oz]

I've never put a cruise review on CC before, but seeing tho' someone asked me to, here's the link - http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=78138

 

Cheers

[lizzy77]

Great review Doug. We sail on the Star Princess on the 23rd so I hope that we get the same conditions that you had and get out to The Falklands to see those King penguins.

[dougo in oz]

Thanks Liz

 

I now have a fully fledged head cold so I was pretty keen to finish writing the review before collapsing in a heap again.

 

Definitely take wet weather / waterproof parka and pull on pants with you as it rained at all of our ports of call apart from Chacabuca, Puerto Montt and Valparaiso. A cheap poncho does nothing and only serves to make a loud noise flapping in the wind scaring the penguins !

 

We found that all ports took $US - only the exchange rate varied so don't assume that the rate will be the same everywhere - ask before you buy.

 

If you are disembarking at Valparaiso, I would recommend taking a Princess debark excursion (why don't they call it a disembarkation excursion?) because some at our CC M&G with private shore excursions were not allowed to disembark together as a group - some got off at 7.30am and others at 10am. They were told by the Purser's office that the disembarkation process was the making of the Chilean authorities. And expect to wait a while before you disembark - we waited for about 45 mins after our allotted time.

[rugbypopsie]

I notice the opening rate for bookings on next years Diamond Princess from Singapore to Sydney is opening at $87 per day. If we book through the US it is almost worth taking a punt on the ship being over booked again and us getting a generous "move over" offer!

At least if we book in the states we get the price drops.

[rkmw]

on the princess site they have some good starting prices Singapore to Sydney

[Kinkacruiser]

I've never put a cruise review on CC before, but seeing tho' someone asked me to, here's the link - http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=78138

 

Cheers

I really enjoyed this read. We'll be following some of your trail on the 23rd Feb.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

I notice the opening rate for bookings on next years Diamond Princess from Singapore to Sydney is opening at $87 per day. If we book through the US it is almost worth taking a punt on the ship being over booked again and us getting a generous "move over" offer!

At least if we book in the states we get the price drops.

 

on the princess site they have some good starting prices Singapore to Sydney

 

For the last 2 years the price has dropped around June.

Note , that is in the past.

It was obvious last year that the cruise had been heavily marketed in Britain and Eastern Europe judging by the passenger mix. If that trend continues they may not need to drop the prices by much.

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

I've never put a cruise review on CC before, but seeing tho' someone asked me to, here's the link - http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=78138

 

Cheers

 

Very well done review Dougo. We will be on the Star next year to Hawaii. Looking forward to cruising on this ship. :D

[CRUISENSNOOZE]

It is not just Ozzies that pay more. In the UK we also pay more if we book in £. We are taking a cruise on Oasis and some friends in the US got a quote from a very well known internet cruise agency and the total in $ was the same as the total in £ give or take. Now there is a big difference in $1500 and £1500. It is well known that some cruise lines simply will not allow a US TA to book for non-US citizens although I have read on these discussions many times that there are ways round it. Lots of Brits seem to do it. So I still think the statement you highlighted was scare mongering though.

We went on a well known American cruise site and they quoted a price to us which was far less than I had seen in this country. I rang up our UK Cruise TA and they then matched the price - hence got the business. So its worth checking the cruise only price and then adding your own flight - it was about £450 pp cheaper that way. Maybe a days extra hassle but saving £900 is not to be sniffed at.

Chris

[MMDown Under]

"On our last two river trips with Viking (a US based company), we were horrified to hear the deals available to US Passengers. While we had to pay full fare, the US passengers had a range of discounts that included free air travel to and from Europe, two for one deals, $400 on board spending money, plus heavy discounting of the standard tour price.

 

We find it frustrating to receive emails from Viking offering special deals but being told they only apply to the US market. Viking is not the only one, they all do it. "

 

No wonder river cruising in Europe is so expensive for Australians on per day basis!

 

Cruise Charges

Last year, we cruised on Swan Hellenic with English friends and on board we met about 20 Australians who were visiting Gallipoli. Many of our fellow Australians had booked through Australian agents and had been charged airfares, for Gatwick - Istanbul and Valletta - Gatwick. This was included in the cruise price that we booked with Swan Hellenic, with our English friends using their address.

 

This year I emailed Swan Hellenic about booking another cruise and they referred me to a local cruise agent, who tried to charge me extra airfares and also denied a discount available to repeat cruisers who book in England. I complained to Swan Hellenic and they said they could only book me with a British mailing address. Luckily my friends were willing to allow us to use their address again.

It's time for the appropriate authorities to take a look at the ethics of Australian cruise agents."

 

Letters to Editor SMH 5-6/2

[rugbypopsie]

"It's time for the appropriate authorities to take a look at the ethics of Australian cruise agents."

I don't think it is a simple as blaming the agents....it is the cruise lines themselves that our imposing the restrictions..."they" say to protect the local agents however I say give the local agents a better price.

 

This may be happening slowly I have heard a few say recently that the price quoted by the local agents was competitive.

[Debsta]

I'm looking at the Diamond Princess Sin to Syd NOV 11 (again :D)......US TA's can't even come close this time, no where near close at $1500 for a single balcony cabin......that's a big difference which in the past has been the other way around.

 

Perhaps it's how they are marketing this particular cruise at the moment :confused: Ohhh procrastination is killing me :rolleyes:

[SunnyinDubai]

I'm looking at the Diamond Princess Sin to Syd NOV 11 (again :D)......US TA's can't even come close this time, no where near close at $1500 for a single balcony cabin......that's a big difference which in the past has been the other way around.

 

Perhaps it's how they are marketing this particular cruise at the moment :confused: Ohhh procrastination is killing me :rolleyes:

 

That is a really good price....:)

[Annabelle100]

"On our last two river trips with Viking (a US based company), we were horrified to hear the deals available to US Passengers. While we had to pay full fare, the US passengers had a range of discounts that included free air travel to and from Europe, two for one deals, $400 on board spending money, plus heavy discounting of the standard tour price.

 

We find it frustrating to receive emails from Viking offering special deals but being told they only apply to the US market. Viking is not the only one, they all do it. "

 

No wonder river cruising in Europe is so expensive for Australians on per day basis!

 

Cruise Charges

Last year, we cruised on Swan Hellenic with English friends and on board we met about 20 Australians who were visiting Gallipoli. Many of our fellow Australians had booked through Australian agents and had been charged airfares, for Gatwick - Istanbul and Valletta - Gatwick. This was included in the cruise price that we booked with Swan Hellenic, with our English friends using their address.

 

This year I emailed Swan Hellenic about booking another cruise and they referred me to a local cruise agent, who tried to charge me extra airfares and also denied a discount available to repeat cruisers who book in England. I complained to Swan Hellenic and they said they could only book me with a British mailing address. Luckily my friends were willing to allow us to use their address again.

It's time for the appropriate authorities to take a look at the ethics of Australian cruise agents."

 

 

Letters to Editor SMH 5-6/2

 

 

I saw those letters in the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday, and I've seen a couple of similar ones in the print media recently.

 

I'm hoping this is a small start of getting the message i.e disparity in pricing, to those who do not use a computer.

 

I'm guessing a big market is folk in their 60s, 70s, 80s, who book travel through a TA without the benefit of online price comparisons.

 

Ann

[Debsta]

I'm looking at the Diamond Princess Sin to Syd NOV 11 (again :D)......US TA's can't even come close this time, no where near close at $1500 for a single balcony cabin......that's a big difference which in the past has been the other way around.

 

Perhaps it's how they are marketing this particular cruise at the moment :confused: Ohhh procrastination is killing me :rolleyes:

 

:o It's come to my attention folks think it's $1500 for the cabin.....that is the difference in the quotes, not the price for the cabins.....sorry to leave out a crucial word :eek:

[SunnyinDubai]

:o It's come to my attention folks think it's $1500 for the cabin.....that is the difference in the quotes, not the price for the cabins.....sorry to leave out a crucial word :eek:

 

That makes more sense - I had seen a few emails advertising a good price but not that good a price :D That being said, the price I have seen looks good - sadly it is in school time :(

[The_Big_M]

The thing is that each market has its own office, and they will put promotions in, but of course they'll only cover their own region, not other regions. The only way to stop that is to disallow those offers entirely... not something I'm in favour of.