Question for UK Celebrity Cruisers

[Patsy Flower]

Thank You.

 

I must be looking at the wrong website as the price I am seeing for a balcony cabin on an 8 day Eclipse cruise in August is 2126 USD for a 2B plus government fees and tax of approx 136 USD. This equates to £1359.00.

 

I am obviously looking in the wrong place. I will keep looking.

[kfowinst]

Thank You.

 

I must be looking at the wrong website as the price I am seeing for a balcony cabin on an 8 day Eclipse cruise in August is 2126 USD for a 2B plus government fees and tax of approx 136 USD. This equates to £1359.00.

 

I am obviously looking in the wrong place. I will keep looking.

 

8 day Norway eclipse balcony in August is $1836 ...keep looking:)

[Project_gal]

Why do British people buy cruises in pound sterling when they know the prices and offers are better in the US? Plus you can't take advantage of price drops.

 

Am I missing something?

 

Is there a reason why people are choosing to book through UK websites rather than through US travel agents?

 

You are missing something. You are not comparing like for like. However, let's start with one misconception. You CAN take advantages of price drops in the UK. If you use a UK TA, they may not be aware of this or may not be prepared to do it but Cleebrity UK does honour price drops if the offers are not for "new bookings only" - just like in the US.

 

US and EU/UK regulations are very different. When you purchase an cruise in the EU, you get the protections provide by EU law and when you purchase in the UK, you get the additional protection provided here. Thus, you are buying under differ conditions.

 

Then there is the issue of currency fluctuation. If you purchase in US$, you are risking the exchange rate going the "wrong way" and your cruise costing a great deal more than you expected by final payment date. Once you book your cruise in US$, you have to purchase everything in US$. Celebrity set their exchange rate at intervals [rather than have it flutating day by day] and for each element of a cruise separately. Frequently, it is much cheaper to buy cruise add-ons [excursions, specialy dining, etc] in sterling than US$. You can also often buy OBC are very advantageous rates. You just need to keep watching exchange rates and prices.

 

You have to make your own decisions about these things but you must always take everything into account and not take just the headline prices at face value.

 

[Just checked what the original topic of this thread was! Interestingly, when Celebrity made the recent changes to their website, it reverted back to letting UK users go to CelebrityCruises.com.]

Edited February 22, 2014 by Project_gal