When a sale is not really a sale! (Read the fine print)!

[squadron]

Hello... I have "enjoyed" learning all the ins and outs of prices on cruises... One of the factors you might consider is the amount of "port taxes." Depending on what port you depart from and what are the ports of call... there can be a significant difference in the final price..... these prices are only seen at final payment mode.

 

It is amazing to see that a short 3 night cruise out of Miami has a much higher amount of port taxes than a 14 night transatlantic out of Fort Lauderdale.

 

So I am wondering if your base fare is actually the correct fare... but the port tax was what increased your final fare...

 

Ernesto

 

I, too, have noticed that port taxes do vary depending the ports visited. Obviously some charge more - California, Hawaii and Alaska seem to be more . Environment laws? However I noticed that the ports taxes are more now on one of my cruises then they were several months ago when I booked. They are beyond the cruise line's control.

[squadron]

it could also be that the $399 starting at fare, is special pricing for seniors, resident rates, military, police/fire. So this fare wouldn't show up for you had you not selected one of those special fares, but if you did select one of those criteria, the $399 would show up.

 

If you look at the breakdown when doing a dummy booking there is the total price and when you click on breakdown - you will see there will be a $ value for cruise and a $ value for port taxes. The prices quoted in ads only show cruise price.

[squadron]

Misleading or not, it's a common way to advertise. I couldn't count the numbers ads Ive seen that say something along the lines of All ..... Up to 50% off. And what it means us that they're all on saie and at least one is 50% off.

 

agreed. Shoes, washing machines - whatever - only a few are 50 % off! One has to read carefully. Basic reading comprehension.

[ssb]

Cruise pricing floats up and down just like the stock market

according to supply of cabins and demand of cruisers .

The price is dollar the willing buyer and seller will pay.

 

A packaged or group travel agent may offer incentives of varied pricing and other benefits just to sell cabins.

 

But the cruise line pricing is what it is at time and day of booking.

Then pricing is adjusted upward or downward

According to supply and demand market conditions .

 

If pricing drops below your booking price

you can usually get the lower pricing prior to your final payment date.

 

Last minutes pricing deals are good if you have time flexibility .

See 90 day ticker .

Edited April 12, 2014 by ssb

[Ocean Boy]

I am not saying this is the issue in the OP's particular case. But when looking at Oasis and Allure pricing you will often see a really good price on balconies and whe you look into booking you find that the "balcony" pricing is for the Central Park or Boardwalk balconies and the pricing for ocean view balconies is significantly higher. Though there is nothing wrong with the advertizing I think most of us typically think of ocean views when we see "balcony" as with most ships that is the only type of balcony that there is.

 

As for the OP's title... when is a sale not really a sale... in my mind a sale is not really a sale when the pricing is the same as it was before the sale started or it is even higher.

Edited April 12, 2014 by Ocean Boy

[tlatrice]

Shouldn't you read the fine print anyway?

[knittinggirl]

"Up to" 50% off means very little. I'm not even sure they're obligated to give the 50% off at all.

 

Buy one, get one half off, is really 25% off.

 

Remember that we must pay port charges, as well as gratuities. Then once you get on the ship, they're very competent about getting more of your money. Fees for internet, someone in another thread mentioned $195 for unlimited for 7 days. Remember when internet was $30 for a whole month vs $800 on the cruise. Also alcohol, soft drinks, spa treatments, specialty dining. All engineered to get more of our money.

 

Also, keep in mind they often sell the bookings at a loss and plan to make the difference once on board.

 

Keep looking for price drops though, you can get price drops for senior citizen (age 55), residency. But remember these days, they start the booking from scratch w/ each price change, so you may end up losing money.

 

During all these so called "great" promotions, I haven't received ONE price drop email.

[Tucker in Texas]

If I've posted this before, please forgive.

 

I was researching the NOS for a friend. They wanted three outside cabins. Two for two people; one for three.

 

Price for two people in a cabin was $519 base fare including a senior/resident discount. Go to a cabin for three people. Third free. Guess what? Base fare was $699 and no senior/resident discount. On the fare summary, they put in $273 or thereabouts for the third person. Then they deducted it before coming up with the final price. Still, the bottom line was that the third person was going to cost them around $300 more difference than the two persons. I don't know what the third person would have cost before they did the promotion but suspect it was around $300 (lol).

 

Tucker in Texas

[knittinggirl]

I just did a mock booking, and when you get to the page where you choose your stateroom, the price per person is in small print, and the larger font size price is the amount you should expect to pay for all people in your cabin. It will include taxes and fees, but not gratuities. When you're thinking $599 cruise fare, that $1,420 fee can really be a shocker. Just below that big yellow box showing the shocking $1,420 you'll see "summary of charges." That will show you how much extra you'll pay for port fees. But if the ship misses that port, like happened to us on Voyager a few years back, they'll refund those port charges back to your seapass account.

 

Before we started cruising, we looked at the brochures, which stated something like from $599, but we didn't realize that we'd have to pay $599 for each person.

Edited April 12, 2014 by knittinggirl

[critterchick]

That make a lot of sense! But they shouldn't advertise special customer discount rates without writing the stipulations somewhere.

 

Just to check, went back and checked 55+, Active Military, Active Law Enforcement, and Florida Res. could still only get the rate down to $499 (the discount seems to be only based on residency this time, tried Texas too, would another state be cheaper?)

 

Another state could indeed be cheaper. We once went on a cruise where 49 states qualifies for a residency discount, but ours (CA) did not. Another time we had a great residency discount that wasn't available to TN residents (somebody on our a Roll Call was from therre).

Another interesting (I don't want to say "bogus," oops, just did) pricing strategy I've seen is the free upgrade form inside to OV or OV to balcony promotion. Guess what happens to the inside price? :rolleyes:

Edited April 12, 2014 by critterchick

[FLACRUISER99]

The bottom line is if you don't like the price don't book it!:rolleyes:

[Tucker in Texas]

[quote name='FLACRUISER99']The bottom line is if you don't like the price don't book it!:rolleyes:[/QUOTE]

They didn't. Went to Carnival instead (lol). Hope it works out for them.

Tucker in Texas