Why does HAL discriminate against Australians?

[Aussiepair]

A simple question that has been brought up before but I have never seen an explanation.

 

Why is it that Australian cruisers are not entitled to purchase last minute deals with HAL like others can.

 

If the difference in price was minor it would not be an issue but when Australians are being asked to pay up to three times the price for the same cabin it does leave a sour taste.:confused:

[DFD!]

Are you asking about their unfairness with regard to cruises from US ports or cruises from Australian ports?

Edited December 1, 2013 by DFD!

[AusaicMosaic]

A simple question that has been brought up before but I have never seen an explanation.

 

Why is it that Australian cruisers are not entitled to purchase last minute deals with HAL like others can.

 

If the difference in price was minor it would not be an issue but when Australians are being asked to pay up to three times the price for the same cabin it does leave a sour taste.:confused:

 

What a good question.

I will be watching to see if you get any answers that might be of benefit

[Aussiepair]

Are you asking about their unfairness with regard to cruises from US ports or cruises from Australian ports?

 

HAL will not allow Australians to access last minute cruise deals from any port.

 

If they were an Australian company there is no way they would be allowed to discriminate like that.

[TracieABD]

I feel your pain... This is a frequent conversation on the Princess boards as well.

 

One would think, in this day of the World Wide Web, that pricing could be equalized across countries (taking into account different taxes and government fees). For the life of me, I do not know why Aussies and Brits pay such higher premiums.:confused:

[luv2cruisenz]

HAL will not allow Australians to access last minute cruise deals from any port.

 

If they were an Australian company there is no way they would be allowed to discriminate like that.

 

Hi, are you saying you can't book these using a local travel agent in AUD or that you are being blocked from accessing HAL's website and booking them yourself in USD?

[Aussiepair]

Hi, are you saying you can't book these using a local travel agent in AUD or that you are being blocked from accessing HAL's website and booking them yourself in USD?

 

Yes we can book the cruises through a TA in Australia and through HAL direct but we can not access the cheap last minute deals like the ones advertised on the US TA's websites. Our prices can be as much as 3 times the price.

[BruceMuzz]

Why is it that Australia and Qantas discriminate against Japanese?

 

If I want to fly from Tokyo to Sydney, I must pay twice as much as an Australian who books a flight from Sydney to Tokyo.

[markarmel]

Cruise with Royal Carribean and you wont have a problem with booking a cruise on a USA website. We booked our HAL med cruise through a USA website back in 2011 and saved heaps but HAL have now stopped Aussies being able to do this even if we have used the USA TA before. We have followed up with HAL Sydney and Seattle re the prices we pay here and their reply was that their pricing reflects current market conditions. It's a pity Royal Carribeans Med itinerary is not as good as HAL, if it was we would be on them straight away.

[ozcruizer]

So in other words, Australians can afford to pay more? Odd then that we are not discriminated against when we purchase material goods online from the US. :confused:

Ozcruizer

 

 

Cruise with Royal Carribean and you wont have a problem with booking a cruise on a USA website. We booked our HAL med cruise through a USA website back in 2011 and saved heaps but HAL have now stopped Aussies being able to do this even if we have used the USA TA before. We have followed up with HAL Sydney and Seattle re the prices we pay here and their reply was that their pricing reflects current market conditions. It's a pity Royal Carribeans Med itinerary is not as good as HAL, if it was we would be on them straight away.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

The ball bounces both ways....

 

Why is it that Americans can't book last minute deals on P&O Australia?

Why is it that some Americans have trouble even booking a P&O Australia cruise at full fare?

 

[Big Gordo]

If you ask your travel agent they will tell you. You'll be amazed at the reason.

[Aussiepair]

If you ask your travel agent they will tell you. You'll be amazed at the reason.

 

 

I asked a US TA why I couldn't book a last minute cruise through them for a HAL cruise and they said that HAL would not accept it unless I had an American passport.

[CrusinCouple]

The ball bounces both ways....

 

Why is it that Americans can't book last minute deals on P&O Australia?

Why is it that some Americans have trouble even booking a P&O Australia cruise at full fare?

 

 

Believe me American's or Aussies shouldn't bother booking P&O regardless of price...been there, done that...and NEVER again!

[Ine]

I asked a US TA why I couldn't book a last minute cruise through them for a HAL cruise and they said that HAL would not accept it unless I had an American passport.

 

The same in Europe, in our case The Netherlands.

In the past we have booked with HAL Seattle direct without any problem. But since the opening of a sales office in Rotterdam a few years ago it is no longer possible.

[Big Gordo]

Aussies cannot access the deals because all the cruise lines, due to pressure from the Aussie retail travel industry, will not allow it. Just ask your Aussie travel agent.

[Aussiepair]

Aussies cannot access the deals because all the cruise lines, due to pressure from the Aussie retail travel industry, will not allow it. Just ask your Aussie travel agent.

 

 

Actually we can access the last minute deals with a lot of the cruise lines just not HAL and Princess and maybe a couple of others.

I would love to hear what HAL has to say.

[MasterNotCommander]

Is it not possible to book through a US Travel Agent or online agent to circumvent this problem. I have just booked a Costa cruise through a German agent far below the published rates and costa website rates (in fact some of the cruises didn't even show available if logging in to the US website).

[navybankerteacher]

There seem to be a lot of reasons - some arising from Australian sources some not. The only rationale for HAL discriminating would be to build US customer loyalty -- a US based passenger is much more likely to repeat with HAL, so it would make sense for HAL to favor them. I suspect there must be some Australian government or travel industry interests at play as well. There is no logical reason for any service provider to limit it's potential market just to be mean.

[MasterNotCommander]

I very much doubt its related to US loyalty. More likely a business related decisions, perhaps yield management and the strong Australian Dollar.

[iancal]

It is about money.

 

They do it because they can enforce it without it impacting bookings. Simple supply and demand.

 

My guess is if Australians simply stopped booking on HAL that this policy would be reconsidered by HAL management.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Cruise with Royal Carribean and you wont have a problem with booking a cruise on a USA website. We booked our HAL med cruise through a USA website back in 2011 and saved heaps but HAL have now stopped Aussies being able to do this even if we have used the USA TA before. We have followed up with HAL Sydney and Seattle re the prices we pay here and their reply was that their pricing reflects current market conditions. It's a pity Royal Carribeans Med itinerary is not as good as HAL, if it was we would be on them straight away.

 

Yes in 2011 RCI and Celebrity did allow this but this also will not happen now they are like HAL. In late 2012 RCI and Celebrity stopped US agencies from selling to passengers outside the US and Canada. Currently the only Mass Market/Premium Cruise Lines that allow US agencies to book passengers that reside outside of the US or Canada is Norwegian and Disney. Of course many of the Luxury Lines still allow US agencies to sell to everywhere such as Crystal and Regent.

Now I will state you may be able to process an online purchase and think it has gone through but what happens is yes it books but the agency will not see one penny of commission so doubtful that the reservation would stick.

[iancal]

Will the reservation 'stick' if an Aussi uses a Canadian or US accommodation address?

 

 

We are Canadian but we sometimes book trips from UK travel agents that are not available to those outside the EU...or are much higher in cost if we book in NA. These include 7 or 14 day holidays and from time to time hotels booked through these holiday sites. We cannot book with our Canadian home address but when we use a UK address the reservation goes through without a problem. The address has to be valid because in some instance our hard copy travel vouchers-air/hotel, for those UK booked vacations are mailed out.

Edited December 2, 2013 by iancal

[Aussiepair]

Will the reservation 'stick' if an Aussi uses a Canadian or US accommodation address?

 

 

We are Canadian but we sometimes book trips from UK travel agents that are not available to those outside the EU...or are much higher in cost if we book in NA. These include 7 or 14 day holidays and from time to time hotels booked through these holiday sites. We cannot book with our Canadian home address but when we use a UK address the reservation goes through without a problem. The address has to be valid because in some instance our hard copy travel vouchers-air/hotel, for those UK booked vacations are mailed out.

 

 

We were told by a US TA that without a US passport there was no way we could book a last minute cruise with HAL.

[Aussiepair]

Yes in 2011 RCI and Celebrity did allow this but this also will not happen now they are like HAL. In late 2012 RCI and Celebrity stopped US agencies from selling to passengers outside the US and Canada. Currently the only Mass Market/Premium Cruise Lines that allow US agencies to book passengers that reside outside of the US or Canada is Norwegian and Disney. Of course many of the Luxury Lines still allow US agencies to sell to everywhere such as Crystal and Regent.

Now I will state you may be able to process an online purchase and think it has gone through but what happens is yes it books but the agency will not see one penny of commission so doubtful that the reservation would stick.

 

I did not know that RCI and Celebrity had changed their policy, maybe we need to save a bit more money and go 6 star.