skyauction experience?

[snowiit]

I have heard talk about the website and wondered what everyone's experience with it is. I notice that some come with paid port charges. I never knew that was a separate charge. Do some cruiselines do this and others don't? I have only cruised Disney (which I LOVE) but thinking about booking something for DH and my anniversary coming up. I would love to hear from you!

 

Nancy

[caviargal]

I had two experiences with Skyauction and both were negative. There is no phone number so I had to hunt down a contact # since they were totally unresponsive to emails. Also, I got the worst rooms possible on both cruises.

 

For me, it was not a pleasant experience.

 

Also, they assess many charges that they lay at the feet of the cruise line, but are totally upcharges and admin charges collected and kept by Skyauction. I filed a formal complaint with RCI about their claims of fees being assessed by RCI and passed on to me. It was a blatant lie.

[serene56]

Port charges and government taxes are seperate from the cruise price. Some agents include the port tax but rare will you see the government taxes in there.

 

I have read some reviews using sky auctions and although some are good-- most are not pretty-

 

Before you bid make sure you read ALL the fine print. You will be booking a set cabin-- sometimes the lowest rated cabin and more then likly you will not be able to upgrade.

[TrqoisWtrs]

I used skyauction for a cruise once and didn't have any problems (got chocolate covered strawberries and bottle of champagne in our cabin from them too.:) ) But the cruise I won I bid on, so there were more items to keep in mind for the final price; the cruises they list now all seem to be 'buy it now.' I would shop around as these buy it now prices seem comparable to all the other prices out there. If you need the final cost, just go through pretending like you are 'buying it now' and it will give the full price, including the taxes and $15 skyauction fee. I do have an 800 number at home somewhere-if you're interested I can post it here.

[landshark]

I've dealt with them a few times and would do it again in a heartbeat. You have to know what you're doing...read ALL of the fine print. I got a heck of a good deal last summer in prime season on 2 cabins. Yes, they were bottom deck in the very front....but it was still a steal! (I won this auction.)

 

This summer I won an auction for a week stay at the beautiful Summer Bay Resort Condominiums in Orlando for a total of $240 for EVERYTHING...in the prime summer months! It was fantastic!

 

I'm leaving tomorrow on the 5 day Imagination I won last fall. It was a TOTAL of $265pp. Not too shabby! (And we're even a couple of levels up from the bottom and midship!)

 

I also had to hunt down the #800 in the beginning because I needed 2 cabins and had many questions. It's a whole lot easier talking to a real person in real time than playing e-mail tag.

 

I think the great cruise deals are few and far between now. They are mostly the Buy Now kind and don't seem to be much better than you can do otherwise.

[JUST_CRUZIN]

I have used skyauction twice and have never had any problems. I am currently booked on the NCL Dream on 11/05 and used them again. I actually bid for an inside stateroom and was upgraded to an oceanview stateroom.

 

If you read the fine print you can get good deals. Yes sometimes port charges are included and sometimes there not. Also watch for Date surcharges for certian dates. If you read the whole page they tell you upfront about all the charges. There is a 15.oo administration fee per booking.

 

NLC is charging $716.00 pp for this cruise and I won the auction and paid $425.00 pp.

 

I would use them again and again if I found a good deal. Keep in mind that If the auction gets to a higher bid than you want to pay, dont go over budget, they will list the same cruise again after the end of the current auction.

 

 

Good luck bidding.

 

Heather

[OkieCruisers]

I have to say our one experience booking with them was a good one. I would sure do it again although I didn't agree with some of there rules. We won auctions on two cabins for a back to back cruise last fall. But about two weeks before our cruise date, we had a change in who was going. They charged us I think $25 for each name change. That added up since it was two cruises and two people changed. But over all we had nice cabins and took the 14 day cruise for about $780 TOTAL each all said and done. I did notice more buy it now cruises on there now and those are not usually THE greatest deal. But watch the site often and you can still find the awesome ones. I would use them again.

[serene56]

25.00 for name changes is not bad- Some cruise lines charge up to 50-100 depending on when the change was done. Also- even though the cruise was booked as a back to back it was still 2 seperate cruises.

 

This is a fee done by cruiselines not the agent.

[Earthworm Jim]

I used them and had no problems. For the week we were looking at every auction seemed to get priced higher than you would pay under "Buy it now", so we used buy it now. But now with the restrictions on advertising discount cruise prices I don't think you'll get any better deal using buy it now than you do anywhere else.

 

They did have a phone number somewhere on the site though, because I ended up calling them when I wanted to make my final payment a little bit beofre the deadline just to make sure it was done on time. Or maybe the phone number was in the confirmation e-mail they sent me, I don't remember. But I got it somewhere.

[JUST_CRUZIN]

I received skyauction's phone number in an e-mail. It's (212) 355-3660.