Guaranteed lowest fares

[mandranuc]

Very often these days we see hotels, through their own websites, guaranteeing the lowest prices for their rooms and there is a certain confidence in booking on that basis.

 

I have just seen a Cunard fare, on the Cunard website, in Princess Grill for £3199 per person, yet in a brochure just received from a travel agent the same journey is offered at £1999 - and that includes hotel accommodation prior to return flights. I am a believer in doing your homework before booking but these sort of differentials just do not seem fair.

[BlueRiband]

I've seen some strange anomalies on the Cunard site due to the demand algorithm but a 1200GBP difference is astonishing.

 

In the US Cunard never guarantees lowest price on their own web site. Flash sales are only available by telephone or through a TA at the right time. When we do see email promotions it's rarely for Grills - usually just balcony guarantees.

[Morgans]

Was the offer of £1999 for grills also? There are some excellent offers to be had which are packages made up for TA's and they sometimes include hotels too. Just keep eyes peeled and check the press adverts and compare with Cunard website.

[mandranuc]

Was the offer of £1999 for grills also? There are some excellent offers to be had which are packages made up for TA's and they sometimes include hotels too. Just keep eyes peeled and check the press adverts and compare with Cunard website.

 

Yes for Princess Grill - exactly the same journey PLUS the hotel for 2 nights and £1200 cheaper!!

[zider]

Cunard do not guarantee the lowest prices they use the Fluid pricing system & the prices can go up/down in seconds, The tricky bit is deciding even before you book what you are prepared to pay & when the price for you is right book it, Then forget about any future price drop/increases.

[milamber]

We booked a 20 day return transatlantic earlier in the year via a travel agent which was 66% cheaper than Cunards Saver Fare on the website. That price also included a 5 nights hotel stay in New York which the Cunard price didn't. Plus the fare we booked wasn't a saver fare so we could choose cabin, dining time, table size and so on.

 

We've just booked a world cruise segment on QM2 which is 35% cheaper than Cunard's current website fare and which also includes 3 nights in Sydney, which Cunard don't.

 

It's not just Cunard though. We have picked up some astonishing fares in the past via travel agents. We usually book cruise only and make the air and hotel arrangements ourselves, but sometimes the travel agents manage to put together a package we can't come close to. We aren't always sure how they do it - our recent booking is a case in point. It must be a combination of some very cheap wholesale cabin prices from the cruise lines, a bulk hotel booking and a good flight deal.

 

Generally cruise packages with hotel stays are often much cheaper than the same cruise without a stay, so the stay at the beginning or end is clearly the variable that allows the price reduction.

[Tangoqueen]

I must be looking in the wrong places, I do lots of research online and phone and yet don't get anything better than a 5% discount off both the Cunard and saver fare. Someone onboard in the summer recommended an agent and I managed to lose the slip of paper :(

[Alibobs]

The Cunard fare is the Cunard fare as I understand it and you can always pay that....it's the saver fares (in the UK) where there are sometimes huge differences . Really huge differences......but you sometimes have to play a waiting game which can sometimes backfire. We always track a cruise with a guide price in mind and when it hits that price we will book. Cruises can sell out and prices can go up. It depends how much you want/need a particular itinerary.

 

Our last booking was made at what we thought was an excellent rate (still do) but then the price subsequently dropped by another huge margin.......(I know I shouldn't have looked!)......I still feel very happy about the price we paid, we got a good deal.....and those people that booked at the lower rate well they have got an amazing deal x

[zider]

All booking regardless of who books them have to go through Cunard!!! Now Cunard/Carnival do NOT allow anyone to undercut their Prices. Do that & they Blacklist you from any further business Cunard give Agents between 5 & 15% commission , So to get between 35/66% discount on a cruise is not possible you may be able to get better deals on a Package Flights/Hotels Excursions but the Cruise part of the Package will NOT be discounted.

[jo-b]

All booking regardless of who books them have to go through Cunard!!! Now Cunard/Carnival do NOT allow anyone to undercut their Prices. Do that & they Blacklist you from any further business Cunard give Agents between 5 & 15% commission , So to get between 35/66% discount on a cruise is not possible you may be able to get better deals on a Package Flights/Hotels Excursions but the Cruise part of the Package will NOT be discounted.

 

I think you will find that some of the agents somehow do get better deals, whether through block booking cabins and getting a group rate or whatever the price differentials can be partly down to their being able to get cheaper hotel & flight deals than the general public but also some of the cost has got to be cheaper cruise fares.

 

And don't lets start on the US/UK differentials!

[milamber]

All booking regardless of who books them have to go through Cunard!!! Now Cunard/Carnival do NOT allow anyone to undercut their Prices. Do that & they Blacklist you from any further business Cunard give Agents between 5 & 15% commission , So to get between 35/66% discount on a cruise is not possible you may be able to get better deals on a Package Flights/Hotels Excursions but the Cruise part of the Package will NOT be discounted.

 

Sorry, but that's simply not the case. Cunard, along with other cruise lines, sometimes give travel agents a block of cabins at a cheap rate to shift them if the cruise isn't selling well. There is no other way some of the low fares would be possible.

 

If it was permitted on the boards I could link to an example quite clearly now. The travel agent has the cruise plus 3 nights hotel and return flights for £4499 and Cunard have it, without hotel stays, for £6899. The flights may well be different between the agent and Cunard, but a one way flight certainly isn't going to be £2400 per person less and the hotel is another £420 for the three nights if we had to book it ourselves so a saving of over £5000 for two people.

 

Other than the hotel stay and the flight presumably being with a different airline (and not a budget airline either) the package is identical to Cunard.

 

The 20 night return transatlantic we booked earlier this year was £1099 with the travel agent including 5 nights in New York and £2899 with Cunard with no hotel. No flights, obviously, so the only possible way the agent could sell it that price was a huge discount from Cunard which wasn't available directly with the cruise line.

Edited September 27, 2015 by milamber

[NewWestwardbound]

We booked a 20 day return transatlantic earlier in the year via a travel agent which was 66% cheaper than Cunards Saver Fare on the website. That price also included a 5 nights hotel stay in New York

 

Was this the July offer made through a travel agent in UK? I'd be really interested in how this worked out for you, especially the hotel in New York as I was keen to take advantage of the offer but couldn't (family preferred to go elsewhere).

[mandranuc]

All booking regardless of who books them have to go through Cunard!!! Now Cunard/Carnival do NOT allow anyone to undercut their Prices. Do that & they Blacklist you from any further business Cunard give Agents between 5 & 15% commission , So to get between 35/66% discount on a cruise is not possible you may be able to get better deals on a Package Flights/Hotels Excursions but the Cruise part of the Package will NOT be discounted.

 

Obviously the first part of your statement is correct BUT with regard to the second part I would have to disagree. This is why I ask is it fair - my example is the same cruise (in Grills), same return flight - 50.88% discount.!

[commodoredave]

All booking regardless of who books them have to go through Cunard!!! Now Cunard/Carnival do NOT allow anyone to undercut their Prices. Do that & they Blacklist you from any further business Cunard give Agents between 5 & 15% commission , So to get between 35/66% discount on a cruise is not possible you may be able to get better deals on a Package Flights/Hotels Excursions but the Cruise part of the Package will NOT be discounted.

 

Our travel agency quietly gives us a cash back cheque at the end of our cruise that represents about 5% of the total cruise cost. They are a huge agency and Cunard knows exactly what they and others like them are doing. So the threat of blacklisting for undercutting, if it doses exist, only applies to people who openly advertise it.

[navybankerteacher]

Obviously the first part of your statement is correct BUT with regard to the second part I would have to disagree. This is why I ask is it fair - my example is the same cruise (in Grills), same return flight - 50.88% discount.!

 

I get itchy whenever the concept of "fair" arises in any discussion of any open market. There are so many variables: travel agent incentives, cruise line price cuts, unexpected surges (or drops) in passenger interest. Then, how about someone who bought shares of stock just before some major price drop, or price increase.

 

You buy what you buy, when you buy it at the price that seems right to you at the time - then you should live with it, and only continue monitoring prices to keep yourself aware of trends - and if you are mature enough to not cry "unfair" when someone might get a better deal.

[milamber]

Was this the July offer made through a travel agent in UK? I'd be really interested in how this worked out for you, especially the hotel in New York as I was keen to take advantage of the offer but couldn't (family preferred to go elsewhere).

 

Yes it was. Everything the agent organised was absolutely fine and went without a hitch including the transfers to and from the hotel. No hesitation with booking with them again.

 

The hotel was the Holiday Inn Midtown on 57th street. Location was great with just a short walk to Central Park and 15 minutes or so from Times Square. The hotel itself was in need of updating. It was clean and perfectly adequate for what we needed it for, but a little tired. In an ideal world we probably would have paid a little more for something a little better (which we found out afterwards was an option).

 

That said, just under £55 a night for the 15 nights on the ship, the 5 nights in the hotel and the transfers in New York was an absolute steal and we loved every minute of the trip. If it came up again we wouldn't hesitate.

[snoozy]

In August, we took a Westbound T/A in Queens Grill. 8 nights via Halifax. Transfers to a well known hotel in Manhatten, 3 day city pass, a Broadway show, transfer to airport and flight back to UK.

This was booked through a UK cruise travel agent for slightly less than Cunard's price of a Queens Grill T/A only.

 

We rang Cunard to check their prices were up to date, which they were, so we booked with the travel agent.

It was a Cunard fare, so we had a choice of stateroom too.

 

I remember a couple of years ago prices with Cunard and travel agents varied tremendously on "like for like" cruises. Cunard then announced that their pricing structure would be the same, whether you booked through Cunard or through a third party travel agent.

 

I think, and this is only my opinion, when the travel agents put together a package ie Transatlantic crossing, hotel, Broadway show, city pass etc. they can get around this pricing agreement with Cunard, as it is no longer a "like for like" deal.

[NewWestwardbound]

Yes it was. Everything the agent organised was absolutely fine and went without a hitch including the transfers to and from the hotel. No hesitation with booking with them again.

 

The hotel was the Holiday Inn Midtown on 57th street. Location was great with just a short walk to Central Park and 15 minutes or so from Times Square. The hotel itself was in need of updating. It was clean and perfectly adequate for what we needed it for, but a little tired. In an ideal world we probably would have paid a little more for something a little better (which we found out afterwards was an option).

 

That said, just under £55 a night for the 15 nights on the ship, the 5 nights in the hotel and the transfers in New York was an absolute steal and we loved every minute of the trip. If it came up again we wouldn't hesitate.

 

Thank you for the info and glad you enjoyed it. I'll keep my eyes open for something similar next summer!

[Jayneykul]

The 7 night med cruise we have booked for next Sept in a Q4 on QV is £800 more expensive than our deal thro a TA whose prices include flights and private transfers