Still don't see why I should use a TA...

[Hlitner]

53 minutes ago, AmazedByCruising said:

 

A long time ago I asked who a TA works for, the guest or the line. I was told "the line, of course!". 

I'd be very happy to simply pay an hourly rate for a professional "cruise booker" who works for me. Who knows which TA to call, who would call six other TAs if they feel a lower price is possible and make them fight for the best price, the better cabin, more OBC.  With a statement from a accountant on their site that all money they receive comes from customers, that they reject FAM cruises, and their only incentive is to have happy, returning clients. I'd be totally fine to pay a few hundred dollars for the knowledge and leverage of such a "meta TA" because frankly shopping around is not my hobby, and I'm certain I wouldn't get the deals that very seasoned cruisers like you do. 

 

 

You and I certainly go in different directions on this issue :).  Personally I want my cruise agents to take "fam" cruises, longer cruisers, travel frequently, etc.  I often have telephone discussions with my favorite agents and we trade info on various cruise lines, ships, etc.  The more experienced agents can be quite helpful when it comes to making some decisions regarding cruise lines, itineraries, ships, etc.  Although I have more first-hand cruise experience then most agents, I still learn new things from them and also get feedback about what they have heard from other customers. 

 

Who do they work for?  You can parse that anyway you please  The cruise/travel agency gets their income from commissions/overrides paid by the various cruise and travel companies.  Many smaller (and some quite large) agencies work within "consortiums" which are essentially larger travel companies that are able to use their size to their advantage when negotiating with cruise lines.  Other high volume cruise agencies deal directly with cruise lines.

 

But for me, the customer, that is not very important.  What is important is the overall deal (in terms of cost) I get and the service I receive (from the agent/agency).  Since I, and other customers, are the fuel that drives the ability of an agent/agency to receive commissions (and make a living) it is in the best interest of that agency to please the customer.  Of course they also want to please the cruise lines, but it is the customer base that keeps the agency in business.  But what you fail to address/consider is the money that is saved by using an agency (call it a broker if you please).  And the agency is well aware that I (or any other customer) can take their business elsewhere.  But do not underestimate the financial gain that can be derived from shopping around.  Granted that we tend to take longer and more cruises then many so our savings (in real dollars) are more.  But even a single 7 day booking can be shopped and save a cruiser real money.   Somebody once asked DW how much money can be saved by using agencies.  In our case the cruise that generated the most savings (for us) was a longer HAL cruise where we saved just over $3000 (on a single booking) by using an agency vs booking direct with a cruise line.  I also know (personally) of one cruiser who saved over $10,000 on a single booking (it was a World Cruise) by following our suggestion to shop around.  

 

A few years ago, after one of these online discussions I decided to push the issue to a cruise line.  So I called Princess (because we were in the process of booking a Princess cruise at that time) and explained to them that we could either book directly with them or with a certain agency (CC does not allow me to mention names).  I told Princess that we would save about 10% (additional OBCs) by using the agency  and we would be happy to book directly with Princess if they would simply match the offering from the agency.  I was immediately transferred to a supervisor who explained to me that Princess (and other lines) do not want to compete with agencies because they need those agencies to sell their product.  So Princess actually suggested I book with the agency (which we did).  I also put this same issue to our Personal Cruise Consultant (PCC) at HAL and got the same answer.  However the PCC suggested I book with her and then transfer the booking to an agency to obtain the extra OBCs.    (My response was why should I go through this two step process?).  During a cruise on HAL I had a long conversation with the Future Cruise Consultant (onboard the ship) who I had known for many years.  We talked about booking strategies and she told me that over 80% of cruise ship bookings are done through agencies.  She explained that the cruise lines need the agencies and the agencies need the cruise lines.  We also discussed the now defunct Renaissance Cruise Lines which was the first modern cruise line to NOT deal with agencies.  Renaissance only did direct bookings which saved them the expense of paying commissions.  And Renaissance (we really liked that cruise line) only survived 11 years.  Its growth was limited by NOT using agencies (and not permitting children on their ships) and it could not survive the tourist slowdown that resulted from the first Gulf War.   When the chips were down, cruise agencies were not there to help market that cruise product.

 

What is interesting is that some airlines (especially Southwest) have adopted no-commission models.  Southwest has done quite well by not paying commissions even though some major booking engines will not list their flights.  Perhaps a cruise company will one day move to a no-commission model, but until that happens we will keep shopping around for the best deals.

 

Hank

[lovemylab]

I stopped booking with TAs after having to fight with one years ago to get a price drop.   If I notice a price drop I can take care of it myself.  No having to send emails/leave voicemails with a TA and then hope/wait/pray that it's taken care of before the price goes back up again.  No having to fight with a TA who would rather upgrade your cabin so their commission isn't impacted.  When calling the cruiseline, I have never experienced the long wait times on hold that others have experienced.  Longest it has ever taken me to get a price drop/promotion applied was 20 minutes.   

 

As for OBC and additional perks offered by TAs, we usually book inside cabins on lower cost sailings.  We do not need a TA for flights or hotels.  Most of our cruises are in the 7-12 day range.  Our cruises are not expensive so as a result the additional perks that TAs have offered have been minimal or non-existent.   

 

There are definitely advantages to booking through a TA and some people are able to get amazing deals (mainly those booking through large agencies in the US).  However, my experience in dealing with TAs hasn't been positive so as a result booking through one is not my preference.  To each their own.

Edited September 15, 2019 by lovemylab

[Luckybee]

This topic was very current to me. I've always booked direct for everything(except for Amex Platinum hotels) and cruises are no exception. Over the years by doing so, we've saved alot of money and received upgrades from hotels that we would not have obtained any other way.  I am a control freak. I hate turning control of any travel booking over to a-n-y-o-n-e !!

 

That said, I am in the process of transferring a recent Princess booking to our Cdn big box store. I have never been able to negotiate a deal direct with a cruise line so I'm doing so with trepidation but Im doing so !. Why you ask ? Simply because I can't say no to an extra $760 US OBC on top of the perks we were already getting which is 9% of our overall cost. It simply seemed like a no brainer to me.

 

On another note....since this is the first time we've done this....is there anything different in the process of getting our documentation etc. for the cruise. I realize we have to pay the agency instead of the cruiseline (and they dont take Amex...grrrrrrrr which means we lose out a little on points) but other than that what differences might we expect?

Edited September 15, 2019 by Luckybee

[AmazedByCruising]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

But what you fail to address/consider is the money that is saved by using an agency (call it a broker if you please).  And the agency is well aware that I (or any other customer) can take their business elsewhere.  But do not underestimate the financial gain that can be derived from shopping around. 

 

That's exactly my point. I just mail my TA (one of only 2 that I know of in The Netherlands) to say that ship, that date, and a balcony please and then they send me a quote. And I take it or leave it. Except for one time, I take it, missing out the deals that you would get.

 

Why should I need to shop around? I need someone to do that for me, who's better at dealing with this stuff. I hire someone to inspect a house before I buy it, to do my taxes, to find the best mortgage. For example, after just 4 cruises, and not many dinners on a ship where other guests would have told me how to do it, how am I supposed to know that it's possible to rebook after a price drop? What the associated intricacies would be? It's much better to have a friend that has cruised for ages to tell you where to go, but without such a friend I'd like someone who does want money for his services and gets me the better, cheaper cruise with lots of OBC. 

 

 

 

 

[Hlitner]

20 minutes ago, AmazedByCruising said:

 

That's exactly my point. I just mail my TA (one of only 2 that I know of in The Netherlands) to say that ship, that date, and a balcony please and then they send me a quote. And I take it or leave it. Except for one time, I take it, missing out the deals that you would get.

 

Why should I need to shop around? I need someone to do that for me, who's better at dealing with this stuff. I hire someone to inspect a house before I buy it, to do my taxes, to find the best mortgage. For example, after just 4 cruises, and not many dinners on a ship where other guests would have told me how to do it, how am I supposed to know that it's possible to rebook after a price drop? What the associated intricacies would be? It's much better to have a friend that has cruised for ages to tell you where to go, but without such a friend I'd like someone who does want money for his services and gets me the better, cheaper cruise with lots of OBC. 

 

 

 

 

Perhaps it is a different situation here in the USA then in the Netherlands and much of Europe.  We have a very competitive travel industry with numerous cruise/travel agencies as well as so-called Big Box (warehouse clubs) that all sell cruise vacations.  In addition, there are a few large "travel consortiums" which represent many other cruise/travel agencies.  While some cruise lines try to control discounting, the reality is that there is also price competition.   There are many times when agencies are required (by the cruise lines) to charge the same prices, but will still offer terrific financial incentives such as on board credits, pre paid gratuities, hotel packages, etc.   We know some Europeans (and also an Australian) that take advantage of the North American deal making and do their bookings over here.  Some cruise lines do technically prohibit non North Americans from booking here.  A good example is HAL who prohibits North American agencies from accepting bookings from those who live outside of North America.  Our Australian friend books many HAL cruises (he has nearly 2000 days on that line) and does it by using a Canadian address that belongs to a good friend.

 

While those in the EU have some terrific consumer protection laws, the European laws apparently do less to protect consumers from what I call "price fixing."   While there are times when Europeans can access some better deals then over here, the reality is that our own market more often yields financial benefits.   

Hank

[Firepath]

On 8/11/2019 at 7:59 AM, MandyMooToo said:

So I have read on the boards over and over about how using a TA gets you extras, better pricing possibly and is all at no cost but you have to give over control of your reservation.  Well, we have only one local TA office and it is not regarded well so I did a bit of looking around and found one with excellent ratings about half an hour away.  I contacted them and explained our cruise style (they specialize in cruises) and received a nice answer with some info on a river cruise my husband and I want to take in a couple of years.  I then contacted them and said I had booked a cruise, spur of the moment due to a good price, and asked about transferring the booking to them and what benefit that would be for us.  The TA told me they could book pre and post cruise accommodations, flights if we choose to fly and they would monitor for price drops automatically.  Otherwise the pricing is the same and no mention of OBC, extras of any sort, etc.  So again, I just don't see what the point is unless you are taking and involved trip, going overseas or maybe the river cruise we are looking at for 2021/2022 as it will be a bit more difficult to manage.  I can book a hotel and flights on my own as I have been doing for years.  Am I missing something?  

I'm not even sure where my TA is located. They aren't local to us. I found them on line after a co-worker recommended them and I have seen them mentioned here on CC. There were no extras available from the cruise line but my TA was offering $160 obo. That changes day to day though with some day's offerings better than others. I check every day and jump on it when price and extras look good to me. But I'm new at this so others may know better.

 

 

 

[ontheweb]

6 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I respectfully disagree with most of what you say :).  Thinking you have "control" when a reservation is directly with a cruise line is more of a myth then fact.  All you have is the ability to deal with a reservations clerk who works for the cruise line.  You are subject to the cruise line's policies, rules, and sometimes incompetence not to mention often being stuck on hold.   Your only leverage is to threaten to cancel your cruise and then you are simply one client (among a million +) if you have a problem.  With a decent cruise agency behind you, your leverage is somewhat enhanced although there are plenty of times when heaven and earth is not going to move a cruise line to do something that is against "policy."

 

And by the way, since we often have 5-7 outstanding bookings ( multiple cruise lines) I often have no desire to spend my time on a phone (often on hold) with various cruise lines or cruise agents.  With my cruise agents I will often spend a few seconds sending an e-mail which is usually quickly handled.   I will give you a very recent (2 weeks ago) example.  We had made a future booking while on a cruise...so by your reckoning we had "control" because that reservation was placed directly with the cruise line (this is rare for us).  I sent an e-mail to two of my favorite cruise agencies/agents with the cruise line's invoiced attached and ask them how they could "enhance" my reservation if I transferred it to their agency.  Within 2 hours I had my responses and one of the agents said she could give us an additional $1800 in On Board Credits (OBCs).  Now in my little world, $1800 is a nice pot of money :).  It took me about 10 minutes to Fax the required transfer form to the cruise line and now that reservation is "out of my control...according to you" but I will have $1800 that I would not have if I kept the reservation with the cruise line.  

 

You might ask, what if pricing changes, there are decent future promotions, etc?  In that case it takes seconds for me to e-mail my cruise agent and generally a few minutes for the reservation to be repriced/changed.  And do you think this cruise agency will work hard on my behalf?  You bettcha…..because they get an awful lot of business from both myself and others who I have referred to this particular agent.  And I would finally mention that we have been doing business this way since the 70s and using cruise agencies has conservatively saved us several hundred thousand dollars!  Those who do 1 or 2 short (7 day) cruises a year may not think saving some money is a big deal.  But we spend a lot of time traveling and cruising so the savings are a very big deal :).

 

Life would be very easy (for us) if we could find the perfect cruise agent/agency to handle all of our bookings.  But the reality of "shopping around" means that we need to use more then one agency.  Our current bookings are primarily with a single agency, but 1 booking is with a different agency who always seems to have better "deals" when we cruise on certain lines.  And if we were to soon book another cruise it might well be on Seabourn which likely would mean using another agency who seems to have better deals on that particular line (we are still learning the ropes about dealing with Seabourn).   Where do we get our information about agencies and agents?  Over the years our best source has simply been other cruisers we meet on ships.  It is amazing what one learns when sharing large tables at dinner, or joining others for cocktails :).

 

Hank

Hank, I'm sorry, you totally misread my post. I was being sarcastic about what it meant to have control of your booking. Maybe I should have put in some emoji showing sarcasm , but I thought I was being obvious. Please reread it.

[Hlitner]

53 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Hank, I'm sorry, you totally misread my post. I was being sarcastic about what it meant to have control of your booking. Maybe I should have put in some emoji showing sarcasm , but I thought I was being obvious. Please reread it.

Sorry to have missed the sarcasm.  My ole mind gets into NFL mode on Sundays and much gets past me (great excuse). After watching the Steeler game I am really drained :(.  

 

Hank

[2wheelin]

I’ll never get $1800 OBC for a cruise since that is all I usually pay for the entire cruise. See these ads for online TAs offering “up to $1000 OBC”. That is if the cruise costs over $10,000 before port fees and taxes. You have to spend a lot to get much.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Sorry to have missed the sarcasm.  My ole mind gets into NFL mode on Sundays and much gets past me (great excuse). After watching the Steeler game I am really drained :(.  

 

Hank

I fully understand. I've been a Giants fan since I was very, very young. So you can imagine how I feel.

[Hlitner]

47 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

I fully understand. I've been a Giants fan since I was very, very young. So you can imagine how I feel.

OMG!  That is a fate almost as bad as being a Mets fan.  I married into a Mets family.  Like the Mets, the Giants make you suffer.

 

Hank

[ontheweb]

11 hours ago, Hlitner said:

OMG!  That is a fate almost as bad as being a Mets fan.  I married into a Mets family.  Like the Mets, the Giants make you suffer.

 

Hank

Yes, they make me suffer. OTOH, their four Super Bowl wins were fantastic experiences.

 

Luckily, I'm not a Mets' fan; they too make you suffer.

 

And wishing your team luck with the Roethlisberger injury. Fans of the 2 teams should have an affinity with each other as the Maras and Rooneys are not only old time NFL families but have intermarried.

[Warm Breezes]

14 hours ago, Hlitner said:

OMG!  That is a fate almost as bad as being a Mets fan.  I married into a Mets family.  Like the Mets, the Giants make you suffer.

 

Hank

You guys have no idea what suffering is.  Try being a Lions fan....Just one before I die is my husbands new slogan.

[Hlitner]

3 minutes ago, Warm Breezes said:

You guys have no idea what suffering is.  Try being a Lions fan....Just one before I die is my husbands new slogan.

You mean the Lions actually have fans?  Who knew?  That slogan might be a good thing since you will have to live forever :).

 

Hank

[Shorex]

On 9/15/2019 at 10:00 AM, Luckybee said:

 I realize we have to pay the agency instead of the cruiseline (and they dont take Amex...grrrrrrrr which means we lose out a little on points) but other than that what differences might we expect?

 

This point was intriguing. Our agency receives our Amex information and uses it immediately to directly pay the cruise line. Thus it is the cruise line that pays the merchant fee to Amex, not the agency. Does your agency hold onto your funds and delay paying the cruise line? It's a question worth asking, IMO.

[Luckybee]

16 hours ago, Shorex said:

 

This point was intriguing. Our agency receives our Amex information and uses it immediately to directly pay the cruise line. Thus it is the cruise line that pays the merchant fee to Amex, not the agency. Does your agency hold onto your funds and delay paying the cruise line? It's a question worth asking, IMO.

 

No they do pass it on immediately so im told.... in Canada our BigBox store (apparently the US version of the same store does take Amex) doesn't accept Amex only Visa..the two entities had a major falling out in 2014 .

Edited September 17, 2019 by Luckybee

[ontheweb]

On 9/15/2019 at 5:28 PM, Hlitner said:

Sorry to have missed the sarcasm.  My ole mind gets into NFL mode on Sundays and much gets past me (great excuse). After watching the Steeler game I am really drained :(.  

 

Hank

Hank, I booked a cruise earlier today with a TA we have used with good results. And while booking EZ air with him, I definitely lost control. But, it was not the TA that caused the loss of control; it was DW. She said the least expensive flight leaves too late, and anyway I don't care I want us to book with British Airways. (Her late father after being a RAF flyboy in WWII emigrated to the USA, went to work for British Airways (actually it was BOAC then), and worked his way up to the head of their computer operations. And as I told my TA, she's the boss.

 

 

[MicCanberra]

I have found that if you shop around, between booking direct, with a B&M TA and Online TAs, you can usually find that one will be better than the others. Note it is rarely the same one every time though.

[iancal]

I This is an easy one.

 

if you do not feel that there is a benefit, financial or otherwise, to book through a TA then simply book direct.

 

Really, why would anyone care how someone else books a cruise.  I certainly do not.  Book direct and stop all the fuss.

Edited September 20, 2019 by iancal

[donaldsc]

Here is a good reason why you should use a good TA.  We just booked a cruise that we had been following on Azamara.  Our TA knew that we were following the cruise.  She is now on a cruise w her family when she got a notice of a group fare that would save us about $2500 off the price of the cruise.  She e-mailed us while on the ship to tell us about it and she arranged to call us while on land at her next port stop.   We chatted and we told her to book it.  When she got back onto the ship, she contacted her group booking agency and got us the cruise and saved us about 35% off the cost of the cruise.  In addition, she got Azamara to transfer a deposit that we had from a cancelled cruise to transfer to this new one saving us even more money.  

 

We never would have known about this sale if we had booked it ourselves as the sale was a group sale only and was not listed on the Azamara WEB site.  She was also willing to spend some time on her own vacation to get us the deal.  I realize that many TAs are not this customer service oriented but she certainly is.  In addition, she also rebates part of her commission to us and will send us a check after the cruise is only.

 

Another example.  We also booked an Oceania cruise to the Black Sea recently.  It was a great cruise that other lines don't do so we and she agreed that the cabin category we were interested in would sell very quickly.  She got up at 7 AM and called Oceania repeatedly until the reservation office opened at 8:30.  Our first choice cabin was already sold out at 8:30 but she got us a good cabin in our 2nd choice location.  Again - great customer service.  

 

She is a gem.

 

DON

Edited September 20, 2019 by donaldsc

[MicCanberra]

She is a keeper.

[drsel]

On 9/15/2019 at 11:40 PM, Hlitner said:

.   We know some Europeans (and also an Australian) that take advantage of the North American deal making and do their bookings over here.  Some cruise lines do technically prohibit non North Americans from booking here.  A good example is HAL who prohibits North American agencies from accepting bookings from those who live outside of North America.  Our Australian friend books many HAL cruises (he has nearly 2000 days on that line) and does it by using a Canadian address that belongs to a good friend.

Hank

A US online travel agent terms and conditions state--

"Certain pricing and promotions offered by our company are valid based on at least one passenger in the reservation being a legal resident of a certain country. Such restrictions are imposed by the vendor(s), and are merely followed by our company. If you make a reservation that has such a requirement, and you do not meet the residence requirement(s), your reservation may be canceled or modified at our discretion. A reservation may be modified to meet the pricing and promotions that a non-resident reservation qualifies for. For example, any reservation which does not have at least one guest that's a legal resident of the United States (including Puerto Rico), Bermuda, Canada, and Mexico, will be subject to a price and promotion modification if they book a Princess cruise reservation, as the pricing and promotions displayed on our website for this vendor's product(s) are only valid for such residents. A similar policy exists for Holland America Line, where there's not at least one guest in the reservation that's a legal resident of the United States or Canada. An exception to the aforementioned restrictions imposed by Princess Cruises and Holland America Line is that you aren't subject to these restrictions if you're an International customer that's a past passenger of the cruise line and that has booked at least one of their cruises through our company prior to January 1, 2011: such customers cannot make a reservation for these vendors on our Site, but can make a reservation with us over the phone to get the deals displayed on our Site (assuming that they qualify for them). While Princess Cruises and Holland America Line's restrictions are specifically delineated in these terms, this does not mean other vendors don't have such restrictions. Please contact us prior to booking if you'd like to verify the restrictions of a particular vendor you're interested in making a reservation with."

 

[Hlitner]

17 minutes ago, drsel said:

A US online travel agent terms and conditions state--

"Certain pricing and promotions offered by our company are valid based on at least one passenger in the reservation being a legal resident of a certain country. Such restrictions are imposed by the vendor(s), and are merely followed by our company. If you make a reservation that has such a requirement, and you do not meet the residence requirement(s), your reservation may be canceled or modified at our discretion. A reservation may be modified to meet the pricing and promotions that a non-resident reservation qualifies for. For example, any reservation which does not have at least one guest that's a legal resident of the United States (including Puerto Rico), Bermuda, Canada, and Mexico, will be subject to a price and promotion modification if they book a Princess cruise reservation, as the pricing and promotions displayed on our website for this vendor's product(s) are only valid for such residents. A similar policy exists for Holland America Line, where there's not at least one guest in the reservation that's a legal resident of the United States or Canada. An exception to the aforementioned restrictions imposed by Princess Cruises and Holland America Line is that you aren't subject to these restrictions if you're an International customer that's a past passenger of the cruise line and that has booked at least one of their cruises through our company prior to January 1, 2011: such customers cannot make a reservation for these vendors on our Site, but can make a reservation with us over the phone to get the deals displayed on our Site (assuming that they qualify for them). While Princess Cruises and Holland America Line's restrictions are specifically delineated in these terms, this does not mean other vendors don't have such restrictions. Please contact us prior to booking if you'd like to verify the restrictions of a particular vendor you're interested in making a reservation with."

 

That seems to sum up the "rules" but some do believe that rules are written to be broken.  We are on the side of our Aussie friend that some cruise lines discriminate against non-North Americans with their pricing.  Why this happens is a topic of some speculation.  The reality is that somebody using an address in the USA or Canada will be able to get the North American rates.  Whether they are truly a legal resident is not something cruise lines can normally check-out.   The truth is that there are all kinds of travel related pricing that are tied to certain residency.  For example, the Tranzalpine Railroad in New Zealand charges a significantly lower price for residents of NZ and Australia.  Somebody booking (on line) from the US would normally be charged a higher price.  But if that person (in the USA) knows how to use a VPN or TOR to make their computer location appear to be in NZ or Australia they can book at the lower rates with no issues.  In the past we have run into the same situation when booking some long distance train fares for European trains where the price for North Americans was higher then Europeans.  Similar to the Tranzalpine situation, folks that know how to make their computer appear to be in various countries can take advantage of lower resident fares.

 

Hank

 

[drsel]

6 hours ago, Hlitner said:

That seems to sum up the "rules" but some do believe that rules are written to be broken.  We are on the side of our Aussie friend that some cruise lines discriminate against non-North Americans with their pricing.  Why this happens is a topic of some speculation.  The reality is that somebody using an address in the USA or Canada will be able to get the North American rates.  Whether they are truly a legal resident is not something cruise lines can normally check-out.   The truth is that there are all kinds of travel related pricing that are tied to certain residency.  For example, the Tranzalpine Railroad in New Zealand charges a significantly lower price for residents of NZ and Australia.  Somebody booking (on line) from the US would normally be charged a higher price.  But if that person (in the USA) knows how to use a VPN or TOR to make their computer location appear to be in NZ or Australia they can book at the lower rates with no issues.  In the past we have run into the same situation when booking some long distance train fares for European trains where the price for North Americans was higher then Europeans.  Similar to the Tranzalpine situation, folks that know how to make their computer appear to be in various countries can take advantage of lower resident fares.

 

Hank

 

For the 24 night Cruise to Hawaii, the Canadian price is $400 cheaper than the US price (and much much cheaper than the international price for the rest of the world) .

How can I use my relatives address in Canada when I don't have any proof of a Canadian address in MY name.

My Canadian relative cannot accompany us because he cannot get leave to come on such a long cruise.

This aforementioned US online travel agent, with whom I have booked many cruises (not Princess or HAL) on my international address before, will "modify" the price for me after I book at the cheap Canadian price

[Hlitner]

1 minute ago, drsel said:

For the 24 night Cruise to Hawaii, the Canadian price is $400 cheaper than the US price (and much much cheaper than the international price for the rest of the world) .

How can I use my relatives address in Canada when I don't have any proof of a Canadian address in MY name.

My Canadian relative cannot accompany us because he cannot get leave to come on such a long cruise.

This aforementioned US online travel agent, with whom I have booked many cruises (not Princess or HAL) on my international address before, will "modify" the price for me after I book at the cheap Canadian price

I sure am no expert since I have not had to deal with that situation.  But I am not aware of any cruise line that asks for "proof" of an address.   But if there is a price difference between Canada and the USA....one could probably shop around (in their own country) among some reputable high volume cruise agencies and find a comparable (or better deal).  When I price out our cruises (we do this for everyone of our bookings) I will generally look at 3-5 of my favorite cruise agencies and get a different offering (overall deal including perks, OBCs, cruise price, etc) from each agency.  On some of our longer cruisers the difference from one agency to another can be in the thousands of dollars...and all these agencies are far cheaper then booking direct with the cruise line.

 

Hank