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Any luck with price drops? Am $1000 out of pocket


Guymer
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HI

We booked our Celebrity Cruise months ago through the Australian website. Now price has gone down over $1000 and a perk added, so we are $1800 down the gurgler (or so it feels). Even though there is a 'price guarantee' on the website I access here, turns out this is only for Americans, not Australians. 

has anyone had any luck with securing a price drop/price guarantee? We have paid deposit only so far.

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19 minutes ago, Guymer said:

HI

We booked our Celebrity Cruise months ago through the Australian website. Now price has gone down over $1000 and a perk added, so we are $1800 down the gurgler (or so it feels). Even though there is a 'price guarantee' on the website I access here, turns out this is only for Americans, not Australians. 

has anyone had any luck with securing a price drop/price guarantee? We have paid deposit only so far.

Did you use a agent or direct through Celebrity?

 

Only Americans and a couple Europe countries get price drop.

As banzaii said cancel and lose your deposit and rebook and pay another deposit.

Edited by Chiliburn
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28 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

Did use a agent or book directly?

HI Chiliburn. I booked directly. I naively thought it was the best/simplest/cheapest way to do it, and that they would honour their price drop online. I think . I have since learnt that a travel agent is better - but I had thought a travel agent would be worse for the cruise line, as they need to pay commission. Anyway, I guess I live and learn. You are a veteran cruiser it seems - 1400 posts!!! 

 

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34 minutes ago, Guymer said:

HI Chiliburn. I booked directly. I naively thought it was the best/simplest/cheapest way to do it, and that they would honour their price drop online. I think . I have since learnt that a travel agent is better - but I had thought a travel agent would be worse for the cruise line, as they need to pay commission. Anyway, I guess I live and learn. You are a veteran cruiser it seems - 1400 posts!!! 

 

Because you booked directly you can deal with Celebrity.

Believe it or not if you use a agent you don’t own the booking.

 Try to get something drinks,specialty dining or ask them for a cabin upgrade ,even if you have to pay a bit.

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There are rules for Americans and there are rules for us ANZACs. We don't get the same benefits as the Yanks do when it comes to price changes. Their Travel Agents get a larger commission as well which allows them to offer incentives not available to Aussie and Kiwi TAs. If however us Kiwis and Aussies book a cruise on board we come under the American rules and can thus get the benefits. Trouble if booking with a local TA most haven't a clue about the rules and as the commission is not great on a cruise most just take the easy way out, do nothing and report that no changes are possible

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On 9/24/2019 at 12:36 PM, Guymer said:

HI Chiliburn. I booked directly. I naively thought it was the best/simplest/cheapest way to do it, and that they would honour their price drop online. I think . I have since learnt that a travel agent is better - but I had thought a travel agent would be worse for the cruise line, as they need to pay commission. Anyway, I guess I live and learn. You are a veteran cruiser it seems - 1400 posts!!! 

 

 

Not all agents honour price drops.

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17 hours ago, Beanb41 said:

If however us Kiwis and Aussies book a cruise on board we come under the American rules and can thus get the benefits. 

We were able to get a substantial price drop as we had booked originally onboard. We specifically asked at the time if that was possibility. Couple of years ago though.

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20 hours ago, Beanb41 said:

 If however us Kiwis and Aussies book a cruise on board we come under the American rules and can thus get the benefits.

Is this just with Celebrity?

Do you know if it applies to Princess as well?

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2 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

Megsie was that on on a Celebrity ship?

Chiliburn, had to stop and think for a minute because they are under the same umbrella. But it was RCI that I got the price drop. Which has now reminded me I still have a ?future cruise certificate for Celebrity. Have heard of price drops with Princess but have had no luck there.

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If you booked this with the Celebrity Website in Australia have you thought about transferring the booking to an online TA and see if what they can get for you. 

 

We often book a Princess cruise and then when back in NZ transfer it to a TA that then gives us further discount. Not sure about Celebrity but it is worth a try to see if it can be done.

 

We have an online TA in NZ/AU that will honor price drops. Most it will ever cost us is NZ$100 per refare.

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I have a shop front TA who will give me a slice of his action if I transfer an on board booking to him. Its not great as the commission is not huge for a cruise. Celebrity have Commissionable fare. non commissionable fare, port charges and Taxes all bundled up into one charge for us the passenger. When broken down into its various components we do alright but at times I wonder for the sake of a few dollars is it worth losing the control of the booking. We perhaps get a little more of the Commissionable fare because we do our air bookings through the same agent and he gets a slice of that as well. We are establishing a long term relationship which going forward I hope will bear more fruit. 

A point to note when we make a booking onboard we don't automatically give it to the TA but negotiate a deal when we get home. It keeps him honest and not to take us for granted.

There are many TAs out there keen to get our business.

Edited by Beanb41
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11 hours ago, Te Aroha said:

If you booked this with the Celebrity Website in Australia have you thought about transferring the booking to an online TA and see if what they can get for you. 

 

We often book a Princess cruise and then when back in NZ transfer it to a TA that then gives us further discount. Not sure about Celebrity but it is worth a try to see if it can be done.

 

We have an online TA in NZ/AU that will honor price drops. Most it will ever cost us is NZ$100 per refare.

That’s a brilliant idea.

 

I know we can’t name travel agents but.

Your agent that will honour price drop,where are they based?

 

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2 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

That’s a brilliant idea.

 

I know we can’t name travel agents but.

Your agent that will honour price drop,where are they based?

 

There is one that is NZ and AU based that we use, Sorry not allowed to name them here. yes they will honor price drops right up until final payment.

Edited by Te Aroha
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I recommend you email Celebrity and state your facts and politely ask them if they can do anything to either upgrade you or perhaps give you some perks or OBC (on board credit) to use on the ship as a gesture of goodwill.  The best email to use is CelebrityOneTouch@Celebrity.com

 

If you don't receive a return email after a few days, email them again.  Sometimes they get very busy but they will reply if you send a second email.

 

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