price difference - cruise line vs third-party vs travel agent

[elsquared]

Hi all;

 

I've been on two cruises, both with Royal Caribbean, booked through a travel agent.  Since a "bucket list" item for me is a trip on the Queen Mary 2, I started looking at prices online.  But I found a wide discrepancy between prices on Cunard's website and third-party sites.

 

Example #1:  Roundtrip Transatlantic, departs New York May 5, 2025.

Cunard's site has a per-person price of $3,579 for a balcony stateroom.

A third-party site has a balcony stateroom for $6,033 per person.

 

Example #2:  New England & Canada, departs New York July 1, 2025.

Cunard's site says $1,639 per person for a balcony stateroom.

A balcony stateroom on the previous third-party site lists for $5,557 per person.

 

Can someone more knowledgeable explain why there's such a large difference in prices?  (I haven't contacted my travel agent yet.)

Thanks for the advice.

 

 

[zqvol]

You need to dig deeper, but I suspect you are not comparing apples to apples, even though the websites in question want you to believe that you are. 

[mom says]

No idea, and I never book anything through  a 3rd party site if I can help it. But (just a WAG) does the 3rd party offer include extras like OBC, drink/WIFI packages, transfers or pre/post cruise hotels? As the PP suggested, you need to dig deeper into exactly what each is including in the listed prices.

[JJK2008]

Cruise fares are fixed by the cruise line including Group Rates. TA, 3rd party etc., cannot reduce the price or offer discounts. Instead, they try to entice people with offers of OBC, bottles of wine or other perks. Perhaps that is what you are seeing in the price difference, they are offering perks. Keep in mind that if you book through a TA or 3rd party you are NOT the Cruise Line customer (even though you are paying the bill) the TA/3rd party is the customer of the Cruise Line, you are a customer of the TA/3rd. If any issue arises, you must go through the TA/3rd party as the Cruise Line will NOT deal with you directly. We always book directly with the Cruise Line as we have had some bad experiences with TA's. To each their own of course but for us getting a "perk" from a TA is not worth losing control of our booking. In our experience it has been much better dealing directly with the Cruise Line when a problem does arise. The Cruise Line WANTS to solve the issue and will work with you to do so. Good Luck.  

[Pushpit]

It's very difficult to have a specific discussion about this since for good reasons Cruise Critic won't get involved in naming names, as I sure you know.

 

However one thing that I think is an objective statement, is that if you take the regular Cunard bookers in this board, who vary from Britannia Inside to Queens Grill passengers, almost all of them - as far as I can tell - book either direct from Cunard OR from a trusted specialist travel agent, a few do a bit of both. There are other threads about the merits and otherwise of direct purchase from Cunard. But the one thing you hear very little about is using Third Party, non specialist, websites. And I would suggest there are good reasons for that.

[Classiccruiser777]

Typically we book direct with Cunard while onboard and then transfer the booking to our long time travel agent. This has always gotten us, what we consider, the “best” deal.

[JT1101]

I used a travel agent this year for the first time. The fare did not change but they secured me more perks (higher On Board Credit, complimentary Verandah dinner). 

[Jim_Iain]

Agree that it is important to compare apples and apples.   I normally do a mock booking on Cunard site until I am comfortable with type of room  - sales prices, what the room comes with and things like Sheltered Balcony, Obstructed or regular veranda.   Once I'm comfortable I will either book with Cunard and usually transfer to my agent for additional perks or have my agent booked.

 

Even on Cunard site when you select a Veranda Cabin there are at least 3 different prices.   Get comfortable with prices --   Most agents should provide you with at least the same price as Cunard or Lower.    

[Covepointcruiser]

There are some extremely good prices right now.   If you are happy with the Britannia Dining Room, you can sail for less than $100 a day on longer cruises.   Unfortunately, the Grill suites and Britannia Club rooms seem to be sold out.   

[rj1227]

For my current booking, I booked directly with Cunard and then transferred the booking to a travel agent because of the onboard credit I received. I prefer to deal directly with the cruise line, but at some point, the amount of OBC justified the transfer of the booking to the TA.

[e&mcruise]

Could one site be per cabin and one per person?

[Se1lad]

My UK TA has always been able to undercut the Cunard price between 2-5%.  OBC has remained the same.

[rj1227]

In terms of pounds or dollars, I would think reducing the price by a very small percentage and giving onboard credit that is a small percentage of the fare are the same thing. I received from the travel agent onboard credit that was roughly five percent of the fare.