Our UK friends... fare differences, why?

[Briton]

Good day over there across the pond.

 

We here in the Colonies seem to have considerably lower fares on our cruises than do those of you coming over here to cruise.

I'm trying to determine why that might be.

 

Example: A cruise I'm investigating is $999 pp for me and $1300 pp for my UK friends. The only difference is that they are signing on the RCI UK site and I'm signing on the RCI US site.

 

Why would there be a $300 difference between the two sites since the 'service' is identical. Can someone help me with this?

 

I'm hesitant to even THINK about calling RCI with this question. It would, doubtless, freak out the 'customer support' person.

 

Why can't my UK friends just book through, pay through, etc. the US site?

 

Thanks in advance for any thoughts,

[Lisa-UK]

Hi

 

I have noted that too when looking at putting together cruise DIY packages - I am from UK and it seems that we do indeed pay more - so really not fair :confused:

 

I have no positive advice, but support your enquiry and would like to know why this is?

 

thanks for raising.

 

Lisa

[Elizanessie]

I have raised this question many times with RCCL UK and the reason..."different cultures"...geez that really bugs the heck out of me but yip thats their reply. They usually go on to say how the UK offers such things as £200 Early Booking Discount ...well that is only on certain cruises usually. :mad: Yes I have to say this is one of those things that gets me mad with regard RCCL.

 

UK Cruisers cannot book with the US version of the site,it isnt allowed and I think their computer system would not recognise our postal codes(zip codes)anyway.

 

I sometimes wonder if it is because cruising (RCCL in particular) is quite new to the UK/Europe,maybe in the future there will be changes and it will be the same price for everyone. I think it would be interesting to find out just how many UK Cruisers use a US TA for their cruises rather than pay the UK prices.

 

Rant over :o just dont mention Cancellation policy/C&A differences or RCCL Credit Card :eek:

[TRacanoUK]

I'm an American living in the UK and when I went to book my June 08 Baltic Cruise DH did a lot of research on this. Luckily, we still have our American credit cards and were able to purchase off of the US site as the UK site was higher. Prices should be the same regardless of geography! IMO!:) It would have been much easier to pay in our pounds!

[lindauk]

Our next cruise was exactly the same, and we tried to book through the US site to no avail! So we booked through a US Travel Agency and booked our own flights because even if the cruise is around the same price it costs a fortune for the flights, usually in cattle class! So you can save money and fly with a scheduled flight and take more luggage!!

[lindauk]

Our next cruise was exactly the same, and we tried to book through the US site to no avail! So we booked through a US Travel Agency and booked our own flights because even if the cruise is around the same price it costs a fortune for the flights, usually in cattle class! So you can save money and fly with a scheduled flight and take more luggage!!

[madforcruising]

Not from the UK but this is not UL specific but for other European countries as well.

Liz knows as I´ve discussed this with her ;) Hi Liz:)

 

Actually I book with US TA´s since I got aware of this problem and it´s actually no problem to do this in the age of Internet. You just can´t book with RCCL directly.

[huskypup]

Hi

 

We have also noticed the same problem, we have booked through an American tour operator, the travel agent we used said she is now limited to which companies she can use now for UK travellers, as more tour companies are cottening on to the fact that it is cheaper to go through the US and are stopping travel agents booking for overseas clients.

 

We had orginally wanted Princess but they would not allow it, but if I had a relative in the US I could use there address, so I may do that next time I have Uncles in Boston and Tampa.

 

So decided to go with HAL same itinery.

 

For the price a UK travel agent was asking, we have managed to get

cruise. flights, 4 nights in San Diego, and parking and hotel at Heathrow before the holiday and two trips whilst on the cruise.

[Bananaboo]

Hi! I am an American living in the UK and for the past two years I have been purchasing my cruises with my UK credit card with US sites to get the US fare and as well take advantage of the exchange rate. I have had problems if I wanted to book through RCI directly. Some US sites will let you book the cruise online with your UK credit card and still get the US rate. I actually just booked a Euro cruise yesterday in the USA with my UK card and had to call (I wanted the onboard credit). He laughed at first when I told him I was calling from London but even better is that he had to call RCI in the USA anyways to book us as their system would not accept the phone number. RCI USA did not direct me to the UK site and just let us book with the US rate. This saved me £150! I would recommend just booking through us sites. I have found them to be the exact same price to RCI usa and they take the UK card and address.

[blackpool belle]

Welcome to rip-off UK.:mad:

 

Cruising isn't the only thing we pay a lot more for then our US friends.:(

 

What bugs me in particular is losing our deposit if we cancel before final settlement unlike your side of the pond.

 

Ooo glad I got that off my chest :D

[Mim Lloyd]

Welcome to rip-off UK.:mad:

 

Cruising isn't the only thing we pay a lot more for then our US friends.:(

 

What bugs me in particular is losing our deposit if we cancel before final settlement unlike your side of the pond.

 

Ooo glad I got that off my chest :D

 

And we get charged between 2% and 4% for using a credit card in the UK to make bookings. I've used a US travel agent for my next RCCI cruise. Saved nearly £200 each, got free onboard credit, no credit card fee, and I can cancel at any time and get a 100% refund. Plus, if I can find a price drop they'll match it.

 

The UK is definitely a rip off place for virtually everything. US visitors must be stunned when they come here to find how little their money goes.

[Briton]

Many thanks folks, you are the bee's knees.

 

I've forwarded your information to my friends 'over there' and hope it works out for them. $600 difference is just absurd methinks.

 

Of course, I plan on Stephen and Pauline buying ALL our drinks since we saved them SO much money. :eek:

[HorrorFan]

I'm not certain this quite the same thing,or at least for the same reason, but I just discovered that the cruise I just booked was over $800 cheaper if I booked in American $ than in Canadian $. And our $ is about par.

$800 is a LOT of cash, at least to me.

Needless to say, although I had originally booked in Canadian $ I quickly switched to American $.