Paying dollars for a cruise through american agent from UK

Hi there,

Looking to book first cruise for honeymoon. Can anyone shed any light om booking cruise through American agent and paying in dollars but from the uk? is this allowed? Any tips? Am looking at Royal Carib. cruise...

First off, we are not allowed to name travel agents on this site.

Second, most cruise lines do not allow US based agents to sell cruises to non US residents.

There are travel agents in the US that seem to be able to book for UK residents. I don't know what currency is acceptable nor do I know if the price is the same as US residents pay. Sorry but I can't give you any TA names.

I'm a Canadian and book through a US TA. They ONLY book in US $. I'm not 100% sure why but if I want to get their deal and shipboard credit that's what I have to do.

I'm guessing (but again, just a guess) that since they are US based, that is the currency they are supposed to use.

When looking at booking through a US TA I always factor in the cost of currency exchange along with the 2.5% charge my credit card company hits me with for US to Canadian conversion.

A number of US cruise lines restrict bookings via US agents to residents of USA & Canada, but a number do not - hopefully others can quote which cruise lines do not, & whether that applies to RCI.

And some US agents ignore the instruction from cruise lines which have that stipulation - no-one can quote which agents on here because naming travel agents is a Cruise Critic no-no.

Yes, prices are much higher for folk from the UK who book direct or through a UK agent - though not as high as for Aussies.

But the difference is much smaller than it used to be, and if you're prepared to book late you will get some great bargains via UK agencies - half the brochure price or less, something which I believe doesn't happen in the US (unless anyone wants to disagree ;))

There are other factors to consider:

Prices quoted on UK sites are inclusive of port fees & taxes, as required by UK law. That's not necessarily the case in the USA, so do check & factor in any add-ons.

Your money is at risk with a US agency - of course they're not ABTA-protected (I don't think there's an equivalent scheme in the USA) and although theoretically there are rules about payments going direct to cruise lines that doesn't always happen. So if the agency goes belly-up, your money may go with them. Paying by credit card should protect your money, but any credit card fees are an extra expense compared to using a debit card.

Your cruise will be priced in dollars. Obviously you'll know the equivalent in sterling when you book, but you're at the mercy of exchange rate fluctuations between when you book & when you make final payment. Can work in your favour, can work against you.

There are a few advantages in booking with a US agency - for instance Americans (& Canadians?) can cancel before final payment date & get their deposit refunded. Booking in the UK, your deposit would be forfeited.

It's perhaps worth e-mailing a couple of US agencies to get a quote, we did that a year or so ago & had great service including a very informative phone call - but the net price difference was so small as to be not worth the complication.

JB :)

When looking at booking through a US TA I always factor in the cost of currency exchange along with the 2.5% charge my credit card company hits me with for US to Canadian conversion.

You may want to check into a Canadian USD VISA card ... we use TD, there is no extra 2.5% charge like when using your Canadian CC

We have a USD account at TD (there are other banks) then just pay off the USD VISA card from the account

Hi there,

 

Looking to book first cruise for honeymoon. Can anyone shed any light om booking cruise through American agent and paying in dollars but from the uk? is this allowed? Any tips? Am looking at Royal Carib. cruise...

Some cruise lines do not allow agents to book non North Americans

so you would have to check with the agent to see if the line you are interested in allow you to book via a US TA

I think Some States have a consumer protection scheme but again you would need to check each State ..I think California does

Maybe someone would comment on that

So to confirm people are saying that some cruiselines domt allow US TA's to.book for UK residemts and some do? But essentially its the cruise lines that may potentially have a problem with booking like this?

But essentially its the cruise lines that may potentially have a problem with booking like this?

 

Essentially it boils down to some cruiselines make an agreement with the Travel industry in your Country to not sell to the residents via a North American agents ..to protect the travel industry in your Country

 

Fair maybe not

If everyone were to book their travel via offshore sites your travel industry jobs may not longer exist

it is a Catch 22 situation :D

Thanks for all of your comments guys. I really appreciate it. ive had a few.quotes.from.both American and Uk based TA. and the prices are quite different.

 

So to confirm people are saying that some cruiselines domt allow US TA's to.book for UK residemts and some do? But essentially its the cruise lines that may potentially have a problem with booking like this?

Yes, it's the cruise lines (or more accurately, some of them) which don't want US agents to accept bookings from outside north America.

Some folk get round it by using the address of friends/relatives in N. America.

Always the worry that a cruise line might deny boarding, but by doing so they might leave themselves open to legal action, as well as the T/A, and I've not heard of that happening.

JB :)