Kamaaina rates -- other similar discounts

Hello fellow cruisers:

We have the opportunity to take an upcoming cruise with a group of dear friends from the great state of Hawaii. While we are West Coasters who frequently vacation in Hawaii, we are not state residents. We have just learned that the current "Kamaaina" Hawaiian resident rate for our fellow cruisers is 65% off the prices offered to my wife and me by even the deepest discount travel companies! This means that we will pay more than TWICE the rate of our friends in the cabin next door if we book now, as we were hoping to do in order to all be on the same floor! As a businessman and frequent traveler, I am comfortable with prices for a given cruise fluctuating over time with demand; however, it is very difficult to be booking a trip today with our friends for a date several months out, when the cost for our room alone is so different. We are, frankly, rethinking the trip, as it is difficulty not to feel "stung" by this blatant two-tier treatment of potential customers for an advance booking. How can cruise lines justify this discriminatory pricing? Do people try to get around this and, if so, how? Does contacting the cruise line help? Are there other discounts we could look into that might help reduce the huge "gap" for us?

Thank you for any feedback!

A cruise line, like any other business (like airlines, for example) have the right to set their fares and chose discount rates and groups for any of many possible reasons.

Additionally, the cruise line may have reasons (like contracts with cities, ports, or other agencies) that they must discount a certain number or percentage of fares and offer them to certain populations (think employees, for example).

If you are going to worry if the people in the cabin next you paid less for their cruise than you did (whether it be a lot less, or just a little less), you are going to lose a lot of sleep, and ruin your vacation. Don't look at anybody else on your flight...there could be 20, 30, perhaps 50 different fares among the 150-250 people on your flight, even among just those in Coach.

All you can do is shop diligently, buy when you find a good price, monitor for price drops when those drops can/will be applied to you, and move on.

Can you book the cruise with the husband and your wife with the wife of one of your Hawaiian friends? Generally only one half of a couple has to be Kamaina to get the discount. Then once onboard you could switch cabins, similar to what families with kids frequently do.

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