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How to monitor cruise fare?


OceanPatter
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We're new to Seabourn, and wondering if discounts and promotions are the norm. In February, we booked a cruise for 2019, which was advertised under a promotion fare (so we thought it was a good deal). Then about four weeks ago, a new promotion dropped the fare by 11%. Then just last week, yet another promotion dropped the fare by another 19% ... which meant a total drop of 28% from the February fare!

 

Had I not been looking at Seabourn's website, I would not have noticed the fare drops. Our TA also did not make us aware of any drops. (Are TAs supposed to be on top of fare changes post-booking?)

 

So how do you all monitor fare changes? We've sailed Crystal and Regent, and have not seen such dramatic drops in the fare (or perhaps we just never noticed them).

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I monitor for fare changes before final payment is made. TAs do not always look. Ours did not last year so we saved several thousand dollars by my catching the drop on a cruise I had booked very early.

 

 

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It depends on the popularity of the cruise.

 

Eg ours in October is Call for Availability. If I go into each of the B2B cruises, the total of each is way more than what we paid. We also selected the port side which is virtually fully booked for each of tge B2B, probably because it is the “land side” for our cruise.

 

So I guess you win some and lose some.

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I’m annoyed that one of our Octobr Cruises had final payment due today. We made final payment yesterday since our agent was not going to be in the office today (a Saturday) and now notice that the fare dropped 7% overnight. We have another final payment coming due later this month and I may be holding that one until the very last minute (although Seabourn has both price adjusted that one and added on some of the promotional offers that were running at the time of that price adjustment).

 

It is frustrating to have to sit on these.

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I monitor for fare changes before final payment is made. TAs do not always look. Ours did not last year so we saved several thousand dollars by my catching the drop on a cruise I had booked very early.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

A good TA will ALWAYS monitor the fare and advise of a drop. Then get you the lower fare as long as it's before final payment. Even after final payment sometimes they can get OBCs or some other kind of compensation to make up the difference. But remember a lower fare lowers the TA's commission so many prefer not to advise. That's why it's so important to choose the right one.

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A good TA will ALWAYS monitor the fare and advise of a drop. Then get you the lower fare as long as it's before final payment. .

 

You people are lucky as our Dec cruise dropped about A$4000 each before final payment Seabourn Australia wanted us to lose our $1200 deposit each and make the lower price cruise a new booking which was going to still be a better deal for us. TA finally came to an arrangement so we did not lose all of our deposit which suited everybody but we still did not get that full $4000 drop

 

Different booking rules down this way

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A good TA will ALWAYS monitor the fare and advise of a drop. Then get you the lower fare as long as it's before final payment. Even after final payment sometimes they can get OBCs or some other kind of compensation to make up the difference. But remember a lower fare lowers the TA's commission so many prefer not to advise. That's why it's so important to choose the right one.

 

I know TA commissions vary a lot, but what on average is the percent for a luxury cruise that a TA (who is not an online mass booking site TA gets)? Say, one in CA.

Since internet came out for normal people to use, who can book through the cruiseline, and do their own research, I have not understood how TAs make a good living, though I do understand why people use them, e.g., benefits.

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A good TA will ALWAYS monitor the fare and advise of a drop. Then get you the lower fare as long as it's before final payment. Even after final payment sometimes they can get OBCs or some other kind of compensation to make up the difference. But remember a lower fare lowers the TA's commission so many prefer not to advise. That's why it's so important to choose the right one.

 

Our TA gets a lot of business from us as well as referrals. She knows that looking after us will lead to more commission in the long run.

 

In addition, it is relatively little work for her. We often book the next cruise on-board but she still gets the credit.

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Wipro and Roxburgh, you both seem to have great TAs. It's too bad that cruisecritic restricts the mention of specific TAs. When our TA obtained the current promotion fare for us, their OBC dropped as well - as a result of the lower fare we would be paying. Of course, this meant that their commission was also reduced. We're relieved, however, that we didn't have to lose our deposit and do a new booking, in order to get the more favorable fare.

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We are open on cruise lines we travel on. I have price monitors on some itineraries we are interested in with a price range that we are willing to pay (largely based on prices offered for the 2018 equivalent).

 

The EU online travel agent we use does get good deals but invariably this means making the full commitment at time of purchase so no going back without losing.

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Wipro and Roxburgh, you both seem to have great TAs. It's too bad that cruisecritic restricts the mention of specific TAs. When our TA obtained the current promotion fare for us, their OBC dropped as well - as a result of the lower fare we would be paying. Of course, this meant that their commission was also reduced. We're relieved, however, that we didn't have to lose our deposit and do a new booking, in order to get the more favorable fare.

 

A good TA will get plenty of repeat business as well as referrals which more than make up for a smaller commission. We do a couple of cruises/vacations a year plus she has started doing the flights for us. In addition, we are now starting to book premium suites which attract a bigger commission.

 

Years in business taught me that relationships and client service matter. If you are good at your job and make your client's interests yours then you will never go hungry. If a TA cannot see beyond the immediate commission then I would suggest looking for another one.

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Years in business taught me that relationships and client service matter. If you are good at your job and make your client's interests yours then you will never go hungry. If a TA cannot see beyond the immediate commission then I would suggest looking for another one.

 

Couldn't agree more. We had used this certain TA for a couple of years and we each received a US$200 United Airways voucher for a overbooked flight. Asking the TA, which we had used for this trip, how we were going to use it she said ring United and that was it as there was no commission in it for her. United Airlines didn't fly to NZ at that stage but we were flying to and around The States each year as we were going to conventions at Vegas which the original TA had booked for us so she knew

 

We went to another TA along the street and asked him the same question and have since then spent many thousands of dollars with him over the last ten years. I love short sighted sales staff

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