Booking A Cruise As A "US Resident" (but we're Australian)

Hi Guys,

My husband and I want to book a 35 night cruise for next year. I have had a look around at pricing and the US sites are at least $2500 cheaper than Aussie sites. I have never booked through a US site before and it's asking if we are US residents which we are not. We live in Australia (I have a British passport he has an Australian passport). We do have family in the US so we can use their address. Basically what I'm asking is can we lie and say we are US residents and put our families address or will we get found out :'):halo:

Hi Guys,

 

My husband and I want to book a 35 night cruise for next year. I have had a look around at pricing and the US sites are at least $2500 cheaper than Aussie sites. I have never booked through a US site before and it's asking if we are US residents which we are not. We live in Australia (I have a British passport he has an Australian passport). We do have family in the US so we can use their address. Basically what I'm asking is can we lie and say we are US residents and put our families address or will we get found out :'):halo:

What are you going to do when asked for your U.S. Passport information?

Hi Guys,

 

My husband and I want to book a 35 night cruise for next year. I have had a look around at pricing and the US sites are at least $2500 cheaper than Aussie sites. I have never booked through a US site before and it's asking if we are US residents which we are not. We live in Australia (I have a British passport he has an Australian passport). We do have family in the US so we can use their address. Basically what I'm asking is can we lie and say we are US residents and put our families address or will we get found out :'):halo:

We have British friends that do this all the time. They use a US travel agent.

What are you going to do when asked for your U.S. Passport information?

You don't need a US passport to live in the US.

Yes, you can do it.

Our TA regularly books cruises for UK clients.

Don't forget that the US prices do not include gratuities, so that needs to be factored in to any savings that you perceive. I believe that Oz fares include (or hide) gratuity charges.

Bear in mind it's residency that matters & not nationality, nationality would be racial discrimination.

So a US family address would do the job, or some US T/As don't even need that.

We've done it in the past, things to watch for

- you need to deal with a sympathetic TA, and definitely not direct with a cruise line. I suggest you pick up the phone rather than fill in a website form

- do check out gratuities, as thinfool's post.

- and US prices usually don't include port taxes

- US agencies don't appear to be bonded, if yours goes belly-up or runs off with your money I doubt there's a mechanism to guarantee you get your money back. So use only a credit card to make payments - not debit card or bank transfer or PayPal etc. And keep within the credit card compensation rules & limits.

- still on the subject of credit cards, the exchange rates they give are excellent - far better than bureaux de change and especially better than cruise ships. Most credit cards charge a "foreign transaction" fee, can be 2 to 3%, but some cards come free from foreign transaction fees - we have two like that which we use for foreign travel. Particularly because you're paying for your cruise tickets in a foreign currency, you really should fix yourselves up with a "no foreign transaction fee" card. Can't help with which cards in Aus, try asking on the Aussie forum

- your contract will be in USD so you'll be at the mercy of exchange rates until you've made final payment. If the AUD goes down against the USD before final payment your cruise will cost more AUD than you'd planned. Conversely, if the AUD goes up your cruise will be a little cheaper than you'd planned.

- we Brits forfeit our deposit as soon as we hand it over, I think its the same in Aus.

But your contract with a US T/A will have the same penalty-free cancellation rights pre-final payment date as Americans have.

The US / UK cruise price differentials aren't as big as they used to be, so it's rarely worth the extra work for us.

But I know that US cruise lines screw Aussies even more than us.

Good huntin'

JB :) .

Read previous posts where they only used the address of friends in the US with success. Just take note of JB’s guideline.

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Yes, you can do it.

 

 

 

Our TA regularly books cruises for UK clients.

 

 

 

Don't forget that the US prices do not include gratuities, so that needs to be factored in to any savings that you perceive. I believe that Oz fares include (or hide) gratuity charges.

Nor travel insurance.

What the OP is asking to do is dishonest :). But we do have an Aussie friend (from near Cairns) who has long booked his cruises using a Canadian address (belongs to a family member) with no problem. As to the Passport info, that is not a problem since many folks who live in North America have Passports from other countries. The cruise line's specifically talk about being a resident of North America....not having a North American Passport.

Hank

I’ve done this 54 times and counting. Never had any issues. Go for it!

Floris

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Thank you everyone for your replies, and extra thank you to John for all the info it's very much appreciated. We are going ahead with it, the company we are booking it through have a good reputation. I've just compared it to booking it through the cheapest australian TA (which doesn't include gratuities or travel insurance anyway),and even with the exchange rate and our credit card fees we save $3800 which is a lot (its another cruise for us anyway hahaha).

Thanks Again!

I would also be asking this on the Australia/New Zealander Board.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=-1&f=712

Keith

I have friends who do this all the time. As long as you’re not getting a discount as a resident of a specific state, which is offered sometimes, it should not be a problem.

We are NZ residents/passport holders and booked a cruise with a Canadian TA on a US ship, leaving from US - no problems.

Thank you everyone for your replies, and extra thank you to John for all the info it's very much appreciated. We are going ahead with it, the company we are booking it through have a good reputation. I've just compared it to booking it through the cheapest australian TA (which doesn't include gratuities or travel insurance anyway),and even with the exchange rate and our credit card fees we save $3800 which is a lot (its another cruise for us anyway hahaha).

 

Thanks Again!

Looks to me like you're going ahead straightaway?

It's more sensible to get everything in place first.

But hey, I'd do the same as you.

Do as I say, not as I do :D

On the matter of cards with no foreign transaction fees.

If you don't have a card with no foreign transaction fees, you'll be paying that transaction fee on your cruise deposit.

By itself that's not a huge fee, and you'll probably not want to delay & risk losing the deal.

But I do urge you to arrange to get a no-foreign-exchange-fee card in time to pay the balance & save yourselves a fair chunk of money.

Usually there's no set-up fee, no interest charges as long as you settle by the due date just like other credit cards, and no other costs or down-sides. You don't have to cancel other cards - in fact for domestic spending you're better off to use a card which offers free insurance or kick-backs or other benefits rather than fee-free foreign transactions.

No-foreign-transaction-fee makes a big difference with any foreign travel, whether it's hotels, meals, souvenirs, even a couple of beers.

And when settling your on-board account, always but always leave your on-board account in ship's currency (in this case USD), and never but never accept ship's offer to charge you in the currency of your card "for your convenience :rolleyes:". Ships' exchange rates are awful, you'll get a far better rate if you leave it in USD and allow your card issuer to convert to AUD. (That's not taking a pop at US ships, it's taking a pop at the cruise industry world-wide.)

On the same subject and of interest to any nationality in any foreign port, there's a growing tendency for shops, restaurants & other outlets to offer to charge your card in your card's currency. Just like cruise ships, those folk will convert at a poor rate & earn themselves a little extra at your expense. So always but always decline that offer & ask that your card be charged in local currency, same as the price on the ticket or the menu.

JB :)

We did this in 2011, booked with travel agent in US as cruise we wanted was sold out in Australia. No need to “lie” about anything but we were told that at embarkation we could be denied boarding because we had booked in US. As cruise left from Beunos Aires and flights were involved I was a bit stressed. Rang Celebrity in Aus, explained situation, we were told it was not the correct thing to do but they would honour the booking.

All went well, and the Antarctic was amazing.