Hopefully some good news re pricing For Aussies

[moyaroo]

Debra, One thing that I forgot and this is huge! Thank you for your efforts. You reflect well on the travel biz and TA's as a whole.

[MMDown Under]

Thank you Debra for voicing our concerns. Could you also mention the delay in our availabily as well as our non-refundable and larger deposits and set cruise prices please?

 

I agree large non refundable deposits are a major turn off for many Australians.

 

I refuse to make bookings a long time in advance with non refundable deposits, although I plan as if I'm booked.

 

The cruise industry might be pleasantly surprised at advance Australian bookings for future overseas cruises, if Australians were allowed to make bookings with refundable deposits (prior to final payment). This would give the cruise industry a better indication of interest by Australians in their future overseas cruises.

[Miystic]

Last weekend was the P&O/Princess Partnership Summit that P&O/Princess hold for their top 200 agencies. Alan Buckelew Princess CEO was in attendance and I had the opportunity to have a one on one sit down with him over the issue of pricing and policies US vs AUS.

 

Much to my amazement (and I am sure to all of you as well!) he was unaware of some of the problems we were having and the discrepancy in pricing issues.

 

I left the meeting with the understanding that these issues were going to be addressed and that the goal was to have the prices as equal as possible around the globe. So.... let's see how it all goes.

 

Cheers,

Debra

 

Hi Deb Is he the CEO in Australia or US. I have sent a email to Head office in Rockafellor but to date no answer.

Miystic

[Purples]

I too am ever hopeful that Aussi"s will get the same fares and conditions as the US. It is apparently the company Princess America that dictates that US agents cannot sell to non US residents -not a government regulation. So must be the company that will not allow Australian agents to sell at US levels too. Hope it can be sorted.Live in hope!

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

I too am ever hopeful that Aussi"s will get the same fares and conditions as the US. It is apparently the company Princess America that dictates that US agents cannot sell to non US residents -not a government regulation. So must be the company that will not allow Australian agents to sell at US levels too. Hope it can be sorted.Live in hope!

 

Thank you, so do I. We love Princess but have just booked a Celebrity cruise because we can. There will be many more defections I am sure if Princess doesn't resolve this issue.

[Kruisekoala]

Read with interest Debra's info. We had a wonderful cruise on Diamond Princess until we met our fellow cruisers and found out that we had paid 40 percent more for our mini-suite stateroom. As a resident of Australia, I was informed that we can only book through a travel agent in Australia and if we went ahead with a booking through the USA or Canada, Princess would not allow us to board. I was enquiring about an Alaska cruise and not one out of Sydney. On board, I asked about a pre-cruise deposit which they were promoting and again I was surprised to be told that an Australian pays almost double that of an American cruiser (A$200 vs US$100). In fact, an Aussie pays more than a Kiwi because of the exchange rate:mad: After my quote on board for the Alaska cruise as an Aussie, I went back the next day with my best American accent and asked for the same cruise and same cabin and was quoted a price 24 percent lower!! Back home, I contacted a US travel agency and once again was quoted a price 40 percent less. Frankly Debra, it is great that you are trying to help the Aussies but if the reason we have to book through a TA in Australia is because of visa information etc, I can definitely handle that myself. For all our other cruises, I was able to shop around when we lived in the USA and Europe. Why not now especially with the internet? We can buy every other product via the internet and most other cruise lines allow us to do a booking that way. I guess Princess and P&O feel they have we Aussie cruisers in a corner until the others build up the number of ships based Downunder.

[Deb_in_Aussie]

I am pleased to advise that Princess has clearly listened to the comments put to them at the Partnership summit in Australia last month. I had a chance to see the chiefs from the LA office at the Cruise 360 conference in Vancouver a few weeks ago and they have already started to implement new policies for Australia.

 

I checked fares on the Sea Princess Voyages to/from Australia and group fares are now available to us in Australia and even using .85 as an exchange rate the AUD pricing is a bit better than the USD pricing. So clearly things are changing for us now. I am sure there will always be tactical offers that will vary from market to market, but hopefully our pricing will start to fall into line with the US pricing on the majority of occasions.

 

Cheers,

Deb