Price drops/Travel agents/cruise ship companies.

[cecil1]

I am respectful of the great service you provide, and if you want to delete this note, I will understand.

I bought two cruises b/b from a prominent agency about 3 weeks ago. we had to pay full price straight up. Now the same agency is offering our rooms at half price. (We are talking Concierge Class and Family Verandas, -not inexpensive rooms.)

I'm a little choked, .......in reality annoyed. Nothing for us to do? They are saying that you buy your cruise at a given price, and get lost if the price drops.

So why don't we all skip TA's and just wait till the last minute to buy bargain cruises. Remember, I'm not talking $50 bucks, -for each cruise per person is $600 each.....(so $2400 in total)

Anyone have some advice on how to approach this atrocity? I think my next cruise will be from ebay if this keeps up!

Sorry to sound snarly.

Looking forward to Summit Jan 22- Feb 7 out of Puerto Rio

But any comments would be most welcome

[6502programmer]

Sadly, your gripe is with Celebrity and their price match policy, not with your agent. You did wait til pretty late in the process - After final payment to be certain. With the current policy, they can be far more aggressive in cutting prices after final payment, knowing that they won't have to provide OBC to anyone. Obviously, the closer they get to sailing, the better the deals become, but the worse the cabin selection usually becomes too.

 

Your best bet is to see if you can upgrade your accommodations. While they won't refund or provide OBC, they will, in most cases, let you upgrade to a better cabin. In your case, if a suite is available now for the same price you paid a few weeks ago, you should be able to upgrade to it.

[biker1972]

There are many factors involved in pricing and when to book. Sometimes X and others will have sales for new bookings only. Sometimes they will put out guarantee pricing or pricing for seniors or residents of particular states. Sometimes prices will go up rather than down. One of my futures cruises just had the FV's released for couples to book. I would have to pony up $2600 to move from my CC cabin to a corner FV. It is like buying a new car at the end of a model year (do they still do model years?). If the dealer has a hugh inventory, prices will be down. Buy your car too early in the year, you will pay more, but you get choice in color and as well as add-ons not just what is on the lot. The cruise business has been on of the few that has said they will match price reductions over the lifetime of a reservation. That model is changing and we have to make harder choices. Book early for choice cabins or wait until the last moment and hope prices are down or cabins available. Talk also indicates possible fees to cancel booking before final payment. X now has a limit on how many days you can wait and still transfer to a TA (60 days and more TA's have penalties to cancel). Waiting also means that if you fly to a port, you might have an increased fare to deal with. We are dealing with profit oriented businesses who see each customer in terms of $$$$. I certainly don't like what is happening but I don't want a Cruise West disaster either.

[lysolqn]

Celebrity changed its price protection policy several months back. Price drops after final payment date which used to be protected with a refund in the form of onboard credit are now honored only with upgrades, and only if available. Celebrity is not the only cruise line with that policy and it's a change that was long a long time coming since by guaranteeing price drops right up to sailing, the cruise line was essentially giving away the store. A cogent argument can be made that pax book at what they consider to be a fair/reasonable price and if that price drops, while they may no longer be eligible for the lower price, they will still have paid what they considered to be fair/reasonable when they booked. I'm sorry the policy has been changed (and have already been adversely affected by it) but I can't blame the cruise line for wanting to stop the bleeding.

[chisoxfan]

I am respectful of the great service you provide, and if you want to delete this note, I will understand.

I bought two cruises b/b from a prominent agency about 3 weeks ago. we had to pay full price straight up. Now the same agency is offering our rooms at half price. (We are talking Concierge Class and Family Verandas, -not inexpensive rooms.)

I'm a little choked, .......in reality annoyed. Nothing for us to do? They are saying that you buy your cruise at a given price, and get lost if the price drops.

So why don't we all skip TA's and just wait till the last minute to buy bargain cruises. Remember, I'm not talking $50 bucks, -for each cruise per person is $600 each.....(so $2400 in total)

Anyone have some advice on how to approach this atrocity? I think my next cruise will be from ebay if this keeps up!

Sorry to sound snarly.

Looking forward to Summit Jan 22- Feb 7 out of Puerto Rio

But any comments would be most welcome

 

I would suggest hitting up your T/A about this initially. Are you sure that there were no "games" played with your original booking? You can check online to confirm this. While perhaps unlikely, it also is unusual for such a quick reversal of fares from full ticket to heavily discounted. Perhaps your TA will see how displeased you are and try and assist with some OBC or lobbying X on your behalf. As stated, you can also look at a possible upgrade which is probably your best option.

 

I also do not like the current state of X not allowing OBC or price adjustments after final payment. I cannot help but glance at prices for my upcoming Feb. cruise (like looking for scratches on your new car,you don't want to do it but feel compelled) to see if they have changed. Yes, I understand the arguments and comments, ie. 'you can't do anything about it so why check'. 'Prices can go up too' and 'you had the first choice of available cabins' These arguments do have merit but to me the thought that the couple in the next cabin paid $ 1000 less would not sit well and does seem unfair.

A cruise does represent alot of money for most people and it does not seem desirable or fair to be totally locked in at 75 days without recourse. Even the most onerous cell phone contract can be terminated without that much pain.

I can appreciate the cruise line's increasing need to squeeze dollars in a competitive environment. That said, why not a compromise. If the cruise price drops after final payment a percentage OBC could be offered. Say 30-50% of the difference. You could still feel that you had an earlier pick of cabins, airfare, etc. but at the same time would not 'miss out' on the ultimate total savings. The % of OBC could be adjusted on a time basis, ie 50% at 60-75 days, 30% up to two weeks, etc.

Of course not everyone would track pricing and it would have to be requested so the cruise line would only pony up to those passengers who have a concern. Seems like a fair deal IMHO.

I know that in my personal case alot of the incentive to book early is taken away and under the current rules I will probably focus more on last minute bookings which I don't think the cruiselines ultimately want.

[jagoffee]

I appreciate your concern with a major price reduction. Your cruise is not listed on the special exciting deals that are for new bookings only. I use a website to track price trends (I am not 100% sure that is accurate). It does not look to me as if there is anyway that the price has dropped as much as you say, 50%. But I did not see the FV pricing, just the CC. If you go to the Celebrity site and start a dummy booking, you can see the current pricing and compare it to what is on your invoice. You would did to make sure that you are comparing apples to apples.

 

Since a TA is not allowed to discount a cruise, I would think that they are also not allowed to up the price as well. So it should just be an issue of Celebrity's pricing. You should have been able to get some kind of OBC from your TA for your booking. If not you might want to shop around for a different TA next time. IMO, but I would not necessarily fault the TA for the change in pricing without some investigation. 50% reduction in three weeks does seem rather odd.

 

As mentioned above based on Celebrity's policy you should be able to upgrade if a higher level cabin is less than what you paid. Perhaps a big suite. Your TA should have been able to explain this to you. Good luck and enjoy your cruise.

 

P.S. My above comments assume that you are U.S. based as I am not familiar with the U.K. policies.