Have any UK residents ever booked direct through the USA?

[UKLady]

 

 

Well, they are not routinely offered on a Med itinerary if you are a British booking, so that argument doesn't stack up.

 

 

I know.

 

And this is even more annoying, I have booked for next year for an inside cabin. I phoned to ask how much to upgrade to an outside cabin and was quoted £450 each to upgrade. I put the phone down and checked the difference between cabin prices with a US TA and it would cost £150 each to upgrade to outside - to a higher category than princess offered.

 

So if I have already paid for my flights, transfers etc, why is my upgrade more expensive?? - I will be putting this question to them on Monday morning - lets see what excuse they dream up this time

[iancal]

Is this a Princess/P&O issue or do UK residents have this problem with RCI group or others? This pricing issue is very common in the retail trade (which is why we have the grey market) but I did not know it existed in this industry. It is doomed to failure.

[ourlol]

Iancal,

 

I can't speak for RCI, but the differential in price between the US and UK with Princess has been going on for years.

 

Unfortunately, I doubt this policy is "doomed to fail", since the majority of UK passengers are unaware of what's happening. It is only the few that have found this board (and similar) and taken the trouble to look beyond these shores that realise the truth.

 

Trying to raise the issue with Princess here in the UK is like hitting your head against a brick wall... sadly.

 

That said, on rare occasions, you do find a really good deal over here in the UK (this summer's Golden Princess itinerary being a point in case). That is being offered in the UK well below the price in the USA. I should imagine that, at this late stage, the cost of flights from US to the UK would put most American travellers off - so they are trying to fill the ship with Brits. Hence the reduction in fare.

 

Laura

[Ms Jo UK]

I have booked a Royal Caribbean with a US TA cruise and not it is not the same. The instruction that you must have a US or Canadian address does not come up, it appears that UK people are free to book as I have done. Also it does save a minimum of about £50 from RCCL UK site.

 

Interestingly you can not book directly with RCCL US site just the UK site if you wish to book direct with the cruiseline.

 

A main benefit for using the US TAs is that the conditions for changing or cancelling a cruise up to final payment is so less rigid than the UK terms ie loss of deposit even if you cancel only 48 hours after booking.

 

On the princess issue, I have definately asked a US TA if I can book with them and they said yes and I made it clear that I am a UK resident so when Dec 06 prices for Princess are published I will hope to book it. If not I will see if I can use my friends mailing address although that will still not make me a US resident.

 

Jo

[Bestbubba]

Hi everyone

 

This is a very interesting discussion. We booked our last cruise, Sapphire Princess, Sydney to Bangkok, with a UK TA (Bolsover, excellent) Travelling such a distance for the first time even though we consider ourselves well travelled, we wanted the security of the Princess package. We booked 15 months out, got all the early booking discounts and were most satisfied with the price we paid. As a (very!) ex travel agent, I still couldn't resist pricing the whole thing up myself with US TA and we still came out quite a bit ahead. OK, unusual destination, long cruise etc etc. The story changes with Caribbean/Med/Panama/Alaska. Please forgive my unladylike language........we Brits get screwed most of the time with those cruises!!;)

 

Yes there are the occasional good deals, the Golden in May/June this year as Laura points out. Also the year we booked our Panama cruise through that KLEVER KRUISE agent whose name we must not mention;) undercutting the UK TA prices by hundreds of pounds, Celebrity came out with a fantastic offer of balcony cabins on the Summit for £1200!! But this is rare.

 

I do think it is so unfair that if we are prepared to put in the extra work (and there is quite a lot of it) to book through a US TA we are being shut out of this market. I will now step gingerly down from my soap box!!:D

 

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

Sue x

 

ps We booked the Sea Princess (through Bol. again) THIS time it worked out cheaper than US cos they could not put the same package together.

[barriedavis]

UK Lady, you do not have to own a residence in the USA. Following a particularly angry moment last year, I wrote to Princess US to ask them loads of questions about the policy. A reply from their PR guys said:-

 

"A booking can be made by a citizen or part time resident (with proof of an address in North America). Frequently, many of our passengers, who reside in other countries, have part time residences in North America, often spending months at a time. When we encounter a passenger or an agency (through which a passenger wishes to make a reservation) based on the aforementioned agreement between sales agents, to support that the clients live in the US on a part time basis, we require proof of a North American address (ie a utility bill, a rent receipt. etc with the client's name on it). Princess no longer does pier pick up of travel documents."

 

Hope this helps. Perhaps all us disgruntled Brits can get together and work something out.

[UKLady]

Thanks Bazzer

 

I am getting lots of different answers from different places but most of it boils down to the same thing Princess do not want UK passengers booking via the US.

 

Short of buying a holiday home over there I dont think Ill be able to get round that ruling

 

I wish we all could get together and do something it seems that we all have had our discussions with Princess re the same thing but to no avail.

[UKLady]

 

I do think it is so unfair that if we are prepared to put in the extra work (and there is quite a lot of it) to book through a US TA we are being shut out of this market. I will now step gingerly down from my soap box!!:D

 

I think we all agree with that one Sue

 

I have never found a TA in the UK that can beat the price I am given by Princess themselves

 

What about everyone else do you go via Princess or a Travel Agent?

[ourlol]

Many moons ago, before this forum was revamped, there was a thread that ran and ran called the 'Brits Dossier' where we all ranted and raved at the injustice of the British booking system. Unfortunately, we can't access the old archived Princess board as I think you would find it interesting reading... if only to see that in 4 years nothing whatsoever has changed.

 

In the meantime, when my US TA gets back from holiday I will check to see whether she has any more news on the subject of UK bookings / latest changes in policy.

 

I wonder what a rent receipt looks like? I have a friend who has a holiday home in Florida. Perhaps he could issue me with a receipt to say I'm renting his property!!

[Ms Jo UK]

If the Klever Kruise agent is an online agent who appears to be i ntelligent about cruising then it would appear you can still book princess on that site as it takes you through the booking page it allows you to put non us resident in the info coloumn and does still give a quote.

 

I am really keen to cruise princess in Novermber as part of a back to back with RCCL's Freedom which is already booked. I have a friend who is a permanent resident in Tampa who I am sure would write a rent receipt for me if only we knew what one looked like.

 

Jo

[Globaliser]

I do think it is so unfair that if we are prepared to put in the extra work (and there is quite a lot of it) to book through a US TA we are being shut out of this market. I will now step gingerly down from my soap box!!:D

I am getting lots of different answers from different places but most of it boils down to the same thing Princess do not want UK passengers booking via the US.

...

I wish we all could get together and do something it seems that we all have had our discussions with Princess re the same thing but to no avail.

I've thought about this a lot, and I think that there is something that can be done to challenge Princess on this, but it would need a lot of evidence, a lot of hard work, and probably someone to offer support.

 

I think that there might be a viable legal case that could be brought against Princess for indirect race discrimination. In UK legislation, "race" includes "nationality". By shutting the door on booking in the US, Princess has imposed a real barrier against UK residents obtaining the same price as US residents. It's not direct race discrim, because the barrier has been imposed on the grounds of residence, not nationality.

 

But if I remember correctly, the legislation says that it is unlawful indirect race discrim if the barrier consists of a condition which people of one nationality can satisfy more easily than people of another nationality, and there is no proper justification for the condition.

 

Until the ban on UK residents booking in the US via a US agent, I think that Princess could probably have got away with it on the grounds that UK residents will normally want to deal with UK travel agents and have UK consumer protection. And so the condition ("if you book in the UK, you will pay UK prices; if you want US prices, you must book in the US and take your chances") would probably have been justifiable.

 

But if you simultaneously impose a ban on booking in the UK, thus forcing all UK residents to book only in the UK at the higher UK prices, the justification for that condition is hard to see.

 

In saying this, I'm not out ambulance chasing, and you won't find a way of sending me this bit of work! But if there are Princess lurkers reading this, be warned. This idea is going to get circulated gently for general consumption if things continue to be like this.

[oskidunker]

When I was there a large pizza cost me $45.00. Here, it would be $22.00 . So I Guess the cruise lines have come to the same conclusion I have. Everyone must make twice as much money in Great Britain, or how could they afford the ridiculous prices.

[UKLady]

When I was there a large pizza cost me $45.00. Here, it would be $22.00 . So I Guess the cruise lines have come to the same conclusion I have. Everyone must make twice as much money in Great Britain, or how could they afford the ridiculous prices.

 

Im not sure if your serious or joking comparing pizza to cruises. And where on earth did you buy it - I have never seen a pizza cost that much! (Please dont reply and tell me lol)

 

The thing is though we in the UK do not discriminate against you and we dont stop you buying your pizza here so regardless of how much you paid - you were still allowed to pay the UK price!!

 

Suggest next time go to a restaurant rather than eating junk food better value for money ;)

 

If you would like to let us all book our Cruise from your address next time your in London we will arrange restaurant bookings for cheaper pizza :D

[UKLady]

Globaliser - sounds like your onto something. We English love to moan but would we go so far as to do something about it?

 

Your suggestion is far more serious than mine - I was going to suggest we all write to watchdog ;)

 

Or maybe we should take out advertisements and everyone from the UK who travels with Princess can buy a share in a US residence and we will all book our cruises from the one address in the States - I personally offer to fly over once a month to collect all of our mail :D

 

Jokes aside - could we really make them change their policy

[phillipahain]

We have a lot of USA friends that we cruise with and we have travelled back and forth to the USA for years even have USA bank account etc

 

I can assure all USA folks on this board that incomes in UK are DEFINITELY not higher than the USA

 

Mostly our salaries are half of the USA and our taxes are much higher especially sales tax which although included generally in prices is a whopping 17.5%

Our housing is a major cost with the average house in the UK now being $350,000 and that in most of the south of England would be a 1 bedroom apartment and rents for same would be over $1000 a month

 

The majority of UK people cruising will be those whose children have left home and the mortgage is finished or those who have inherited money as a result of parents dying

 

Of course their will be some high earners who can afford to cruise but the rest will be ordinary folk who dont spend out on other things

 

I only ever buy groceries in the UK ........clothes, fabrics, shoes etc etc i buy in the USA because they are way way cheaper

[UKLady]

[quote name='phillipahain']We have a lot of USA friends that we cruise with and we have travelled back and forth to the USA for years even have USA bank account etc [/QUOTE]

How do you get a US bank account, what are the requirements?

[phillipahain]

Same sort of proofs that you need to open a bank account in the UK

But you need to keep a balance in it as you can only have a debit /atm type card and theres charges to watch out for if the balance gets too low

Try Bank of America they are ours and they are across the USA

You can also get a Cater Allen Dollar Account here in the UK same kind of deal debit/atm/credit card

you can send them a cheque anytime and they will convert to dolars at commercial rate which is better than tourist rate

We also book cruises in the USA

[UKLady]

THANKS

Hopefully we will all be able to find a way round this new rule and book at a fairer price

[Ms Jo UK]

There is always a way round a rule ... we just have to find it

[UKLady]

[quote name='Ms Jo UK']There is always a way round a rule ... we just have to find it[/QUOTE]

If one of us finds it we have to share - deal?

I tried to speak to Princess today about US upgrades being £150 and ours being £450 but I got the you will have to write to us will all the details so we can investigate.

Ill let you all know if/when I get a response

[Ms Jo UK]

Keep us posted UK lady

[peterv]

So far I have booked 4 cruises with my US travel agent, two last December on the Carnival Triumph back to back just before Christmas. And this year the same thing, except on Princess from San Juan. With the difference in price I booked a weeks stay in San Juan pre-cruise and the air fare from London to San Juan. Of course this does include the favourable exchange rate.

Compared to the UK agent booking a BD cabin we got a BA for less, plus the agent stated we would most likely get upgraded to a mini-suite for being back to back. The air from the UK couldn't be changed and we would have stayed one night in Chicago and arrived the morning of the cruise.

So with my choice of air, we have a direct to San Juan through Miami a week before, and get into San Juan same day.

Filled out the cruise immigration paperwork with no complaints at all.

Cheers,
Peter

[UKLady]

Hi Peter

Would you mind telling us when you booked your trip (sounds great by the way)

It appears this ruling is quite new

Debbie

[spongerob]

Pardon the interruption - I'm curious how P&O prices compare to Princess, and for that matter, Ocean Village. I don't need anything too specific, I was just curious. It is very difficult to get information about P&O cruises here in the US.

[ourlol]

Debbie,

You pipped me to the post there. I too was curious when Peter made his Princess booking. Everything, from what I can tell, changed at the end of January this year i.e. before that you were okay to book ... after that it became a 'no no'.

Alternatively Peter could you ask your US TA if they are still accepting bookings from the UK? Just a general enquiry. As I understand it all existing bookings made from British passengers through an American agent are okay, it's just new bookings.

Rob,

I'll have a look and get back to you. Never fancied Ocean Village mind you. I think some people on the P&O board have been on both i.e. Princess, P&O and Ocean Village if you wanted to ask there for comparisons.

Laura