More expensive to book on the phone than online?????

[MaisonDeBritts]

All prices are Australian $

 

We have just booked a cabin for 2016 on Solstice.

 

The base price online, without taxes or gratuities, was $4,467.74

 

We initially rang to get a quote and talk to them about the various 123GO specials that are on at the moment. In the end we decided to book it while we were on the phone. We were given a total price and we asked what the gratuities were worth because we couldn't see that amount online. After we got off the phone we worked all the figures down to price each to tell our UK friends so they could consider booking through us as it's cheaper. Imagine our surprise to see the cabin only price was $4,987.74 - exactly $520 more than the online price.

 

When we called to ask about it, what sounded like a young girl, very uncertain of herself, said "That's the best price we could get at the time"

 

The original person i spoke to is at lunch so I will be calling him back shortly.

 

Has this happened to anyone else? :confused:

 

We were looking at a site with Australian pricing and we rang Sydney to book.

[MaisonDeBritts]

OK we now have an explanation!!!

 

We spent 40 minutes talking to person A and then asked for a supervisor as he was getting quite heated and not really hearing us (he's in Guatemala so we were probably on different wave lengths) :D

 

When I explained the situation to the supervisor I said we are aware of the taxes and gratuities but the base price of the cabin varied from the website to our reservation pricing.

 

He finally explained that port charges were added to the cabin price.

 

So simple and yet it's not listed anywhere to explain the difference in pricing at the end of the process.

 

He said they deal with this sort of query all the time and I suggested that maybe they need to get their webmaster to mention these troublesome port charges.

 

Then again, why aren't the bloody port charges included in the damn cabin price in the first place... then no-one gets confused or left feeling ripped off.

 

All good now... we are having a drink to celebrate booking our next cruise!!!!!

 

Yippee :D:):D:):D

[lovetotraveltx]

OK we now have an explanation!!!

 

We spent 40 minutes talking to person A and then asked for a supervisor as he was getting quite heated and not really hearing us (he's in Guatemala so we were probably on different wave lengths) :D

 

When I explained the situation to the supervisor I said we are aware of the taxes and gratuities but the base price of the cabin varied from the website to our reservation pricing.

 

He finally explained that port charges were added to the cabin price.

 

So simple and yet it's not listed anywhere to explain the difference in pricing at the end of the process.

 

He said they deal with this sort of query all the time and I suggested that maybe they need to get their webmaster to mention these troublesome port charges.

 

Then again, why aren't the bloody port charges included in the damn cabin price in the first place... then no-one gets confused or left feeling ripped off.

 

All good now... we are having a drink to celebrate booking our next cruise!!!!!

 

Yippee :D:):D:):D

On the us website it states these prices do not include mandatory port changes you this they would post that in every country!

[GUT2407]

I totally agree with the OP you are given a price and then at the end t turns out higher, they don't tell you that you are going to get all these extras whacked on, but then you look at the site another time and they are shown, it really beats me.

 

Online the only way to go is do a full booking to the end then note the price.

 

But we all know about the web site:cool:

[ksthommo]

Agree, prices are misleading.

Filed a case with Australian Competition and Consumer

Commission a few weeks back regarding price differences as you go through the booking process. Haven't heard anything back at this stage.

[GUT2407]

Please report back if/when you get a result.

[Project_gal]

OK we now have an explanation!!!

 

We spent 40 minutes talking to person A and then asked for a supervisor as he was getting quite heated and not really hearing us (he's in Guatemala so we were probably on different wave lengths) :D

 

When I explained the situation to the supervisor I said we are aware of the taxes and gratuities but the base price of the cabin varied from the website to our reservation pricing.

 

He finally explained that port charges were added to the cabin price.

 

So simple and yet it's not listed anywhere to explain the difference in pricing at the end of the process.

 

He said they deal with this sort of query all the time and I suggested that maybe they need to get their webmaster to mention these troublesome port charges.

 

Then again, why aren't the bloody port charges included in the damn cabin price in the first place... then no-one gets confused or left feeling ripped off.

 

All good now... we are having a drink to celebrate booking our next cruise!!!!!

 

Yippee :D:):D:):D

 

It can be done! In the UK, the prices are given per room [not per person] AND include taxes & fees.

[The_Big_M]

Be great if they listed all inclusive prices, but it is what it is.

[goodycruising]

I don't know if it is just really bad practices, or if their website has some weird faults.

 

I can't make head or tail of the price on a cruise I have been looking at today. I can see where it says the taxes, fees and port expenses are additional, and I also find this bemusing. Why not have that in the price to start with?

 

I start with it showing one price, I go in to book, and it drops for some reason, maybe captain's club? The it seems to jump at the end to far more than the taxes and the gratuities would account for.

 

I thought Royal Caribbean's site was weird, but Celebrity really has some issues, and I for one am not now booking a cruise worth over $6000 as I will just not put up with this crap.

 

There are lots of cruises going to basically many of the same locations. I like Solstice, but this pricing model is not right. I have booked Solstice online before for two other cruises, and it was not this bad. I will come back and look another day, but in the meantime I will be looking at other cruise lines' offerings as well. :(:rolleyes::(

[MaisonDeBritts]

It's just that we were pricing this up individually for some friends in the UK that we even noticed it.

 

Our first cruise was booked through a travel agent... and our last one was done online but we didn't notice it at all.

 

I'm happy for them to list the cabin at the lowest price... not including anything else... but when you look at your actual reservation with individual prices listed... it needs to say:

 

Cabin - $4,467.74

Port Charges - $520.00

Taxes and Fees - $377.38

Gratuities - $253.52

TOTAL - $5,618.64

 

 

When they roll the port charges into the cabin cost with nothing to explain it, it causes unnecessary confusion. :confused::confused: