Discrimination Against Non US and Canadian Citizens!

[Maverine]

It amazes me that some people accept that corporate drivel like mothers milk to the point where they are regurgitating it.

 

 

 

This is all about pricing what the market will support-by geography. Sure, there are some local conditions that may cause slight differences but nothing more. This was certainly the case for the multinational firm that I worked for. That is, until the Internet and our customers forced us to have standard world wide pricing. Customers are a great deal more savvy these days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[OlsSalt]

Hi

I am rather peeved at the moment. I cruised on the Eurodam in Dec 2017, loved every minute. I have been researching another cruise and I have found out that there are significant differences in what a US and Canadian citizen pay and what the rest of us pay.

I priced an Alaska cruise on the Amsterdam on a number of UK TA and HALs website. I then looked at a couple of US sites where the price was significantly lower, approx £1500 ($2078.10) for the same cabin. Some cabins were even £2000 (2770.80) cheaper. I enquired and was told 'Unfortunately we are only permitted to sellHolland America and Princess cruises to residence of the USA and Canada.' apparantly this is HALs policy.

I feel this is nothing less than discrimation on HALs part. Why the hell should I pay nearly twice as much for a HAL cruise as a US or Canadian citizen. I can however book other cruise lines with these companies

 

This has been discussed often in the past. It is not "discrimination". It apparently has to do with different UK insurance requirements and recourse options that need to be tacked on to these fare costs under UK regulations, if that is who is doing your booking.

[Hlitner]

Lets understand that the Subject of this thread is completely wrong! The issue has nothing to do with "citizenship" but is an issue related to residency.

 

Hank

[RDC1]

I remember a thread discussing this a few months ago about the exposure a cruise line is subjected to when they directly sell to consumers in the UK or the EU or both (I seem to remember maybe even Australia was involved). Apparently, if they were to sell direct then they have some Financial liability in case of itinerary changes and such. I don't remember whether the bottom line was that selling through some dedicated Channel they're able to insulate themselves from that liability or rather that they charge more to cover the additional liability to which the government subjects them.

 

This post may have been entered by voice recognition. Please excuse any typographical errors.

 

If a cruise is available for sale in the UK then any booking in the UK is subject to UK consumer protections including the package travel regulations, and thus UK cruise contract applies. If someone buys under US terms they do not have those protections. By putting the restrictions on travels agents, where someone much go around the rules by having a US address it is clear that those terms were not offered in the UK and thus someone cannot argue that PTR should apply to a UK citizen that booked under US terms since they were clearly not offered there.

[Hlitner]

We have a friend (he has been a 5 Star Mariner for many years) who lives in Northeast Australia and who spends many months a year cruising on HAL. He has long used a Canadian address (it belongs to a friend) to book his cruises in order to get the favorable deals offered to North Americans by HAL. Many other cruise lines have no problem with folks from outside of North America booking through North American cruise/travel agencies. Why HAL has their policy remains somewhat of a mystery to me.

 

Hank

[Haboob]

We have a friend (he has been a 5 Star Mariner for many years) who lives in Northeast Australia and who spends many months a year cruising on HAL. He has long used a Canadian address (it belongs to a friend) to book his cruises in order to get the favorable deals offered to North Americans by HAL. Many other cruise lines have no problem with folks from outside of North America booking through North American cruise/travel agencies. Why HAL has their policy remains somewhat of a mystery to me.

 

Hank

 

It's not "outside the US", but "countries that require HAL to bundle a sort of super

cruise protection coverage plan in the cruise fare".

 

I prefer buying whatever level of coverage that suits me, not what the bureaucrats

at the UK's ABTA think I need or, apparently, the bureaucrats in Australia.

[muffin]

We booked an Alaska cruise for friends from England. We said it was an anniversary present, and we paid for it all. Our address was used for all 4 of us, but we gave them the friends email so they would get all notices too. A big online American travel company. The friends did all their own set up of their information and folio etc from England.Then they paid us. No problem.

[iancal]

It is not uncommon to use an accommodation address. We use one in the UK in order to book certain types of travel that would be more expensive if we booked in NA.

 

We have met a number of UK residents who book in North America. They seem to have no problem in doing so. I assume they use a friendly TA and/or an accommodation address. I do not blame them. I would do, and have done, exactly the same when the cost difference was substantial.