Booking on Costa-sorry this is so long

[dvg1027]

My parents, (in their mid 80's) my husband and I (early 50's and mid 60's) are looking to do a cruise of the Greek Isles next May or Sept.

 

Here is the plan in my "perfect world". Leave from Newark to Malpensa airport on a Mon/Tue. Stay with our aunt/cousins until the weekend. Then depending what day the cruise leaves take the train, (couple of hours trip) to Venice. Leave on the cruise for 7 days then come back to Venice, train back to family and say with them another 4-5 days before heading back to Newark via Malpensa.

My parents go to Italy every two years to see family, one time they did go on a Costa cruise that went the Spain, France route. My husband and I have been to Italy with them twice and have been on Caribbean cruises. This is our first european cruise.

 

I am usually the designated "travel agent". In doing some research I have a few questions that maybe some of you could help me with.

 

1. I have a costa cruise booklet for 2008. How early is early bird discounts considered? Maybe it is right in front of me but I can't find that info.

 

2. My parents will be repeat customers for Costa but my husband and I first timers with them. Do they give repeat customers discounts? If so, my husband and I have been on both Carnival (2x) and RCCL(1x). Are either lines associated with Costa and if so, woudl we also get a discount for being repeats?

 

3. I went on Expedia and a few other websites but they don't seem to include Costa in their cruise line selections. (don't know if it is true but I heard it was because Costa doesn't give as big a commission). What is my best options for best pricing? A TA, other websites, if so which ones or doing it myself through Costa, or AAA).

 

Any other recommendations for booking would be appreciated. This is going to be very expensive for us compared to previous vacations and I am trying to cut down where I can without making a huge difference. My main thing is convincing my husband we can do without a verandah. Forget even trying to convince him of an inside room. That will never happend. Of course I haven't even told him of this yet. I am waiting to see roughly how much it will cost for flight and cruise then spring it on him. Of course then I have to give him time to gain consiousness. LOL Thanks for the help everyone.

[mountainmare]

I'll pop in with what we found as we booked our first Costa cruise for Feb out of Rome.

We are long-time HAL cruisers, both HAL and Costa are owned by Carnival. There wasn't any discount for past passengers, but we had an e-mail special, which worked because we did book the cruise.

Do you have a personal travel agent who you have used in the past? We booked through our TA and got the "early bird" price. By the way for the cruise we are on--Greece, Turkey and Egypt the price for a veranda was a super deal. If your parents are repeat customers you may be able to get the same price they do.

We sailed into Venice last October---if possible get a veranda, the sail-in was one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Since you are sailing both out and in, it doesn't matter which side you get, but for my the sail-in sitting on our veranda was a must do. We found on the Concordia the prices for verandas were not much more than outsides.

BTW when we were in Venice we met some people who were on the Costa Greek Isles cruise and they loved it!!!

[dawcruiser]

My parents, (in their mid 80's) my husband and I (early 50's and mid 60's) are looking to do a cruise of the Greek Isles next May or Sept.

 

Here is the plan in my "perfect world". Leave from Newark to Malpensa airport on a Mon/Tue. Stay with our aunt/cousins until the weekend. Then depending what day the cruise leaves take the train, (couple of hours trip) to Venice. Leave on the cruise for 7 days then come back to Venice, train back to family and say with them another 4-5 days before heading back to Newark via Malpensa.

My parents go to Italy every two years to see family, one time they did go on a Costa cruise that went the Spain, France route. My husband and I have been to Italy with them twice and have been on Caribbean cruises. This is our first european cruise.

 

I am usually the designated "travel agent". In doing some research I have a few questions that maybe some of you could help me with.

 

1. I have a costa cruise booklet for 2008. How early is early bird discounts considered? Maybe it is right in front of me but I can't find that info.

 

2. My parents will be repeat customers for Costa but my husband and I first timers with them. Do they give repeat customers discounts? If so, my husband and I have been on both Carnival (2x) and RCCL(1x). Are either lines associated with Costa and if so, woudl we also get a discount for being repeats?

 

3. I went on Expedia and a few other websites but they don't seem to include Costa in their cruise line selections. (don't know if it is true but I heard it was because Costa doesn't give as big a commission). What is my best options for best pricing? A TA, other websites, if so which ones or doing it myself through Costa, or AAA).

 

Any other recommendations for booking would be appreciated. This is going to be very expensive for us compared to previous vacations and I am trying to cut down where I can without making a huge difference. My main thing is convincing my husband we can do without a verandah. Forget even trying to convince him of an inside room. That will never happend. Of course I haven't even told him of this yet. I am waiting to see roughly how much it will cost for flight and cruise then spring it on him. Of course then I have to give him time to gain consiousness. LOL Thanks for the help everyone.

 

Answers.

 

1. Normally you can get better than early booking rates.

2. Costa is owned by Carnival. They normally give you repeat passenger discounts on any line Carnival owns.

3. Go online and do your research then find a local TA. Most local TA's will meet or beat online rates. At least mine does. But make sure you are comparing apples to apples. Some onlines agencies don't include everything in what I call the teaser advertised rate.

 

Any other questions just ask.

 

Don

[delphine30]

My parents, (in their mid 80's) my husband and I (early 50's and mid 60's) are looking to do a cruise of the Greek Isles next May or Sept.

 

Here is the plan in my "perfect world". Leave from Newark to Malpensa airport on a Mon/Tue. Stay with our aunt/cousins until the weekend. Then depending what day the cruise leaves take the train, (couple of hours trip) to Venice. Leave on the cruise for 7 days then come back to Venice, train back to family and say with them another 4-5 days before heading back to Newark via Malpensa.

My parents go to Italy every two years to see family, one time they did go on a Costa cruise that went the Spain, France route. My husband and I have been to Italy with them twice and have been on Caribbean cruises. This is our first european cruise.

 

I am usually the designated "travel agent". In doing some research I have a few questions that maybe some of you could help me with.

 

1. I have a costa cruise booklet for 2008. How early is early bird discounts considered? Maybe it is right in front of me but I can't find that info.

 

This is the "prima Price". the rule is the follow: to have the prima price, book your cruise betwenn 6 and 12 months at least before your departure. it depend totally of the destination and sometime, few months before you have some interesting prices.

 

2. My parents will be repeat customers for Costa but my husband and I first timers with them. Do they give repeat customers discounts? If so, my husband and I have been on both Carnival (2x) and RCCL(1x). Are either lines associated with Costa and if so, woudl we also get a discount for being repeats?

 

If your parents are repeated customers with Costa, maybe they're involved in the fidelity programm "COSTA CLUB". I'm in and after 2 cruises , I'm Coral (firts it's aquamarine,second cora and third level Pearl). they should have a customer number registration. ask their travel agent ou Costa in your country. the prices are very intersting with the fidelity program. for my future cruise, we have -18% rate on the total price.we have some advantage on board with this programm.Costa is a Carnival cruise line but I don't know if they share their fidelity programm.

 

3. I went on Expedia and a few other websites but they don't seem to include Costa in their cruise line selections. (don't know if it is true but I heard it was because Costa doesn't give as big a commission). What is my best options for best pricing? A TA, other websites, if so which ones or doing it myself through Costa, or AAA).

 

 

I have a travel agent in France so I am not very well put to speak to you about the website like "abcroisière", expedia , ...

 

Any other recommendations for booking would be appreciated. This is going to be very expensive for us compared to previous vacations and I am trying to cut down where I can without making a huge difference. My main thing is convincing my husband we can do without a verandah. Forget even trying to convince him of an inside room. That will never happend. Of course I haven't even told him of this yet. I am waiting to see roughly how much it will cost for flight and cruise then spring it on him. Of course then I have to give him time to gain consiousness. LOL Thanks for the help everyone.

 

Balcony or veranda are very pleased but it'smore expensive. si if you have the luck to have, go but I'm sure that you're travel in europe will be very nice with or without veranda!

[tenpin]

As a past Costa customer your parents should be Coral members you can still sign up if their cruise was less than 3 years ago by using Costas web-site.

 

Once on the Costa site put in your cruise and alongside the price you will see a pronto price, thats the best deal being offered.

 

Beware though Costa has adopted some cruise only offers if you don't want these make sure you put in add air fare.

Although Costa is part of Carnival I'm not sure it counts toward Costa Club.

 

As someone pointed out they do offer discount cruises to members, but these are very limited and you have to be a Pearl member for the full discount.

 

Done all of Costas ships loved every one have a great cruise.

[delphine30]

for my third cruise, the rate for the pearl card was -25% and I was -18% . after you'll have to trade with your travel agent if you want a more discount.

[BambiRumsey]

COSTA CLUB in the US is different than what they offer to European passengers.

 

My understanding is that it is a newer program here and am not even sure what it entails. I have sailed Costa twice in the Carib and have a Costa Club number but not card or any indication of my "level". When I booked our upcoming cruise I did not get any additional discounts other than the kids sail free option.

 

I have booked Costa through websites (icruise) and this year directly through Costa. The prices are about the same with it being about $25-50 less by doing Costa direct this year. It just so happened that Jorge, my PVP at Costa called on the very day I was looking at prices and thinking of booking on line. Since he had me on the phone, I went ahead and booked with him.

 

One thing I would rec. since you are booking more than one cabin, whether you choose an on-line agency or Costa direct - do the booking over the phone. A live person will be able to ensure you are in cabins close to one another and seat you at the same dinner table without a problem.

[dvg1027]

Thanks everyone, great advice. I spoke to my husband and he went for it to. Now the part that is almost as fun as the actual trip. Researching, looking at the different options etc. I can't wait. Thanks again and I am sure I will be back on with more questions.