Pricing for non US citizens.

jacketwatch · August 1, 2009

This one has me really curious. I have seen where non US citizens, and for sure Aussies pay a ton more for the same cruise than we do. I just read about an Aussie who had to pay nearly double for an eastern Med cruise vs. a US citizen. When he tried to book from a UK agent and when it was found out he was from down under the agent couldn't book him and had to refer him to an Aussie agent and the price went up like a sky rocket. I have seen this several times and it seems Princess is the line that does this as a regular practice. Booking directly with Princees results in the same gouge. why is this? Any ideas?

JohnG · August 2, 2009

Princess tries to protect the UK agents by only letting them book UK customers. They, in turn, can't book North American passengers. Same with Australia. Not a problem with other line. There are ways around it, like if they have temporary address in the US, or a PO box here. Then they pay the same as we do. I've had customers from England, Ireland, Switzerland, and Panama.

Sparkyboi · August 3, 2009

As an agent and National cruise manager here in Canada, I see this question a lot.

Not only Princess but EVERY cruise line has restrictions on where your clients can be booking from.

There is this difference becuase the cruise lines has different offices and/or handleing companies to govern their bookings. A lot of the difference is in the laws of the country, (ex cancellatiosn laws, fees, minimum mark-ups, advertising, etc...)

It makes it difficult sometimes, espically when you have a group of people on a sailing and various ones are coming from all over the world.

There are many ways around this however, simple as not booking cruise air, book seperate....have the agency invoice on a seperate address, or deal with an international agency.

We have clients from all over the world....never been a problem.

But it comes down to politics, accounting, laws, advertising, and credit cards.

Book with an international registered agency or one who knows how to handle international clients and you'll have no problem.

DebbieandJerry · August 4, 2009

So does it work the other way around if we want to book a cruise that originates from Australia?

Sparkyboi · August 4, 2009

Not necessarily....remember these cruise lines for the most part are US based.

So does it work the other way around if we want to book a cruise that originates from Australia?

DebbieandJerry · August 4, 2009

Not particularly fair but good to know. Thanks

jacketwatch · August 5, 2009

I became curious about this so I did some inquiring. I called HAL, CCL, X and RCI to book a cruise for us and our Aussie "friends." The answer I got was uniform. There was no price difference at all. I could even book two cabins, one for us and one for the and it would be fine. However Princess was different. Our "friends" had to us an Aussie TA and could be directed to one per the Princess website and from my knowledge those prices are much more. There's quite a discussion of this on another website. What the Princess rep told was that one way to get around this was to book two cabins, one under my name and the other under my wifes name and then add the other two to the cabins, then switch when we get to the ship. Seems like a hassle to me. Thanks for the replies. :thumbup:

DebbieandJerry · August 5, 2009

Great detective work and very interesting findings!

jacketwatch · August 6, 2009

Great detective work and very interesting findings!

Thank you. This whole thing got me really curious so I looked into it. :biggrin:

coloradocruisers · August 7, 2009

What the Princess rep told was that one way to get around this was to book two cabins, one under my name and the other under my wifes name and then add the other two to the cabins, then switch when we get to the ship. Seems like a hassle to me. Thanks for the replies.

A policy so fouled up even the Princess rep is telling you how to get around it. :wacko: