Cruise Booking - USD, GBP, EURO ??

coupleuk

Thought I would post this for any cruisers out there.

Before booking your next cruise (in this case Royal Caribbean), make sure you choose the correct currency for the purchase.

Here is an example;

Liberty of the Seas
July 28th 2012
7 night out/in Barcelona
Inside Guarantee Cabin for 2
Inc Taxes
Excl Gratuities

£GBP

---

1100 = 550pp = £550 each
$USD

---

1189 = 594pp = £383 each
Euro

---

798 = 399pp = £317 each

In this case, you can book thru the Royal Caribbean USA website for just £317 each (if booked in Euros) rather than £550 each (if booked in GBP).

Here's how it works:

1) you will need to register with RCI in order to do this. no probs for past guests.

2) visit cruisefish.net to find your cruise (the example above is here - http://www.cruisefish.net/finder.md?id_cruise=15241 (prices change all the time).

3) select the "Booking: reserve that cruise in [ USD | EUR | CAD | GBP ]" appropriate box.

4) you will go to the Royal Caribbean USA website and will be charged in the currency you have selected. Usually, you are auto directed to the UK website but cruisefish will get you into the US one.

5) check the Savings Certificate area on RCI Crown & Anchor pages to see if there are any discount codes for your cruise.

6) save cruisefish for future reference and monitor prices as you might be able to claim a refund of price difference if it goes down (certain rules apply but if you see price drop just contact RCI USA and ask for difference refund or OBC).

It might sound complicated but it is fairly straight forward if you follow above steps.

Works on most cruise lines not just Royal Caribbean.

Good Luck.

travellerboy

Useful information but definately not the cheapest
I just reviewed the cruise we are going on next month via your suggestion.
The cheapest currency option was US$ and that worked out to be £130 more than I paid with the UK agent last month

So the lesson is too shop around using all the tools available.

coupleuk

You also have to bear in mind (as stated in my post) that cruise prices increase/decrease all the time depending on how cabin sales are going and cruise line marketing ploys.

In the above example, that inside guarantee at 399 Euro today, was

499 Euro between June 29th and July 6th
399 Euro between June 15th and June 28th
626 Euro prior to June 1st

You have to compare apples with apples and can't accurately compare todays price with last months - or next months!!

travellerboy

Also have booked a cruise for Feb'13 on HAL Noordam which when check on this site is only available in US$ (probably due to being a Carnival Brand). This also works out to be over £300 more expensive than the UK agent - vivavoyage at todays prices

coupleuk

Hi Traveller

I agree that cruisefish is a tool - initially for monitoring price changes and secondly for currency variations.

There may be better deals out there on some lines but it would be very hard to find them for Royal Caribbean as they wont allow their agents to discount the price (only to offer a proportion of their commission as an incentive ie OBC, pre-paid grats etc).

Cruisefish is particularly useful for those who have already booked a cruise and are able to reclaim any refund should the cruise price drop after booking (though not after final payment date).

Sadly, it is rare for UK cruise line offices to honour these price reductions - and that's why cruisefish is good for those initial bookings as well as it deals with US offices not those in the UK.

I just took a look at a Feb cruise on Noordam with HAL direct v VivaVoyage and the initial price for inside cabin was £48pp cheaper with Viva. However, by watching for those (possible) price drops I know HAL will refund the difference but I doubt Viva will. I'll take a gamble and suggest that the prices for that tour will be coming down in the next couple of months and the saving by booking direct will be greater than £48pp. Shall we see.

stephb34

Royal carribean is one of the few cruise companies left that british travel agents can discount on, generally upto about 10% and there maybe special offers as well of onboard credit, free parking or coach travel.

luci

I've just tried it for NCL and there is only one option and that is to book in USD. There is no EUR or GBP option.

http://www.cruisefish.net/finder.md?id_cruise=12326

stoneman

We always use cruisecompete to check for deals. Not only will you sometimes get a better deal from agents than booking direct, but you get some nice freebies thrown in. We are sailing on the Epic near Christmas in a S6 class penthouse suite and by booking through an agent the price was 10% lower than with NCL and we got 2 free speciality meals in Cagneys, $250 OBC and 2 bottles of wine

coupleuk

Hi Stoneman

Yep - I would always advise to use cruisecompete.

The only slight drawback with them is the agents dont look at any comments/requests you enter so you end up with their bog-standard replies.

Prices are usually pretty good though.

In the past, Ive used cruisecompete to get the right deal - THROUGH A USA AGENT - and then cruisefish to monitor price drops later on. Ive never had an issue approaching a US travel agent or US cruiselines main office to claim a refund on any lower prices which appear after my initial booking.

The purpose of my original post was to highlight the difference booking options available just by switching currency.

TBH whichever way people feel they've got a good deal is obviously the best way for them.

travellerboy

coupleuk wrote: »

I just took a look at a Feb cruise on Noordam with HAL direct v VivaVoyage and the initial price for inside cabin was £48pp cheaper with Viva. However, by watching for those (possible) price drops I know HAL will refund the difference but I doubt Viva will. I'll take a gamble and suggest that the prices for that tour will be coming down in the next couple of months and the saving by booking direct will be greater than £48pp. Shall we see.

My comparison was for a VF grade Balcony cabin / 2 people saving of £296 over cruisefish. Anyway it will be impossible for a UK resident to book a cruise with HAL via a US agent and that is a fact, already tried. Carnival who own HAL will not honour any booking from a US agent otherthan from a US or Canadian resident even if you use a US address of a relative.
Hence the comparison is really meaningless for Carnival Brands.