Booking a European cruise through a US travel agent

jfinnie

Hi Moneysavers!

I'm looking to book a cruise for June 08 for our honeymoon:T. I know I won't get the best deal by booking now, but we have a big enough set of requirements that it makes sense to avoid disappointment (needs to be cruising out of the UK due to flight fear, want to go to Barcelona and Italy to visit family, want to get a nice suite with a balcony, etc).

I've been in touch with a few web-travel agents in the UK, and then thought "with the dollar rate so poor, why not look at the US?"... so I went on a website called "www.cruisecompete.com" where different US travel agents bid on your cruise offering you their best price. So far the prices that have come in are 20% less than the cheapest UK quote and I've only had two bids, for the identical same cabin on the cruise...!

Does anyone here have any experience of doing this - booking a cruise with a US travel agent? I phoned a couple of the US agents and they have no problem carrying out the booking for a non-resident. Obviously I'd do it with a credit card for some protection. Any other thoughts?

Many thanks!
James

Peter_Kendrick

We book all our cruises through crise.com or vacationstogo.com. They are US sites and far cheaper than rip off Britain prices. All US sites appear to price fix ie have the same prices, however, some do special deals like free inclusive tips or a free shore excursion. The earlier you book the cheaper the cruise, unless you want to risk a last minute booking and not get the cruise you really want. Beware the rip off credit charge surcharge on foreign currency (around 3%) unless you have Nationwide credit card when you get the wholesale exchange rate with no surcharge.

Happy cruising.

PS I'd much rather go on a Caribbean cruise.

getmore4less

I have used https://www.bestpricecruises.com no problems so far

Put up the offers you have and lets see if anyone can help.

Remember if there are price drops you have a good chance of getting them but this will depend on the cruise line you choose how forthcoming they will be

With NCL the suites come with lots of extras.

Have a look at the Jade. it has the best prices for 13 June Southampton Barcelona may fit your dates.

Leadin £700pp penthouse £2kpp.

taba

I always book our cruises with US Agents, I use cruise compete and then ask a couple of questions of the 2 cheapest (just to see how they respond) have never had a problem and have taken advantage of price drops which English Agents don't seem to do.

ps I prefer European Cruises!

jfinnie

Thanks everyone for the information. We're thinking about the Jade - the NCL rooms look great and seem good value too.

I've seen agents on Cruisecompete mention passing on price drops - but assumed this was marketing rubbish! How does that actually work?

thanks
James

FluffyFiFi

getmore4less wrote: »

I have used www.bestpricecruises.com no problems so far

Put up the offers you have and lets see if anyone can help.

Remember if there are price drops you have a good chance of getting them but this will depend on the cruise line you choose how forthcoming they will be

With NCL the suites come with lots of extras.

Have a look at the Jade. it has the best prices for 13 June Southampton Barcelona may fit your dates.

Leadin £700pp penthouse £2kpp.

This website says I can't book if I am not a US or Canadian resident. Any other sites worth looking at. I am trying to book the Sea Princess for 10th May. Have tried going through quidco and looks like I could get 5% back through Thomas Cook but would like to see if I can get it cheaper.

saveapenny

You cannot book Princess cruises through any US agent. Its a Princess cruise rule not the agents( as far as I am aware anyway)
Most other cruise companies you can but not them its another swindle IMO

You could try these companies

http://www.1st4cruising.com/
http://www.gillscruise.com/
Bolsover Cruise (google them)
http://www.savensail.com/

lisyloo

I have used vacationstogo before.
One thing I liked was that there was a free phone number so no expensive calls to the states.
Everything was fine except for the fact that they didn't mention a £15 charge for sending tickets.
I wouldn't have minded when getting a bargain but I specifically asked for any other charges before deciding to book and they didn't tell me about it so I was annoyed (they waived it after I protested).

Apart from that minor thing I would have no hesitation booking with them again.

You cannot book Cunard through a US agent either.

jfinnie

Thanks everyone for your comments. I finally booked our cruise with https://www.bestpricecruises.com . They were very helpful on the phone, and the deposit was taken directly by NCL instead of the travel agent - helped my peace-of-mind no end.

Cost saving? You bet!
Best UK price = £3995 (2weeks, minisuite).
https://www.bestpricecruises.com £2400 ($4800) for the exact same holiday.

That'll do nicely.

James

colmil

Do any of these include from the UK?

jfinnie

Hi;

The cruise I booked was going round the Mediterranean, sailing from / to Southampton as my fiancee doesn't like to fly. Spain, France, Italy, Portugal. Lovely!

Hope that helps

james