Salem Posted June 5, 2020 Report Share Posted June 5, 2020 Hi guys, My first time posting a new topic! In the past I have always just booked my cruise directly with Royal Caribbean. This time I am looking at a New Zealand sailing in Feb 21, return flights from London to Sydney with a hotel stay for the night before sail. As this is quite a lot to do and I’d probably forget about losing a day on the plane and end up in Sydney a day late so I thought it will be best to leave it in the hands of the professionals. I reached out to a travel agent called vision cruise who got back to me with a cost of just under £5000 which I thought was great! However I did do a mock costing on my own for the same room type for the cruise as far as Royals website would let me go without booking, including gratuities and tax I believe. The same BA flights on the same days and the same hotel they had quoted and it came out in total just under £4000. It may be that I’ve just missed something off but is this something I could put forward to the company to see if they could match or explain why the costing is so different? Or maybe you guys might know from experience! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ampurp85 Posted June 5, 2020 Report Share Posted June 5, 2020 Some TA will charge you a fee or are trying to increase commission. We are big on MEI which doesn't charge you anything. Try one of them, they will answer quickly. Baked Alaska and Bob_KY 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salem Posted June 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2020 26 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said: Some TA will charge you a fee or are trying to increase commission. We are big on MEI which doesn't charge you anything. Try one of them, they will answer quickly. Hello, thanks for your reply! I requested a quote twice through their website but didn’t hear anything back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bakerette Posted June 5, 2020 Report Share Posted June 5, 2020 2 hours ago, Salem said: Hi guys, My first time posting a new topic! In the past I have always just booked my cruise directly with Royal Caribbean. This time I am looking at a New Zealand sailing in Feb 21, return flights from London to Sydney with a hotel stay for the night before sail. As this is quite a lot to do and I’d probably forget about losing a day on the plane and end up in Sydney a day late so I thought it will be best to leave it in the hands of the professionals. I reached out to a vision cruise who got back to me with a cost of just under £5000 which I thought was great! However I did do a mock costing on my own for the same room type for the cruise as far as Royals website would let me go without booking, including gratuities and tax I believe. The same BA flights on the same days and the same hotel they had quoted and it came out in total just under £4000. It may be that I’ve just missed something off but is this something I could put forward to the company to see if they could match or explain why the costing is so different? Or maybe you guys might know from experience! They could have quoted you a cruise total price that also includes a refundable deposit and you could have quoted yourself a total cruise price that may not have included a refundable deposit and vacation protection. Both vacation protection and Refundable deposits have an additional cost which increases the total cost of the cruise & is the cause of the price increase of your total cruise price. Pima1988 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pima1988 Posted June 5, 2020 Report Share Posted June 5, 2020 @Salem I agree with @Bakerette Typically a refundable will run higher than a non-refundable. The web site does non-refundable. Contact your TA and ask a few more questions, such as, if it is a refundable. I also believe on this side of the pond, the mock booking does not include grats, but instead port and tax fees. (won't swear to that). Ask your TA if they included all the fees. If your TA included all of the fees, and a refundable it would make sense of the price differentiation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason12 Posted June 5, 2020 Report Share Posted June 5, 2020 @Salem I don’t use a TA for this reason, I’m intrigued how you got a flight cost online because they removed that feature some time ago and I’ve been looking everywhere for it on the UK site? also try do a costing for the cruise from the Australian website because we are saving over £1400 for our Australian cruise, you pay in Aus$ and it’s only $100 deposit but it’s a massive saving.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedNoodles Posted June 6, 2020 Report Share Posted June 6, 2020 Email [email protected] directly if you aren't getting a response from the form. Keep in mind that it is the weekend, but she's very responsive (many of them are, once you start working with them - it could be there's an issue with the form or some other thing). Neesa 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike.s Posted June 6, 2020 Report Share Posted June 6, 2020 19 hours ago, Jason12 said: @Salem I don’t use a TA for this reason, I’m intrigued how you got a flight cost online because they removed that feature some time ago and I’ve been looking everywhere for it on the UK site? also try do a costing for the cruise from the Australian website because we are saving over £1400 for our Australian cruise, you pay in Aus$ and it’s only $100 deposit but it’s a massive saving.. Jason, does the Australian website allow us Brits to book directly via it, I like you I suspect are frustrated by the inflated prices RC charges us here in the UK. Jason12 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason12 Posted June 6, 2020 Report Share Posted June 6, 2020 7 minutes ago, Mike.s said: Jason, does the Australian website allow us Brits to book directly via it, I like you I suspect are frustrated by the inflated prices RC charges us here in the UK. Yes I’ve booked 4 cruise now from the Australian site no problems only downside is you have to phone Australia for any questions or issues but my mobile phone only costs 3p a minute and they answer so fast Mike.s 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike.s Posted June 6, 2020 Report Share Posted June 6, 2020 1 hour ago, Jason12 said: Yes I’ve booked 4 cruise now from the Australian site no problems only downside is you have to phone Australia for any questions or issues but my mobile phone only costs 3p a minute and they answer so fast Have you tried booking from the US website, I've not done a price comparison but can see me spending a few hours and compiling a spreadsheet on the US and Aus sites, I so badly need to get away on a cruise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason12 Posted June 6, 2020 Report Share Posted June 6, 2020 18 minutes ago, Mike.s said: Have you tried booking from the US website, I've not done a price comparison but can see me spending a few hours and compiling a spreadsheet on the US and Aus sites, I so badly need to get away on a cruise Yes on the US site but the higher deposit puts me off the little saving now it’s mainly non refundable like the UK, the only cruises which were any cheaper on the Australian site were the ones from Sydney all others were similar as UK, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason12 Posted June 6, 2020 Report Share Posted June 6, 2020 26 minutes ago, Mike.s said: Have you tried booking from the US website, I've not done a price comparison but can see me spending a few hours and compiling a spreadsheet on the US and Aus sites, I so badly need to get away on a cruise Latest prices for our cruise we only paid $4100 and the UK as not moved from when we booked Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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