I'm looking for the best pricing for a particular cruise that some friends have already booked... seems like all of the resellers are pretty much in line with one another.
NCL Dawn out of New York on 10/29... looking at the cheapest fare with fees/taxes/insurance for 2a/2c:
Is it pretty much the case that you have to find a cruise that is being actively discounted to save, rather than shopping different outlets for a particular cruise?
To enter a coupon code in your post please enter the following info:
Coupon Code:
Coupon Offer:
Merchant:
Expires (optional):
Restrictions (optional):
saving...
Quick Summary is created and edited by users like you... Add FAQ's, Links and other Relevant Information by clicking the edit button in the lower right hand corner of this message.
Forgot to mention that... I read about CruiseCompete in the other threads while I was searching. Filled out their form this morning, but haven't heard back from them yet.
Really? Didn't seem like that great a deal since it's the same as the price from NCL for the most part. Plus, two of those fares are kids and the price is for the lowest deck interior cabin (was using for apples to apples comp from diff sources).
I didn't realize you were an agent... That $1673 price is about in line with what I've been seeing... add ~$150 for insurance and it's $1823. I think the small price difference between that and all the others I've gotten is that yours is cat N where all of the others were cat M / deck 4 - something about not being able to put 4 in N or in a guar cabin?
Anyway - that's my point - seems like everywhere has just about the same pricing for this cruise. Is that the way it usually is?
WHO M (Deck 4) II (Deck 11) NCL $1889 xxx Icruise $1907 xxx Priceline $1889 $2250 BestPriceCruises xxx $2033 (only real outlier, but they don't have access to cat M for comparison) CruisesOnly.com xxx $2250 AMEX $1840 $2200 Orbitz $1889 xxx AAA $1850 $2170
I'm not an agent...what you fail to realize is that most of the fare is taxes ($937)so there is very little for any agency to work with so that's a good fare.
There use to be much more differences in prices depending on what agent quoted the price. You use to be able to see quite a range. Some agents would give better prices by decreasing their commission and passing that on basically. It did not cost the cruiselines extra.
However, in the past year or so the cruise lines have made rules against offering discounts from their prices. That is why you will look on different web sites and you should see the same price for the same category on a given sailing. But,to help entice people to buy from them, the agents have started offering other incentives such as free insurance or onboard credit. If the sailing is a popular date that is pretty full there is less offered often verus a less popular date. So unfortunately the fluctuations in price that benefited the consumers are not there too much anymore.
We did an NCL cruise last month & got the best total price from Sam's Club travel. Be sure whatever prices you're comparing are totals including taxes and port charges.
Personally, I wouldn't pay extra to move up decks unless the rooms are larger as well & if you have kids, you might do better with a lower location as there is less apparent ship movement the lower and closer to the center of the ship you are. I also usually don't bother with an outside room as I find I spend little time in the cabin except to sleep. I've forgotten the exact terminology, but booking a "guaranteed" room (or some-such phrase like that), leaves you open for the cruise line to bump you up in class without extra charge & that's what I've had happen more often than not. Also be advised that 4 people (even children) in many standard rooms will make it VERY crowded, especially when the beds are out/down.
davido said:There use to be much more differences in prices depending on what agent quoted the price. You use to be able to see quite a range. Some agents would give better prices by decreasing their commission and passing that on basically. It did not cost the cruiselines extra.
However, in the past year or so the cruise lines have made rules against offering discounts from their prices. That is why you will look on different web sites and you should see the same price for the same category on a given sailing. But,to help entice people to buy from them, the agents have started offering other incentives such as free insurance or onboard credit. If the sailing is a popular date that is pretty full there is less offered often verus a less popular date. So unfortunately the fluctuations in price that benefited the consumers are not there too much anymore.
That explains it then. I suspected that some sort of minimum standard pricing had to have been put into effect since I was getting pretty much the same thing everywhere...
Disclaimer: By providing links to other sites, FatWallet.com does not guarantee, approve or endorse the information or products available at these sites, nor does a link indicate any association with or endorsement by the linked site to FatWallet.com.
