What I've learned about cruising (and the travel business) Part II
Last month I talked about how you can find discounted prices for cruises, the advantages of groups, and the pros and cons of buying air and shore excursions through the cruise line. I need to mention trip insurance. "Don't leave home without it." Or rather, don't book any travel, even air tickets, without it. And don't book insurance with the cruise or tour provider. If they should go out of business in this tough economy, as we have seen many smaller tour providers do, who are you going to contact? Chances are you will have no recourse. Buy insurance through an independent insurance company. We represent Travel Guard, and we have customers who have had to submit claims because of accidents that prevented them from going on their trip. Usually they have their full refund within 4 - 6 weeks. Don't buy insurance through the cruise line. If you can't go because of a medical reason, in most cases you will get a future cruise credit, not your money back. That's fine if you are physically able to cruise sometime in the future. We had a client who unexpectedly went on Hospice services several months after booking a cruise. He was able to cancel his cruise and get a full refund on his deposit. But what about the money he laid out for trip insurance? Travel Guard said he had up to 3 years to apply those funds to another trip, OR the funds could be transferred to any third party and used for future travel. Quite a difference from most "nontransferable" policies.
What if something happens when you are on a trip? Accidents happen. When on a cruise, you are considered to be in the foreign country that the cruise ship is registered to. What's that mean? Your Medicare and private insurance will not cover you! Think of trip insurance the same way you think of auto insurance. Hopefully you never have to use it, but if you do, you will be grateful to have it. All major cruise lines have sick bays when you can get stitches or medications . But it's not cheap. What about air tickets? If you have purchased tickets, you know they are not refundable, and it can cost you up to $150 to change them, plus any increase in fares. (Southwest is an exception.) Trip insurance would cost you between $20 and $40, and if you have to cancel because of a covered reason, your full fare is refunded.
Why should you use a "travel agent"? Just what do we do that sets us apart from internet sellers of travel? We put the customer first. We assist clients to make decisions about their travel. Often the cheapest cruise is not the one that will give the customer the best value. We assist customers with air, shore excursions, questions about dining, gratuities, required documents, and more. Do you know that most cruise lines require that your passport does not expire within 6 months after the cruise ends. Do you think "Prettygoodcruises.com" is going to enquire about your passport? They want your credit card number, and that's about all. They will not advise you about the cost of gratuities, or even mention taxes and fees. A good travel agent is also your advocate, should you have a dispute with a cruise line. The relationship is similar to realtor and home buyer. We've got your back.
So what does it cost to use the services of a travel agent? Usually nothing. We are paid by the cruise lines or tour providers. We can help you plan a seamless vacation, unique and distinctive travel. You can buy a cruise to Alaska almost anywhere. But what if you want to fly into Fairbanks a week before the cruise, do some tours there, perhaps visit Barrow above the Arctic Circle? Independent travel? Not a problem. I recently did a trip with hotels, air, and train tickets for London and Paris. A recent study by Forrester Research found "Many consumers are fed up with the complicated process of planning and booking travel." The do-it-yourself ego booster falls flat when you find your cabin is over the kitchen. Did you know they start preparing breakfast at 3:30 am?
Monday, October 5, 2009
What I've Larned About The Cruise business
What I've Learned about the Cruise Business
I've learned a lot so I'd like to share that knowledge with you. First and foremost people want to know how they can get the "best deal" on a cruise. You may have heard that by waiting until a few weeks before a scheduled sailing, you can get a smoking deal because the ship doesn't want to sail with empty cabins. And that is true, to an extent. But it only works if you can drive to the pier. Because if you need to fly, the cost of a last minute plane ticket cancels any cruise savings. Also, you will likely end up with a guaranty cabin. That means you are guaranteed a cabin in the category you book ( ocean view or interior), but you have no choice of where that cabin will be. Think about it for a minute. Which cabins sell first? The cabins that are mid ship are booked first. So if you want until the last minute to book, your cabin will either be in the very bow or very stern of the ship, or worse. Sometimes if there are no more cabins left in the category you have booked as a guaranty, you might be lucky enough to get a better class of cabin at no increase in price. But again, the location will probably be less desirable.
Why are mid ship cabins the first to go? Think about a see-saw. The very ends have all the motion, no motion in the middle. So if you are fearing motion sickness, the best place to be is mid ship on the lowest deck. Again, think of a tall building in high winds. More motion on the top floor than on ground, or in this case, sea level.
How else can you get a good deal? Usually the early booking discounts (booking more than 6 months from sailing) will give you a nice discount. If you decide later than you can not take the cruise on the date you booked, you can get a complete refund of your deposit up until final payment date, which is approximately 75 days prior to sailing. Carnival is the only cruise line that has non-refundable deposits for early booking discounts. If you have served at least 2 years active duty or are in the US military reserves, the military discount is the best in the business. You will need proof, either your discharge papers or an ID card.
Booking into an existing group also gives either a discounted price or a cash amenity, or sometimes both. So where do you find a group? You can start one of your own, if you can get your relatives and friends to agree on one date and destination, or you can check with your local travel agent to see what groups they have on the books. Currently we have a group on a Hawaii 15 night cruise round trip from San Diego in March 2010 on Holland America.. And a 10 night Panama Canal round trip from Ft. Lauderdale in April, also with Holland . (I chose the 10 night round trip over the 14 night trans canal trip, because I would rather see the ports of call in the Caribbean than all those coming up Mexico's west coast.) Besides, when you do the complete transit of the canal one set of docks will always be at 5 am or earlier, so chances are you won't see it anyway.
One of the reasons we affiliated with the host agency America's Vacation Center is because of their sheer size ( over 500 independent agents) and the great number of groups that they have in place. AVC often has negotiated a discount price with the cruise lines, again because of their size, they carry a lot of clout. Or they have amenities like $100 on board credit for people booking into their group.
How can you save money on air fare, shore excursions, and insurance? All the cruise lines sell airline tickets, excursions, and insurance. It's another way for them to make money. And generally you can get a better price if you book your own air, or have your travel agent do it, and catch a shore excursion once you are on shore from the many local tour guides that hang around any port of call. It all depends on how much of a gambler you are. The catch is that if you do not go through the cruise line, and you are delayed getting to the ship for embarkation or after a tour, you will be waving as the ship sails away without you. This happened on out last cruise to Hawaii over last Christmas. You might remember that there was some nasty weather in the Seattle area just before Christmas. Our captain waited as long as he could, some 5 hours, before he sailed for the Big Island without 14 passengers who never made it down to LA from the Northwest. A lot of people did make it to the ship in those 5 hours. But the ones who didn't make it and who HAD booked their airfare through the cruise line were flown to Hilo, put up in a hotel for 4 days at no charge, while the ship sailed across the Pacific towards Hilo. Now that's tough to take. They also could have collected on their trip insurance for missed connection.
We were on a shore excursion, again booked through the cruise line, to the Grand Canyon of the Pacific on Kauai. It's a long ride from the dock, and after we boarded the busses to return to the ship, guess what. One of them wouldn't start. The driver called Roberts of Hawaii, the tour company that the cruise lines contracts with, and they sent another bus. But by the time they got there and back to the pier, it was after the scheduled sailing time. Because the tour was booked through the cruise line, the ship waited for all the late travelers. If they had booked with an independent tour company in order to save a few dollars, they would have missed the ship. Getting to the next port of call to rejoin the ship is then on your dollar.
There's so much more to tell you. I will have to wait until next month to talk more about the ins and outs of cruising.
I've learned a lot so I'd like to share that knowledge with you. First and foremost people want to know how they can get the "best deal" on a cruise. You may have heard that by waiting until a few weeks before a scheduled sailing, you can get a smoking deal because the ship doesn't want to sail with empty cabins. And that is true, to an extent. But it only works if you can drive to the pier. Because if you need to fly, the cost of a last minute plane ticket cancels any cruise savings. Also, you will likely end up with a guaranty cabin. That means you are guaranteed a cabin in the category you book ( ocean view or interior), but you have no choice of where that cabin will be. Think about it for a minute. Which cabins sell first? The cabins that are mid ship are booked first. So if you want until the last minute to book, your cabin will either be in the very bow or very stern of the ship, or worse. Sometimes if there are no more cabins left in the category you have booked as a guaranty, you might be lucky enough to get a better class of cabin at no increase in price. But again, the location will probably be less desirable.
Why are mid ship cabins the first to go? Think about a see-saw. The very ends have all the motion, no motion in the middle. So if you are fearing motion sickness, the best place to be is mid ship on the lowest deck. Again, think of a tall building in high winds. More motion on the top floor than on ground, or in this case, sea level.
How else can you get a good deal? Usually the early booking discounts (booking more than 6 months from sailing) will give you a nice discount. If you decide later than you can not take the cruise on the date you booked, you can get a complete refund of your deposit up until final payment date, which is approximately 75 days prior to sailing. Carnival is the only cruise line that has non-refundable deposits for early booking discounts. If you have served at least 2 years active duty or are in the US military reserves, the military discount is the best in the business. You will need proof, either your discharge papers or an ID card.
Booking into an existing group also gives either a discounted price or a cash amenity, or sometimes both. So where do you find a group? You can start one of your own, if you can get your relatives and friends to agree on one date and destination, or you can check with your local travel agent to see what groups they have on the books. Currently we have a group on a Hawaii 15 night cruise round trip from San Diego in March 2010 on Holland America.. And a 10 night Panama Canal round trip from Ft. Lauderdale in April, also with Holland . (I chose the 10 night round trip over the 14 night trans canal trip, because I would rather see the ports of call in the Caribbean than all those coming up Mexico's west coast.) Besides, when you do the complete transit of the canal one set of docks will always be at 5 am or earlier, so chances are you won't see it anyway.
One of the reasons we affiliated with the host agency America's Vacation Center is because of their sheer size ( over 500 independent agents) and the great number of groups that they have in place. AVC often has negotiated a discount price with the cruise lines, again because of their size, they carry a lot of clout. Or they have amenities like $100 on board credit for people booking into their group.
How can you save money on air fare, shore excursions, and insurance? All the cruise lines sell airline tickets, excursions, and insurance. It's another way for them to make money. And generally you can get a better price if you book your own air, or have your travel agent do it, and catch a shore excursion once you are on shore from the many local tour guides that hang around any port of call. It all depends on how much of a gambler you are. The catch is that if you do not go through the cruise line, and you are delayed getting to the ship for embarkation or after a tour, you will be waving as the ship sails away without you. This happened on out last cruise to Hawaii over last Christmas. You might remember that there was some nasty weather in the Seattle area just before Christmas. Our captain waited as long as he could, some 5 hours, before he sailed for the Big Island without 14 passengers who never made it down to LA from the Northwest. A lot of people did make it to the ship in those 5 hours. But the ones who didn't make it and who HAD booked their airfare through the cruise line were flown to Hilo, put up in a hotel for 4 days at no charge, while the ship sailed across the Pacific towards Hilo. Now that's tough to take. They also could have collected on their trip insurance for missed connection.
We were on a shore excursion, again booked through the cruise line, to the Grand Canyon of the Pacific on Kauai. It's a long ride from the dock, and after we boarded the busses to return to the ship, guess what. One of them wouldn't start. The driver called Roberts of Hawaii, the tour company that the cruise lines contracts with, and they sent another bus. But by the time they got there and back to the pier, it was after the scheduled sailing time. Because the tour was booked through the cruise line, the ship waited for all the late travelers. If they had booked with an independent tour company in order to save a few dollars, they would have missed the ship. Getting to the next port of call to rejoin the ship is then on your dollar.
There's so much more to tell you. I will have to wait until next month to talk more about the ins and outs of cruising.
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