This is the third in my series on how, when and with whom you should book your cruise in these economic conditions. Part 1,
When to Book Your Cruise, examined the various mainstream cruise lines and their price reduction policies.
Part 2, Choosing An Agent: Is Your Cruise Paid For?, looked at protecting your cruise investment based on the agency you choose. This final chapter, How to Compare Prices, will help educate you on comparing agencies, their services and policies, to allow you to evaluate their prices apples to apples.
It would be nice if advertised fares included everything necessary to be paid in advance, wouldn't it? But unfortunately that's not the case with cruises. We're lucky that at least there is a fairly standard way of advertising prices, but that's not enough to evaluate fares from one agency to another. It's not even just about what you pay in fare, but other factors as well, such as additional fees which might be assessed later on in your booking, as well as intangible costs.
First a little history. Thanks to a 1990s lawsuit by the Florida Attorney General's office, one of the most consumer-friendly AG's offices in the country, especially active toward cruisers rights, all advertised cruise fares must include the base fare (which is commissionable to agencies) and the "port charges" or Non-Commissionable Fares/NCFs (which have nothing to do with charges made by the ports, but which are actually arbitrary fees tacked on by the cruise lines and on which agents are not paid any commission . For more information on NCFs, read the excellent article in MSNBC by Anita Durham-Potter -
Crazy Cruise Costs).
This combination base fare plus NCF is the fare you see online when you click for pricing on cruise line web sites, agent sites such as mine, in my newsletters or blog posts most of the time (unless I say it includes other fees), and in print such as newspapers. But this isn't your complete price. Not even close.
In addition to the advertised fare (base plus NCF), you will on most lines also have at the minimum a tax amount, which is the pass-through charge from the various governmental entities in the ports and authorities such as the Panama Canal. The taxes will vary by your itinerary, and are the actual per person charge assessed to the cruise line. If you're booking for 2008 or 2009 on most lines, there will also be a fuel supplement charge added, though that may eventually be refunded to you onboard based on a formula the cruise lines have set up.
Those charges are all pretty straight forward. Most lines prohibit advertising any rates other than their published rates or group rates a particular agency may have available. There may be special offers given to specific agencies which they send out in their promos, but in general, the advertised fares will be fairly similar (even if they don't appear to be at first glance).
But there are a lot of "tricks" agencies play in how they advertise pricing to you. For example, an ad may have several dates for a sailing on a particular ship, let's say the Jewel of the Seas, December 8, 15, 21, 28, and so on, with fares from $499/person (these are all hypotheticals just for use of illustration). Even though there may be several dates listed, usually only one specific sailing date in the ad will have that fare, and by the time you see it, that category may be sold out. The key to figuring out what's going on is to notice there are multiple dates and the word "from" in the pricing. That tells you that most of the dates will have higher prices, but that one sailing may have particularly low prices and that's what they select to advertise.
That's the most common device I see in advertising which frustrates consumers. My company does it too, as do most of the cruise line direct ads, and it is legitimate, but it's important for you to know about it so that you don't automatically presume that all dates in that ad have that pricing available. That way, when you call or email for a quote, you don't get confused when your prices are higher.
It's also important to realize just how much taxes and fuel supplement can add to a sailing. Let's take the example of a Panama Canal 10-night sailing. Because of the high fees assessed to ships for a Canal transit, even a partial, it's not uncommon to have taxes in the amount of $250 or higher per person. Fuel supplements right now average about $10/person per day, adding another $100/person to that fare. So a fare advertised at $999/person for the 10-night sailing might actually be around $1,350/person once the taxes and fuel supplement are added. A significant difference.
Whenever the fare is higher than you expect when you get to the bottom line, it's important to question the break-down. Because sometimes agencies will add in other charges and fees. You have a right to know what's what, and as budgets get a little tighter, to watch where your pennies are going.
So let's talk about those extra charges. Most of the time, if you're pricing online, they're not disclosed up front. Sometimes not even until after you've put in all your information and get to the last page before purchasing. That's extremely frustrating as a consumer, I know. I hate that when I'm buying online, too. So what are those common fees? Most of the time, there's a service or delivery fee added on, ranging anywhere from $15-50 or higher. While I understand agents and agencies who charge those fees, as our commissions are decreasing not just with the lowering of the overall fares, but also the increased percentage of the total price that non-commissionable items represent. There literally are cruises out there where I've made less than the cost of a Starbucks coffee, even though the total fare was several hundred dollars. Just as you pay other professionals for their services, travel agents have begun to charge these service fees or consulting fees. My parent company has a standard $19.95 fee per booking, though I waive it for all my clients as I don't believe in charging it. No matter how you feel about the appropriateness of service fees in travel, you do need to be aware they're out there and figure them into the total when comparing agency to agency, and whether or not it's worth it to you to work with a particular agent.
Other fees may not be disclosed in the initial booking process unless you dig deep and follow all the obscure links, as they don't apply to the initial purchase price. These are the real killers in this time of frequent fare reductions and economic difficulties. They are the change or cancellation fees. What you need to know first is that most cruise lines don't charge a cancellation fee until a certain point prior to the sailing, typically 70 days (though it varies by line, and even by time of year, as holiday sailings have earlier penalties), and some luxury lines or specialty lines like expedition or river cruises may have earlier penalty deadlines. Why do you need to know that? Because many agencies will charge you an agency cancellation or change penalty from day one of your booking. That means that if you need to cancel your booking, even a year before your cruise, you may be charged a fee by your agency to do so, even if the cruise line has no penalties in effect for that cancellation. These fees typically run anywhere from $35-100. Again, they're understandable as the agent has made an investment of time in your booking for which they now won't be compensated from the cruise line if you cancel, but you need to know this when comparing prices. Are there two agencies you're looking at in which one charges a penalty while another doesn't? Factor that in.
Change fees are even more insidious. Most people think that they'll only apply if you change a sailing date or similar. But most agencies which charge a change fee will do so for any change, including cabin number change, fare reductions, or even to add a person to the booking or change a dining time! Where they get truly annoying is the fare reductions. On several recent bookings for my clients, I've had as many as 4 or 5 fare reductions over the course of the booking. If I were charging even a $35 change fee for each of those changes, it would have cost my clients $175 they otherwise would have saved on their cruise. Nasty! And believe me, those fare reductions are coming in fast and furiously, even after final payment (see Part 1 of this series,
When To Book Your Cruise for more details). Aside from the fees to apply fare reductions, don't forget to ask the agent's policy about fare reductions, too. Some agencies won't do it at all, many won't without the change fees. That can make a big difference.
Finally, there's the intangible costs or benefits of doing business with a certain agent or company: the service you receive. Even experienced cruisers want advice or assistance on aspects to their sailing, such as shore excursions, private transfers, airlines or airports, even cabin location. Not to mention assistance if something should happen. A personal, full-time agent with experience can definitely bring value to your cruise as opposed to a call center agent who is essentially a human booking engine. Does your agent know the ship or itinerary? Have they actually been on the ship or to your destination? Will you reach the same person who actually knows YOU every time you call? Or are you just calling a rotation number where you'll reach someone different every time? Is the company you're working with a large company with the corresponding credibility with the cruise lines, or a smaller company without affiliations to assist you if you need it? Even when you're comparing the dollars and cents of the actual booking, you need to look at these factors to determine the actual COST of your cruise, and if you're receiving the best VALUE for your money.
As you can see, there's a lot more than just the initial price which goes into the true price for your cruise. Be an educated consumer, compare other factors, and get the best value for your cruise vacation!
Of course, if you have any questions about anything I've written here, want more information about me, my company, and my policies, or want to get a price quote and book through me, you simply have to email me at
amber@cruiseresource.com, or call toll-free at 888-SAIL-123 (888-724-5123).
I hope you've found this series of articles beneficial. It pays to do your research!
Labels: choose your agent, compare prices, cruising, port charges, service charges
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