Is this True?

[ClarabelleCow]

Hello - So I was very briefly considering a New Years Cruise and priced it on the DCL website, only 13,500! without air. So figured I'd call around. Because I'm in the preliminary planning stages, I didn't want to do internet searches, give out names, etc., so I just telephoned Costco. Haven't done a DCL cruise in a few years. I always saved a whole lot of money with them. Well I called and they gave me the same exact price as the DCL website! They said they can no longer discount DCL cruises? They can throw in extras, but can't discount, they said DCL doesn't discount their cruises to anyone. Agencies can offer incentives but that is it. They also said they can no longer accept pre-booked cruises for people to get the incentives. So If I booked with DCL, and wanted Costco to handle my cruise because of gift cards, towels or whatever, they can no longer give those incentives out?

Has anyone heard of this?

Thanks

 

[mmouse37]

Hello - So I was very briefly considering a New Years Cruise and priced it on the DCL website, only 13,500! without air. So figured I'd call around. Because I'm in the preliminary planning stages, I didn't want to do internet searches, give out names, etc., so I just telephoned Costco. Haven't done a DCL cruise in a few years. I always saved a whole lot of money with them. Well I called and they gave me the same exact price as the DCL website! They said they can no longer discount DCL cruises? They can throw in extras, but can't discount, they said DCL doesn't discount their cruises to anyone. Agencies can offer incentives but that is it. They also said they can no longer accept pre-booked cruises for people to get the incentives. So If I booked with DCL, and wanted Costco to handle my cruise because of gift cards, towels or whatever, they can no longer give those incentives out?

Has anyone heard of this?


Thanks

Yep....true. A while ago DCL make it so no TA could sell their cruises cheaper than them. To be competitive TA's could reduce their commission on the booking and offer clients OBC's but the basic price of a DCL will be the same with every TA. I know it has been reported on this board that Costco no longer accepts a transferred reservation. I believe you can still get the gift cards but must book with them from the beginning.

MJ

 

[lbgraves]

Yes that is true as MJ says.

 

[Ocean Angel]

Hi - not sure about Costco but I booked through Dreams Unlimited. It was the same exact price as the Disney site, but we got $125 OBC by using DU so as far as I'm concerned, free money!

 

[Sinderelly]

We are cruising for the first time in Sept. and are planning to book another cruise onboard. Since we are unable to transfer the reservation to a TA, Can we just name a TA when booking and still get the perks of re-booking on board? I need a good TA to work with now and for future travel. It's too late for our Sept. cruise as we are paid in full?

 

[cakesnjammom]

We are cruising for the first time in Sept. and are planning to book another cruise onboard. Since we are unable to transfer the reservation to a TA, Can we just name a TA when booking and still get the perks of re-booking on board? I need a good TA to work with now and for future travel. It's too late for our Sept. cruise as we are paid in full?

I was told by my TA YES that I could give her name at the time of booking and she would handle it...you can still transfer it to a TA but they do not get as much commission as they would have gotten if you gave their name when booking onboard. Costco must just be different?

Also what about group rates w/ TA...mine was lower than with DCL b/c of TA group rate?

 

[kcashner]

Yes, if you rebook while on board and name a TA at that time, the TA will get the full commission and will give you whatever benefits they are giving.

What was explained to me is that one agency was aggressively marketing OBCs to get people to transfer ressies to them. These were people who had booked directly thru DCL--DCL had done the work, etc. Well, the marketing was successful and a lot of people transferred ressies causing DCL to re-evaluate their policy on transferred ressies. They decided to reduce the commission they pay to all TAs for transfers to reflect the fact that DCL did the original work. They did make an exception for rebookings on board PROVIDED that you name the TA when you do the rebooking.

Well...with the reduced commission, suddenly the TAs can't afford to give the same benefits as they were before. Some TAs have reduced the OBC or gift cards or whatever they were giving for a transferred ressie. Some have stopped accepting transfers totally.

 

[mmouse37]

I was told by my TA YES that I could give her name at the time of booking and she would handle it...you can still transfer it to a TA but they do not get as much commission as they would have gotten if you gave their name when booking onboard. Costco must just be different?

Also what about group rates w/ TA...mine was lower than with DCL b/c of TA group rate?

Yes. Here is a basic example of how pricing works....Day 1 release for booking any cruise the price is XYZ. Many TA's will purchase a block of cabins at the opening price and and sell them along the way up until the cruise date. DCL prices in tiers so when a certain category limit is met the price for that category through DCL goes up to the next pricing tier, but, a TA can still offer that cabin category at the original price. So, that TA's pricing will be cheaper than DCL's if DCL's price has gone up.

In essence everyone starts off at the same price and as time goes on, depending on which TA's are holding cabins determines their price on any given day.

Hope that makes some sense.

MJ