Next effective price increase - can't combine onboard booking and travel agent OBC?

[Ofinn]

Wow that is crazy! Let us know

I checked the Feb 21 cruise, the May 23 Alaska and the Sept TA and they're all higher on the Costco site. It scared me because Im planning on booking the TA next month while on board. I was checking Costco because I thought I might go ahead and book it but it had gone up several hundred dollars, but when I checked the Dcl site price hadnt changed. Really strange. I guess I could book on Dcl then transfer to Costco.

 

[Ofinn]

There shouldn't be any difference in final price. TA commission is not shown or reflected anywhere in the cruise price. Make sure what you are looking at from both sites includes all taxes and port fees, same transportation, same category number/letter combo, etc. A TA may charge a fee for their services, but the vast majority of U.S.-based TA's do not. If Costco has suddenly started charging, that likely is a business decision on their part and irrespective of DCL's commission policy; but I think it's unlikely Costco would change to that business model. I'm thinking either a glitch or something (taxes, etc.) was different between the 2 quotes.

Enjoy your cruise!

I check Costco all the time.Prices are always the same. Just booked a Dec cruise through Costco a couple of weeks ago. Its definitely not taxes. Prices were a good 10 percent higher. Hopefully just a glitch.

 

[WebmasterJohn]

My TA is Dreams Unlimited. Anyone know how this policy will affect DU specifically?

We (Dreams Unlimited Travel) are currently evaluating the situation and working on a solution that allows us to offer the highest Shipboard Credit possible under Disney Cruise Line's new policy for onboard bookings.

As of right now our Shipboard Credit amounts are the same as they always have been, even for those booked onboard. This will most likely have to change going forward but as of right now we have not made any changes to our current SBC promotion.

We will be sending out a communication within the next week to our clients on upcoming sailings explaining what changes we might make to our current OBC program as it relates to this new onboard booking policy from DCL but for now, rest assured, any reservation booked before the policy change we will honor our full, regular shipboard credit - this includes placeholder cruises.

 

[isabellea]

My TA is also with DU and I was planning on getting a placeholder while on our first cruise next March so I can go back December 2017. I think it's a really bad move from DCL.

 

[lbgraves]

We made a placeholder reservation onboard the first week of October in anticipation of booking Alaska 2017. We since used the placeholder reservation to assign a dummy date in early 2017 so we could be applying funds toward the reservation. Do you think when we transfer the reservation to an Alaska cruise the TA would get the 16% for this cruise or just 10%.

Since the original reservation date is before 10/22/15 it would be grandfathered. However, not all TAs get the 16%. It is on a scale according to the volume of business they do so some could get anywhere from 11% to 16%.

 

[lbgraves]

I checked the Feb 21 cruise, the May 23 Alaska and the Sept TA and they're all higher on the Costco site. It scared me because Im planning on booking the TA next month while on board. I was checking Costco because I thought I might go ahead and book it but it had gone up several hundred dollars, but when I checked the Dcl site price hadnt changed. Really strange. I guess I could book on Dcl then transfer to Costco.

.

 

[Ofinn]

I believe that Costco stopped accepting transferred reservations for DCL a while ago, so this shouldn't affect their bottom line if they aren't dealing with any OBBs.

I transferred a cruise with an Obb to costco 6 months ago. Im not sure about if its changed but I know a lot of people transfer their cruises to Costco. Maybe someone can shed light on this. It would have nothing to do with the weird pricing on their website right now anyway.

 

[jtba]

I transferred a cruise with an Obb to costco 6 months ago. Im not sure about if its changed but I know a lot of people transfer their cruises to Costco. Maybe someone can shed light on this. It would have nothing to do with the weird pricing on their website right know anyway.

don't know about the pricing weirdness but i transferred a non-OBB cruise from DCL to Costco one week ago and there were no issues with the process.

hope the pricing thing you experienced was a temporary glitch, @Offin !

 

[emilymad]

We look at our net cruise price before booking any cruise. The OBC with DCL are what makes them competitive with RCL. Without the extra OBC we will probably head back to RCL. I don't blame the TAs for lowering or not offering extra OBC but it is just another negative for DCL. There seems to be a lot of that lately.

 

[DanceswithDisney]

In my mind, this is purely a cost savings measure. They will pay more to certain agencies for bringing a new cruisers or a new booking from a repeat cruiser. However, if they can sell it once onboard, they do not need to pay as much. It makes sense as DCL is a business and will find any way possible to reduce costs.

 

[Katykins14]

Regarding Costco - I recently transferred on on-board booking with no problem. Also, since we book most of our travel through Costco, I looked up the price comparison to see what the deal was. While the pricing is significantly higher when you first pull up the cruise and pricing, once you actually log in with your Costco ID, the pricing shifts back to the exact same cost as through the Disney site.

 

[jahber]

In my mind, this is purely a cost savings measure. They will pay more to certain agencies for bringing a new cruisers or a new booking from a repeat cruiser. However, if they can sell it once onboard, they do not need to pay as much. It makes sense as DCL is a business and will find any way possible to reduce costs.

Yes, it certainly is a cost-saving measure. One that will directly negatively impact their customers and the TAs who brought them those customers in the first place (hence, why customers would ever even have a name to put as their TA on their OBB--the TA who got them on the cruise in the first place).

 

[Ofinn]

Regarding Costco - I recently transferred on on-board booking with no problem. Also, since we book most of our travel through Costco, I looked up the price comparison to see what the deal was. While the pricing is significantly higher when you first pull up the cruise and pricing, once you actually log in with your Costco ID, the pricing shifts back to the exact same cost as through the Disney site.

Well that's good to know. It must be some glitch. I've never seen it do that before. It would definitely scare off non Costco members using the site to check prices. DCL prices are bad enough as is.

 

[cgolf]

In my mind, this is purely a cost savings measure. They will pay more to certain agencies for bringing a new cruisers or a new booking from a repeat cruiser. However, if they can sell it once onboard, they do not need to pay as much. It makes sense as DCL is a business and will find any way possible to reduce costs.

And add this to their other cost saving measures, higher fares, and other new added costs and eventually they will lose money because customers are making other choices.

I would also guess that the TAs won't work as hard now to push the DCL product. I have noticed over the last year or so that DCL has really ramped up their cable advertising, maybe they aren't selling as well as everyone thinks, or they have to work to get it. Something about all this stinks, just really strange that they are making so many changes that will impact repeat cruisers and new cruisers alike, and not in a positive way, pretty much all at the same time.

I am just bummed that when we book on celebrity that while we can use dreams still, we would have to change TAs within Dreams and not give the person we have worked with for years now another commission.

 

[Bear3412]

... the pricing shifts back to the exact same cost as through the Disney site.

Thanks for the feedback and research. That is refreshing to hear.

I thought it may have been the insurance bundled. But I know they wouldn't do that.

It still makes you question why the price is different prior to logging in ? ? ?

Why would they dissuade potential customers without a #? ? ?

Although when I asked for insurance it kicked me to the vendors site. That is definitely different than last time I booked. (1 year )
Prior they would have included it, if requested.

Also before, if you booked outside of a certain date and said you are a Washington State Resident it would kick it out due to the insurance. Not the case now. It kicks all ressies out for insurance.
Washington State requires pre existing waivers regardless.

Weird. Lots of changes lately across all boards.

Yet, the current site shows a higher cost initially, until you enter your Costco #, then recalculates. Sounds like they will loose a lot of ressies to me.

It's all a freak show to me lately.

I can't keep up anymore.

Most cruise lines are tweaking there rules/etc lately creating all kinds of havoc on said sites.
Why not Costco? ? ? Seems like a theme lately.
Perhaps they want in on the action?
Tweak/change stuff then you get in the news/forums.
Perhaps this is the new thing. Is Madison Ave involved?
It affords wonderful reading if your into that sort of thing.
Is it a PR thing?

Deep Thoughts by Bear

 

[tup1830]

Biting the hand that feeds them...def not a smart long term decision...just sayin

 

[DanceswithDisney]

Biting the hand that feeds them...def not a smart long term decision...just sayin

The way I see it is that DCL is saying, we are paying you too much commission if you are rebating most of it to pay people to cruise. So they are saving money in the long run by lowering the commission paid on on board bookings.

 

[tup1830]

But you have to realize that the rebating is the only differentiating factor (except service) from agency to agency. Its the tool that agencies use to be competitive. Exactly, they are saving money...aka increase cost to consumer.

 

[ksucats]

But you have to realize that the rebating is the only differentiating factor (except service) from agency to agency. Its the tool that agencies use to be competitive. Exactly, they are saving money...aka increase cost to consumer.

But isn't service the reason why you should choose a travel agent. If you are simply choosing a travel agent because of the rebate, then in Disney's mind, Disney just as well keep that money instead of essentially offering it to you as a discount for going through a travel agent.

 

[cgolf]

The way I see it is that DCL is saying, we are paying you too much commission if you are rebating most of it to pay people to cruise. So they are saving money in the long run by lowering the commission paid on on board bookings.

While this is definitely a true statement. As a customer say I book through Dreams because I get a 100 OBC in addition to anything from DCL. If that goes away, I now see my cruise costing 100 dollars more. We use the OBCs from DCL and Dreams to pay tips and for excursions.