Travel-Anyone Notice
 

Has anyone noticed how far the Travel Industry has gone in misleading advertising and in some cases appear to be outright deceptive. Look up a cruise from the ads and it will say somethink like as low as $350. When you dig deeper it is really $450+ when the add ons are investigated and if you want a 1 or 2 upgrade they go "sky high". And in addition there are 20+ cruises advertized and the so called $350 is one in the line and in some black hole time. The rest can be significantly higher. We are not new to travel and in fact have and do travel a great bit and have noticed how deceptive the adds have become. We have seen cases where once you add up the "other things" the price almost doubles. By being experienced and watching the prices and the small print and the Terms and Conditions you can avoid some of this deceptiveness. :shrug:

Yes, we have noticed. The biggest ripoff (IMHO) is the 2 for 1 sale with Royal Caribbean. They increased the single price to almost twice as much or the discount does not apply if you qualify for resident, senior, military or other categories.

Look at Celebrity's 123 Rate which includes prepaid gratituties, free classic beverage package, and up to $300 OBC. You have to take the 123 price with no promotions to qualify for the 123 rate and in what I was looking at it, the free 123 program would have cost me close to $1300 per person compared to what I could get with a senior rate and travel agents OBC. You really need to ask questions and study the offers .... it can get (very) confusing.

Apparently they receive their training from auto dealers, phone carriers, cable/dish networks, and a few others of like kind. The faster the talk at the end or the more of and the smaller the print at the bottom of the page the better!:girlneener:

We always book direct with the cruise lines "cruise planners". Much more knowledgeable and usually less than most travel agents. Travel agents need to make their money so why pay a middle man. The cruise line is also faster and allows cabin selection up front.

30 cruises.... 28 booked direct...... 2 booked by travel agents (never, ever again!!).

I don't understand how saying that cruises are available AS LOW AS $350 is misleading or deceptive as long as they have cruises available at that price. You'd have to realize that these are going to be the lowest no frills cruises. if you want upgrades you have to understand they are going to cost more.

Also, the prices of $350 id not going to include taxes or fees added by the government or the shipyard.

As long as it is clearly stated the 350 does not include all cost I have no problem with the so called cost. The main point is there are none at this price if indeed there are add ons.

This is definitely not a rip off.
We are taking our 56th. cruise in January. We go every January.
Here are our prices we paid.

Both of our next cruises are on the Allure of the Seas.
Both are in a D7 balcony and they are both at the same time of the month. The 2016 cruise was booked during the special offer.
The prices below is the total for both of us.
Jan. 18th, 2015 - $2,706.00
Jan. 17th, 2016 - $1,788.00

Looks like a good savings to us !!

Can You
 

I guess the question is can you buy the cruise for the "as low as ???" advertising? I can say without a shadow of a doubt the answer is a resounding NO. So it is not as low as advertised in the "Truth in lending" statement. It is deceptive. I will give in if anyone can pull a cruise ad, pick out the "as low as" advertisement and buy the cruise for that price. We have also cruised many times including many translantics but I have yet to see a price in one of their ads which have the "get on the ship price"? As a "real time" exercise I just looked up a cruise, moderately priced and the rock bottom price to get on the ship was 55% high than the lowest price.
That is deceptive and smells bad. As the lady said, "if it smells like a duck and walls like a duck it is a duck" :bowdown:

A lot of them give you the cruise (portion) price. Then in the fine print they put, "price does not include port charges and taxes". Those can really add up !

25 cruises
 

We deal with vacationstogo.com the largest internet cruise agent and typically compare their price the cruise line. Their prices always include port charges but not sales tax (and tell me what ad anywhere for any item includes sales tax). Depending when you book you may hv to prepay gratuities which I think everyone should have to. Remember years ago on many cruises the last dinner night people would go to top deck buffet instead to avoid paying their gratuity.
Register with them for additional discounts i.e. florida resident, plus 55 age, current military/veteran (I am not) and more. Also if you have a group consisting of 8 or more cabins they have special agents that will explain to the "group leader" the rather large cash payback bonus that you can keep or hopefully give back to your friends.

Billethekid, are you aware of vacationstogo?

Set Time
 

I would like one case where they (Cruise Lines) can just once show a price the customer will actually pay? I could make a lot of excuses for not showing the right price but that does not cut it. :shrug:

It's possible - but only if you find an agent who isn't out to make a bundle off of you. I recently sent a couple out of PCN on a 5-day Western Caribbean cruise, outside cabin - for under $300 TOTAL. The "personal cruise planners" and online sales folks have quotas to meet. Also, make sure you get every discount you're entitled to. I book Military and when I call the cruise lines to request a particular cabin, they don't even show those prices. Happy Travels!