Thread: Cruise bookings from Australia

We are considering taking a Canada/New England cruise and wanting to kow which USA agency will acept direct cruise booking from Australian customers rather then using our travel agents down under.

Welcome to CLF - the friendliest board on the net!! There are lots of wonderful people here who will be happy to help you, so ask away.

To answer your question, any good reputable agent, especially those of us with national recognition such as American Express, should be able to accept your reservation without any problems. But work with an agent, not the cruise line.

As a side note, I have clients around the world and Princess can sometimes be difficult to work with when US agents are booking foreign guests, but there are ways to get around it. We don't have any problems with other cruise lines.

As for Canada/New England, this is a wonderful itinerary. We did it a few years ago in the Fall so we could see the beautiful foliage changing colors - truly awesome! Our favorite ports were Bar Harbor and Halifax, but all the ports of call, the people, and the food provides a great cruise.

Pete

Hi Albert,
Many Australians choose to make their reservations with US agencies, especially with the exchange rate so good against the USD at the moment. My main message of caution is that bookings made to any agent outside Australia would not be covered by the Travel Compensation Fund. So book overseas by all means, but you are always taking a small risk.
I have also heard of agents selling cabins on a special rate only available to a certain demographic (US Millitary, UK Teachers Assoc etc) that are not available in Australia. If you are booked on this and arrive at port without applicable ID you could be charged full fare or denied boarding.
Cross Border Trading is a sore point amongst agents. If Cruiselines charged the same globally for their cruises it wouldnt be a problem....

There is an agency that accepts reservations from Australia. They are based in Florida!

Feel free to contact me at my website for info.

Hope we can be of assistance.

Storm'n Norm & Ann
www.thecruiseduo.com

Originally Posted by The Cruise Duo

There is an agency that accepts reservations from Australia. They are based in Florida!

Feel free to contact me at my website for info.

Hope we can be of assistance.

Storm'n Norm & Ann
www.thecruiseduo.com

Hey Norman! Unlike other cruise forums, you can post your links here so everyone can benefit.

The only links not permitted are to other cruise forums... our advertisers don't like us to send folks to the competition!

Originally Posted by The Cruise Duo

There is an agency that accepts reservations from Australia. They are based in Florida!

Any reputable agency in the U.S. can accept reservations from Australia as well as any other country. Just a matter of finding one you trust and feel comfortable working with.

Pete

Certain agencies offer the deeply discounted U.S. rates of most of the cruise lines they represent to citizens of other countries. However, the following cruise lines now prohibit all U.S. travel agencies from selling cruises to citizens of countries other than the U.S. and Canada, unless they have a residence in the U.S. or Canada. This is a corporate policy instituted by each of these cruise lines.

Celebrity
Costa Cruises
Holland America
Oceania Cruises
Princess
Royal Caribbean
Star Clippers

Note:
1. Residents of the U.K. and Australia may not book P&O Cruises.
2. Non-US citizens may be required to pre-pay gratuities when booking certain cruise lines.
3. Citizens of Visa Waiver Program countries (shown below) must present a valid, machine-readable passport and obtain a travel authorization via the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) prior to boarding a carrier to travel by air or sea to the U.S..

We hope this is of assistance.

If you need to know more, then feel free to contact us through our website:

www.thecruiseduo.com

Actually, as late as this morning I was talking to my USA based TA regarding a booking on HAL.
HAL does not allow clients from Europe etc to book with a US based agent only residence of USA and Canada.

I was told I could book if I knew someone with a US address which I could use.

Originally Posted by The Cruise Duo

Certain agencies offer the deeply discounted U.S. rates of most of the cruise lines they represent to citizens of other countries. However, the following cruise lines now prohibit all U.S. travel agencies from selling cruises to citizens of countries other than the U.S. and Canada, unless they have a residence in the U.S. or Canada. This is a corporate policy instituted by each of these cruise lines.

Celebrity
Costa Cruises
Holland America
Oceania Cruises
Princess
Royal Caribbean
Star Clippers

Not sure where you got all this, but it's not altogether accurate. For example, I have a long-time client from South Africa who books two or three cruises every year and we have booked him on RCCL & Celebrity on several occasions. In fact, he just got back from a roundtrip cruise out of Dubai last week on the Brilliance of the Seas. We've never had any problems and he does not use a U.S. address.

I have clients all over the world including Germany, U.K., Switzerland, Poland, Ireland, Australia, etc, etc. and there are only a couple of lines we have to work around.

Two years ago we returned from USA on Costa Fortuna and had no trouble booking. The online information we had a problem, because Country of Residency only had North and South America.

Rang Costa up in the States and they sorted it out. Can't remember who we booked with, but it was in the USA.