Thread: Princess No Longer Allowing Discounting!!

This just in from Princess - and I must say, it's about time!!

Princess has FINALLY followed suit with all the other major Cruise Lines.

NO DISCOUNTING POLICY!

Princess Cruise Lines has announced that effective January 1, 2012, that they will NO LONGER allow DISCOUNTING. All websites must have current Princess market prices displayed.

I was wondering when this was gonna happen.

This is the announcement I got from one agency.....

Princess Cruise Lines has announced that effective January 1, 2012, that they will NO LONGER allow DISCOUNTING of any cruises.

All cruises MUST be sold at the current Princess market price.

All promo codes are included. (including Captain's Circle rates).

Non cash-based value adds will be allowed, but will be limited.



What does this mean for you???



It means you have until December 31, 2011 to book your new 2012 or 2013 Princess cruise with xxxxxxx while we can still offer a 10% discount off the lowest qualifying Princess cruise fare. To help you out, we have also included a few special sale incentives for a limited sale period!



Princess "LAST CHANCE" Sale

Yep, and those offering discounted fares are usually people you don't want to do business with since they're more interested in making a sale than in providing service. If you need them, they're not there to help you. This is the main reason why almost all the major cruise lines no longer allow discounting. Those agencies that were discounting were causing alot of problems for the cruise lines. When problems arose, those agencies were useless and the frustrated passengers were contacting the cruise lines in hopes of getting help only to be told they had to contact the booking agent.

The majority of reputable agencies were not discounting and therefore not causing problems - these are the ones providing good service and working hard for their clients. But there were alot of online agencies just out to make a buck and those could not be trusted.

Decisions such as this by the cruise lines, show their support for the majority of the agencies who are trying to provide good service at the same price as the cruise line.

Pete

Pete- Could not agree with you more. It is frustrating when the good agents of the smaller agencies get priced out by the large "big box" agencies. We told our agent that even if she could not match the prices of some of these firms, we were going to stick with her- the service made all the difference!

And this will put the 'big box' agencies on an equal playing field with the smaller agencies. And when the prices are the same and then you compare what the 'big box' agencies provide compared to the small agencies, the small agencies will always win because their main focus is on service whereas the 'big box' agencies focus on profits. This same philosophy is prevalent throughout business; if you want cheap, go big box companies. If you want quality, go with small business. If you want cheap, buy products made in China. If you want quality and want to support our economy, buy American!

Yep, Princess finally took the plunge. Neal, I have a few clients like you. They book multiple cruises per year with my agency.

Pete, well said.

Has anyone compoared it against the Carnival policy? I have not yet but if it is the same or close the big shops and online will still have ways to beat out the smaller mom and pop type agencies. Except on service anyway. I like being able to serve a smaller client base and do it better. Also like having some of the clients money stay home where it helps the local economy and keeps local jobs.

That's always been my philosophy! I would rather keep my business smaller and provide a better service than to be so busy I can't provide the service I want to provide.

As I always said, they deal in quantity while I prefer to deal in quality. And with the prices being the same, quality will usually win with passengers.

It's just too bad that alot of people believe those false claims about some website selling cruises 'up to 75% off'. They're bragging about price when, in reality, they're not offering anything special - all agents can offer the same price and sometimes even better. Problem is, new cruisers believe that stuff, call them, and end up dealing with someone who works in a Call Center, has worked there less than 6 months, and has never even seen a ship, let alone been on a cruise or to any of the ports. They are just there to sell, not to provide service.

I read and hear stories and posts every day from people who booked a cruise through one of these online sites and they are left with a whole bunch of questions and no one to talk to. They think they got a great deal only to find out the price is the same, but the service is nonexistent.

Pete

Well said Pete, the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.