Friday, April 3, 2009

Why do the Cruise Lines have so many rate codes?

Things have been pretty quiet of late and haven't been on the blog for awhile. Tonight though, I'm looking up a cruise for a client and an interesting thing came up and I figured this was a good one.

Cruise Line Rate Codes! They must be drinking some cheap wine or something to come up with their pricing strategies on occasion. In this case (the cruise I was looking up tonight), there is a past passenger rate that is better than a non past passenger rate, a military rate that is a little less for the 1st and 2nd passenger than the past passenger rate (so far so good and makes sense), then there is another lower rate for non-refundable (you can figure out who this one is on), and then there is another rate for Cash Back Offer - an onboard credit.

Here's the thing - the Cash back offer rate is $100 higher than the past passenger rate but with $120 on board credit, actually comes out $20 less and even a couple of dollars less than the military rate. So a non past passenger, booking under this rate would actually pay less than a past passenger or military person.

As an agent, the higher rate means higher commission and in this case, good for both the passenger and the client. But unless an agent is "sharp" enough to really look at the rate codes and figure it out.............this is why using a professional who specializes in cruises is the right thing to do. Especially, and only, if they put the client's best interest first!

I find many instances where what looks good, isn't always the best price. Iguess this increases our value to the consumer to work and book with us since we know how to find these strange situations.

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Next week I will be posting information about our new Associate Agent Program. We are looking to expand our business (yes, this is a good time to expand and train some folks to be cruise specialists with us). Don't want to wait until next week? Then send an e-mail to info@askusaboutcruising.com and I'll get back to you.

Smooth Seas and Blue Skies

Al

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