Get price drop alerts for particular a cruise sailing date and cabin class?
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: RDU
Posts: 1,473
Get price drop alerts for particular a cruise sailing date and cabin class?
Is there any web site I can use to receive automated price drop alerts (or at least the daily price) of a particular cruise sailing date and cabin class?
#2
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: RDU
Posts: 1,473
Found a site but it's for pay, not free
Found a site called CruiseFish.net. Unfortunately they charge for the privilege. With no other players in this area, evidently, it might be a nice entrepreneurial opportunity for someone out there. I know many sites offer free, advertising supported price alerts for airfare (like kayak.com). Not sure why there isn't anything free out there for cruises.
#3
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Let's see if the readers of the Travel->Cruise forum can help. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz,
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2009
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Yes, it is call my cruise travel agent. She will do it for me as I have booked over 25 personal cruises and 5 family reunion/groups with her.
I will let her know my timing and general cruise region and she will SMS me with any major price drops. She has gotten me OBC when the rate was discounted to under what I have paid originally.
I will let her know my timing and general cruise region and she will SMS me with any major price drops. She has gotten me OBC when the rate was discounted to under what I have paid originally.
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: RDU
Posts: 1,473
Yes, it is call my cruise travel agent. She will do it for me as I have booked over 25 personal cruises and 5 family reunion/groups with her.
I will let her know my timing and general cruise region and she will SMS me with any major price drops. She has gotten me OBC when the rate was discounted to under what I have paid originally.
I will let her know my timing and general cruise region and she will SMS me with any major price drops. She has gotten me OBC when the rate was discounted to under what I have paid originally.
Since I've already booked direct, just looking for a better method of finding price drops than checking manually each day.
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Not all TAs are as responsive as yours. Glad you found a good one. I prefer booking direct. RCL has always honored my price drop requests and it looks like Carnival is responsive in this regard as well for those who book direct.
Since I've already booked direct, just looking for a better method of finding price drops than checking manually each day.
Since I've already booked direct, just looking for a better method of finding price drops than checking manually each day.
When there is any issue with our booking, she dealt with the cruise line on our behalf. It has always been resolved positively.
With price reduction, we usually get an email from her that the OBC is in our account or our final payment has been reduced.
#7
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The question is not will somebody or some line honor the request for a price drop, it's how to know when there is a price drop.
My agent (17 years of booking with them) will stay on top of it for me so that I don't have to check each and every day for a sale or a drop.
But to answer the question, I do not know of any easy to get notified when there is a price drop other than checking over and over again.
My agent (17 years of booking with them) will stay on top of it for me so that I don't have to check each and every day for a sale or a drop.
But to answer the question, I do not know of any easy to get notified when there is a price drop other than checking over and over again.
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Earth. Residency:HKG formerly:YYZ
Programs: CX, DL, Nexus/GE, APEC
Posts: 10,688
The question is not will somebody or some line honor the request for a price drop, it's how to know when there is a price drop.
My agent (17 years of booking with them) will stay on top of it for me so that I don't have to check each and every day for a sale or a drop.
But to answer the question, I do not know of any easy to get notified when there is a price drop other than checking over and over again.
My agent (17 years of booking with them) will stay on top of it for me so that I don't have to check each and every day for a sale or a drop.
But to answer the question, I do not know of any easy to get notified when there is a price drop other than checking over and over again.
#9
Join Date: May 2005
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Posts: 669
Found a site called CruiseFish.net. Unfortunately they charge for the privilege. With no other players in this area, evidently, it might be a nice entrepreneurial opportunity for someone out there. I know many sites offer free, advertising supported price alerts for airfare (like kayak.com). Not sure why there isn't anything free out there for cruises.
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: RDU
Posts: 1,473
I use the service because it's worth it to me to get an alert on a regular basis. Even if you check the cruiseline's site often. all it takes is one day of being off-line and you can miss the reduction. Few of the online agencies have the capacity (or desire) to check hourly for you, especially if they are already turning over a large portion of their comission as OBC to the pax!
Outside of a corporate setting, I thought travel agents had gone the way of bank tellers. Still around if you need them. But 99% of my transactions are conducted online or via ATM. And with a service like CruiseFish, I don't see needing a travel agent at all. But that's me. I'm glad others have found value in their travel agents.
Last edited by moretimeoffguy; Apr 26, 2011 at 2:30 pm
#11
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 2,304
If you cruise regularly, it pays to buy a small packet of alerts -- then it's $1 per cruise for any number of cabin categories for as long as the cruise is active, and can save you several hundred $$$ with one price reduction. I use the service because it's worth it to me to get an alert on a regular basis. Even if you check the cruiseline's site often. all it takes is one day of being off-line and you can miss the reduction. Few of the online agencies have the capacity (or desire) to check hourly for you, especially if they are already turning over a large portion of their comission as OBC to the pax!
Even if I had a superb relationship with the TA, the agency offers good cruise benefits so they get high call volume. Plus there is a time zone difference and it can take a few hours to return messages. Better to be pro-active and save her the time, so she can pull in more bookings!