Costa: Valid to residents of ... only
 

I am trying to book a cruise on Costa, but it says

"The price is per person based on double occupancy and valid to residents of Swedish only"

I am from the Netherlands, and the price of the cruise is almost double on the dutch website. Can I still book it from the Swedish website or will I be denied entry?

Do I need to book through a Swedish travel agent or how does this work?

Thank you,

Marc

For most cruiselines, for fares that are specific to residents of a certain country, the cruiseline will require proof that you qualify for that rate. Even if you somehow manage to book it, you could be asked for proof of qualification at the pier and if you don't have it, could be 1) made to pay the difference in fares or 2) denied boarding.

You can try contacting a Swedish travel agent, but do not misrepresent that you are a resident of Sweden if you aren't, in order to get the fare.

Have you heard of anyone being denied boarding or made to pay the difference?

Not on Costa, but I have heard of people being required to pay fare differences on both Carnival and Royal Caribbean when they didn't qualify for the residency rate they booked.

There are different rules for each country and because of that there are different prices.

Many cruise line booking systems will only allow internal agents or travel agents book clients in specific countries.

With travel agents, the selling agreements of the agencies have with the cruise line dictate what clients they can sell to.

For travel agents in the US, most cruise lines allow agents to book people who reside in US, Mexico, and Canada.


With trying to book a rate that you are not supposed to have, if the cruise line catches on they will make you pay the difference between what you paid and should have paid. Its not out of the realm of possibility that they deny you boarding as you were trying to commit fraud against the cruiseline.

That practice does violate at the first moment the principle of non discrimination of EU citizen and the principle of a single market since it makes citizen in other countries pay more than the citizens of italy.

I doubt that it would be enforceable in Europe as long as an EU Resident books on an EU Webpage...

This.
The ECJ would have a field day with them trying to enforce price-discriminatory residency rules within the EU.
Disney recently got under fire for the same practices re: Eurodisney prices.

Book on the Swedish site and enjoy your discounted cruise!