Cruises international offers travel agents and wholesalers the lowest price -guaranteed!
There has been a lot of
misunderstanding about
Cruises International’s
recently launched We Will Match
Your Quote offer.
Many travel agents
misunderstood the offer and
local wholesalers have reported
incidents where agents have
asked them to guarantee their
rates or lose the booking to
Cruises International.
What these agents fail
to understand is that local
wholesalers purchase cruises
from Cruises International
to on-sell to the trade.
Cruises International is not
in competition with local
wholesalers. They are our
partners, who sell at the
same rates that we do and
have the same ‘lowest price –
guaranteed’ offer to present to
their travel agent partners and,
by extension, to South African
consumers.
As the representative of
the world’s leading cruise
lines in South Africa, Cruises
International makes every effort
to ensure that our pricing is
competitive.
The reason we introduced
this ‘lowest price – guaranteed’
offer was to ensure that the
local trade – travel agents and
wholesalers – do not lose sales
to foreign consolidators and
international travel agents, with
whom they compete on a daily
basis.
The lowest price guarantee
is a Cruises International
initiative that aims to ensure
that the local trade can match
any cruise quotes consumers
bring to them from foreign
consolidators and international
online travel agents (OTAs).
Where consumers find an offer
from a foreign firm that is better
than we and our wholesale
partners can offer, we will
match it, as long as the offer
fulfils our terms and conditions
(T&Cs are available on www.
shipmates.co.za on request from
our reservations team; also see
below).
Travel agents will never find
themselves in a situation where
they can get a better deal from
Cruises International than they
can from their local wholesale
agent, as the local wholesale
agent is our partner.
Our lowest price guarantee
is available for all our South
African trade partners to utilise,
but there are certain terms,
conditions and restrictions that
apply. These are:
The lowest fare offer is only
applicable to new bookings
and is not combinable with
other promotions.
Cancelled and reinstated
bookings do not qualify.
Cruises International will
require an official, original
quote to offer the best price.
Quotes for comparison have
to be on the same cruise line,
ship, stateroom category,
sailing date and itinerary and
clearly state inclusions and
exclusions.
Quotes that are compared
must have been generated
within 24 hours of each other.
Guaranteed best prices do
not cover exchange rate
fluctuations or cruise line rate
changes.
The ‘Lowest Price –
Guaranteed’ offer does not
apply to groups.
Cruises International will only
price-match once.
Once Cruises International has
price-matched a quotation, the
deposit has to be paid within
24 hours to secure the sailing
at the price-matched price.
When potential cruise clients
ask why they should book
through a local travel agent
rather than buying that ‘great
deal’ on the Internet, here’s
what you can tell them:
Foreign online travel agents
(OTAs), consolidators and
travel websites sometimes
offer deals that on the
surface seem very attractive,
but in reality are not. These
cruise agents advertise very
low prices but more often
than not, don’t inform their
customers of hidden costs
until they have paid a nonrefundable
deposit.
A local travel agent, who is a
cruise expert, will ensure that
the price presented is the true
cost of the cruise, with no
hidden surprises.
Clients will have peace of
mind knowing that their actual
cruise holiday will match the
product you sold them. There
are horror stories of people
who booked what seemed
like a dream cruise on the
Internet, only to find a very
sub-standard cruise awaiting
them at the other end. Or they
discovered upon arrival at their
cruise destination that their
cruise booking was invalid,
resulting in thousands of rands
lost and no one to assist them.
Service and after-sales
support are among your most
important selling points to
convince your clients to book
their cruise through you.
Your ability to assist with visa
issues, schedule changes, flight
changes, travel insurance,
information on incidents that
may affect their travel plans,
claims for lost items, family
emergencies, repatriation,
destination knowledge and
requirements, complaints to
the cruise company when
luggage is damaged or clients
have been overcharged on
their on-board account should
be enough to convince them.
Foreign OTAs, consolidators
and travel websites offer little
or none of this support.
You can also demonstrate the
great savings you can offer
them on airfares, cruises and
promotions through your
agency’s access to exclusive
deals from suppliers – deals
that they won’t find on the
Internet. These could translate
into cabin upgrades, free
excursions and after-hours
access to popular tourist sites.
