Carnival cuts air and hotel programs

http://www.travelmarketreport.com/le...leID=3455&LP=1

Carnival is closing the Air Deviation department, and shutting down a
test of another air booking program. They are also no longer selling
pre and post cruise hotel packages.

In spite of what some travel "agents" cough say... booking air through
the cruise line isn't usually the best or least expensive way to get to
the ship and most experienced cruisers know this. (there are some
exceptions). Carnival cites poor demand as the reason for shutting the
programs down.... but their normal air program will still be operational.

Hotel pricing has been a joke for a few years now. Group rates are very
often higher than what is available on the internet, and Cruise rates
for hotels is out of sight. Last night I priced a Seattle hotel at $239
per night. The cruise line wanted $403 per night.


--

George Leppla

Countryside Travel http://www.CruiseMaster.com
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/CruiseMaster

George Leppla wrote:
http://www.travelmarketreport.com/le...leID=3455&LP=1

Carnival is closing the Air Deviation department, and shutting down a
test of another air booking program. They are also no longer selling
pre and post cruise hotel packages.

In spite of what some travel "agents" cough say... booking air through
the cruise line isn't usually the best or least expensive way to get to
the ship and most experienced cruisers know this. (there are some
exceptions). Carnival cites poor demand as the reason for shutting the
programs down.... but their normal air program will still be operational.

Hotel pricing has been a joke for a few years now. Group rates are very
often higher than what is available on the internet, and Cruise rates
for hotels is out of sight. Last night I priced a Seattle hotel at $239
per night. The cruise line wanted $403 per night.

Interesting George. I trust the exceptions would include one-way air
fares due to say trans-Atlantic cruise?

--
Dean in Peoria

Remove the X's to email

On May 24, 1:22*pm, George Leppla wrote:
http://www.travelmarketreport.com/le...leID=3455&LP=1

Carnival is closing the Air Deviation department, and shutting down a
test of another air booking program. *They are also no longer selling
pre and post cruise hotel packages.

Interesting. 10 years ago, the air deals were decent, and I often
purchased included air. (especially open jaws) but you're right. These
days, I find it much more inexpensive to purchase air independently.
Not to stereotype (as I do exactly that) - but I'd also guess that
there were fewer air deviations than for other lines. (I'd think that
first-timers and others likely to book Carnival air would be less apt
to know about deviations and more likely to blindly sign up for the
regular air add-on, while price-conscious repeaters have already
defected to finding their own discounted flights.)

It'll be interesting to see how the Princess model works. That seems
designed to be more appropriate for the current environment.

....and for hotels, was that $403/night per person? (It wouldn't
surprise me)

AND ON A TOTALLY UNRELATED SUBJECT... I think I'll have tickets and
docs waiting for me at home today for our Venice-Athens cruise on
Crystal next month (happy doc dance)

Mark

On 5/24/2010 5:36 PM, Dean Worrell wrote:
George Leppla wrote:
http://www.travelmarketreport.com/le...leID=3455&LP=1

Carnival is closing the Air Deviation department, and shutting down a
test of another air booking program. They are also no longer selling
pre and post cruise hotel packages.

In spite of what some travel "agents" cough say... booking air
through the cruise line isn't usually the best or least expensive way
to get to the ship and most experienced cruisers know this. (there are
some exceptions). Carnival cites poor demand as the reason for
shutting the programs down.... but their normal air program will still
be operational.

Hotel pricing has been a joke for a few years now. Group rates are
very often higher than what is available on the internet, and Cruise
rates for hotels is out of sight. Last night I priced a Seattle hotel
at $239 per night. The cruise line wanted $403 per night.

Interesting George. I trust the exceptions would include one-way air
fares due to say trans-Atlantic cruise?


Still available through the normal Air-Sea program. But you take what
they get for you... no requesting specific flights, times, airlines, etc.

BTW - One way air fares can usually be bought less expensively through
Expedia, Travelocity, etc. They are charged by "segments", not complete
itineraries.

And that is a general statement that may not always be true for every
flight. But it is worth checking out.
--

George Leppla

Countryside Travel http://www.CruiseMaster.com
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/CruiseMaster

On 5/24/2010 4:22 PM, George Leppla wrote:
Last night I priced a Seattle hotel at $239
per night. The cruise line wanted $403 per night.

Even $239 is probably double what you could get a comparable hotel for
on Priceline,

Bill

On 5/24/2010 6:51 PM, Bill wrote:
On 5/24/2010 4:22 PM, George Leppla wrote:
Last night I priced a Seattle hotel at $239
per night. The cruise line wanted $403 per night.

Even $239 is probably double what you could get a comparable hotel for
on Priceline,

Bill


We use Priceline a lot. In this case, the customer wanted a specific
hotel for specific reasons so the "bid and take what you get" model
didn't work for him.


--

George Leppla

Countryside Travel http://www.CruiseMaster.com
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/CruiseMaster

On 5/24/10 6:50 PM, Mark (SF) wrote:


AND ON A TOTALLY UNRELATED SUBJECT... I think I'll have tickets and
docs waiting for me at home today for our Venice-Athens cruise on
Crystal next month (happy doc dance)

Mark


Oooohhhh.... Crystal... VERRRRRY nice.

--Tom

On Tue, 25 May 2010 08:29:32 -0700, John Sisker wrote:

But with that type of thinking, more and more
travelers will soon realize that they don't need a travel agent at all.

More and more don't especially with standardized pricing and repeat
experience with cruising.
--
Ari's Fun Times!
http://tr.im/hrFG
Motto: Run, rabbit, Run!

[Default] Thus spake George Leppla :

On 5/24/2010 5:36 PM, Dean Worrell wrote:
George Leppla wrote:
http://www.travelmarketreport.com/le...leID=3455&LP=1

Carnival is closing the Air Deviation department, and shutting down a
test of another air booking program. They are also no longer selling
pre and post cruise hotel packages.

In spite of what some travel "agents" cough say... booking air
through the cruise line isn't usually the best or least expensive way
to get to the ship and most experienced cruisers know this. (there are
some exceptions). Carnival cites poor demand as the reason for
shutting the programs down.... but their normal air program will still
be operational.

Hotel pricing has been a joke for a few years now. Group rates are
very often higher than what is available on the internet, and Cruise
rates for hotels is out of sight. Last night I priced a Seattle hotel
at $239 per night. The cruise line wanted $403 per night.

Interesting George. I trust the exceptions would include one-way air
fares due to say trans-Atlantic cruise?


Still available through the normal Air-Sea program. But you take what
they get for you... no requesting specific flights, times, airlines, etc.

BTW - One way air fares can usually be bought less expensively through
Expedia, Travelocity, etc. They are charged by "segments", not complete
itineraries.

And that is a general statement that may not always be true for every
flight. But it is worth checking out.

I ran some numbers through Kayak on my iPhone last week and it was
cheaper to do AUS to BCN and MIA to AUS on my own.
--

- dillon I am not invalid

Warick: "Who brings a gun to a knife fight?"
Gil: "The winner?"