http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www_de.cgi/http://www.cunard.com/

Best,

I suppose they do not wish us to be able to see that cruise fares in Outer Mongolia are cheaper than in Monte Carlo and that if one is a resident of Antarctica everything is free... but each region/country has different terms and conditions and different costs to cover, so the fares are going to vary anyhow. Entirely different matter if one is booking v browsing.

I occasionally get asked by others to check UK fares and send the detail, not just for fare comparison, but sometimes certain cruises are not even listed elsewhere or another region's site is out of date or not working etc

I can sometimes get into the US site, but not always, and stay there by going through Google's cache. Raoul's link above works initally, but I eventually get dumped into the German sitewith noreturn; interesting as I am not in Germany either

The HAL site give at least the option to choose a region and then the country of residence and visitors cane choose out of 4 languages Dutch, English, German and Spanish.

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Originally posted by Globaliser:
The HAL website won't let me do even that. I get the UK website, without exception.

This is all part of a strategy to gouge non-US passengers by preventing them from booking at US prices. Sooner or later, the cruise lines will get their come-uppance on this piece of discrimination.

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Untrue. It's dictated by the fact that companies that do business in the UK, or any other country, must abide by that country's specific consumer laws and protection mechanisms.

Companies also have an obligation to the agents in those territories as they spend a tremendous amount of money to sell and market the cruises through those agents. Why should they spend that money only to see the sale go overseas?

The UK and EU consumer protection laws are much more onerous and grant much more generous protection and flexibility to consumers than say, the US.

There is quite an outcry here about Cunard and their "quintessentially British" ships.

[ 11-28-2010: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

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Originally posted by Tim in 'Lauderdale:
Untrue. It's dictated by the fact that companies that do business in the UK, or any other country, must abide by that country's specific consumer laws and protection mechanisms.

...

The UK and EU consumer protection laws are much more onerous and grant much more generous protection and flexibility to consumers than say, the US.

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But I have yet to see a single shred of evidence that if a UK resident chooses not to book with a UK travel agent but instead books with a US travel agent on US terms, paying in US dollars for tickets to be delivered in the US for a cruise departing from and returning to the US, the consuumer protection laws and regulations of the UK would have anything to say about that contract.

Cruise lines are occasionally asked about this. They always come out with some totally incoherent marketing waffle that does not say "UK/EU laws require us to do this" - which would be the easiest thing in the world for them to say if it were true.

The marketing spend by the cruise lines on UK agents is barely more cogent. Any waste of that spend if a UK customer ends up booking with a US agent is the cruise line's own fault for over-charging the UK market, thus creating a desire to book in the US. The companies are making rods for their own backs. If the UK market were charged the same price as the US, then UK customers wouldn't be looking to book elsewhere and the marketing spend would not be wasted.

And the cruise line is getting the sale anyway, for the majority of the UK price - and by definition the cruise line would have been happy to take the US price. The only people who are actually losing out are the UK agents, who don't get their commission - but they would know exactly whose fault it is and who to complain to.

The QE2's specific purpose is to devalue US currency in the name of US trade interests. If the dollar plummets enough, it would be a great time for non-US passengers to book through the US site. As the majority of Cunard's expenses are obviously outside the US, their balance sheet would take a serious ding if non-US passengers "rode the QE2" in this fashion, even despite using US currency onboard.

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Originally posted by Lubber:
The QE2's specific purpose is to devalue US currency in the name of US trade interests. If the dollar plummets enough, it would be a great time for non-US passengers to book through the US site. As the majority of Cunard's expenses are obviously outside the US, their balance sheet would take a serious ding if non-US passengers "rode the QE2" in this fashion, even despite using US currency onboard.

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Two more reasons why Tim's proffered reason cannot be true.

First, a number of the cruise lines which prevent UK passengers booking through US agents are part of the Carnival group. However, although the main Carnival line markets itself within the UK and has a UK sales office and a UK website, Carnival does not prohibit UK passengers from booking Carnival cruises through US agents.

If Carnival's other brands would be falling foul of UK/EU legislation by allowing UK passengers to book in the US, Carnival mainline would also be falling foul of the same legislation. Clearly, there is no such legislation to fall foul of.

Second, the prohibition is expressed as follows: those who are not US or Canadian citizens may not book through a US agent unless they are resident in the US. That means that a US or Canadian citizen who lives in the UK is allowed to book via a US agent. But UK/EU consumer protection legislation applies to US citizens living in the UK just as much as it applies to UK citizens living in the UK

So why is it not illegal/improper to sell to a US citizen resident in the UK? Answer: Because there is no legislative inhibition on cruise lines selling to non-US residents through US agents.

Conclusion: The only thing that makes sense is that the cruise lines are prohibiting non-US residents from booking through US agents for their own commerical reasons, namely to push us into paying more (sometimes much more) for our cruises. It is pure discrimination for the purposes of gouging.