It’s the Early Birds’ Turn to Crow

Did you ever sit down at dinner the first night away on a cruise and find out that the other people at your table were paying several hundred dollars less than you for the same cabin category?

So have a lot of other people, and most of them ended up complaining loudly to their travel agents.

For years, we’ve all been told that if we could wait to book a cruise until a week or two before sailing, we could save money. After all, the ship is going anyhow, the reasoning went, so the line will be happier making some money off that cabin rather than none.

But now the cruise lines, faced with growing complaints from passengers and travel agents alike about erratic discounting and inconsistent prices, have come up with a plan to reward the early booker with the lowest prices. This year, most of the major cruise lines are promising that passengers booking a cruise at the earliest date will have the best selection of cabins, plus a guarantee that the price they paid will be the lowest available on that sailing.

With Princess Cruises’ Love Boat Savers, for example, passengers who want to sail aboard the Royal Princess in “colonial America”--stopping at ports in Savannah, Ga., Charleston, S.C., Newport News, Va., Baltimore, Philadelphia and Newport, R.I.--in the spring of 1994 can save 80% off the second person’s fare when booking before Feb. 14.

Discounts for early bookings range from 50% off the second passenger’s fare in the Caribbean, Mexico and Europe, to savings of up to $1,600 per couple in Alaska or as much as $2,600 per couple for trans-canal and Pacific/Asia itineraries.

Holland America Line’s Early Booking Savings Program offers passengers a savings of up to $2,000 a couple for 1994 Alaska cruises and cruise tours, for bookings made before Feb. 18.

And Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, which started the whole early bird flurry with its 1992 Breakthrough Rates, is continuing that program through the end of 1993. The idea, RCCL says, is to make travel agents encourage passengers to book as far ahead as possible; as the sailing date nears, the rates go up.

The moral: Be an early bird.

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Here are some other “Bs” to bear in mind:

* Be a repeater.

Did you ever try to visit your favorite bar or lounge on a ship, only to find a sign by the closed door saying “Private Party?” Chances are, the captain is throwing a big cocktail party for repeat passengers--that is, anyone who has sailed with the line before.

Sailing for the second and third times with a line can save money and deliver perks. Cruise lines are anxious to keep their frequent passengers happy, so once you’ve sailed with a company, you’ll get frequent letters and brochures in the mail offering special deals on upcoming voyages, usually those that aren’t selling as well as expected. Sometimes you may even be given a cabin upgrade at boarding time.

As members of many repeat passenger groups, we have been deluged with mail offers. Within the past year, for example, from Cunard Line’s Fjord Club, we’ve been promised that one of us could bring along a shipmate to share a cabin on the Sagafjord for only 40% of the fare, or we could book a first-class transatlantic crossing on the QE2 and enjoy a bonus of five free nights at the Ritz in London plus a free return to New York on the Concorde.

Other recent mailers include offers for free air fare, upgrades to business- or even first-class flights to the ship when economy air fare is already included in the ticket price, two of us sailing for the price of one, and 14 free days for booking a full around-the-world cruise six months ahead.

At least one company, Royal Cruise Line, frequently awards its repeat passengers cash certificates good for $100 or more for purchases in shipboard bars or gift shops. And for years, Royal Viking Line has presented its repeat passengers with a piece of fine crystal at the end of each cruise.

Seabourn Cruise Line has instituted passenger credits similar to airline frequent flier programs, with passengers getting a discount on their next sailing based on the accrued days on board previous sailings.

Perhaps the most generous of all is American Canadian Caribbean Line, with three small ships that cruise in Canada and New England in summer, the Caribbean in winter. Every 10th cruise aboard one of its ships is free.

* Be wary of discounts.

Bear in mind that as the saying goes, things too good to be true usually are. We’ve all heard stories about travelers stranded in some distant port, their tour company having failed, or people who booked cruises in good faith only to find the seller pocketed the funds and disappeared.

While most of the big discount cruise agencies that deal directly with the public are respectable businesses, there’s always some risk in buying a cruise by phone or mail, if only because of the inability to be sure that what you’re ordering is what you want.

It’s comparable to buying a wardrobe from mail-order catalogues. If you know exactly what you want and don’t need any advice, reassurance, alterations or special assistance, it’s possible to save time and money. The only catch is, unlike a garment, you can’t return a cruise for a refund once you’ve tried it and didn’t like it.

If you’re a first-time cruiser or a person fussy about the amenities of the ship, you’re better off dealing face-to-face with a travel agent with firsthand experience aboard the ship he or she is recommending.

Discount agencies deal in volume, primarily by telephone, and many operators lack the time or background information to tell you in depth about the ships and cabins, food and activities, or about the age and type of passengers who travel aboard.

Then there are consolidators, agencies that take bookings from other agencies. Bob Dickinson, president of Carnival Cruise Line, describes it like this: “Agency A takes money from a client, then sends it to Agency B, who is a consolidator. Agency B has Agency A convinced that he can get better prices and group rates.”

With so many extra hands handling money and documents, Dickinson says there is a greater margin for error. And he says he worries about what happens when a consolidator goes bankrupt. The passenger may have paid his agent, who in turn has paid the consolidator. But has the consolidator paid the cruise line? Who repays the passenger if the consolidator goes bankrupt?

“A consumer should get at least oral reassurance that his agent is dealing directly with the supplier (the cruise line),” he says.

* Be insured.

When you book a cruise, you will also be offered the chance to take out trip cancellation insurance for a moderate extra sum. This means that in the event of a last-minute emergency such as an accident or a death in the family, the money you have paid for the cruise will be fully refunded.

If you read the fine print in cruise line brochures, you’ll find that, without insurance, the amount of refund for a paid ticket diminishes regularly as sailing time gets closer. A cancellation made within 72 hours of departure brings no refund at all, no matter what the nature of the emergency.

Some companies, such as the new Silversea Cruises, which makes its debut in April, include travel insurance in the basic fare. The insurance covers trip cancellation, baggage protection, emergency medical insurance and accidental death.

Otherwise, it’s a good idea to purchase trip cancellation insurance at the time of booking, just in case. While a last-minute emergency for a passenger may be a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, it can happen on any sailing for the cruise line.