All Pricing, Credits, Amenities, etc. are subject to change and based on availability until deposited. Government Fees, Taxes, Fuel Surcharges, Port, Air, and other fees charged by the Cruise Line/Travel Supplier/Resort are subject to change at any time.
Terms and Conditions Consumer Disclosure Notice
Our Compensation:
Thank you for the opportunity to serve you! We're extremely grateful you have chosen us to be your Travel Advisor. We love what we do and love it even more when our clients are happy travelers with lasting memories created. We are an independently owned Cruise Planners franchise. This is our FULL-TIME business and how we earn a living - NOT a hobby or MLM as many in the business are. Travel is expensive - We Get It! We treat your vacation dollars as we would on our travels AND we're pretty frugal. We understand that each person has different travel "likes" and priorities they're willing to pay-up for and other things that are not so important. We help you get through it all. Our business is nearly 100% referral because our clients trust that we always look out for their best interests and work tirelessly so they experience the best vacation possible for their money. Client Testimonials
We are a small business that is Commission ONLY and that those commissions are only received by us AFTER you complete your vacation that was booked through us. Commissions are built into nearly all travel you purchase with the exception of stand-alone airfare. We typically only book flights, hotels, tours, rental cars as part of the overall vacation planning service. When we plan and book the main component of your vacation such as the cruise, it allows us to better cover our time spent on the entire vacation, as planning, booking and servicing flights, hotels, tours, etc., can be quite time-consuming with minimal commissions.
We have very low over-head and therefore, we only mark-up products that don't pay commission. For example, airfare. Our commission is calculated by the travel supplier typically on only part of your vacation cost. Many items such as cruise line excursions, drink packages, taxes, gratuities, etc. are non-commissionable and therefore we make nothing on these items.
Even though we're a small business, we're backed with the buying power of Cruise Planners which means we have access to the same pricing, amenities and perks offered by the Travel Suppliers (cruise lines, resorts, hotels etc.) that all other Top Tier companies have.
How the Travel Industry Really Works:
Travel Advisors are NOT travel suppliers and we do NOT set prices. Travel suppliers set their prices and they have rules against advertising and selling below their set prices. That means any two Top Tier Travel Advisors who quote the same exact vacation package, from the same exact travel supplier on the same exact day/time are going to get the same price. Prices fluctuate, sometimes during the day especially when airfare is involved. Differences could also exist in room categories/locations, seat classifications, Basic Economy vs. Economy flights, itineraries, Refundable vs. Non-Refundable, etc. Plus, one of the many untold truths in the travel industry is that typical sales tactics like "40% Off" or "$2,000 credit" or "Free Room" etc. are used to make you feel as though you're getting something no one else has, but in reality, if all other items in the vacation package are identical, your bottom-line price from any Travel Advisor will be very close, if not exact. Every Price or "Deal" you see advertised is for the cheapest version of that product intended as "Lead-In" prices - cheapest category, cheapest location, worst connections/layovers, etc. and usually NON-Refundable deposits or NON-Refundable in total. Personal service is what you should want, especially in this environment to give you the facts and to help you make an informed decision as you weed through all of the choices, fine print and risks.
An Important Note Regarding Some Industry Practices:
Cruise lines and other travel suppliers have policies against advertising below their published prices. They also have rules against giving up ("rebating") commissions in order to show a lower price. This activity is considered Unethical in the industry yet Discounters, Internet Based companies, out of town companies, inexperienced travel advisors, etc. do this quite often. There's a reason a particular Big Box store is no longer allowed to sell some very notable cruise lines. Those cruise lines banned them.
We do not collect or hold any funds. When you book your vacation with us, we are simply the facilitator of your payments – the merchant of record and the company that charges your credit cards will be the resort, cruise line, hotel or other travel vendor we work with, never ourselves or Cruise Planners. We provide you with travel vendor confirmations showing your payments have been received as well as confirmations from Cruise Planners and you can see your amount paid/balance in your Cruise Planners MyTrips Account/App.
Some travel agencies, especially the Discounters, Websites and Tour Operators actually collect and hold your money to play the float or worse, use your money in current operations. Either way this puts you at risk of their ability to eventually pay the travel vendor, insolvency or bankruptcy. This is typically how "Rebating Commissions" mentioned above is accomplished. Many states have laws regarding the handling of clients' funds where in most cases the money needs to be segregated from operations by holding in Trust. Unfortunately, not all follow these requirements.
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Thank you for understanding the amount of research labor and care we put into each request. We personalize your travel adventure which may not include the cheapest options because there are often issues with the cheapest options and you may not be happy with those options. Please understand that our prices, as with all travel advisors, are set by the travel suppliers and are almost always the same or better compared to if you book directly with the Cruise Line, Resort, Hotel, etc. yourself. Unfortunately, as travel has gotten more expensive, travelers may need to raise their budgets or lower their expectations. As mentioned above, since we do not mark up prices on most travel. If you're seeing cheaper prices, Please Contact Us and Give Us the Courtesy of checking to see if the pricing is Apples to Apples. It's usually not. As we mentioned above, there's almost always a good reason for the difference and unfortunately sometimes the differences include the other travel advisor not following supplier policies or regulations and you may find out too late that it was "too good to be true."
Here's a great article written by a colleague that explains how the travel industry works in the current market. "Can You Beat This Price? What Most Travel Advisors Won't Tell You"
Stacey and Mark Witte - Cruise Planners Cancellation/Change Policies
Please understand that much time, effort and care goes into researching, planning/advising, and servicing your vacation and it is very labor intensive. We constantly look out for your best interests before and after booking, throughout your travels and after your return. Therefore, when changes occur to planning itineraries or booked reservations, or cancellations to a reservation are requested, we must spend additional time to process those requests often via inefficient conversations with call centers after long hold times, which often causes the vacation to be unprofitable either because of the time involved or we will likely have our commission reduced or lost completely. Therefore, if changes or cancellations become too frequent, we may need to charge the following fees which will be discussed with you before we reach that point in the process:
- $200 Planning Fee may be charged for complex itineraries or if too many time-consuming changes are requested during the planning stage if the commission on the vacation doesn't support the amount of necessary work.
- $50 Change Fee may be charged when client initiates a reservation change - This fee may be waived for upgrades.
- $100 Cancellation Fee may be charged if client cancels reservation.
These charges are separate and in addition to any fees charged by the travel supplier.
If you haven't already done so, please review and sign our Client Acknowledgement titled "How We Work and Important Travel Information"
