Most travel agents have probably been on both sides of this one. There’s the client who wants to sail somewhere at the last minute, or within a month or two of sailing, and the ship is sold out. And then there’s the client who has booked early, often at a super discounted rate, but would really rather now go another time. But the cancellation fees are 50 to 100 percent.
In my current case, I have clients who want to pay Princess Cruise Lines full price for an Alaska sailing from San Francisco in August, but the cabins are full. And they are at the top of the waitlist, but they will need a cancellation to get on.
In this situation, if passengers who have already paid to cancel, they could lose almost everything unless they have insurance. And some insurances pay nothing, for example, if it is a job situation, or a minor medical issue that is just a question of comfort. But if there is a cancellation, Princess could be paid almost double for the one cabin.
Most of the time, however, when I have had a client under heavy penalty where there’s any discretion at all, they decide to go, rather than losing the money. But if the penalty was reduced, they would have changed to a different date.
Since cruise lines, like most of the travel industry, are going through tough times, here’s a suggestion:
When cruises have significant waitlists, offer booked passengers a reduced penalty to switch to a different cruise. Then the cruise line would still make extra money on a cabin, the penalty plus the new, probably higher fare for the waitlisted clients.
The reduced penalty could even only kick in if some passengers accept the waitlist. And similarly, a cruise line trying such a system could make the waitlist deposit nonrefundable if space was confirmed and the passengers then declined the cabin.
Clearly, this wouldn’t be for everyone, and any cruise line that started the program could review and cancel it if it were too much trouble. But when cruise lines are looking for any possible source of revenue, it could be easier than more art auctions and bingo games.
