Anyone use icruise.com?? Reliable??
 

Has anyone booked through icruise.com? Good prices, but nervous booking online. Thanks!

Be VERY careful! They are one of the few internet cruise agents that advertise ONLY the cruise price and later, tack on the port charges and taxs. It looks like you're getting a much better deal, but NOT after you see the final bill.

I was given a price of $800 then it says $181 for port charges and taxes. Plus $11 for shipping. Should I expect more charges?? other than insurance

I use them every year and got good results even got two upgrades this year, I checked my cruise weekly to see if price dropped and I started on 4th floor and now have been upgraded to 8th floor, if you see price drop on your cruise get on live chat with them and you can upgrade , i dont know what other charges that person is talking about as you get total once you set cat

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Julie: Let me explain what I mean by "icruise only advertising JUST the cruise price". <BR>Almost all reputable cruise agents will tell the the full cost of the cruise in their advertising. Here is a comparison I did by using two different web agents for the same exact cruise: <BR>"7 day cruise on the Carnival Destiny with prices starting at 699.00 per person, port charges and taxs included".<BR>Icruise uses what I think is a VERY deceptive but legal practice and here is what I mean. I went to their web page and looked up the same cruise I just showed you and it says the following:<BR>"Carnival Cruise Lines, Carnival Destiny, from $594 per person Inside".<BR>Sounds great right! Wrong! You must then go thru several more steps and register with them (which means you'll get endless emails), and get a password and then..... finally they tell you the rest of the story which is that the cruise is only $594.00 PLUS $161.38 for the port charges. <BR>In other words.... their cruise price is really $755.38. This is not a bad price, but the way they advertise is deceptive to say the least. <BR>Since everyone else posts prices with "port charges and taxs included" they should do the same.<BR>Hope this helps. Tom

I agree with Tom. I almost feel for their "bargain" prices myself until I discovered this trick. I think that all agents should be required to list the full price up front.

Almost all reputable cruise agents will tell the the full cost of the cruise in their advertising.quote unquote from tom terrific you dont know anything you goof ball

To Mike ([email protected]):<BR>What?<BR>What does "quote unquote from tom terrific you dont know anything you goof ball" mean? <BR>I think someone forgot their medication today! <BR>

even with the extra port charges icruise usually has the best price-but u may need to check around first just to make sure such as travelocity or expedia.

As with most Ads the Key Word here if FROM, that is the lowest price Category 1a, Bunkbeds and is usually offered only 2 or 3 dates per year.

I cruise should stop this deceptive practice. Let them know we don't appreciate this non-sense. <BR>Of course on the other hand, how different are they from the cruise lines who say "an all-inclusive vacation" and then use every trick in the book to charge you for extras? Anyway, stop it Icruise.

I don't know why you're confused if you proceed through the booking process there is a column that states the port charges and taxes.

I booked with them and did not find their prices deceptive. I didn't have to register and get a password either. Just click on the cat. you want & the quote will be including port & taxes & insurance which gives you a choice to delete. Buycruises.com advertises the same way.When I called them they could not beat icruises price, so I went with them They also have an 800 # if you do not want to book online.

icruise does have good prices, but I agree that people need to understand that not all travel agents play by the same set of rules. <BR>Most list prices as including "cruise, port charges and taxs" in their advertising. icruise is one of only a few that advertise only the cruise price and later will tell you the cost for port charges and taxs. This makes it very difficult to compare Apples and Apples.<BR>This makes their (icruise) "advertised" prices look lower than the competition when in fact, they are most likely about the same price. I've always found Cruise.Com to have lower prices than icruise and I don't have to go thru several steps to find the total price of the cruise like I do when I check with icruise.

Agreed. Let's all tell travel agents to quote the full cost UP FRONT. It's no different than car dealers who tell you the car you're thinking about costs $19,900 and later the total bill comes to $23,900 because they didn't tell you about dealer prep, delivery, etc. etc. etc.<BR>It's also misleading in that if you buy anything else in America you have a good idea how much the tax's will be on your purchase, but cruises include port charges that are all but impossible to estimate since each cruise must be calculated on the ports they visit.<BR>PLEASE icruise. Stop this practice and "get on board" with the other agencies and tell us up front what the full cost of the trip is.

Honestly, what a nightmare these cruise lines create. They post a cruise price, lets say $1000 for a 7 day cruise and then run ads on TV touting how (as Carnivals ads state) "just about everything is included in the price" then:<BR>They add on port charges,<BR>Taxs,<BR>Tips for the waiters, bus-boys, room steward, drink servers, the staff that work in the serve yourself buffet, etc., etc. etc!<BR><BR>For heaven sake cruise lines, charge us one price that includes all taxs, port charges and tips UP FRONT and put THAT in your advertising!!!!

I agree that ALL travel agents should post their prices in the same format so we can accurately compare prices.

I found icruise.com and bestpricecruises.com to have excellent prices. bestpricecruises.com has an on line booking process which lets you see the cost of the cabin, port charges and taxes broken out and summed up. I called bestpricecruise.com because I too was nervous about booking online and got a price that was cheaper than what they had online. As with any process, it's always wise to ask for around and be sure that you're comparing apples to apples. I started asking agents to break down the charges because not every one charged the same amount for their port charges and taxes (and I was looking at the same itinerary). Go figure. <BR><BR>And I agree with Theodore - put all the charges, taxes, tips, etc. up front. The folks at the bar make sure they get their 15%. If the others (room steward, waiter, waitstaff) etc., rely on that tip, get it up front because I bet quite a few people skimp on those tips not realizing just how little those folks get paid.<BR><BR>This is my first time visiting this forum. It's pretty colorful and interesting. Thanks for all the good advice, opinions and entertainment.

Ok, except for the price contreversy, does Icruise offer reliable service? If I did find the best price and pay, will I get screwed??

Do you really want to use a firm that advertises prices and wont give you the final price with the port charges until AFTER you go thru a long registration process and give them your personal information? Not me. There are too many other sites that will tell you the full cost of the trip right up front, including the port charges. I always use Cruise.com for this very reason. They are there 24/7 to help if you have any problems and there is never any of this game playing of trying to guess how much the port charges are.

I too am a nervous wreck about booking on line! The best price I've seen on the cruise we want to take later this year is on icruise. The cruise price says 'Port charges included' but I remembered seeing something about taxes and so I called their 800 # last week. The gal was very nice and gave me her name and extension. She did say that there would be an additional 21.55 for taxes (each) and 14.00 S/H (for both). Still that is quite a bit cheaper than anything else I've found on other web-sites.<BR><BR>That should be it as far as any charges, right? As I said, this would be a first for buying ANYTHING on the internet and I see sleepless nights in my future. I've thought about asking her for a little personal info...Any job change plans?, are you married?, pregnant?, planning to take time off around my cruise time?, would you give me you home #..address? Okay, okay, only kidding everybody!!!!

One isn't going to find any better prices on the net than your local travel agent. Dot.coms are losing money. Also you have to pay shipping or some foolish club fee on these sites.<BR><BR>Paul

We booked with Icruise.com last summer,and everything went very smoothly. Their online site is one of the easiest to use,and it is very easy to get the total price.They had the best prices by far for our cruise. As price dropped,we called and were given upgrade. We have also used cruisesonly.com and cruise.com with no problems. I disagree with Paul-No local agent could come close to the price I got on icruise.I would recommend them.

Paul must be living in another world if he thinks he can compete with the big net sites like cruise.com. <BR>He keeps talking about the extra service he gives, but he isn't going to sit by the phone 24/7 like they will to help if there is a problem.<BR>I too like icruise, but it bugs me that they do not post prices that include the port charges. I just tried for myself and I had to go thru several steps including registering with them to get that information. On cruise.com the price as advertised included the port charges.

There isn't a &quot;brick and mortar&quot; travel agency cruise price that can't be beat by most .com agencies. I'm not trying to start a debate (as this has been hashed and rehashed on this and other sites) but simply stating my opinion and reflecting my experience. And - most .coms don't charge for shipping and handling and few charge a &quot;club fee&quot;.<BR><BR>Paul needs to stop talking about things he knows nothing about - I doubt he does a lot of net surfing with his &quot;webtv&quot;.

I recently sold a HAL South American cruise for $500.00 less per person than the customer could find on line. Apples to apples. Also, got 100.00pp shipboard credit for them. Never say never Peter.

Thanks Laura.<BR><BR>I don't have the hours to search the net but all my friends do.<BR><BR>Prices vary between travel agents and dot.coms also. Depends on how much a travel agent wishes to pay back to the client. <BR><BR>Paul<BR><BR>

Since I am being bashed (as usual) I took the time to check a Celebrity Horizon 2/23/03 sailing on icruise.com and they are $20 per person less than if you had booked through the cruise line. And this was a $540 cruise-only price plus tax which they do not mention. They did have the decency to add the port charges.<BR><BR>Any travel agent worth their grain of salt could match their price.<BR><BR>And where is the 24/7 phone? Their agents are on duty (according to their site) from 10AM to 5:30PM.<BR><BR>Fodors certainly has some disagreeable posters.<BR><BR>Paul<BR><BR>

Sorry meant to write $10 more per person from the cruise line.<BR><BR>And how much does icruise want to ship the docs?<BR><BR>Paul

Paul:<BR>Icruise charges Std. Fedex fee only - $11 or $12. No club fee (like the annual $25 Moment's Notice) or handling fee.<BR>Booked my nephew's honeymoon thru them w/no problems and as it turned out their<BR>floor-thru office was exactly one block from my office so I picked up the tix as I wanted to get other info re their honeymoon &amp; pick up brochures.<BR>Nephew reports - when til you hear this -<BR>their NCl cruise was splendid &amp; the promised honeymoon extras were delivered.

ok... you are comparing ONE sailing on ONE internet site for pricing.. i'm sure alot of other .com's could have beaten that price as well... and as for 24/7 support look at travelocity/expedia/hotwire/orbitz... all of which the hours are alot better than a regular agency!!!

I went ahead and booked our cruise..with my TA. She was $76 more than the icruise total BUT, I have a $50 off coupon that icruise said they can't honor, so the difference is actually $26..that's for the 2 of us together. This TA has booked several cruises for us and has always given us great service.

I beat icruise.com with cruisequick.com by a lot of $$, have you compared trying them?

I was curious and checked cruisequick. The initial specials were excellent, but when I went to the cruiseline, then ship, then the week I wanted, it 'started' at $499 and said plus port charges and taxes. It would then be quite a bit more than I'm paying. ($410 for a mid category, plus PC &amp; taxes). I guess they all differ and have their special rates on certain sailings. But cruisequick is definately one to check in the future!