How Much I Saved Booking a Cruise Through Costco Travel
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If you need to change or cancel your Costco cruise, you may be subject to fees or forfeit your deposit or portion of your cruise fare, according to each cruise line's rules. I started with a seven-night Eastern Caribbean cruise on Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas, departing Sept. 9.
Costco cruise deals: How to save money booking travel at a warehouse club
"Exceptions to this policy, if any, are at the full discretion of the cruise line and are outside of the control of Costco Travel," according to the online terms and conditions. Lead-in rates were occasionally for guarantee rooms (where the cruise line picks your cabin), even when I thought I was choosing a regular cabin type. If you're not given a cabin number and you want control over your stateroom location, click the link to choose another room or cabin category. On the other hand, Norwegian listed additional Free at Sea perks – free airfare and free third and fourth guests – that Costco did not mention on its site. For my last cruise, I looked at a seven-night Hawaii cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line's Pride of America, departing May 27. Costco Travel has its pros and cons, but there are definitely times when it's worth it.
Update – 7/7/2021 – Scoring a price drop
If you’re a Costco member, you can book travel or rental cars through the website CostcoTravel.com. It’s technically a separate company from Costco, and you won’t see any of these offers in the Warehouse. Still, the vendor has to go through a pretty stringent selection and review process to get to use the Costco name, and they must offer certain deals and benefits to Costco customers. I’ve booked rental cars through this website in the past and had a great experience and got a great price. Costco has over 800 locations worldwide -- find a warehouse near you here.
How I Decided on a 2023 Cruise on the Carnival Celebration
Randy Young is the founder and editor-in-chief at Cruise Spotlight. He has been in marketing for 19 years and has been cruising for just as long. Over the years, he's worked with products like TVs, copiers, light bulbs, and EV chargers, but cruising has always been his passion.
I've personally had a lot of success booking friends getaways to popular destinations like Mexico through Costco. Using the service has helped me save on other expenses with the Digital Costco Shop Card I've gotten with my bookings. And since Hotel Wailea isn't a member of any major hotel loyalty program, booking through Costco Travel wouldn't mean missing out on elite night credits or other loyalty program benefits. Even without including the additional benefits, you're already saving more than $400 via the Costco deal. Trips booked through Costco Travel are often discounted and/or include perks and benefits you may not get by booking directly or through other booking portals. Usually, a trip booked through Costco Travel will also include a Digital Costco Shop Card (essentially a type of Costco gift card) of varying value.
How Much I Saved Booking a Cruise Through Costco Travel
There's nothing Randy likes more than the first couple of hours on a ship, exploring every nook and cranny and seeing how it's different from everything else out there. He's known for providing detailed and analytical coverage of cruising to help cruisers get a comprehensive picture of a ship's offerings. Their automated system said it’d be about 20 – 30 minutes to speak to a representative, so I put my phone on speaker and waited. This time can vary a lot; I called once before and got an agent in 5 minutes; other times, it was an hour, so I hung up and called later.
Planning my cruise activities through Royal Caribbean
Costco members can find everything from groceries to household necessities to electronics to a pharmacy, and more. Costco offers travel deals as well, including resort packages and cruises. Something else to consider when booking hotels through Costco Travel is loyalty program rewards and elite status. There are a lot of hotels available to book through Costco Travel that are part of major loyalty programs, from Hyatt Honors to Marriott Bonvoy to IHG One Rewards and more. However, if you already have a membership and are planning a cruise, it's definitely worth seeing what the warehouse club is offering in terms of pricing and perks for the sailing you're contemplating. You might find a great deal and get a shop card to spend when you return home from vacation.
By booking through Costco Travel, though, I can’t change dining times, guest names, or request room changes on the Royal Caribbean website. For that, I’d have to contact Costco Travel, but that is pretty rare for me anyway. A few examples of limited-time deals for January include Hotel Wailea from the example earlier in this guide, all-inclusive resorts in Mexico's Riviera Maya, and Disney and Universal theme park packages. Costco Travel has a nice deals section, and I usually look there first if I'm not sold on a specific destination for a getaway. While deals found on Costco generally have a narrow booking window, I've found that many offer a lot of flexibility for the actual trip dates.
If you're curious about how to use Costco Travel to find deals, here's everything you need to know about Costco Travel — and why I love it for saving money on travel. However, comparing the prices and benefits at a few of the resorts proved my initial reaction wrong. You can spend a lot of time searching the site for the most amazing Kirkland Signature or Buyer's Choice steal, but it isn't always simple to assess the value. Still, if you're flexible, focus on these featured offers, especially ones with lots of freebies. I noticed a few things as I road-tested Costco's booking tool and compared it to the cruise lines' versions.
Norwegian cruises even feature free perks, such as a photo package or spa credit, that are combinable with the line's Free at Sea value-adds offered to everyone. Celebrity cruise deals were the ones centered around food-and-wine theme cruise perks, while Costco Carnival cruise deals typically offer both onboard credit and a Costco shop card. She was friendly and, using my Costco travel booking number, pulled up all the information to confirm. I said that it looked like the cruise was cheaper on the website and is it possible to make a price adjustment. She looked at my reservation and ran the numbers, and said it looked like I was correct. She put me on call and then called Royal Caribbean to see about the adjustment.
What are the benefits of booking a cruise through Costco, and how do Costco's cruise prices compare with cruise line pricing? To do that, I have to go to Costco Travel and complete a mock booking. I try to pick cabins nearly identical to mine, so I’m comparing apples to apples.
Overall the process with Costco Travel was simple and I still am really impressed with the service. Again, the only thing I wish is that they monitored the prices and adjusted them accordingly. I am typically a staunch proponent of booking directly, but Costco Travel is an exception. Even when you do find availability, you should always price-check what you can find by booking directly or through your credit card travel portal and hotel programs. Costco isn't just the place where you can buy toilet paper in bulk, inexpensive gas, cheap hot dogs and gift cards. You can also book great trips via the company's online travel agency, Costco Travel.
Please view our advertising policy and product review methodology for more information. Finally, Costco offers "Buyer's Choice" and "Kirkland Signature" cruise deals, which offer "exclusive savings and included extras," according to the Costco Cruises website. I searched through the cruises and found the one I was looking at previously.
Costco Travel: 5 Things You Need To Know - Forbes
Costco Travel: 5 Things You Need To Know.
Posted: Sun, 12 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
I tried to start from scratch, and nothing; Royal Caribbean’s site kept crashing. I was all ready to book the cruise at that moment, so I thought I’d try an alternative, and Costco Travel was the first that came to mind. For me, the $60 annual membership fee to Costco has been more than worth it to utilize Costco Travel. You cannot get a rate reduction once you pay in full for the cruise, usually 90 to 160 days before departure.
All the selections I’d made previously with Royal Caribbean (dining time, internet package, etc), stayed precisely how they should be. When I'm looking at booking a hotel stay at a brand like Hyatt or Marriott, I generally choose to book directly in order to earn elite night credits and points. However, when looking at properties not part of a major loyalty program, Costco Travel is often a go-to anytime I can find a deal. I actually got a Costco membership to book the deal since the cost of the membership was less than what we'd save by booking through Costco. When you choose to apply (and are approved) for a new credit card through our site, we may receive compensation from our partners, and this may impact how or where these products appear.
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