Carnival Price Match on Shore Trips Irks Agents

Carnival Cruise Lines said it will guarantee prices on its shore excursions, giving qualifying passengers a 110% refund on the excursion price. The move has irked travel agents who say the move is another way for Carnival to cut them out.

The Carnival Shore Excursion Best Price Guarantee offers cruisers a 110% refund of the excursion price, paid in shipboard credit, if they find a similar third-party excursion online for less. Cruise passengers must fill out an online form, providing Carnival with a URL that links to the competing deal, which must be advertised to the public.

Sales hurdle for agents?
The move does not affect travel agent commissions on Carnival bookings, since Carnival hasn’t paid commissions on its shore excursions for years.

But the guarantee could create a sales hurdle for travel agents who recommend commissionable third-party excursions to their cruise customers.

Carnival said the initiative isn’t meant to ostracize agents who sell third-party excursions.

“The guests book through us to get the guarantee,” explained Mico Cascais, vice president of tour operations for Carnival Cruise Lines. “If guests book outside Carnival, they won’t get any claim back.”

Aimed at first-time cruisers
The line cited research showing that the number of excursions booked by first-time cruisers has fallen since 2009. It said it hopes the price guarantee will encourage more excursion bookings.

“First-timers are more hesitant because of all the noise out there with the independent websites,” said Cascais. “It’s not just agents; there are local, one-person websites usually using price as a leader and creating great confusion.”

Depending on itinerary, shore excursions can be one of the top revenue departments on a ship.

Agents react
Agents reacted unfavorably to news of the guarantee, saying the move is yet another Carnival decision that makes life difficult for them.

“I’m none too happy about this and don’t understand why Carnival would do this,” said Bob Zweig, owner of Cruiseland, a Cruise Planners agency in Cooper City, Fla. “Wouldn’t it just be easier to pay us commission on their shore excursions?

“Instead of trying to work with the travel agent community, Carnival is trying to take business away from us,” he said

Like other cruise-selling agents, Zweig offers his customers third-party shore excursions, in part to boost cruise earnings.

“Years ago they decided to not pay us commissions on excursions, so we found our own companies to work with,” he said.

Bargain hunters only
Mostly, the guarantee will affect only the most cost-conscious cruiser. “For clients looking to get something for nothing, this will appeal to them,” said Lisa Silvestri, owner of Silvestri Travel in Sarasota, Fla.

“For those looking to have a great experience, this won’t make any difference. They’re going to choose their excursion regardless of the price.”

Agents said it is extremely rare that a third-party excursion is priced lower than a similar Carnival offering. Usually third-party excursions are equal in price or more expensive due to smaller group size, they said.

“If you shop around and look at where the shore excursion companies have priced their product, there isn’t a huge difference in price from [the cruise lines],” said Zweig. “Some may be more expensive, but they offer excursions that Carnival doesn’t.”

Third-party reaction
Third-party excursion providers said they expected Carnival’s price guarantee to have little impact on their business due to the variety of products they offer.

“In today’s environment, cruisers have more choices than ever with respect to whom they buy excursions from,” said Mike Bonner, owner of Shore Excursions Group.

“We do not believe this new policy will impact the independent excursion providers since there is very little crossover between what the cruise lines offer and the excursions offered by independent providers.”

Products compare favorably
Other excursion providers said their smaller group experiences will always be attractive to cruisers.

“We feel that when real comparisons are made, people will continue to look to us for better, more creative and competitively priced activities in smaller venues,” said Julie Karp, owner of Shore Trips.

“We visit each port and design tours that we feel are more interesting to smaller groups. We also do not have to cater to the masses and therefore can integrate stops that are unavailable to large numbers.”

Competitive gambit
Ultimately, the guarantee is another move by Carnival to double-down on the budget cruiser.

“They’re struggling for business right now and are dropping prices,” said Zweig. “But matching a shore excursion isn’t going to generate new bookings for them.”

Fran Golden contributed to this report.