Cruise “GROUP RATES” vs Online Rates

 What is a Group Rate on a Cruise? Group Rates are when large travel agencies purchase cabins through different cruise lines by the hundreds. They buy these cabins in bulk, and the cruise lines then give these agencies a large discount as a thank you for the travel agency to sell to their clients at a discount. .

These group rates are negotiated when the cruise sailing first gets listed. So these group rates are basically a couple years old and they never rise. They basically get filled up. And then they’re done. So as the online pricing continues to increase For a particular sailing, the group rate stays the same. 

So overtime, a group rate becomes significantly discounted versus a current online rate. The group rates are not easy to get. They are very much in demand. They don’t exist for every sailing.

So before you book a cruise on Royal Carribean or Norwegian Cruise lines, you need to speak to your travel agent.

Royal Carribean offers group rates for two passengers per cabin. Norwegian does it for up to four passengers in a cabin.

Again, these group rates are not available for every sailing, and they’re not available for every category of Cabin. But every once in a while, you can score a great deal by getting into a group rate Which is basically getting a wholesale rate, versus the online rate which is basically a retail rate.

Example last week on Royal Caribbean. 

We were able to offer a group rate to a client who had a online estimate of $3768 for a “Oceanview cabin” for 4 passengers  we were able to offer a GROUP RATE of $1600 for 2 passengers and get the client 2 cabins for a total of $3200  these cabins were both Oceanview and they were CONNECTING cabins  so they ended up getting 2 cabins with twice the space, for a total of $600 less then the online rate for one cabin   A GREAT DEAL!!!

So which would you rather pay if you could, a wholesale rate, or a retail rate?