Spreading the cost of your cruise is it a yes or no?

I’ve seen a definite change of trend in the travel market in recent years to try and offer customers different propositions as to how they book and pay for there holiday. I remember seeing one of the high street agents trying to launch a scheme where you had a 0% finance option were you could have your holiday and then still be paying for it after the trip and thought that was business suicide as u knew that some people would just cancel payments after they returned, which is sad but art of the world we live in today.

I have also noticed that as my Facebook is full of travel agent friends who all work for different companies that they all advertise work deals for future dates and say book now and pay an amount like £80 per per person per month but don’t give you the full price. I think that is clever as you see an amount and think I can afford that but then don’t realize the overall cost. Some might say this is tricking but for others it is probably just showing how easy it is to pay something you maybe might of thought was too much.

Call me old fashioned but I did not think that the cruises would come with flexible payment options and I’m not sure some of the regular cruise customers are ready or understand it. When customers see that we are offering to be able to book cruises for 2019 and 2020 for as little as £1 per person deposit a lot of people don’t seem to get it for think it is a gimmick but could it just be a much easier way for you to book and pay for your cruise.

So how does it work well first of all you see a cruise that you like and if you are like me may not have the deposit to book at the time. As you can see from one of my previous posts I am already booked for October 2019 so I paid the £1 per person deposit and then the rest of the cruise lines full deposit towards the end of the following month. The balance that I then have outstanding instead of just all being due so many weeks before (13 in my example ) is simply divided into equal monthly amounts and then comes out of my bank on a direct debit on the same day. That way I don’t have to do anything and my cruse is broken down into 14 bite sized chunks.

The reaction I am getting from customers is that some love the idea and even if the pay the full deposit in one go they still love the idea of the direct debit as that’s how they pay for most purchases now like sofas and cars. Others just want to pay the deposit and know the balance due date and then just want to go online or call and pay then which is also fine.

So whats your thoughts, Did you know you could even do this on a cruise and would it help you book and pay or would you rather wait until you know you have the funds?

I’d love any feedback on this or any other suggestions you may have. Let me know!