Want to Cruise For Free?

Well you can, sort of. You’ve seen the advertising from the cruise lines or travel agencies that tell you: Cruise For Free! They are talking about the earned Tour Conductor Credit (often just called the T/C). But they don’t really mean entirely for free because the T/C is just the base cruise fare and does not include port charges or taxes (just as it was said so long ago, taxes are unavoidable).

Most cruise lines offer the T/C to encourage group travel. Usually it is one T/C earned for each 8 cabins that sail (at least two passengers per cabin) on the same ship and sail date under a group contract. The T/C is actually a refund not a discount so all passengers must pay the full going fare for the cruise then, based on the number of cabins and passengers that actually sail, the cruise line will refund the T/C amount a few weeks after the sailing is complete.

Usually the T/C is based on the cabin category rate most sold in the group. But today Carnival Cruise Lines announced a change in their Group Policy that will base the T/C on the average of all the base cruise rates booked into the group. This little change can add up quickly. Before the announced change, if you sailed 10 cabins (4 balcony cabins with a base rate of $720pp and 6 inside cabins with a base rate of $460pp) you would receive one T/C of $460. Carnival’s new policy will refund a T/C with a value of $564 (8 X $720 plus 12 X $460 = $11,280 divided by 20 = $564).

It would not be surprising to see the other major cruise lines following suit. It is certainly something to consider when thinking about your next group cruise, especially if you are considering a group cruise as a fund raiser. But keep in mind that it is still not Free Cruising. The port charges and taxes are not insignificant amounts.