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Monday 16 April 2012

80% discount; but how will they re-coop it?

It's just been announced that Costa cruises will be discounting the price of most of their future cruises by up to 80%. As you're all probably aware the Costa Concordia sank recently and Costa Cruises are obviously trying to entice people back to the brand.
But will it be enough?

Costa Cruises have never been a massive brand name in the UK, despite a fleet of modern ships and a television documentary about them a couple of years ago most UK cruisers have either never heard of them or never considered them. They are however very big in mainland Europe.
Now I know what you're thinking, an 80% discount is a big incentive to book and I would imagine a Costa cruise has never been safer, with the Captains and all the crew doing everything by the book. However I've been reading some recent reviews about Costa on different websites and also speaking to a few past passengers who have just returned from sailing with them and things might not be as simple as they sound.
A lot of passengers returning have been complaining that the price of everything onboard was a lot higher than they expected and they were being charged for things that they'd never been charge for before. One example was a gentleman who found himself being charged a service fee every time he rang for room service, when previously it had been free.
Still an 80% discount should more than off set a larger than usual onboard bill but I can't help but think this strategy will turn around and backfire on Costa.
I think what they're going to end up with is a large amount of passengers onboard thinking they've got a great deal coming away feeling ripped off over the size of their onboard account, thus putting Costa in a worse position than they were before.
What do you think? Would you feel ripped off if you thought you'd got a great deal only to find you were being charged an arm and a leg when you reached the ship? Let me know here.

Happy cruising

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