BURBANK, Calif. -- Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Club Med forged
agreements last week with a company based here to offer low-cost
financing for cruise and land vacations to members of 1,500 credit
unions.
Under the agreements, effective immediately, the company,
CUShopper, will provide credit union members with low-rate
financing (with interest rates ranging between 5% and 11%) to buy
cruises and vacation packages aboard the ships of Royal Caribbean's
Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean International brands, as well
as at Club Med's resorts and its cruise ship, Club Med 2.
Agents cannot book clients under the CUShopper program.
The CUShopper program represents another means by which
capacity-rich cruise operators are seeking to broaden their
distribution beyond traditional cruise retailers.
CUShopper officials said the company's CUShopper Travel Club
enables credit-union members to buy Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and
Club Med vacations for as little as $19.95 per month, per
person.
CUShopper has negotiated special member packages with Club Med
and Royal Caribbean, allowing the company to offer low-cost
financing for vacations at each Club Med facility and aboard all
cruise itineraries offered by Celebrity and Royal Caribbean.
"We are the first national organization to negotiate directly
with the cruise lines and travel companies [to] offer credit union
financing rates," said Adam Wicks Walker, co-founder and chairman
of CUShopper.
"The company is negotiating directly with other vacation
providers," to provide financing for other vacation products, as
well, he said.
Under the CUShopper Travel Club system, credit union members
call 888-CUSHOPPER to contact a CUShopper consultant who will help
them plan their trip.
Members then decide if they want to pay for their vacation by
credit card or by applying for a low-rate loan from CUShopper.
Members also can peruse and select vacations from CUShopper's
branded Web
sites. In addition to its current membership, CUShopper Travel
Club "is signing [up] 10 credit unions a week," said a company
spokesman.
Cruising's largest operators, including Royal Caribbean,
Carnival Corp. and Princess Cruises, are all in the midst of major
fleet-building programs, and each recently established
Internet-based cruise reservations systems, some including consumer
booking capability, to supplement their base of cruise-selling
travel agents.
The CUShopper program also has caught the eye of Royal
Caribbean's largest competitor. "We'll be interested to see how the
concept works," said Terry Thornton, vice president of marketing
planning at Carnival.
Although Carnival doesn't currently have a similar program in
place, "we do have an interest in creating a financing option for
our product," said Thornton. "It's something we are looking
at."
Several years ago, Princess Cruises established Love Boat Loan,
under which qualified consumers could obtain a loan to purchase a
cruise on a Princess ship.
Under terms of the Love Boat Loan program, vacationers can
obtain credit lines starting at 14.99%, with payment plans
available in 24-, 36- and 28-month lengths.
But unlike the new CUShopper program, agents can make consumer
bookings and earn commissions using the Love Boat Loan program.