Not sure if you, my faithful readers, remember that I wrote a little diatribe about Costco a few weeks back. The company I love to shop but hate when they try and sell travel. If you missed, it you can CLICK HERE to read it

Now that you are back, I want to tell you how good yesterday felt. This all started two weeks ago when some friends from out of town who we had sailed with before (let’s call them Couple A) asked us to book a nice verandah stateroom for them. It’s on a cruise we are going on as well (Fort Lauderdale to Mardi Gras and the Western Caribbean in February 2020—want to come?).

We booked Couple A in a very nice 1A stateroom with two free perks (free gratuities and free WiFi) at a very good price. Then we invited some other folks we (us and Couple A) had both sailed with before. (Let’s call them Couple B.) They decided they wanted to go but informed me that they usually booked with Costco but would like me to get them a quote on pricing and perks. I did that for a few days but the pricing had changed since we booked Couple A. There had been an Expedia Group that we had been able to price Couple A into  and it was at a great price with two perks. But it was full.

Since it was late in April at this point, I told them some of the specials were expiring and that the pricing might be better in May. On Wednesday evening when we were in East Wenatchee visiting the kids, Couple B sent me an e-mail saying, “Don’t bother, we bought our cruise from Costco. We got a great deal.”

The next morning I got an e-mail from Couple A asking, “How much did we pay for our cruise? I lost the receipt you sent me. And did we get any free perks?” My first thought was, “Oh, no! They are going to cancel and book with Costco. Our mutual friends must have gotten a great deal.” I e-mailed them back and said as soon as I was back in the office on Saturday, I would send them all of that info. Which I did yesterday.

About 20 minutes after I sent them their pricing and perks, I got a call from the female half of Couple A. She told me that the female half of Couple B had been in contact and that she was kind of bragging about the “great price I got from Costco. They gave her two perks and a $1000 Costco gift card.” Our friends (Couple A) said they were pleasantly surprised to see that they  had the same two perks, $50 onboard credit from our office and were paying almost $3000 less than Couple B got from Costco!

I was elated. After losing sleep the night before worrying that they were cancelling, we (me, Kathleen and that Expedia CruiseShipCenters group we put couple A into) had beaten Costco hands down. And I truly loved that after we had discussed it on the phone I got a text from her as well saying, “Thanks again for all the help!!! You’ve made it easy!” That made my day! That’s why I am here. To make it easy. Found them the stateroom they wanted at a great price with great perks. It felt so good—to finally beat Costco.

The average American knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Don’t be average.”—my favorite quote. Not sure who said it but I have loved it since I first heard it. I think from the greatest motivational speaker ever, Zig Ziglar.