Price drop after Final Payment

The price on my cruise dropped after final payment by a couple of hundred dollars. Is there a way I can get the lower price? Surely booking early should result in a lower price :)

You can ask. But I would say because it's after final payment the answer will be no.

The price on my cruise dropped after final payment by a couple of hundred dollars. Is there a way I can get the lower price? Surely booking early should result in a lower price :)

My TA has gotten me the reduction a couple of times, and other times they've given me an upgrade and/or extra OBC. It doesn't hurt to ask, and if you're deal with Princess directly and don't get the answer you want the first time, be persistent. Hopefully you have a TA.

Maureen

The price on my cruise dropped after final payment by a couple of hundred dollars. Is there a way I can get the lower price? Surely booking early should result in a lower price :)

Not necessarily. Early booking guarantees you will get a room and gives you a better choice of cabins. If for some reason, dates, itinerary,etc. a particular cruise is not selling out the cruise line will lower the price to try to sell out its rooms. This is done at varying times but not uncommonly after final payment is due. Otherwise everyone would cancel and rebook at the lower fare.

This is the concept associated with dynamic pricing. Demand drives the price. Also cruise lines, hotels, sports teams will lower prices late because an empty seat or an empty room for any given date becomes a lost opportunity once that date passes.

Sometimes people will get perks like some OBC if they approach the line but nothing is guaranteed. Also maybe the cruise line will give you an upgrade or offer an upsell if lots of higher category rooms remain available.

Ask, but expect to be told no.

Is there a way I can get the lower price? Surely booking early should result in a lower price :)

Surely the cruise lines will extract the highest premium they can from those passengers who always book upon opening to ensure the date, cabin category, dining seating et al of their preference. The "sarcasm" smiley would be a more appropriate end to your post :rolleyes:

It is extremely unlikely that a new lower price after final payment date is not accompanied by the superscript (1) indicating Pricing is for new bookings only. But it never hurts to ask.

It happens all the time the answer is always no.

Tony

Seems an odd way to foster customer loyalty.

If you don't try, it's already a NO.

Just last week got OBC of $200 when price of the cruise tour dropped $380. And cruise tours don't often drop in price like the regular cruise cabins do. We were just over a month out when the drop occurred. Ask politely but don't go in expecting anything so you will not be disappointed.

With Princess it is always worth a try as they do sometimes give in.

Good to have a TA with Princess contacts working for you when asking for things like this.

For my upcoming Japan cruise I did not get a refund but was able to get an upgrade from Inside to Balcony. I do have a TA.

It never hurts to ask.

Good luck !

Recently that happened to me and it was beneficial to pay the cancel fee and rebook. I also was able to keep the same mini suite which I wanted.

The price on my cruise dropped after final payment by a couple of hundred dollars. Is there a way I can get the lower price? Surely booking early should result in a lower price :)

As the old saying goes, it doesn't hurt to ask. Just make sure that it is a real savings first. You may have a special, like we have for our upcoming Japan cruise where we have the AIDP included with our pricing. If we were to ask for a discount based on a price drop, and they were to give it to us, then we could stand the chance of loosing the AIDP. One other thing...we had booked a Celebrity cruise in the Caribbean one time and just after we paid in full we noticed a $250 /person price drop. I called Celebrity and after considerable discussion they gave us the difference in our ship board account ("because we were good customers".) It never hurts to ask!

The price on my cruise dropped after final payment by a couple of hundred dollars. Is there a way I can get the lower price? Surely booking early should result in a lower price :)

We always book early and we typically get a good price - much better than booking late. Where you run into issues is after final payment. They typically want the ship sailing as near to full as possible so they sometimes offer deals. I know this can happen but I'm not willing to book a cruise last minute because it means booking air last minute and hotels last minute - I don't have that flexibility in my life to do that so we book well in advance when the prices are in our range and sometime we get great deals. We got the Regal Princess 7 day eastern cruise for $900 USD tips, taxes and a free specialty dinner included by booking early. The downside of course is that after final payment it may be even cheaper but for us that price is very very good so we can plan our vacations and airfare accordingly.

The best advice I could give you is try and get an upgrade. You may be able to move a room level or two for the price you have today. As far as getting a credit - not much chance that will happen, the rules are clear on that.

According to policy and everything I have ever heard, you cant 'cancel and re-book' AFTER final payment.

When there was a significant price drop after final payment.. (which cruise lines to OFTEN to fill up the ships before they sail, last minute new bookings only...) We contacted the agency we booked thru.

I don't think they made any huge effort to re-fare.

But, they did come up with some additional Onboard Credit.

You don't know until you call.

Be nice and respectful and be glad for any consideration that comes your way!!! :)

Let us know if you have any luck SonicSmash. I have the same question about our upcoming cruise.

Just last week got OBC of $200 when price of the cruise tour dropped $380. And cruise tours don't often drop in price like the regular cruise cabins do. We were just over a month out when the drop occurred. Ask politely but don't go in expecting anything so you will not be disappointed.

A little more than 50% rebate is good enough.

I've always heard you should ask.... It happened on my last cruise. The price dropped substantially. We got nothing. I was not upset about it, but I was disappointed. We book far enough in advance and watch for price changes, but if it happens after the fact (after final payment) to help sell out a cruise sometimes there is nothing you can do about it. For those that can get some credit, that's awesome!! I too hope I can get credit some day or an upgrade because of a price drop after final payment :)

I've been fortunate enough or should I say unfortunate enough to have dealt with Customer Relations reps way to often regarding several Princess cruises in the last 2 years.

It has been for all different reasons....some of my cruises I booked with TAs others directly with Princess..

What I have learned always ask and each sailing is handled differently.

Same situation happened to me. Prices dropped about 400 dollars after the final payment. We were booked for a deluxe balcony room... I called and they upgraded us to a mini suite. That was all they could do for us but we were very happy about our upgrade.

According to policy and everything I have ever heard, you cant 'cancel and re-book' AFTER final payment.

 

When there was a significant price drop after final payment.. (which cruise lines to OFTEN to fill up the ships before they sail, last minute new bookings only...) We contacted the agency we booked thru.

 

I don't think they made any huge effort to re-fare.

But, they did come up with some additional Onboard Credit.

 

You don't know until you call.

Be nice and respectful and be glad for any consideration that comes your way!!! :)

If you have insurance and cruise often, you can cancel and get a credit for what you paid, minus the cost of insurance and then rebook. The credit can then be used on a future cruise.We have done it when a very good deal has occurred after final payment date,

We have gotten the reduced rates twice after final payment without losing any OBC or original booking perks. As the other posts have stated it is the way you approach Princess. It's worth the effort because the worst they can tell ya is no

Same situation happened to me. Prices dropped about 400 dollars after the final payment. We were booked for a deluxe balcony room... I called and they upgraded us to a mini suite. That was all they could do for us but we were very happy about our upgrade.

It really pays to monitor price movements till sailing.