Conversation with Princess Rep

[Pam in CA]

Oh My, you are sooooooooo incorrect on this. With all due respect given, I might add.

As Coral sees this, there are agents out there that do cut their commission and ALSO give you the best service you can get, we have both found our dream TA. You just haven't found the right agent yet. ;)

I agree 100% with Toto and Coral. For example, I'm booked on the Coral Princess 16-day LA > FLL cruise in January as a single in a BB balcony cabin. You can go to Princess.com to see what they're quoting for that. I paid 66% of the fare posted tonight on the Princess site. Granted, I booked a year ago so I got a great rate and the Princess pricing was less then than it is now. (For those who think if you wait to the last minute for a good deal, think again.)

 

When I booked my January cruise with my TA back in September, he basically called Princess and got the same online price but he also got me a coupon book which I'm happy with.

You settled for a coupon book that's essentially useless? Hmmm... You're easy to please.

[janina]

The flash fares appear close to sailing date. They are really great fares. You most often cannot get the fare price is you already booked and are in penalty phase. This is why they put them on last minute. Princess wants to fill the ship.

 

Different agencies can give you better discounts than booking directly with Princess. If they have "group" bookings on a particular cruise the price can be fantastic. A lot of agencies belong to different large travel groups, and therefore get better pricing and commissions, which mean they have more play room to discount. Shop around!!:)

[Stevesan]

The flash fares appear close to sailing date. They are really great fares. You most often cannot get the fare price is you already booked and are in penalty phase. This is why they put them on last minute. Princess wants to fill the ship.

 

Different agencies can give you better discounts than booking directly with Princess. If they have "group" bookings on a particular cruise the price can be fantastic. A lot of agencies belong to different large travel groups, and therefore get better pricing and commissions, which mean they have more play room to discount. Shop around!!:)

 

Princess has "Flash" Specials and "3 Day Sales" dating into August 2010.

 

http://www.captainsclubcruises.com/princess_cruises_-_specials.htm#

 

Be sure to read the asterisk notations for the 3 dayers. :p

 

Specials near sail date nearly always are restricted to new bookings only. In reality, most cruise prices go up.

For example, my current booking has risen 25% since August. That's not unusual, in my experience.