Princess sales

[sunlvr05]

Greetings Cruise Lovers,

 

Having sailed with Royal, Norwegian and Celebrity, I am looking forward to planning a Princess cruise in 2011. As you can see from my signature, I'm long overdue.

 

I'm wondering if Princess ever carries promo sales such as the WOW sale with reduced deposits. If I'm looking at spring/summer, eastern sailings when will the best time be to book? Does Princess honor price reductions regardless of how you booked, i.e. website vs. travel agent?

 

Also, if you could please let me know of any significant differences in Princess compared to the other lines. My past bookings have been made due to ports of call and price. I have never had a bad experience and from what I read on Princess threads, I'm sure I won't be disappointed.

 

Thank you so much for your help.

[Toto2Kansas]

Several times during the year, travel agents will run the reduced deposit sale ($100 pp). There is no real schedule to when this occurs, you just have to look around. Remember, Princess allows discounting by travel agents, so if you find the price a TA gives you is the same as Princess, you haven't found a good discount TA yet, so you need to keep looking for one that discounts. Best of Luck!

[TracieABD]

To add to what Toto said, even when you find your perfect TA, continue to check the Princess website often. Sometimes Princess can do some wonky stuff with the fairs and you can end up saving a lot of money. (this happened to us, we were refared over $1500 lower on an Alaska cruise. The fare only posted for about 24 hours. We just got very, very lucky!)

 

Of course, if this happens, you will need to call your TA so that she can re-fare your cruise. Good luck!:)

[Toto2Kansas]

And another thought. This $100 deposit special is not offered by booking direct with Princess (if it is, I have never seen it), only when booking through a travel agent. ;)

[geoherb]

And before booking with a particular travel agency, make sure to understand its policies. Some charge a change fee for making any changes to your booking. Others charge cancellation fees if you decide to cancel a cruise before the final payment date.

[MCC retired]

Princess has FLASH fares , closer in ,when they need to fill ship after Final Payment date is past.

These FLASH fares are accessable by any TA .

 

Also, as posted , many TA's (especially those that sell a lot of Princess ) may have Cruise Night promos throughout the year that offer reduced deposit and OBC's. They also may have Speculative Groups on many ships/sailings that offer a lower rate , OBC and /or other amenities.

 

TA's are also allowed to discount (rebate commission) Princess. Just be sure the TA does not charge their own fees for cancelation or changes.

 

The bad news is that Princess won't be doing the Eastern Caribbean in late Spring , Summer of 2011.

[sunlvr05]

Well, first let me thank you for all of the inside information. I will say that I'm more than a little disappointed that the Eastern is out for late Spring/Summer.:(

 

I do have a wonderful and trusted TA that I can use. It seems that at this point in time I'll have to wait until the itineraries are posted for May and thereafter since I probably won't be able to take time until June. Hopefully something will catch my eye for me to be inclined to sail with Princess since there is so much positive written about the line itself.

 

At least I now have a better idea of any possible sales and how/where to go about finding them thanks to all of you.

 

Happy cruising!

[iteachny]

There are Eastern Caribbean sailings in Spring/Summer of 2011. They are on the Caribbean Princess out of NYC, 9 days.

[Woobstr112G]

Good luck with your search for a T/A. Find one that is a high volume Princess dealer and you will save a bundle. I sure did. One thing though, you can't ask for T/A referrals on CC.

 

Bob