price reductions honored?

[cruisinleelee]

does princess honor price reductions on new booking only? Is it better to wait and book last minute or if the price drops after I book, will they alter my existing reservation?

[Iamcruzin]

You will have no trouble getting a price adjustment before final payment. I have heard of people getting a price adjustment in the form of an onboard credit after final payment but there is no guarantee. Flash promotions which pop up after final payment are for new bookings only. Also by waiting too long you stand a chance of the price going up. If you don’t have your heart set on a particular itinerary and you can leave at a moment’s notice than it may pay to wait. You also have to take into consideration that if you have to fly to the port of embarkation that the longer you wait to book a flight the more you will have to pay. Sometimes this eats up any savings that you would save on the cruise and could actually cost you more than if you would have booked earlier. The best situation to be in to scoop up last minute deals is to be retired, live in driving distance to port and be open to where the ship is sailing.

[cruisinleelee]

thanks for the info!

[Colo Cruiser]

does princess honor price reductions on new booking only? Is it better to wait and book last minute or if the price drops after I book, will they alter my existing reservation?

 

 

This all depends on the type of fare it is. for instance you would not qualify for a refund with a new flash promo unless you canceled and rebooked.

Last minute bookings can actually be alot higher as Princess tends to sell out their cruises. I would book what you want now and keep watching the prices. A good TA will go to bat for you as far as refunds if its possible.

[snrlnd]

On our upcoming cruise I kept watching the prices on Princess website to see if they came down. On two occasions they price dropped. Both times I called my TA and received the lower price. However these were not flash promos they were actual fare drops. It pays to keep checking. I also agree that last minute deals aren't the best way to go normally.

[Hlitner]

Most of the cruise lines (including Princess) have recently revised their price-drop policies so that it is almost impossible to get price drops one you have booked. It seems like they have grandfathered-in most older bookings, but at this point you can not expect to get price drops unless it occurs within 48 hours of the time you book. I should add that this policy change seems to be taking us back to the olden days when the best deals would go to the last minute bookers (this is only good for those of us with a lot of flexibility). We recently (last week) took advantage of this and booked a 14 day Grand Princess cruise at a far lower price then had previously been offered. The deal was what is known as a "Flash" price and was only available for new bookings. The trend now seems to be that these deals are offered just inside the final 60 day payment window.

 

Hank

[ssbeagle]

It also depends on the type of fare you book. I had booked a group fare before and they don't lower those. Otherwise, I can usually get the lower fare if it is indeed lower than what I have already booked.

[caribill]

Most of the cruise lines (including Princess) have recently revised their price-drop policies

Hank

 

I have seen no recent revision to Princess policies about this. Can you post a link to the new Princess policies?

[ebtrip]

We are booked on the Golden January 19th 2011. I have gotten 2 price reductions from the online TA. I watch Princess' website & the online TA website. They have honored their reduction, which was also less than Princess' rate. As long as you have not paid your final or it is not a flash promo for new bookings, you will receive the reduced rate.

[geoherb]

I booked our cruise for Christmas earlier this month while on the Sapphire Princess. I checked prices while on board and noticed that they had gone down $200 per person. The future cruise consultant was surprised, but she was able to get us the better price.

 

Most of the time, I book after the final payment date. It works out best for us when we haven't decided which cruise we want to go on. If we ever set our minds on a particular sailing, we'll go ahead and book it before the final payment date if the price is right. We won't worry too much if someone else ends up paying less because the odds are about even that prices will go up.

[Putterdude]

does princess honor price reductions on new booking only? Is it better to wait and book last minute or if the price drops after I book, will they alter my existing reservation?

 

You will get the price reduction up until "final" but you have to ask for it, it is not automatic. We have had the experience of getting at least a portion of the reduction thru our TA in the form of ab OBC. Flash promotions occur after final and if there is a lot of vacancy. This will vary with the cruise and time of year. However if the ship is fairly full then prices will often move up. The advantage of booking early is you get your choice of cabins and you get to ride the price down if it goes down. Flash promotions certainly work for some people but it is not for everyone.

[Pam in CA]

Find a good TA who will give you group pricing. Most of the time, that pricing will be below any price reductions Princess gives. The prices dropped on my upcoming trans-Atlantic but that's the first time in years I've seen a price drop on my cruises. On most, the prices go up, not down.

 

If you're flexible about the cruise and cabin location, you can take a chance on waiting until after final payment. If you want a particular cruise and/or cabin location, then book as far ahead as you can.

[FLACRUISER99]

Most of the cruise lines (including Princess) have recently revised their price-drop policies so that it is almost impossible to get price drops one you have booked. It seems like they have grandfathered-in most older bookings, but at this point you can not expect to get price drops unless it occurs within 48 hours of the time you book. I should add that this policy change seems to be taking us back to the olden days when the best deals would go to the last minute bookers (this is only good for those of us with a lot of flexibility). We recently (last week) took advantage of this and booked a 14 day Grand Princess cruise at a far lower price then had previously been offered. The deal was what is known as a "Flash" price and was only available for new bookings. The trend now seems to be that these deals are offered just inside the final 60 day payment window.

 

Hank

where did you see thet princess revised their price-drop policies? Link please.

[wilfros]

Most of the cruise lines (including Princess) have recently revised their price-drop policies so that it is almost impossible to get price drops one you have booked. It seems like they have grandfathered-in most older bookings, but at this point you can not expect to get price drops unless it occurs within 48 hours of the time you book. I should add that this policy change seems to be taking us back to the olden days when the best deals would go to the last minute bookers (this is only good for those of us with a lot of flexibility). We recently (last week) took advantage of this and booked a 14 day Grand Princess cruise at a far lower price then had previously been offered. The deal was what is known as a "Flash" price and was only available for new bookings. The trend now seems to be that these deals are offered just inside the final 60 day payment window.

 

Hank

 

While I don't doubt the validity of this statement my recent experience has been quite different.

 

We booked SP in Jan, 2011 LA to Hawaii return. We booked Guarantee Balcony cabin and waited. Twice I noticed a drop in the Balcony cabin rates and both times I called Princess (we always book directly with Princess) and both times we got the new rate. Since booking we have realized a $400 pp savings over what we had originally booked.

 

This is all well before final payment date of course, which arrives in the middle of November.

 

On top of all this, we just received an upgrade notice and now instead of BF catagory which was originally booked, we have been assigned a BA catagory cabin on the Caribe deck.

 

All this to say... Go figure!!??

[cruiser113]

We had a price drop on our upcoming cruise that saved us almost $650. Now the price is back up to close to where we booked orginally.

 

Also have had two previous price drops that Princess honored.

[CruisinEars]

Princess will do price reductions if the promo is not for new bookings only and you qualify for the rate. Flash fares are only available through ta's so the average cruiser checking the Princess website will not see those prices. (Some ta's advertise those prices, so you have to go to that ta). Flash fares are for new bookings only and are non-refundable. If Princess does drop the price on your sailing because of slow sales, and the promo is applicable to you, you can receive the reduction at any time up until sailing. As a pp said, you do need to ask your ta if you used one or call Princess and ask if you booked direct with Princess. It all boils down to the promo code you booked under and the new promo codes offered on a sailing and whether or not you qualify for the new pricing. It is all tied to your captain circle number.

 

I am a Princess Res Agent and deal with this issue every day.

[Hlitner]

Ok, I am going to eat some crow on this topic since I cannot find proof of the info I posted. We do have info on the changes of NCL, RCI, and Celebrity but cannot find anything on Princess. We do agree with the previous post about Flash fares (which do seem to be more and more the norm) which are only offered for new bookings. But it sure does seem like all the cruise lines (including Princess) are trying hard to discourage anyone from taking advantage of price drops. If most price drops are only available to "new bookings" then it does become a bummer for the ones who booked early. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we were able to easily take advantage of a flash promotion which was a major price reduction from the previous prices offered for our cruise and category. We are now at a point that when we book common type cruises such as the Caribbean or Panama Canal we simply wait until the last minute (inside 60 days) and always find terrific deals. For the longer more exotic cruises on small ships we do book far in advance since those ships tend to sell out very early (this seems to be particularly true on HAs Prinsendam).

 

Hank

[TracieABD]

We have never had an issue with being refare at a lower price. We have asked and the CSR has cheerfully complied!:)

[travelbuds]

We had a price drop on our upcoming cruise that saved us almost $650. Now the price is back up to close to where we booked orginally.

 

Also have had two previous price drops that Princess honored.

 

Hi,

Curious if there are certain months or times that Princess offers a price drop. We made reservations for Alaska back in April of this year for June 2011 and have been checking on the Princess website regularly-none so far.

Thanks.

[Toto2Kansas]

Hi,

Curious if there are certain months or times that Princess offers a price drop. We made reservations for Alaska back in April of this year for June 2011 and have been checking on the Princess website regularly-none so far.

Thanks.

 

Price drops usually occur at the point that Princess feels that particular sailing has empty staterooms that need to be moved. If the ship and sailing date you have chosen is selling well (by Princess standards), often times there will not be any price drops involved. It varies from sailing to sailing, and there are times they take place, other times they do not, just all depends on how well that cruise sells.

[caribill]

Hi,

Curious if there are certain months or times that Princess offers a price drop.

 

And somerimes the price only goes up if the sailing is selling well.

[geoherb]

Curious if there are certain months or times that Princess offers a price drop. We made reservations for Alaska back in April of this year for June 2011 and have been checking on the Princess website regularly-none so far.

The biggest price drops will be for the off-season cruises. For instance, someone mentioned recently about getting a balcony cabin for under $600 for a 7-night cruise on the Ruby for late November (the weekend after Thanksgiving).

 

Be sure to keep checking prices of your cabin and other categories as well, unless you absolutely can't see cruising in another cabin. Alaskan cruises at the beginning and end of the season are the ones that get discounted the most. If your cruise is early in June, there's more hope for a nice price drop than if it's at the end of June.

 

Also, in my experience of tracking prices, about the last month before the final payment date is when you might see some reductions if the cruise hasn't been filling up as fast as Princess wants it to. And the biggest price decreases seem to be for guarantees in the lowest level of each type of category. For instance, we booked the lowest level of obstructed view for our upcoming Island Princess cruise in December and have already been assigned an unobstructed view cabin. Princess gives this type of price reduction to fill the ship and have flexibility in assigning cabins.

[travelbuds]

Hi,

Thank you for your comments. We'll just keep checking back on the Princess site for price drops. Maybe after the current Alaska season and into the winter, prices may come down.