Will Princess honor price drop after final payment?

[decr]

The price dropped after final payment on our trip on the Crown Princess 2 weeks ago. I called Princess to see what they would do - I was hoping for OBC. They returned the money to my credit card! As someone said above, I booked directly with Princess. The answer may be different with a TA.

[BruinBuckeye]

Hello cruisers,

 

We're sailing on the Caribbean Princess in July (7-day Norwegian fjords). I booked through an online cruise discounter for $2234 pp. Final payment due today. I'd seen a price drop to $1849 pp, so I got on the phone to them. We were able to adjust to the new rate, but they took away a couple of our promotional items (dinner for 2 at specialty restaurant plus $50 of our OBC).

 

I'm wondering if this is normal when trying to take advantage of price drops. Also wondering if I should find a good cruise specialist TA & hope they can score us better deals with less hassle in the future??

 

Any thoughts from the cruising community? Maybe I'm in over my head. :)

 

Thanks,

Leslie & Rick

[Kenswing]

Here's a recent thread on pretty much the exact subject.. :) http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2198244

[Colo Cruiser]

Hello cruisers,

 

We're sailing on the Caribbean Princess in July (7-day Norwegian fjords). I booked through an online cruise discounter for $2234 pp. Final payment due today. I'd seen a price drop to $1849 pp, so I got on the phone to them. We were able to adjust to the new rate, but they took away a couple of our promotional items (dinner for 2 at specialty restaurant plus $50 of our OBC).

 

I'm wondering if this is normal when trying to take advantage of price drops. Also wondering if I should find a good cruise specialist TA & hope they can score us better deals with less hassle in the future??

 

Any thoughts from the cruising community? Maybe I'm in over my head. :)

 

Thanks,

Leslie & Rick

 

It happens, when you change to a lower fare you can lose some of your perks.

You would be wise to find a TA who will go to bat for you on issues such as these. One that does lots of business with Princess.

[gailjen]

We don't get price drops here in the UK, booked early last year and saw the price drop significantly before our cruise.

Held off booking this year and its paid off with just over £2000 saving (inc air) compared with last year, that represents a 40% saving to us:).

Diffrent ship but same cabin number as we loved our aft balcony last time so much.

Would love to be able to book early and take advantage of price drops, as it is our best bet is to hold out and hope that your cabin of choice is still available, even if that option was only abailable upto final payment - you don't know how lucky you are in the US.

 

Just to let you know Princess UK does price match, I was told this by the Southampton office a few weeks ago, they just don't advertise the fact

I'm brooked on an B4 aft cabin on Emerald, which cabin were you in and have you any photos please?

[trvllin1]

I had re-fared our Grand Med cruise on the Island Princess twice, most recently upgrading to a mini and getting the free beverage package included as well. Last week Princess upgraded our stateroom from an ME to a MB but we were not crazy about the location as they moved us from Caribe to Dolphin deck (our friends' cabins are on Caribe.) Our final payment date was April 13 and I assumed we were going to settle for what we had then. However, a couple of days ago I saw the new flash sale (new bookings only, of course) and called anyway because of the stateroom issue. Princess graciously moved us to a mini that was only a few rooms away from our friends' balcony staterooms and also gave us an additional $200 sbc.

 

It was interesting to speak with Princess, as the customer service rep admitted that there were quite a large number of cancellations on this sailing before final payment and they had a lot of inventory to sell. She did not comment on the reasons for this, but I don't think it's hard to guess considering what they are doing to the poor Island.

 

I have faithfully followed the pricing and sales on this cruise, something I normally wouldn't do, but I feel very strongly about the unfortunate changes to the ship that were announced AFTER we had originally booked this June 27 sailing and secured our air reservations accordingly. At this point we now have a mini suite, $550 shipboard credit, and the free Ultimate Beverage package all for $5200, and I consider that a reasonable discount from the $7200 balcony stateroom with no sbc, which is what we booked prior to learning about the mess they are making of the ship. I think this is a much fairer price for what we're actually getting in terms of the ship and I am satisfied with this. Lin

[MommyJamiex4]

We have saved $600 with a simple call about price drops! Last one done 10 minutes ago. We are 72 days out.

[whatcruiseisnext]

This happened to us today. We are past final payment. We are sailing on the Royal Princess around the British Isles this June. We are preceding the cruise with a Princess land tour in Ireland. The cruisetour is sold out and the wait list price is more than we paid. We booked with our high volume TA and got a great price with some good OBC many months ago. However just the cruise portion has gone down in price. I didn't think there was any way at all that our TA could get us anything but decided to at least ask. We are traveling with friends so there are three cabins booked. Ourselves and another couple are doing the cruisetour. The other is doing only the cruise. We were all booked in an inside cabin. Today after contacting our TA she was able to negotiate with Princess an upgrade from our inside cabin to an UNOBSTRUCTED balcony cabin in a fabulous location.....for all three cabins! We are beyond happy. It has never happened to us before.

[Colo Cruiser]

This happened to us today. We are past final payment. We are sailing on the Royal Princess around the British Isles this June. We are preceding the cruise with a Princess land tour in Ireland. The cruisetour is sold out and the wait list price is more than we paid. We booked with our high volume TA and got a great price with some good OBC many months ago. However just the cruise portion has gone down in price. I didn't think there was any way at all that our TA could get us anything but decided to at least ask. We are traveling with friends so there are three cabins booked. Ourselves and another couple are doing the cruisetour. The other is doing only the cruise. We were all booked in an inside cabin. Today after contacting our TA she was able to negotiate with Princess an upgrade from our inside cabin to an UNOBSTRUCTED balcony cabin in a fabulous location.....for all three cabins! We are beyond happy. It has never happened to us before.

 

That's excellent! :D

[Pjran]

Just to let you know Princess UK does price match, I was told this by the Southampton office a few weeks ago, they just don't advertise the fact

I'm brooked on an B4 aft cabin on Emerald, which cabin were you in and have you any photos please?

 

Sorry to disagree but Princess cruise consultants didn't match a price when I rang them. I'm sure some people are lucky but not me on this occasion.

[dreamcruiser53]

Price dropped substantially on our Baltic cruise days after final payment. I called Princess and was offered a room up-grade, no OBC. This offer was no where near the price drop, so we cancelled the entire cruise and re-booked. After all said we still saved plenty.

[Pjran]

I have just heard from out TA as there's a price drop on our July cruise only to told "unfortunately because we're within 90 days of travel our promotion can not be changed".

 

I'm glad some of you are lucky and benefit from price drops. Just wish for once we could be amongst you.

Edited April 23, 2015 by Pjran

[whatcruiseisnext]

I have just heard from out TA as there's a price drop on our July cruise only to told "unfortunately because we're within 90 days of travel our promotion can not be changed".

 

I'm glad some of you are lucky and benefit from price drops. Just wish for once we could be amongst you.

 

Don't ask for your promotion to be changed. Ask you TA to call Princess and request an upgrade. Tell your TA that other TA's have been doing so with good results.

[sandyss]

We are way past final payment - in fact less than a month until our cruise. We hadn't thought about asking for anything, even though the price of our cabin has dropped. But after reading this thread, I contacted our TA. She was able to get us an additional $250 OBC. Thank you all.

[gailjen]

Sorry to disagree but Princess cruise consultants didn't match a price when I rang them. I'm sure some people are lucky but not me on this occasion.

 

 

Call again, they price match straight away if before 90 days, if you booked though a TA you need the TA to call for you....

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[trinaM]

They usually don't AFTER final Payment. IF you have a Travel Agent, Have them go to bat for you and get them to credit you the amount.

[caribill]

Hello cruisers,

 

We're sailing on the Caribbean Princess in July (7-day Norwegian fjords). I booked through an online cruise discounter for $2234 pp. Final payment due today. I'd seen a price drop to $1849 pp, so I got on the phone to them. We were able to adjust to the new rate, but they took away a couple of our promotional items (dinner for 2 at specialty restaurant plus $50 of our OBC).

 

I'm wondering if this is normal when trying to take advantage of price drops.

 

You originally booked with a promotion that included the dining and the higher OBC.

 

The pricing you now obtained does not include the same promotions. If it did have the same promotions, you would have kept them.

[Colo Cruiser]

Sometimes not worth losing the extra perks. :(