Princess prices; much higher this year?

[srpilo]

I have noticed substantial increases in prices as well. I, however had noticed a definite shift in quality on the fall on the Star Princess, so much so that I do have decided to take a step back and vacation on land for a while.I have noticed that Celebrity's 123 promotion seems to have been widely discounted, many of their dates for Euope are completely sold out. Last year you could get a balcony for 10-12 nights for $899.00. What gives? Has economy improved that much. These increases are not slight but significant amounts yet seem to be selling. I did a l4 night Alaska on Princess last year for $849.00 rt.Vancouver, that sailing now is in the $2,300 range. Would love to know what is the very sudden change behind this pricing.

 

Welcome to the club

 

 

The mystery continues

Srpilo

[atlantic cruiser]

Can,t reconcile the increase in prices given the very substantial decrease in quality of food etc. Will take a break from cruising expecially Princess,they have slipped signifitanly and now the outrageous price increases. Not justified IMHO

[jpthomas27]

Not true. Just checked with Princess. The only way a TA can discount is if they take it out of their commission or if they have groups booked.

 

Why do 5% of the poeple still choose to believe that the other 95% of the people on this board are lying to them? TA's can still offer discounted rates. I get them and so do hundreds and hundreds of others just on this board alone.

 

... Would love to know what is the very sudden change behind this pricing.

 

The price hikes are being way over analyzed. Everyone is thinking way too hard about this issue. It is simple supply and demand. Princess is in the game to make money people, and they are going to try and make as much as possible. If the cruising public pays the price then Princess will keep charging it. If they begin having trouble filling thier ships at the current pricess they will discount the prices in order to sell out cruises and keep thier ships full for every sailing.

 

The only way to send the message to Princess is to stop paying the higher prices, but as long as people pay it, Pricness will charge it. If people were willing to pay $20 for a hamburger, McDonalds would charge $20...believe it!

[Ronnieslady]

Not true. Just checked with Princess. The only way a TA can discount is if they take it out of their commission or if they have groups booked.

As I understand they never reserve cabins for groups that are FULL SUITES. And I don't mean mini-suites.

I guess I just did not ask the right TA, that would give me the lower price & then they not get their commission for my Full Suite.

They would have to be a friend or family member if they did that:eek:

[Vexorg]

If the reported Europe 2013 prices are correct, the difference between Princess and Norwegian on virtually the exact same itinerary in June 2014 is over $1,000 per passenger on an interior cabin, and just goes up from there. Granted, the Princess itinerary is on the Regal in its inaugural season, but even then that's just ridiculous.

[Reader0108598]

If the reported Europe 2013 prices are correct, the difference between Princess and Norwegian on virtually the exact same itinerary in June 2014 is over $1,000 per passenger on an interior cabin, and just goes up from there. Granted, the Princess itinerary is on the Regal in its inaugural season, but even then that's just ridiculous.

 

 

I usualy have a cruise booked with princess by now for november, Princess is my prefered line. I am looking else where right now....:(

[dw64]

Last year we booked a balcony cabin for the 7 day Calf Coastal, on Princess. All in with taxes & port fees was $767, per person. This year $737 for an obstructive view. We booked the same cruise; same time frame, almost to the day; for booking & for sailing. Both cruises were booked with in 6 weeks of sailing. I feel Princess prices are higher this year compared to years past.

[O2Bcrusin]

Why do 5% of the poeple still choose to believe that the other 95% of the people on this board are lying to them? TA's can still offer discounted rates. I get them and so do hundreds and hundreds of others just on this board alone.

 

Like I said, it is taken out of their commission or due to benefits of booking groups.

[marty1950]

:confused: yes, I agree Princess pricing is going up to a point where we will be looking at other cruise lines as well. Also Princess cabins are smaller,showers are tiny and they don't have couches in their balcony room like most other cruise line. :cool: Gary

[shoreham01]

I agree that Princess is pricing itself so high we are being sent as a gift to other cruise lines.

 

We went with Celebrity last year even though we would have been really happy to stay with Princess. Celebrity offered a newer ship than the Grand and also quite honestly a slightly better experience.

 

This year we tried again to look at Princess as we really did not mind which line we travelled but again their prices were higher than Celebrity and we were not even offered OBC or a decent past passenger discount with Princess. Celebrity gave us a $300 OBC and a really good price.

 

Looking at next year, the opening prices are still crazy high with Princess. They would seem to be giving a very generous £25 off the price for past passgengers, makes me rush to book early. Looks like we will be staying with Celebrity.

 

Its a shame really as it is nice to holiday on different lines for a variety of entertainment.

[Love.II.Cruise]

Pricing does seem high for 2014 cruises. I'm glad on our next cruise we got a great deal. We may start looking more at the flash sales - last year we got a great deal for an aft balcony in July in Alaska.

[Cruise Junky]

I agree that Princess is pricing itself so high we are being sent as a gift to other cruise lines.

 

We went with Celebrity last year even though we would have been really happy to stay with Princess. Celebrity offered a newer ship than the Grand and also quite honestly a slightly better experience.

 

I just booked our med. trip with Celebrity. Prices were pretty good. Princess was completely out of the ballpark, plus had extremely boring itineraries.

[Nebr.cruiser]

I almost always find Princess to be very high, especially on European sailings compared to other lines. We like Princess and have sailed with them 9 times, but for certain itineraries they are so much higher that we can save half, or more, on almost any other mainstream line-we've used Celebrity twice, RCI and NCL on Med cruises or Transatlantics. Princess is consistently $500-$2000 more.

 

We do find good deals on Princess, but almost always by catching a great price that doesn't last long and usually 2-3 months out. I would never pay the price of cruises that are showing up a year ahead, hoping we'd get price reductions.

 

It's a pretty easy choice for me: Pay $799 for a 14 day cruise on Celebrity (which we also like a lot) or $2499 (prices are examples) for almost the same cruise on Princess, same type of cabin, similar itinerary.