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El Cheapo Cruises Thread

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Sallyandtex

Sallyandtex

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

We have sailed NCL a few times and enjoyed the cruises, one was the Baltic the other was the Med.

Mic how would you compare princess to NCL?

One of the online companys have great packages with flights,  hotels stays and transfers with the mainstream cruiselines.

So many to choose from. I really want to see Norway Coast and Lofoten Islands and was thinking a medium sized, well organised (for tenders) ship that was more affordable and comfortable than Hurtigruten.

 

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rugbypopsie

rugbypopsie

Posted
Posted
52 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Do not try to do full day tours in every port, being very port intensive it gets very tiring. Ask here or PM me for anything more specific. 

We are doing the Baltic again next July.

Will do I have intended only to go for a walk in Tallin. Luckily we have the 19 day trans Atlantic straight after lots of sea days.

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bvm49

bvm49

Posted
Posted
On 7/16/2019 at 10:29 AM, Sallyandtex said:

There is some unbelievable prices for packages to Northern Europe with mSC and Norwegian. Does anyone have experience with them,?

 

I've done 3 cruises on MSC (including 2 lengthy relocation's) and 1 Baltic cruise on Norwegian. I prefer MSC to NCL partially because NCL only offer anytime dinning which we don't like. Also MSC will status match with other cruise lines which means we get the benefits of their black card. But Princess and Celebrity are our favourites by far.

Brian

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MicCanberra Holiday Sharing Rare

MicCanberra

Posted
Posted
18 hours ago, rugbypopsie said:

Will do I have intended only to go for a walk in Tallin. Luckily we have the 19 day trans Atlantic straight after lots of sea days.

Good plan, may I suggest getting a cab to the top of Tallinn and then you can just work your way down.

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MicCanberra Holiday Sharing Rare

MicCanberra

Posted
Posted
18 hours ago, Sallyandtex said:

Mic how would you compare princess to NCL?

One of the online companys have great packages with flights,  hotels stays and transfers with the mainstream cruiselines.

So many to choose from. I really want to see Norway Coast and Lofoten Islands and was thinking a medium sized, well organised (for tenders) ship that was more affordable and comfortable than Hurtigruten.

 

I suppose they both have pros and cons. I would say that Princess is a step above NCL in service and quality and such but NCL is a much easier style of cruising with far better cabins (size) and their entertainment is fabulous (some broadway type shows) although this may vary from ship to ship.

As for packages, we have done a few and have had no issues. The main thing is to price all the components separately and then look at the T&Cs for the package to work out what is included and excluded. That way you can make an informed decision on which is better.

I cannot compare to Hurtigurten as we have no experience with those ships but have done the Norwegian coast (lower half) on the Caribbean Princess which was awesome.

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Sallyandtex

Sallyandtex

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

I suppose they both have pros and cons. I would say that Princess is a step above NCL in service and quality and such but NCL is a much easier style of cruising with far better cabins (size) and their entertainment is fabulous (some broadway type shows) although this may vary from ship to ship.

As for packages, we have done a few and have had no issues. The main thing is to price all the components separately and then look at the T&Cs for the package to work out what is included and excluded. That way you can make an informed decision on which is better.

I cannot compare to Hurtigurten as we have no experience with those ships but have done the Norwegian coast (lower half) on the Caribbean Princess which was awesome.

Thanks Mic, so much to think about! There were some good itineraries for Island and Crown princess but I thought Island was smaller so not too many people (eg we like Radiance OTS much better than Voyager with RCI) 

Also HAL gave great talks when we did Alaska whereas P and O and Carnival didn't make mention of any landmarks or wildlife the last few cruises we did. 

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Aus Traveller

Aus Traveller

Posted
Posted (edited)

I received an email from an on-line TA with a good price on a package that includes the 15-night re-location of the Pacific Dawn from Singapore to Brisbane leaving on 25th August, 2019. The ports are Benoa, Komodo Island, Darwin, Airlie Beach then to Brisbane. The package price is $2,299 pp for an oceanview cabin and in addition, includes the flight from Brisbane, transfer to a hotel, 2 nights in a hotel and a pass to some Singapore attractions.

 

We were looking at it so I priced the components separately.

Oceanview cabin                                           $1,096 pp

Flight Qantas (early morning cheapest)       $393 pp

transfer supplied by hotel

hotel (2 people 2 nights) approx $390          $180 pp

                                                                          $1,669 pp 😊

The only item not included above is the ticket for discounted sightseeing. BTW, whether the booking is for the package or separately as I have detailed, an oceanview cabin comes with OBC of $350. 😊 That reduces the price even further.

 

We decided not to book as we have several cruises already booked. Komodo Island would be the only new port and we have been to the others numerous times.

 

As someone mentioned a few days ago - when looking at package tours it is worthwhile pricing the components separately. 🙂

Edited by Aus Traveller
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Aus Traveller

Aus Traveller

Posted
Posted
40 minutes ago, Tara Jane said:

Interested.  I'm hunting for the TA no luck.

Found on some but not at that price with OBC

Any help available?

Much appreciated. 

If you want a Cruise Holiday in Australia you should find it. Last night I found the deal on several different on-line TA websites. The amount of OBC isn't obvious at first. It is offered by P&O for the next day or two only.

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boeckli

boeckli

Posted
Posted
23 hours ago, Peterpatter said:

Bargain alert 

Princess has a short "sun drenched sale "on until Thursday. Just refared an oceanview on Ruby to club class mini for an extra $150pp. Quite a few to pick from

Happy shopping ockers

 

Did you have to cancel and re-book or did they change your existing booking?

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Peterpatter

Peterpatter

Posted
Posted
37 minutes ago, boeckli said:

 

Did you have to cancel and re-book or did they change your existing booking?

Yes this sun drenched sale is for new bookings only. BUT like all promos like this if your cruise is outside the cancellation time terms you can cancel and rebook without penalty no problem at all.

They simply transfer your deposit to the new booking or in my case the full payment 

In my case the cruise is next Feb so it was 100% refundable anyway and a club class mini over the oceanview for an extra $150 pp is too good to miss.

We cruise a lot and it's almost a hobby to maximise every opportunity to grab or improve a great deal. Just peruse your booked cruises as a new booking on the Princess site and they often fluctuate a lot depending on how the ships are filling.

 

What I have noticed is that some promos are very ordinary and some are awesome flash in the pans like this one that only last a few days.

The real benefit is being able to cancel and rebook without penalty and these promos are rare as the majority are to fill a ship leaving soon so only new bookings benefit not existing bookings.

This thread is great to spread the news

and nice to be able to alert fellow cruisers to a real deal 

 

 

 

 

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boeckli

boeckli

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Peterpatter said:

Yes this sun drenched sale is for new bookings only. BUT like all promos like this if your cruise is outside the cancellation time terms you can cancel and rebook without penalty no problem at all.

They simply transfer your deposit to the new booking or in my case the full payment 

In my case the cruise is next Feb so it was 100% refundable anyway and a club class mini over the oceanview for an extra $150 pp is too good to miss.

We cruise a lot and it's almost a hobby to maximise every opportunity to grab or improve a great deal. Just peruse your booked cruises as a new booking on the Princess site and they often fluctuate a lot depending on how the ships are filling.

 

What I have noticed is that some promos are very ordinary and some are awesome flash in the pans like this one that only last a few days.

The real benefit is being able to cancel and rebook without penalty and these promos are rare as the majority are to fill a ship leaving soon so only new bookings benefit not existing bookings.

This thread is great to spread the news

and nice to be able to alert fellow cruisers to a real deal 

 

 

 

 

 

Having booked on a reduced (and I think possibly therefore non-refundable) deposit might complicate matters but it's worth a try ....

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Aus Traveller

Aus Traveller

Posted
Posted
On 7/22/2019 at 6:57 PM, Peterpatter said:

Bargain alert 

Princess has a short "sun drenched sale "on until Thursday. Just refared an oceanview on Ruby to club class mini for an extra $150pp. Quite a few to pick from

Happy shopping ockers

Thanks for pointing this sale out. We have a Princess cruise booked that is more than six months away.  It was worth checking out the "sun drenched sale", but the cruise and category we booked is now a bit more expensive than the price we got a month ago. But, it was worth checking it out. 🙂

 

 

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mum and son

mum and son

Posted
Posted

I have 2 Princess cruises booked for September, and one of them is part of this sun drenched sale. Final payment date is Monday and my sister has decided not to come on the cruise, meaning our 4 berth becomes a triple. I called Princess and they were so helpful!

I have a couple of options after removing my sister from the booking:
1. Stay in our original balcony cabin with an extra large balcony (and they won't charge me the fare for the 4th person, which was only $168 when I booked), or
2. Upgrade to a deluxe balcony guarantee for $300 dollars less than I am currently paying for the standard balcony cabin.

They have held the deluxe balcony while I decide and will apply the deposit I have already paid to the new booking AND give me the price that are in the "new bookings only" sun drenched promo. In fact, I could actually get a mini-suite for less than my current cabin price too.
That's a win/win for me! So many options - and thanks to Princess for being so flexible. I was expecting to be told that a change would be treated as a cancellation, especially during a "new bookings only" promo period.

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Aus Traveller

Aus Traveller

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, mum and son said:

I have 2 Princess cruises booked for September, and one of them is part of this sun drenched sale. Final payment date is Monday and my sister has decided not to come on the cruise, meaning our 4 berth becomes a triple. I called Princess and they were so helpful!

I have a couple of options after removing my sister from the booking:
1. Stay in our original balcony cabin with an extra large balcony (and they won't charge me the fare for the 4th person, which was only $168 when I booked), or
2. Upgrade to a deluxe balcony guarantee for $300 dollars less than I am currently paying for the standard balcony cabin.

They have held the deluxe balcony while I decide and will apply the deposit I have already paid to the new booking AND give me the price that are in the "new bookings only" sun drenched promo. In fact, I could actually get a mini-suite for less than my current cabin price too.
That's a win/win for me! So many options - and thanks to Princess for being so flexible. I was expecting to be told that a change would be treated as a cancellation, especially during a "new bookings only" promo period.

That is really good. 😊

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challis

challis

Posted
Posted

just booked 6 nights sydney to tassie.princess  Sun drenched sale 

 

2 nov 2019.ruby princess

 

best part is mini suite is $1079 versus cheapest balcony $1050 !!

 

so hard to go back to cattle class ,lol.

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